An overview of genome editing methods based on endonucleases

Sequence-specific nucleases (SSNs) has been proposed as a powerful tool for basic and applied plant biology researches and seems to be an effective method for resolving current issues in agriculture. Here, we describe the principle and application of available genome editing tools, including meganucleases (MN), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-associated CRISPR/Cas9 system. Among these; CRISPR/Cas9 is the most recently characterized and rapidly developed genome editing technology, and has been successfully utilized in a wide variety of organisms. This review specifically illustrates the power of CRISPR/Cas9 as a tool for plant genome engineering and describes the strengths and weaknesses of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology compared to two well-established genome editing tools, ZFNs and TALENs.