The recent development of gene editing has generated a lot of excitement for the future of crop improvement. At a technical level, targeted gene modification through gene editing (GE) provides an opportunity to build on natural variation to target genetic changes for the creation of new varieties, crops, and market opportunities. Specialty crops, represented by hundreds of plant species, are poised to take advantage of GE and provide solutions to impact traits of importance to the consumer (such as flavor and nutrition), the environment (such as reducing waste, and transport distances), and the farmer (yield and pest/disease resistance). However, many specialty crops face challenges to implement GE such as complex uncharacterized genomes, polyploidy, and long breeding and production cycles. A small number of specialty crops such as tomato are already taking advantage of GE and can represent a blueprint for continued improvement of important specialty crops some of which have gone for centuries without significant genetic improvement.

基因编辑的最新发展为作物改良的未来带来了很多兴奋。在技​​术层面，通过基因编辑 (GE) 进行的靶向基因修饰提供了一个机会，可以在自然变异的基础上针对基因变化来创造新品种、作物和市场机会。以数百种植物为代表的特种作物准备利用转基因技术并提供解决方案来影响对消费者重要的性状（例如风味和营养）、环境（例如减少浪费和运输距离）以及农民（产量和病虫害抗性）。然而，许多特种作物在实施转基因方面面临挑战，例如复杂的未表征基因组、多倍体以及较长的育种和生产周期。