CRISPR is important because it is a component of the bacterial immune system that can cleave DNA and once the molecular mechanism behind its DNA-cleaving ability was discovered, it quickly evolved into a genome-editing tool and adopted widely. Web of Science, a platform for scientific and scholarly research based on citation index, showed an increase from 145 research papers in 2012–2272 research papers in 2021. This shows the popularity of this tool for precisely and efficiently manipulate the genomic regions of any organism. The efficiency of CRISPR-cas9 genome editing depends on sgRNA which is complementary to the target sequence, as any deviation can lead to off-targets also, and, the PAM sequence, the cleavage site for Cas9. Computational tools made genome editing simpler which design sgRNA considering the GC content, type of Cas, target sequence, PAM sequence. Several tools like CHOPCHOP, CRISPR-P, CRISPRdirect, E-crisp, etc., are available for sgRNA design. CRISPR-Cas genome editing has been widely used to increase the yield in crops, treat diseases which are impossible or difficult to treat before the discovery of CRISPR.

1. Abstract Arabidopsis thaliana , a model plant, is intensively researched because of the intrinsic advantages associated with its life cycle, genetics, and other characteristics. In the present study, we analysed the publication data of research work done on A. thaliana during 2001-2020, a period when the whole genome sequence of the plant was available to the researchers. The current meta-analysis showed that 31965 research papers were published globally on Arabidopsis during the study period. The USA topped the countries with the maximum share of publications (28.97%), followed by China, Japan, and West European countries. The analysis showed a temporal shift in the number of publications from different countries and their research focus. After 2013, the research output from China was higher than that from the USA, and there was a shift in focus from developmental biology to stress-related topics. Plant Physiology journal carried the most research work (2490 publications) on Arabidopsis, which was followed by Plant Cell (2376), the Plant Journal (2260) and the Journal of Experimental Botany (1121). However, there was a progressive decline in the publication in these journals, and a shift was evident in favour of open access journals like Frontiers in Plant Science. The publication and citation numbers also show ongoing Arabidopsis research’s relevance to plant sciences, particularly curiosity-driven and discovery-based science. This article delves into the patterns in the prominence of research areas, ideas and foci for the future Arabidopsis research roadmap.