Genome editing of medicinal plants: Advances, challenges, and prospects

Medicinal plants produce important pharmaceuticals, but these compounds are often present at low levels or only in specific tissues; in addition, many medicinal plants produce small amounts of biomass and are difficult to cultivate. Genome editing for agronomic traits and metabolic engineering holds promise for improving pharmaceutical production, and genome-editing applications in medicinal plants have expanded as genome-editing techniques have advanced. For example, genome editing has been used to regulate the production of phenolic acids and tanshinone metabolites of Salvia miltiorrhiza in medicinal plants. In this review, we synthesize the current knowledge on the development and applications of gene-editing tools in medicinal plants. Furthermore, we summarize the limitations of genome editing in these species and propose solutions for addressing these challenges to fully harness this technology for improving these important plants. We focus on novel technologies to enhance the regeneration rates of transgenic plants, artificial intelligence-assisted multiomics approaches for predicting editing efficiency, key components that optimize genome-editing efficacy, and the development of innovative gene-editing systems. Finally, we offer perspectives on advancing metabolic engineering strategies for medicinal plants.