Biotechnological Interventions for the Improvement of Sugarcane Crop and Sugar Production

Abstract

Sugarcane, not only fulfills 70% of world sugar needs but is also a prime potential source of bioethanol. It is majorly grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Researchers have improved this grass to great extent and have developed energy cane with ability to accumulate up to 18% sucrose in its Culm. Improvement of this crop is impeded by its complex genome, low fertility, long production cycle and susceptibility to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotechnological interventions hold great promise to address these impediments paving way to get improved sugarcane crop. Further, being vegetatively propagated in most of the agroecological regions, it has become more attractive plant to work with. This chapter highlights, how advanced knowledge of omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) can be employed to improve sugarcane crop. In addition, potential role of in vitro techniques and transgenic technology has also been discussed for developing improved sugarcane clones with enhanced sugar recovery.

Transcription Factors in Plant Stress Responses: Challenges and Potential for Sugarcane Improvement

“…In last decade, numerous TFs involved in response to abiotic and biotic stress in different crops including sugarcane were investigated using modern molecular tools, such as functional genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics [8]. This review provides recently updated regulatory functions of major TFs families in response to stresses to understand the stress-responsive mechanisms in various crops, including sugarcane.…”

An Environmental Assessment of Interlocking Concrete Blocks Mixed with Sugarcane Residues Produced in Okinawa

“…According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), sugarcane is produced in more than 100 countries in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [1], characterized by warm temperatures. Of the sugar manufactured around the world, 70% is from sugarcane [2]. Further, sugarcane has been used for the production of bioethanol in some countries, such as Brazil.…”

Sugarcane Omics: An Update on the Current Status of Research and Crop Improvement

“…Modern sugarcane varieties are a complex genome, high polyploidy and aneuploidy resulted from about 70%–80% of the genome composition from Saccharum officinarum , and 10%–20% comes from S. spontaneum [3], combining the high sugar content of S. officinarum with the hardiness, disease resistance, and ratooning of S. spontaneum [4,5]. Sugarcane improvement based on conventional breeding is highly challenging due to this crop posing narrow genetic pools and a complicated genome [6]. Recently, numerous researches about molecular biology have been investigated in sugarcane, including cytogenetic analysis and omics research (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) in order to achieve higher yields, higher sucrose content, and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, as well as to understand their genetic regulation and mechanisms [6,7,8,9].…”

“…Sugarcane improvement based on conventional breeding is highly challenging due to this crop posing narrow genetic pools and a complicated genome [6]. Recently, numerous researches about molecular biology have been investigated in sugarcane, including cytogenetic analysis and omics research (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) in order to achieve higher yields, higher sucrose content, and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, as well as to understand their genetic regulation and mechanisms [6,7,8,9].…”

“…The omics approaches benefit from the understanding of the complex connections among genetic makeup, genes, proteins, and metabolites, but they rely seriously on analytical methods, such as bioinformatics, computational analysis, etc., and many other disciplines of biology [6]. A great amount of new information has been obtained regarding the molecular mechanisms of sugarcane resistance and tolerance to herbicides, cold, drought, and salinity stress, as well as plant development [7,8].…”