TABLE 4.
Potential role of genome editing in orphan crops.
| Crop | Target gene | Trait improved | Remarks | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorghum | Alpha-Kafirin gene family | Increase digestibility and protein quality | CRISPR/Cas | Li et al. (2018d) |
| FLOWERING TIME (FT); Gibberellin 2-oxidase 5 (Ga2ox5) | Flowering time | Char et al. (2020) | ||
| Finger millet | Bhlh57 | Salinity resistance | Babitha et al. (2015) | |
| Foxtail millet | Phytochrome C (PHYC) | Photoperiodic flowering | Yang et al. (2020) | |
| DROOPY LEAF1 (DPY1) | Plant architecture | Zhao et al. (2020) | ||
| SiMTL | Haploid embryo induction | Cheng et al. (2021) | ||
| Sweet potato | Granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) | Availability of more digestible sugars | Wang et al. (2019b) | |
| Starch branching enzyme II (SBEII) | ||||
| Cassava | Protein targeting to starch 1 (PTST1) | Increase in digestible sugars | Bull et al. (2018) | |
| EPSPS | Glyphosate tolerance | Hummel et al. (2018) | ||
| Pigeon Pea | CcFT8 | Florigen producing gene | Tribhuvan et al. (2020) | |
| Quinoa | WUSCHEL, BABY BOOM and LEAFY COTYLEDON1 | Improve the transformation efficiency | Wang et al. (2021b) | |
| Lettuce | GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase 1 (GGP1) | Increase in the vitamin C | Zhang et al. (2018b) | |
| GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase 2 (GGP2) | ||||
| Yam | Phytoene Desaturase (PDS) | Carotenoid biosynthesis | Syombua et al. (2020) | |
| ERF (ethylene-responsive factor) | Resistance to anthracnose | Ntui et al. (2021) | ||
| Eggplant | Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) | Decreased browning | Maioli et al. (2020) | |
| Bambara groundnut | KUP | Abiotic stress tolerance | Sharma et al. (2022) | |
| Fonio | DeSh1-9A | Reduced seed shattering | Abrouk et al. (2020) | |
| Teff | SEMIDWARF-1 (SD-1) | Semi-dwarfism and lodging resistance | Beyene et al. (2022) | |
| OsSPL14, OsmiR397 | Panicle branching trait | Numan et al. (2021) | ||
| Watermelon | Acetolactate synthase (ALS) | Herbicide-resistant | Tian et al. (2018) |