THE CRISPR/CAS NUCLEASES HAVE BEEN USED FOR EFFICIENT TARGETED GENOME EDITING IN VARIOUS ORGANISMS INCLUDING PLANTS. MOST PUBLISHED REPORTS USE AGROBACTERIUM-MEDIATED TRANSGENIC APPROACH TO INTRODUCE GENOME EDITING COMPONENTS INTO PLANTS. PRODUCTION OF TRANSGENIC PLANTS IS TIME CONSUMING, LABOR-INTENSIVE, AND SOME IMPORTANT CROP PLANTS ARE RECALCITRANT TO TRANSFORMATION. THEREFORE, AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM TO DELIVER GENE EDITING COMPONENTS INTO PLANT CELLS THAT CIRCUMVENTS THE REQUIREMENT OF TRANSFORMATION IS REQUIRED. IN OBJECTIVE 1, WE WILL ENGINEER AN RNA VIRUS-BASED TOBACCO RATTLE VIRUS (TRV) VECTORS FOR DELIVERY OF GENE EDITING COMPONENTS INTO THE GROWING PARTS OF THE PLANTS TO INDUCE HIGH EFFICIENCY OF HERITABLE GENE EDITING. SINCE RNA VIRUSES DO NOT INTEGRATE INTO THE PLANT GENOME, THEY ARE NOT TRANSMITTED THROUGH GERMLINE TO THE NEXT GENERATION AND THEREFORE, THE INDUCED MUTATION WILL BE FREE OF TRANSGENES. IN OBJECTIVE 2, WE WILL USE THE OPTIMIZED TRV VECTOR DEVELOPED IN OBJECTIVE 1 TO DELIVER GENE EDITING COMPONENTS AND ESTABLISH THE EFFICIENCY OF GERMINAL TRANSMISSION OF MUTATIONS USING NICOTIANA BENTHAMIANA AND TOMATO PLANT MODEL SYSTEMS.CONSIDERING DELIVERY OF GENOME EDITING COMPONENTS IS A MAJOR BARRIER IN TERMS OF EFFECTIVE USE OF CRISPR TECHNOLOGY IN MANY MAJOR AND MINOR CROP PLANTS, THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF TRV-BASED SYSTEM WILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON BREEDING AND CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS. FURTHERMORE, THE ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FOR DEVELOPING TRV SYSTEM WILL BE USEFUL TO DEVELOP OTHER VIRUS-BASED VECTORS.