Physalis grisea (groundcherry) is a semi-domesticated solanaceous fruit crop native to North America with potential for broader agricultural production in the United States. However, its severe fruit drop phenotype limits harvest efficiency and reduces marketable yield. Despite its importance, the developmental and genetic regulation of fruit abscission has remained poorly understood in P. grisea. This dissertation focuses on the importance of P. grisea as a model species, the developmental, molecular, and genetic regulation of fruit abscission, and gene editing strategies to reduce or eliminate its fruit drop. To characterize the abscission process, developmental histological analyses, hormone treatments, detachment force evaluations, and RNA sequencing transcriptomic analyses were used. These results confirmed that P. grisea fruit abscission follows a staged developmental process similar to that described in other species. Specifically, this included early abscission zone cell differentiation, mid-stage acquisition of competence to abscission-promoting signals such as the plant hormone ethylene, and late-stage upregulation of cell wall separation and wound protection pathways at maturity. To functionally validate genes suspected to be involved in abscission zone differentiation and generate non-fruit-dropping lines, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing was used to target two MADS-box transcription factors, JOINTLESS and MPF3. Homozygous-edited plants lacking functional copies of either gene failed to develop abscission zone cells, resulting in a fruit retention phenotype. Additional phenotyping, including fruit soluble solids content and detachment force, supported the pre-breeding potential of these lines, particularly JOINTLESS-edited plants, for use in large-scale agronomic production. Together, these results broaden the understanding of fruit abscission in an emerging crop and provide a foundation for expanding groundcherry agricultural production.