Dear Editor

Celery (Apium graveolens L.) is a leafy vegetable crop of Apiaceae with economic importance, which is widely cultivated all over the world [1]. In production, improving quality, disease, and insect resistance, and late bolting are required for celery through traditional or modern molecular genetic improvement methods. Genetic improvement via conventional breeding was limited to the long breeding cycle and randomness; the necessity of genetic engineering breeding, therefore, has been highlighted. A precise genome-editing technology holds the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional breeding. Additionally, the research of functional genomics in celery also raised higher requirements for the development of genome-editing technology. An immature genetic transformation system and undeveloped gene-editing technology has become the bottleneck for basic research and genetic improvement in celery relative to other major crops.

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