Targeted Gene Manipulation in Plants Using the CRISPR/Cas Technology

The CRISPR/Cas technology is emerging as a revolutionary genome editing tool in diverse organisms including plants, and has quickly evolved into a suite of versatile tools for sequence-specific gene manipulations beyond genome editing. Here, we review the most recent applications of the CRISPR/Cas toolkit in plants and also discuss key factors for improving CRISPR/Cas performance and strategies for reducing the off-target effects. Novel technical breakthroughs in mammalian research regarding the CRISPR/Cas toolkit will also be incorporated into this review in hope to stimulate prospective users from the plant research community to fully explore the potential of these technologies.