Molecular Targets and Trait Innovation in CRISPR-Edited Vegetable Crops: An Up-to-Date Review (2020–2026)

Abstract

Vegetable crops are of fundamental nutritional and economic importance worldwide, yet their improvement through conventional breeding remains time consuming and constrained by genomic complexity. For that reason, over the period 2020–2026, CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing, a new genomic technique (NGT), has emerged as the leading tool for precise, rapid and targeted modification of vegetable crop genomes. In this review, we summarize selected peer-reviewed studies on CRISPR/Cas applications across a broad range of vegetable species. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and potato (Solanum tuberosum) are the most edited species with the CRISPR/Cas system, with tomato being at the forefront, while other crops such as cucumber, watermelon, Brassica species, pepper, eggplant and lettuce, follow. We studied eight trait categories that have been improved, namely biotic stress resistance, abiotic stress resistance, yield and growth regulation, food/feed quality modification, color/flavor modification, storage conditions, herbicide resistance and industrial utilization. Out of these, biotic stress resistance is the most actively targeted category across both tomato and potato, with viral, fungal, bacterial and oomycete pathogens being addressed through the editing of host susceptibility genes. Some advances include editing SlDMR6-1 and DMR6 orthologs to confer broad-spectrum disease resistance, multiplex editing of the MLO gene family to achieve powdery mildew resistance, the utilization of the CRISPR/Cas13 system to confer resistance in RNA viruses in potato, and the engineering of drought-tolerant and quality-improved varieties across multiple species. Finally, the regulatory landscape for genome-edited products in the European Union is currently evolving with efforts to distinguish them from genome-modified products and drive further growth for the field.