Abstract

Food security is one of the main topics of today's agriculture especially facing challenging environmental conditions. As most humankind has a daily intake of cereal grains, current breeding programs focus on these crop plants. Within the breeders' toolbox, customised endonucleases became included after this universal application had been demonstrated. Due to technological restrictions, the main focus was on aboveground plant organs, while the essential belowground has been given only limited attention. In the present review, we summarise the knowledge on the root system architecture in cereals, the importance of phytohormones in this physiological process, and the molecular mechanisms involved. The review summarises how the use of the CRISPR methodology can improve the root system architecture to enhance crop production genetically. Finally, future research directions involving all this knowledge and technical advances are suggested.