Genome Editing of Eukarya

Genome editing enables the study of gene functions and the construction of biological systems useful to society. The discovery that double-stranded breaks in DNA could be used to mutate DNA sequences with non-homologous end joining or integrate foreign DNA at high rates with homologous recombination gave rise to endonuclease-based genome editing technologies that allowed for unprecedented precision and control. The development of meganucleases, zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and their associated proteins (CRISPR/Cas) revolutionized the field to the point where ever more sophisticated genome editing techniques are becoming accessible routine procedures applicable for an ever-increasing number of organisms. This chapter seeks to describe the current technologies for genome editing and their application in industrially relevant eukaryotic organisms.