Strengthening the competitiveness of agricultural biotechnology through practical application of gene editing technology

In this paper, mechanisms of gene editing technologies including ZFN, TALENS and CRISPR were briefly discussed with mutual advantages and disadvantages. Classification criteria of gene edited, site-directed mutagenesis (SDN) crops for regulatory purpose were also discussed. The number of studies using CRISPR technology was high and studies conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana and rice were highest, followed by tobacco, tomato, wheat, and corn. It has been applied to a variety of plants such as other grain crops, flower crops, vegetable crops, and fruit trees. The number of studies focused on practical application or commercialization in the future were also increasing yearly, and the scope of studies also expanded to include research on metabolic engineering for mass production of useful proteins or substances, development of disease resistant crops against viruses, bacteria, and fungi, abiotic environmental stressresistant crops, and increased yields. In addition to this, it was revealed that application range is becoming more diversified, including the development of parthenocarpic tomatoes, hybrid rice lines using male sterility and increased shattering resistance Brassica napus. It was also revealed that the number of CRISPR gene edited crops permitted by the USDA(APHIS) increases yearly, to be released in the international seed market soon.