ABSTRACT
Zinc finger nucleases (ZFN) are synthetic, chimeric, endonuclease systems that can be programmed to target specific DNA sequences to induce mutagenesis or replacement of genes. They are two-component systems of which the first component is a non-specific cleavage unit belonging to Fok I restriction endonuclease and the second component is a repeating unit of Zn 374finger domains. Each Zn finger can identify a unique tandem sequence of 3 nucleotides on the target and thus the modular system of Zn-fingers can be tailor-made for different targets across the genome. They introduce double-stranded breaks (DSB) in the DNA, which significantly improve specific transformation rate. Such customizable nucleases expand the horizons of gene editing particularly aimed at quality improvement and metabolome manipulation. Antidiabetic potential of plants is a property that is innate to its secondary metabolite composition and enhancement of this activity by a high probability gene-editing method like ZFN, is an area continuously being explored. In this chapter, the authors intend to delve into the prospects of ZFN-based genome editing for enhancement of antidiabetic property of plants.
