Abiotic Stress Resilience of CRISPR-edited Crops and Underlying Mechanisms Dissected by High-throughput Omics Technologies

Abiotic stressors such as drought, salinity, temperature extremes, and heavy metals significantly impair agricultural productivity worldwide. Recent advances in CRISPR-Cas9 technology have revolutionized the field of crop improvement by enabling precise genome editing to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in crops. This chapter explores the application of CRISPR-Cas9 in developing stress-resilient crops, focussing on the underlying mechanisms revealed through high-throughput omics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. These omics approaches provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex molecular networks and gene regulatory mechanisms that govern plant responses to abiotic stress. The integration of CRISPR-Cas9 with omics technologies enables the identification of key stress-responsive genes and the precise editing of these targets to enhance crop resilience. The chapter discusses the potential of CRISPR-Cas9 in creating transgene-free, climate-resilient crops, addressing current challenges, and highlighting future directions for sustainable agriculture.