Recent trends and advances of RNA interference (RNAi) to improve agricultural crops and enhance their resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses

Jothi Kanmani Bharathi; Ramaswamy Anandan; Lincy Kirubhadharsini Benjamin; Sowbiya Muneer; Muthu Arjuna Samy Prakash

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2022.11.035

Recent trends and advances of RNA interference (RNAi) to improve agricultural crops and enhance their resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Jan:194:600-618. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2022.11.035. Epub 2022 Dec 10.

Authors

Jothi Kanmani Bharathi¹, Ramaswamy Anandan¹, Lincy Kirubhadharsini Benjamin², Sowbiya Muneer³, Muthu Arjuna Samy Prakash⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India.
² Horticulture and Molecular Physiology Lab, School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
³ Horticulture and Molecular Physiology Lab, School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: sowbiya.muneer@vit.ac.in.
⁴ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: geeth_prakash@yahoo.co.in.

PMID: 36529010
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2022.11.035

Abstract

Over the last two decades, significant advances have been made using genetic engineering technology to modify genes from various exotic origins and introduce them into plants to induce favorable traits. RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered earlier as a natural process for controlling the expression of genes across all higher species. It aims to enhance precision and accuracy in pest/pathogen resistance, quality improvement, and manipulating the architecture of plants. However, it existed as a widely used technique recently. RNAi technologies could well be used to down-regulate any genes' expression without disrupting the expression of other genes. The use of RNA interference to silence genes in various organisms has become the preferred method for studying gene functions. The establishment of new approaches and applications for enhancing desirable characters is essential in crops by gene suppression and the refinement of knowledge of endogenous RNAi mechanisms in plants. RNAi technology in recent years has become an important and choicest method for controlling insects, pests, pathogens, and abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, and temperature. Although there are certain drawbacks in efficiency of this technology such as gene candidate selection, stability of trigger molecule, choice of target species and crops. Nevertheless, from past decade several target genes has been identified in numerous crops for their improvement towards biotic and abiotic stresses. The current review is aimed to emphasize the research done on crops under biotic and abiotic stress using RNAi technology. The review also highlights the gene regulatory pathways/gene silencing, RNA interference, RNAi knockdown, RNAi induced biotic and abiotic resistance and advancements in the understanding of RNAi technology and the functionality of various components of the RNAi machinery in crops for their improvement.

Keywords: Gene regulatory pathways; Gene silencing; RNA interference; RNAi gene knockdown; RNAi induced biotic and abiotic resistance.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Crops, Agricultural* / genetics
Gene Silencing
RNA Interference
Stress, Physiological* / genetics