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. 2021 May 26;57(4):565–573. doi: 10.1007/s11627-021-10184-2

Table 1.

Representative list of Indian institutions working on crop genome editing

Sr. no. Institutions Specific areas of interest Source (website) Publications (if any)
1 NIPGR (National Institute of Plant Genome Research) Nutritional improvement of Indian oilseed mustard using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing http://www.nipgr.ac.in/home/home.php Not available
RICE/Maize-CRISPR/Cas9/Cpf1 based genome editing system to engineer and improve root architecture and stress/nutrient response/abiotic stress NIPGR website http://www.nipgr.ac.in/home/home.phphttp://www.nipgr.ac.in/research/dr_asarkar.phphttp://www.nipgr.ac.in/research/dr_amarpal.php Farhat et al. (2019)
Das A et al. (2019)
Biofortification of banana (Collaboration with National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali) http://www.nipgr.ac.in/research/dr_ashutosh.php Kaur et al. (2020)
2 Bose Institute, Kolkata “Developing an optimized toolkit for inducible genome editing and regulation of gene expression in tomato plant: implications in adjusting complex traits via synthetic biology approach” DBT sponsored project / http://www.jcbose.ac.in/uploads/ADVT/19/p_4.pdf Not available
3 Junagadh Agricultural University

(1) Groundnut GE—high oleic acid and low linoleic acid

(2) Gene editing in major field crops of Saurashtra—use of CRISPR-CAS9 technology in breeding programme

(1) https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/08/03/low-cholesterol-oil-indian-scientists-developing-crispr-gene-edited-groundnut/

(2) http://www.jau.in/attachments/vision2050.pdf

Rajyaguru and Tomar (2020)
4 ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology Targeted editing of potato genome to develop variety-specific true potato seed https://www.icar.gov.in/nasf/documents/Ongoingproject_VII.pdf Not available
CRISPR-Cas9-based genome editing of multiple negative regulators for blast resistance in rice http://www.nrcpb.res.in/content/%EF%83%BC-crispr-cas9-based-genome-editing-multiple-negative-regulators-blast-resistance-rice Not available
Wheat (review article) Kumar et al. (2019)
GE-oil seed crops-mustard http://www.nrcpb.res.in/content/genome-editing-oilseed-brassica-crop-improvement Not available
5 IARI—New Delhi (cooperating centres ICGEB, New Delhi NRCPB, New Delhi NRRI, Cuttack IIRR, Hyderabad TNAU, Coimbatore) Genetic improvement of rice for yield, NUE, WUE, abiotic and biotic stress tolerance through RNA guided Genome editing (CRISPR/Cpf1) Genome edited rice lines of elite mega rice varieties with known/novel alleles of DEP1, CKX2, TB1, SPL14, PP2Cs, DST, miR169a, Os8N3 and eF4g genes which will be useful for direct commercial cultivation or donors in breeding programmes. https://www.icar.gov.in/nasf/documents/Ongoingproject_VII.pdf Kumar et al. (2020), Gouda et al. (2020)
GE: rice, wheat, soybean Thakare et al. (2020)
6 ICGEB—New Delhi (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology)

Redesigning rice crop for improvised grain micronutrient quality using CRISPR-cas9/Cpf1 genome editing

Objectives: ¬ To knockout the Fe-sensing genes and iron-binding haemerythrin RING ubiquitin ligases (OsHRZ1, OsHRZ2) for higher accumulation of iron and simultaneously knock out the cadmium transporter gene (OsLCT1) to reduce the translocation of Cd to rice grains

(1) Low phytate rice

(2) Nutrient use efficiency

(1) https://www.icar.gov.in/nasf/documents/Ongoingproject_VII.pdf

(2) https://www.icgeb.org/nutritional-improvement-of-crops/

Chib et al. (2020)

Herbicide tolerance:

(1) AHAS—rice

(2) EPSPS/ALS—rice, wheat, maize

Fartyal et al. (2018)
7 NRCPB (National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology) Development of haploid inducer line and enhancement of seed meal quality in Brassica juncea through CRISPR/Cas mediated genome editing http://www.indiascienceandtechnology.gov.in/research/development-haploid-inducer-line-and-enhancement-seedmeal-quality-brassica-juncea-through-crisprcas?field_area_id=2356 Bisht et al. (2019)
8 Rama Devi Women’s University Anthracnose resistance in chilli pepper: CRISPR/Cas9-fused cytidine base editing (CBE) targeting NAC72 https://www.imedpub.com/conference-abstracts-files/genome-editing-in-chili-pepper-using-a-crisprcas9.pdf Mishra et al. (2019)
9 TNAU Genome editing for enhancing disease resistance and nutritional properties in rice Coordination with ICAR-NASF https://tnau.ac.in/cpmb/research-projects/ Not available
CRISPR-mediated genome engineering for developing “Thermo-sensitive genic male sterile lines (TGMS)” in rice (Oryza sativa): Tms5 locus https://tnau.ac.in/cpmb/plant-biotechnology-externally-funded-projects/ Nagaraj et al. (2019)
10 National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali

GE-β-carotene rich banana—LCYε

The research group is focussed on metabolic engineering banana and wheat for nutritional enrichment. Research focusses on the pro-vitamin A (beta-carotene) biofortification of banana.

https://vigyanprasar.gov.in/isw/crisper_banana_genome_story.html Kaur et al. (2020)
11 IGIB (CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology—New Delhi) Mammalian cell research. https://www.igib.res.in Achrya et al. (2019)
Generation of inheritable, transgene-free abiotic stress (salinity and drought) tolerant and semi-dwarf indica rice cultivars using new plant breeding approach | https://www.igib.res.in/?q=projects Not available
12 IIT Delhi Cancer research-Ayurvedic herb/Covid 19/Bioinformatics-GE http://beb.iitd.ac.in/ Not available
13 ILS Bhubaneswar (Institute of Life Sciences) Development of seedless Bhimkol (Musa balbisiana, BB gemone) through CRISPR/Cas9 and mutational approaches. (Bimkol- Banana) DBT fuded project-2018 https://www.ils.res.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/advt-11-2018.pdf Shrestha et al. (2019)
14 NBRI (National Botanical Research Institute) (CSIR-NBRI-NCP)

GE—tomato, cotton, chickpea, rice and Brassica

Enhanced post-harvest life and nutrition quality in tomato

Tomato root architecture modification for enhanced yield

Development of determinate/semi-determinate sympodial cotton varieties for synchronized fibre yield and quality

Development of rice varieties with low arsenic accumulation in grain

Development of high yielding and short duration mustard/rapa variety

Genome-editing of miRNAs and associated miRNA peptides for improving drought stress tolerance in chickpea

https://nbri.res.in/genome-editing-of-plants/https://nbri.res.in/molecular-scientists/dr-praveen-c-verma/https://nbri.res.in/media/4.5.4-underway.pdfhttps://www.biotecnika.org/2019/05/csir-nbri-msc-bsc-phd-life-sciences-research-jobs/ Not available
15 CSIR-North East Institute of Science & Technology, Assam Establishing multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cpf1 genome editing systems for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in tomato (S. lycopersicum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa) http://www.rrljorhat.res.in/1261.php Saikia et al. 2020 and Debbarma et al. (2019).
16 Amity Science Technology and Innovation Foundation Details not available https://www.amity.edu/astif/ Jyoti et al. (2019)