: Plant-microbe interactions can be either beneficial or harmful depending on the nature of interaction. Multifaceted benefits of plant-associated microbes in crops are well documented. Specifically, management of plant diseases using beneficial microbes is considered to be eco-friendly and the best alternative for sustainable agriculture. Diseases caused by various phytopathogens are responsible for significant reduction in crop yield and causes substantial economic losses globally. In an ecosystem, there is always an equally daunting challenge for the establishment of disease and development of resistance by pathogens and plants, respectively. In particular, comprehending the complete view of complex biological system of plant-pathogen interactions, co-evolution and plant growth promotions (PGP) at both genetic and molecular levels require novel approaches to decipher the function of genes involved in their interaction. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is a fast, emerging, precise, eco-friendly and efficient tool to address the challenges in agriculture and decipher plant-microbe interaction in crops. Nowadays, CRISPR/Cas9 approach is receiving major attention in the field of functional genomics and crop improvement. Consequently, the present review updates the prevailing knowledge in the deployment of CRISPR/Cas9 techniques to understand plantmicrobe interactions,; genes edited for the development of fungal, bacterial and viral disease resistance,; to elucidate the nodulation processes, plant growth promotion, and future implications in agriculture. Further, CRISPR/Cas9 would be a new tool for the management of plant diseases and increasing productivity for climate resilience farming.

No abstract

Sheath blight of rice is a destructive disease that could be calamitous to rice cultivation. The significant objective of this study is to contemplate the proteomic analysis of the high virulent and less virulent isolate of Rhizoctonia solani using a quantitative LC-MS/MS-based proteomic approach to identify the differentially expressed proteins promoting higher virulence. Across several rice-growing regions in Odisha, Eastern India, 58 Rhizoctonia isolates were obtained. All the isolates varied in their pathogenicity. The isolate RS15 was found to be the most virulent and RS22 was identified as the least virulent. The PCR amplification confirmed that the RS15 and RS22 belonged to the Rhizoctonia subgroup of AG1-IA with a specific primer. The proteomic information generated has been deposited in the PRIDE database with PXD023430. The virulent isolate consisted of 48 differentially abundant proteins, out of which 27 proteins had higher abundance, while 21 proteins had lower abundance. The analyzed proteins acquired functionality in fungal development, sporulation, morphology, pathogenicity, detoxification, antifungal activity, essential metabolism and transcriptional activities, protein biosynthesis, glycolysis, phosphorylation and catalytic activities in fungi. A Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to validate changes in differentially expressed proteins at the mRNA level for selected genes. The abundances of proteins and transcripts were positively correlated. This study provides the role of the proteome in the pathogenicity of R. solani AG1-IA in rice and underpins the mechanism behind the pathogen’s virulence in causing sheath blight disease.

Rice false smut caused by Ustilaginoidea virens is a destructive inflorescence disease threatening rice production worldwide. The disease is emerging in many rice growing countries including India. Estimation of yield loss helps to understand the importance of the disease and hence appropriate measures for its management may be devised. Therefore, an investigation was conducted in farmers' field of Odisha during kharif 2017. The disease incidence, chaffiness and yield loss for 20 rice genotypes were assessed following a standard method. Disease severity was calculated based on the number of smut ball in an infected panicle. False smut incidence varied from 6-33% while the disease severity ranged from 0.33-17.25% in different genotypes. The highest disease incidence was observed in Pooja (33.33%) followed by Varsha Dhan (16.67%) and Sarala (13.89%). The highest disease severity was observed in Pooja (17.25%) followed by Utkal Prava (10.46%) and Moti (8.89%). The healthy panicles have relatively higher weight and number of grain than the smut panicles. The smut panicle contained more number of chaffy grains than the healthy panicle. The yield loss of rice due to false smut infection varied between 0.10-5.14% in different genotypes. Maximum yield loss occurred in Moti (5.14%) followed by Gayatri (4.60%). The finding is significant as it indicates the emergence of false smut as a threat to rice production.

No abstract