Legume crops such as chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut, mostly grown in marginal
environments, are the major source of nutrition and protein to the human population in Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa. These crops, however, have a low productivity, mainly due to their
exposure to several biotic and abiotic stresses in the marginal environments. Until 2005,
these crops had limited genomics resources and molecular breeding was very challenging.
During the last decade (2005–2015), ICRISAT led demand-driven innovations in genome …

The first period of plant genome editing was based on Agrobacterium; chemical
mutagenesis by EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate) and ionizing radiations; each of these
technologies led to randomly distributed genome modifications. The second period is
associated with the discoveries of homing and meganuclease enzymes during the 80s and
90s, which were then engineered to provide efficient tools for targeted editing. From 2006 to
2012, a few crop plants were successfully and precisely modified using zinc-finger …