CRISPR/Cas9 and Nanotechnology Pertinence in Agricultural Crop Refinement

Banavath Jayanna Naik; Ganesh Shimoga; Seong-Cheol Kim; Mekapogu Manjulatha; Chinreddy Subramanyam Reddy; Ramasubba Reddy Palem; Manu Kumar; Sang-Youn Kim; Soo-Hong Lee

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.843575

CRISPR/Cas9 and Nanotechnology Pertinence in Agricultural Crop Refinement

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Apr 8:13:843575. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.843575. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Banavath Jayanna Naik¹, Ganesh Shimoga², Seong-Cheol Kim¹, Mekapogu Manjulatha³, Chinreddy Subramanyam Reddy⁴, Ramasubba Reddy Palem⁵, Manu Kumar⁶, Sang-Youn Kim², Soo-Hong Lee⁵

Affiliations

¹ Research Institute of Climate Change and Agriculture, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Jeju, South Korea.
² Interaction Laboratory, Future Convergence Engineering, Advanced Technology Research Center, Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan-si, South Korea.
³ Floriculture Research Division, RDA, Wanju-gun, South Korea.
⁴ CSSR and SRRM degree and PG College, Kadapa, India.
⁵ Department of Medical Biotechnology, Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁶ Department of Life Science, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

The CRISPR/Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9) method is a versatile technique that can be applied in crop refinement. Currently, the main reasons for declining agricultural yield are global warming, low rainfall, biotic and abiotic stresses, in addition to soil fertility issues caused by the use of harmful chemicals as fertilizers/additives. The declining yields can lead to inadequate supply of nutritional food as per global demand. Grains and horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants are crucial in sustaining human life. Genomic editing using CRISPR/Cas9 and nanotechnology has numerous advantages in crop development. Improving crop production using transgenic-free CRISPR/Cas9 technology and produced fertilizers, pesticides, and boosters for plants by adopting nanotechnology-based protocols can essentially overcome the universal food scarcity. This review briefly gives an overview on the potential applications of CRISPR/Cas9 and nanotechnology-based methods in developing the cultivation of major agricultural crops. In addition, the limitations and major challenges of genome editing in grains, vegetables, and fruits have been discussed in detail by emphasizing its applications in crop refinement strategy.

Keywords: Cas9; Cas9 activators; biotic and abiotic stress; horticultural crops; nano-fertilizers; nanoparticles; nutritional value.

Publication types

Review