The Development of Herbicide Resistance Crop Plants Using CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing

The rapid increase in herbicide-resistant weeds creates a huge challenge to global food security because it can reduce crop production, causing considerable losses. Combined with a lack of novel herbicides, cultivating herbicide-resistant crops becomes an effective strategy to control weeds because of reduced crop phytotoxicity, and it expands the herbicidal spectrum. Recently developed clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas)-mediated genome editing techniques enable efficiently targeted modification and hold great potential in creating desired plants with herbicide resistance. In the present review, we briefly summarize the mechanism responsible for herbicide resistance in plants and then discuss the applications of traditional mutagenesis and transgenic breeding in cultivating herbicide-resistant crops. We mainly emphasize the development and use of CRISPR/Cas technology in herbicide-resistant crop improvement. Finally, we discuss the future applications of the CRISPR/Cas system for developing herbicide-resistant crops.

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RNA Interference and CRISPR/Cas Gene Editing for Crop Improvement: Paradigm Shift towards Sustainable Agriculture

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10091914 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 1914

Author(s):

Meenakshi Rajput ◽

Khushboo Choudhary ◽

Manish Kumar ◽

V. Vivekanand ◽

Aakash Chawade ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rna Interference ◽

Sustainable Agriculture ◽

Gene Editing ◽

Crop Yields ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Regulatory Approach ◽

Short Palindromic Repeat ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Interfering Rna

With the rapid population growth, there is an urgent need for innovative crop improvement approaches to meet the increasing demand for food. Classical crop improvement approaches involve, however, a backbreaking process that cannot equipoise with increasing crop demand. RNA-based approaches i.e., RNAi-mediated gene regulation and the site-specific nuclease-based CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene editing has made advances in the efficient targeted modification in many crops for the higher yield and resistance to diseases and different stresses. In functional genomics, RNA interference (RNAi) is a propitious gene regulatory approach that plays a significant role in crop improvement by permitting the downregulation of gene expression by small molecules of interfering RNA without affecting the expression of other genes. Gene editing technologies viz. the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) have appeared prominently as a powerful tool for precise targeted modification of nearly all crops’ genome sequences to generate variation and accelerate breeding efforts. In this regard, the review highlights the diverse roles and applications of RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 system as powerful technologies to improve agronomically important plants to enhance crop yields and increase tolerance to environmental stress (biotic or abiotic). Ultimately, these technologies can prove to be important in view of global food security and sustainable agriculture.

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Next-Generation Breeding Strategies for Climate-Ready Crops

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.620420 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Ali Razzaq ◽

Parwinder Kaur ◽

Naheed Akhter ◽

Shabir Hussain Wani ◽

Fozia Saleem

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Crop Production ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

Gene Repertoire ◽

Next Generation ◽

Base Editing ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Improvement Programs ◽

Global Food

Climate change is a threat to global food security due to the reduction of crop productivity around the globe. Food security is a matter of concern for stakeholders and policymakers as the global population is predicted to bypass 10 billion in the coming years. Crop improvement via modern breeding techniques along with efficient agronomic practices innovations in microbiome applications, and exploiting the natural variations in underutilized crops is an excellent way forward to fulfill future food requirements. In this review, we describe the next-generation breeding tools that can be used to increase crop production by developing climate-resilient superior genotypes to cope with the future challenges of global food security. Recent innovations in genomic-assisted breeding (GAB) strategies allow the construction of highly annotated crop pan-genomes to give a snapshot of the full landscape of genetic diversity (GD) and recapture the lost gene repertoire of a species. Pan-genomes provide new platforms to exploit these unique genes or genetic variation for optimizing breeding programs. The advent of next-generation clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR-associated (CRISPR/Cas) systems, such as prime editing, base editing, and de nova domestication, has institutionalized the idea that genome editing is revamped for crop improvement. Also, the availability of versatile Cas orthologs, including Cas9, Cas12, Cas13, and Cas14, improved the editing efficiency. Now, the CRISPR/Cas systems have numerous applications in crop research and successfully edit the major crop to develop resistance against abiotic and biotic stress. By adopting high-throughput phenotyping approaches and big data analytics tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), agriculture is heading toward automation or digitalization. The integration of speed breeding with genomic and phenomic tools can allow rapid gene identifications and ultimately accelerate crop improvement programs. In addition, the integration of next-generation multidisciplinary breeding platforms can open exciting avenues to develop climate-ready crops toward global food security.

