Harnessing the potential of plant transcription factors in developing climate resilient crops to improve global food security: Current and future perspectives

Rahil Shahzad; Shakra Jamil; Shakeel Ahmad; Amina Nisar; Zarmaha Amina; Shazmina Saleem; Muhammad Zaffar Iqbal; Rana Muhammad Atif; Xiukang Wang

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.028

Harnessing the potential of plant transcription factors in developing climate resilient crops to improve global food security: Current and future perspectives

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Apr;28(4):2323-2341. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.028. Epub 2021 Jan 20.

Authors

Rahil Shahzad¹, Shakra Jamil¹, Shakeel Ahmad², Amina Nisar³, Zarmaha Amina³, Shazmina Saleem³, Muhammad Zaffar Iqbal¹, Rana Muhammad Atif^{3

4}, Xiukang Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
² State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 310006, China.
³ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
⁴ Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security (CAS-AFS), University of Agriculture Faisalabad, University Road, 38040, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁵ College of Life Sciences, Yan'an University, Yan'an 716000, China.

Abstract

Crop plants should be resilient to climatic factors in order to feed ever-increasing populations. Plants have developed stress-responsive mechanisms by changing their metabolic pathways and switching the stress-responsive genes. The discovery of plant transcriptional factors (TFs), as key regulators of different biotic and abiotic stresses, has opened up new horizons for plant scientists. TFs perceive the signal and switch certain stress-responsive genes on and off by binding to different cis-regulatory elements. More than 50 families of plant TFs have been reported in nature. Among them, DREB, bZIP, MYB, NAC, Zinc-finger, HSF, Dof, WRKY, and NF-Y are important with respect to biotic and abiotic stresses, but the potential of many TFs in the improvement of crops is untapped. In this review, we summarize the role of different stress-responsive TFs with respect to biotic and abiotic stresses. Further, challenges and future opportunities linked with TFs for developing climate-resilient crops are also elaborated.

Keywords: Abiotic stress; Biotic stress; Climate change; Crop improvement; Food security; Plant transcription factors.

Publication types

Review