GRAIN LEGUMES CONSTITUTE MAJOR SOURCES OF PLANT DIETARY PROTEIN FOR HUMAN AND FEED CONSUMPTION. CURRENTLY, GENERATING NOVEL TRAITS IN THESE CROPS IS LARGELY LIMITED TO CLASSICAL MUTAGENESIS AND GENOMICS-ASSISTED BREEDING METHODS. GENE-EDITING OFFERS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR ACCELERATING CROP IMPROVEMENT THROUGH EFFICIENT AND PRECISE GENETIC MODIFICATIONS. TWO KEY TECHNOLOGICAL BARRIERS, LACK OF EFFICIENT REAGENT DELIVERY METHODS AND POOR PLANT REGENERATION RATES, HAVE IMPEDED USE OF GENE EDITING IN THESE CROPS. AGROBACTERIUM-MEDIATED TRANSFORMATION HAS BEEN THE PREFERRED METHOD TO DELIVER GENE EDITING REAGENTS IN PLANT SPECIES, BUT HAS SHOWN LITTLE SUCCESS IN GRAIN LEGUMES DUE TO THE HOST RANGE LIMITATION AND STRONG GENOTYPE-DEPENDENCY. OUR LABORATORIES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPING DIRECT DELIVERY METHODS USING BIOLISTICS OR NANOPARTICLES TO OVERCOME THESE LIMITATIONS. EFFICIENT GENE EDITING HAS BEEN ACHIEVED BY DIRECTLY DELIVERING CRISPR/CAS9 DNA OR RIBONUCLEOPROTEINS VIA THE BIOLISTIC-BASED APPROACH. MOREOVER, WE RECENTLY DEVELOPED A NEW METHOD TO IMPROVE PLANT REGENERATION USING DEVELOPMENTAL REGULATORS (DRS), SUCH AS THE BABY BOOM (BBM) AND WUSCHEL (WUS) GENES, IN SOYBEAN. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE AIM TO EXTEND OUR DIRECT DELIVERY AND IMPROVED PLANT REGENERATION METHODS TO TWO GRAIN LEGUMES, COMMON BEAN AND CHICKPEA. BY COMBINING THESE METHODS WITH CRISPR/CAS9 REAGENTS, WE WILL EXPAND THE USE OF GENETIC TRANSFORMATION AND GENE EDITING IN GRAIN LEGUMES.