Plant pathogens destroy crops and cause severe yield losses, leading to an insufficient food supply to sustain the human population. Apart from relying on natural plant immune systems to combat biological agents or waiting for the appropriate evolutionary steps to occur over time, researchers are currently seeking new breakthrough methods to boost disease resistance in plants through genetic engineering. Here, we summarize the past two decades of research in disease resistance engineering against an assortment of pathogens through modifying the plant immune components (internal and external) with several biotechnological techniques. We also discuss potential strategies and provide perspectives on engineering plant immune systems for enhanced pathogen resistance and plant fitness.
Keywords: CRISPR/Cas; S genes; disease resistance; engineering; plant immune system; receptors.
© 2022 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.