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MINI REVIEW article

Front. For. Glob. Change
Sec. Pests, Pathogens and Invasions
Volume 8 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2025.1542459

Mini-review Multiplex genome editing for climate-resilient woody plants

Provisionally accepted
Madhab Kumar Sen Madhab Kumar Sen 1*Sunil Kanti Mondal Sunil Kanti Mondal 2Rohit Bharati Rohit Bharati 1Lucie Severová Lucie Severová 1Karel Šrédl Karel Šrédl 1
  • 1 Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czechia
  • 2 University of Burdwan, Bardhaman, West Bengal, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Climate change is severely impacting global forest ecosystems, stressing woody plants due to rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. These pressures threaten biodiversity and disrupt the essential roles forests play in carbon sequestration, timber production, and ecosystem stability. Traditional forest management strategies, such as selective breeding, cannot keep up with the rapid pace of climate change, given the long juvenile phase of trees. Multiplex genome editing, particularly through CRISPR technologies, offers a promising solution to accelerate the development of climate-resilient traits in woody plants. By simultaneously targeting multiple genes, multiplex CRISPR enables efficient modification of polygenic traits that govern stress tolerance, disease resistance, and other crucial resilience factors. This mini-review examines the potential of multiplex CRISPR technologies in forest management, breeding, and agroecological practices, showing how they can improve tree resilience and support sustainable forestry in response to the growing challenges of climate change.

    Keywords: Climate Change, Forest resilience, Multiplex genome editing, Polygenic trait engineering, Sustainable forestry

    Received: 09 Dec 2024; Accepted: 23 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Sen, Mondal, Bharati, Severová and Šrédl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Madhab Kumar Sen, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czechia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.