Prospects for potato genome editing to engineer resistance against viruses and cold-induced sweetening

Abstract

Crop improvement through transgenic technologies is commonly tagged with GMO (genetically-modified-organisms) where the presence of transgene becomes a big question for the society and the legislation authorities. However, new plant breeding techniques like CRISPR/Cas9 system [clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated 9] can overcome these limitations through transgene-free products. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) being a major food crop has the potential to feed the rising world population. Unfortunately, the cultivated potato suffers considerable production losses due to several pre-and post-harvest stresses such as plant viruses (majorly RNA viruses) and cold-induced sweetening (CIS; the conversion of sucrose to glucose and fructose inside cell vacuole). A number of strategies, ranging from crop breeding to genetic engineering, have been employed so far in potato for trait improvement. Recently, new breeding techniques have been utilized to knock-out potato genes/factors like eukaryotic translation initiation factors [elF4E and isoform elF(iso)4E)], that interact with viruses to assist viral infection, and vacuolar invertase, a core enzyme in CIS. In this context, CRISPR technology is predicted to reduce the cost of potato production and is likely to pass through the regulatory process being marker and transgene-free. The current review summarizes the potential application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for traits improvement in potato. Moreover, the prospects for engineering resistance against potato fungal pathogens and current limitations/challenges are discussed.

Insight into aphid mediated Potato Virus Y transmission: A molecular to bioinformatics prospective

“…Recently, new breeding techniques have been utilized to knock-out potato genes/factors like eukaryotic translation initiation factors [elF4E and isoform elF(iso)4E)], that interact with viruses to assist viral infection, and vacuolar invertase, a core enzyme in CIS (Miroshnichenko et al, 2020 ). In this context, CRISPR technology is predicted to reduce the cost of potato production and is likely to pass through the regulatory process being marker- and transgene-free (Hameed et al, 2020 ). Under new breeding techniques, Pathogen-Derived Resistance (PDR) can be obtained by targeting coat protein (CP) regions using chimeric CP, RNA silencing, and Hp RNAi (Hairpin RNA interference), which can provide higher resistance to PVY.…”

Metabolic changes associated with chilling injury tolerance in tomato fruit with hot water pretreatment

“…Tryptophan is the precursor of melatonin and indoleacetic acid, and both share hormone characteristics. Melatonin is produced as a protective agent when plants are exposed to stress conditions, involving its antioxidant and gene regulation properties that include the activation of the phenylpropanoid pathway (Hameed et al, 2020;Jannatizadeh et al, 2019). Azelaic acid is a fatty acid-derived signaling molecule involved in plant defense mechanisms and also induces the phenylpropanoid pathway (Egorova & Tarchevsky, 2018).…”

Impact and Management of Diseases of Solanum tuberosum

“…Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 has been used to engineer virus resistance in plants by targeting host genes directly involved in host-viral interactions [109][110][111][112][113]. This technique has been used to knock out potato genes/factors like eukaryotic translation initiation factors (elf4E and isoform elf(iso) 4E that interact with viruses to assist viral infection [114]. Potato varieties resistant to viruses can be produced using this technique.…”