New strategies to advance plant transformation

Plants are an important source of food, energy, and bioproducts. Advances in genetics, genomics-assisted breeding, and biotechnology have facilitated the combining of desirable traits into elite cultivars. To ensure sustainable crop production in the face of climate challenges and population growth, it is essential to develop and implement techniques that increase crop yield and resilience in environments facing water scarcity, nutrient deficiencies, and other abiotic and biotic stressors. Plant transformation and genome editing are critical tools in the development of new cultivars. Here, we discuss recent advances in plant transformation technologies aimed at enhancing efficiency, throughput, and the number of transformable genotypes. These advancements include the use of morphogenic regulators, virus-mediated genetic modifications, and in planta transformation with Rhizobium rhizogenes.