Recent advances of genome editing and related technologies in China

Genome editing is a powerful tool, enabling scientists to alter DNA sequence at virtually any genome locus in any species. Different technologies have been developed employing programmable nucleases including meganuclease, zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and most recently CRISPR-Cas systems. Chinese research groups are making important contributions at an increasing speed in genome editing field in recent years. In this review, we summarize recent progress made by Chinese scientists on the technological development of genome editing and beyond, focusing on the optimization and expanded application of existing genome editing tools, as well as the exploration of novel proteins as potential genome editing tools.