Numerous plant taxa are threatened by habitat destruction or overexploitation. To overcome these threats, new methods are urgently needed for rescuing threatened and endangered plant species. Here, we review the genetic consequences of threats to species populations. We highlight potential advantages of genome editing for mitigating negative effects caused by new pathogens and pests or climate change where other approaches have failed. We propose solutions to protect threatened plants using genome editing technology unless absolutely necessary. We further discuss the challenges associated with genome editing in plant conservation to mitigate the decline of plant diversity.

中文翻译：

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基因组编辑时代的植物保护：机遇与挑战


许多植物类群受到栖息地破坏或过度开发的威胁。为了克服这些威胁，迫切需要新的方法来拯救受威胁和濒危的植物物种。在这里，我们回顾了物种种群受到威胁的遗传后果。我们强调了基因组编辑在减轻新病原体和害虫或气候变化引起的负面影响方面的潜在优势，而其他方法都失败了。除非绝对必要，否则我们提出使用基因组编辑技术保护受威胁植物的解决方案。我们进一步讨论了植物保护中与基因组编辑相关的挑战，以缓解植物多样性的下降。