Natural rubber (NR) remains an indispensable raw material with unique properties that is used in the manufacture of a large number of products and the global demand for it is growing every year. The only industrially important source of NR is the tropical tree Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg., thus alternative sources of rubber are required. For the temperate zone, the most suitable source of high quality rubber is the Russian (Kazakh) dandelion Taraxacum kok-saghyz L.E. Rodin (TKS). An obstacle to the widespread industrial cultivation of TKS is its high heterozygosity, poor growth energy, and low competitiveness in the field, as well as inbreeding depression. Rapid cultivation of TKS requires the use of modern technologies of marker-assisted and genomic selection, as well as approaches of genetic engineering and genome editing. This review is devoted to describing the progress in the field of molecular genetics, genomics, and genetic engineering of TKS. Sequencing and annotation of the entire TKS genome made it possible to identify a large number of SNPs, which were subsequently used in genotyping. To date, a total of 90 functional genes have been identified that control the rubber synthesis pathway in TKS. The most important of these proteins are part of the rubber transferase complex and are encoded by eight genes for cis-prenyltransferases (TkCPT), two genes for cis-prenyltransferase-like proteins (TkCPTL), one gene for rubber elongation factor (TkREF), and nine genes for small rubber particle proteins (TkSRPP). In TKS, genes for enzymes of inulin metabolism have also been identified and genome-wide studies of other gene families are also underway. Comparative transcriptomic and proteomic studies of TKS lines with different accumulations of NR are also being carried out, which help to identify genes and proteins involved in the synthesis, regulation, and accumulation of this natural polymer. A number of authors already use the knowledge gained in the genetic engineering of TKS and the main goal of these works is the rapid transformation of the TKS into an economically viable rubber crop. There are no great successes in this area so far, therefore work on genetic transformation and genome editing of TKS should be continued, considering the recent results of genome-wide studies.

Global warming has underscored the imperative of drought tolerance as a paramount trait in bread wheat. Augmenting the cuticular wax layer on leaves and stems stands as one viable approach to enhancing plant drought tolerance. A pivotal discovery surfaced by identifying a mutation within the CER9 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, amplifying the cuticular wax and consequently mitigating water loss, thereby fortifying drought resilience. Notably, analogous genes, termed SUD1, have been annotated in bread wheat, albeit lacking in-depth scrutiny regarding their phenotypic manifestations under the drought. Hence, our study aimed to employ CRISPR/Cas technology to knockout the CER9/SUD1 gene in bread wheat. For this, five guide RNAs were meticulously chosen and merged into a singular vector. Delivery of the CRISPR/Cas components were arranged through Agrobacterium tumefaciens, utilized for transforming immature embryos of two agricultural spring bread wheat varieties: Taya and Sigma. Among the 13 transgenic plants procured, four manifested positivity for the reporter gene GFP and Cas9 gene. Notably, substantial deletions ranging from 284 bp to 398 bp within the CER9/SUD1 gene were discerned in these plants. Additionally, two of the edited plants exhibited an absence of CER9/SUD1 transcripts, while the other two displayed a noteworthy 5.4-fold reduction in CER9/SUD1 gene expression compared to the wild type. Intriguingly, the genome-edited plants of the T₁ generation showcased enhanced growth compared to the wild type under both standard and drought conditions.