Novel delivery methods for CRISPR-based plant genome editing

Using modern genome editing tools, scientists are increasingly able to engineer animals and plants for better traits and improved downstream outcomes that benefit humans. As part of the CRISPR-Cas system, guide RNA (gRNA) is used to identify the target sequence, while Cas is an endonuclease that performs the nucleotide cleavage. It is imperative that these two components are delivered to the nucleus of the cell in order to ensure an optimal editing process. As a consequence of differences in the cellular structure and biomolecular composition of the outer membrane, plants are not capable of being cloned genetically in the same manner as animal cells. A more optimized method and pipeline must be developed to improve the efficiency of transformations and genome editing for plants. In this book chapter, we highlight traditional and novel delivery methods used for optimal delivery of plant genome editing components. We discuss the potential and limitations of these methods in the light of recent literature and available experimental validations.