Biotechnological Improvement of Fiber Crops: Role of In Vitro Culture, Genetic Transformation, and Genome Editing

Fiber crops face major challenges from climate instability, pests, and suboptimal fiber or oil quality. These challenges can be addressed using plant tissue culture and molecular breeding tools, including genetic transformation and CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing. Advances in in vitro regeneration have enabled efficient plant recovery in crops such as cotton, jute, mesta, flax, sunn hemp, and industrial hemp. Techniques including anther culture have facilitated the development of doubled haploid lines with improved fiber quality and uniformity. Genetic transformation and emerging genome-editing applications provide new opportunities for targeted trait improvement in fiber crops. This review covers in detail the application of in vitro regeneration, genetic transformation, and genome editing studies in fiber crops. This review also includes several insights for improving fiber crops by applying these tools. This review will be a rich resource for the details of in vitro regeneration, genetic transformation, and gene editing studies in fiber crops.