Genome Engineering Technology for Durable Disease Resistance: Recent Progress and Future Outlooks for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Crop production worldwide is under pressure from multiple factors, including reductions in available arable land and sources of water, along with the emergence of new pathogens and development of resistance in pre-existing pathogens. In addition, the ever-growing world population has increased the demand for food, which is predicted to increase by more than 100% by 2050. To meet these needs, different techniques have been deployed to produce new cultivars with novel heritable mutations. Although traditional breeding continues to play a vital role in crop improvement, it typically involves long and laborious artificial planting over multiple generations. Recently, the application of innovative genome engineering techniques, particularly CRISPR-Cas9-based systems, has opened up new avenues that offer the prospects of sustainable farming in the modern agricultural industry. In addition, the emergence of novel editing systems has enabled the development of transgene-free non-genetically modified plants, which represent a suitable option for improving desired traits in a range of crop plants. To date, a number of disease-resistant crops have been produced using gene-editing tools, which can make a significant contribution to overcoming disease-related problems. Not only does this directly minimize yield losses but also reduces the reliance on pesticide application, thereby enhancing crop productivity that can meet the globally increasing demand for food. In this review, we describe recent progress in genome engineering techniques, particularly CRISPR-Cas9 systems, in development of disease-resistant crop plants. In addition, we describe the role of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing in sustainable agriculture.

Green Revolution to Gene Revolution: Technological Advances in Agriculture to Feed the World

“…Toxicity, allergenicity, and unintended genetic effects are three common concerns associated with GM food consumption. The causative factors may include: (i) integration of the transgene and the expressed protein per se, (ii) secondary and pleiotropic effects of the expressed gene, and (iii) insertional mutagenesis in the modified organism [ 46 , 265 ]. A well-known GM product linked to several allergenicity reports was ‘Starlink’ corn, which incorporated the Bt gene that produces an insecticidal Cry9c protein [ 266 ].…”

Enhancement of nitrogen use efficiency through agronomic and molecular based approaches in cotton

“…Quantifying the spatial variability of soil properties and crop yield is important for decision-making in site-specific crop management because the spatial variability of soil and crop growth is the critical factor for determining variable-rate inputs of fertilizers and other chemicals. Improving the synchrony between demand and supply of N in the crop from all sources, that is, fertilizer application throughout the growing season, improves crop NUE ( Cassman et al, 2003 ; Shankar et al, 2020 ; Ali et al, 2022b ). However, site-specific N management is only possible following spatial variations.…”

New Hope for Genome Editing in Cultivated Grasses: CRISPR Variants and Application

“…It has been possible with CRISPR-Cas -based genome editing to engineer crops resistant to bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases as well as oomycetes. For instance, rice, wheat, maize, and barley have seen great success in the ability to increasing resistance to powdery mildews, bacterial blights, and blast diseases ( Chen et al, 2019 ; Mushtaq et al, 2021 ; Ali et al, 2022 ). A study conducted by Wang et al (2014) developed a powdery mildew resistant wheat by disrupting the TAMLOA1 , TAMLOA2 , and TAMLOA3 genes in the wheat genome using the CRISPR-Cas 9 system.…”