CRISPR Applications in Enhancing Medicinal Plant Yields

Background: Medicinal plants play a vital role in traditional and modern pharmacology due to their bioactive compounds. However, natural limitations such as low yield, long growth cycles, and vulnerability to environmental stresses hinder their large-scale cultivation. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology has emerged as a transformative tool in genome editing, offering precision, efficiency, and flexibility for enhancing crop Objective: The current research seeks to examine how CRISPR gene-editing technology may be used to enhance the quality and yield of medicinal plants through the targeting of characteristics like secondary metabolite yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance. Methodology: A review-based approach was used, examining peer-reviewed publications from the period 2018-2024. Sources were obtained from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, targeting experimental and applied research that made use of CRISPR to edit the genomes of medicinal plants. Important genes associated with growth, resistance, and biosynthesis of pharmacologically active compounds were identified and explored. Results: Data indicate that CRISPR has been successfully used to increase yield and secondary metabolite content in crops such as Artemisia annua, Catharanthus roseus, and Withania somnifera. Gene insertions and targeted knockouts enhanced stress resistance and lowered pathogen susceptibility without affecting the viability of plants. Conclusion: CRISPR provides a strong pathway to improve medicinal plant cultivation for drug application. Its accurate genome-editing capability can result in more environment-friendly cultivation and conservation of precious species. Regulatory transparency and additional research will be required to incorporate CRISPR-edited medicinal plants into common healthcare and agriculture practices.