Small RNAs: Promising Molecules to Tackle Climate Change Impacts in Coffee Production

Abstract

Over the centuries, human society has evolved based on the ability to select and use more adapted species for food supply, which means making plant species tastier and more productive in particular environmental conditions. However, nowadays, this scenario is highly threatened by climate change, especially by the changes in temperature and greenhouse gasses that directly affect photosynthesis, which highlights the need for strategic studies aiming at crop breeding and guaranteeing food security. This is especially worrying for crops with complex phenology, genomes with low variability, and the ones that support a large production chain, such as Coffea sp. L. In this context, recent advances shed some light on the genome function and transcriptional control, revealing small RNAs (sRNAs) that are responsible for environmental cues and could provide variability through gene expression regulation. Basically, sRNAs are responsive to environmental changes and act on the transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene silencing pathways that regulate gene expression and, consequently, biological processes. Here, we first discuss the predicted impact of climate changes on coffee plants and coffee chain production and then the role of sRNAs in response to environmental changes, especially temperature, in different species, together with their potential as tools for genetic improvement. Very few studies in coffee explored the relationship between sRNAs and environmental cues; thus, this review contributes to understanding coffee development in the face of climate change and towards new strategies of crop breeding.