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A Critical Review: Recent Advancements in the Use of CRISPR/Cas9 Technology to Enhance Crops and Alleviate Global Food Crises

Current Issues in Molecular Biology ◽

10.3390/cimb43030135 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 1950-1976

Author(s):

Adnan Rasheed ◽

Rafaqat Ali Gill ◽

Muhammad Umair Hassan ◽

Athar Mahmood ◽

Sameer Qari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Critical Review ◽

Crop Production ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Environmental Stresses ◽

Zinc Finger Nucleases ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Global Food

Genome editing (GE) has revolutionized the biological sciences by creating a novel approach for manipulating the genomes of living organisms. Many tools have been developed in recent years to enable the editing of complex genomes. Therefore, a reliable and rapid approach for increasing yield and tolerance to various environmental stresses is necessary to sustain agricultural crop production for global food security. This critical review elaborates the GE tools used for crop improvement. These tools include mega-nucleases (MNs), such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), and transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR). Specifically, this review addresses the latest advancements in the role of CRISPR/Cas9 for genome manipulation for major crop improvement, including yield and quality development of biotic stress- and abiotic stress-tolerant crops. Implementation of this technique will lead to the production of non-transgene crops with preferred characteristics that can result in enhanced yield capacity under various environmental stresses. The CRISPR/Cas9 technique can be combined with current and potential breeding methods (e.g., speed breeding and omics-assisted breeding) to enhance agricultural productivity to ensure food security. We have also discussed the challenges and limitations of CRISPR/Cas9. This information will be useful to plant breeders and researchers in the thorough investigation of the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to boost crops by targeting the gene of interest.

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Herbicide resistance in China: a quantitative review

Weed Science ◽

10.1017/wsc.2019.46 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 67 (6) ◽

pp. 605-612 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xiangying Liu ◽

Shihai Xiang ◽

Tao Zong ◽

Guolan Ma ◽

Lamei Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Herbicide Resistance ◽

Crop Production ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Acetolactate Synthase ◽

Cross Resistance ◽

Weed Species ◽

Herbicide Resistant ◽

Auxin Herbicides ◽

Economic Boom ◽

Meta Analyses

AbstractThe widespread, rapid evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds is a serious and escalating agronomic problem worldwide. During China’s economic boom, the country became one of the most important herbicide producers and consumers in the world, and herbicide resistance has dramatically increased in the past decade and has become a serious threat to agriculture. Here, following an evidence-based PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) approach, we carried out a systematic review to quantitatively assess herbicide resistance in China. Multiple weed species, including 26, 18, 11, 9, 5, 5, 4, and 3 species in rice (Oryza sativa L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], corn (Zea mays L.), canola (Brassica napus L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)., orchards, and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) fields, respectively, have developed herbicide resistance. Acetolactate synthase inhibitors, acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitors, and synthetic auxin herbicides are the most resistance-prone herbicides and are the most frequently used mechanisms of action, followed by 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase inhibitors and protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors. The lack of alternative herbicides to manage weeds that exhibit cross-resistance or multiple resistance (or both) is an emerging issue and poses one of the greatest threats challenging the crop production and food safety both in China and globally.

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RNA interference (RNAi): Application in crop improvement: A review

Agricultural Reviews ◽

10.18805/ag.v37i3.3540 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Khanini Pathak ◽

Bhabesh Gogoi

Keyword(s):

Rna Interference ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Double Stranded Rna ◽

Nutritional Improvement ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Rnai Technology ◽

Novel Approach ◽

The Developed Countries ◽

Global Food

Among those various recent biotechnological tools, RNA Interference (RNAi) has been playing important role in crop improvement. RNAi can be defined as the ability of exogenous or endogenous double stranded RNA to suppress the expression of the gene which corresponds to the sequence of double stranded RNA. RNAi has been extensively used in various species to suppress gene function and is a novel approach to modify the gene expression for better quality traits and nutritional improvement in different crops. If judiciously used, this technology may go a long way to narrow the gap through production of disease, insect and virus resistant, nutritionally rich and toxic-free crops. The technology that has been developed by the developed countries will be available to any lab including those in the developing countries, where work utilizing RNAi technology is either in progress or going to be launched shortly. Ultimately this kind of technology can be important to global food security and also to maintain sustainability.

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Drivers and future changes in simultaneous extremes and their implications for global food security

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2720 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kai Kornhuber ◽

Corey Lesk ◽

Peter Pfleiderer ◽

Jonas Jägermeyer ◽

Carl-Friedrich Schleussner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Crop Production ◽

Rossby Waves ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Yield Response ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Wave Characteristics ◽

Weather Events ◽

A Chain ◽

Global Food

In a strongly interconnected world, simultaneous extreme weather events in far-away regions could potentially impose high-end risks for societies. In the mid-latitudes, amplified Rossby waves are associated with a strongly meandering jet-stream causing simultaneous heatwaves and floods across multiple major crop producing regions simultaneously with detrimental effects on harvests and potential implications for global food security.While no scientific consensus on future changes in these wave events has been established so far, impacts of associated extremes are expected to become more severe due to thermodynamic factors alone, possibly enhancing crop production co-variability across major breadbasket regions and amplifying future risks of multiple harvest failures.Quantifying future changes in crop co-variability linked to amplified Rossby waves&#160;faces a key challenge: Models need to exhibit sufficient skill along a chain of&#160;complex and non-linear features, namely i. Rossby Wave characteristics, ii. location&#160;and magnitude of associated surface extremes and iii. respective yield response. Here we investigate those relationships in the latest CMIP6 and GGCMI model simulations, providing preliminary results on future&#160;changes in crop production co-variability, linked to amplified Rossby waves.

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Reducing the Risks of Herbicide Resistance: Best Management Practices and Recommendations

Weed Science ◽

10.1614/ws-d-11-00155.1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 60 (SP1) ◽

pp. 31-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 463

Author(s):

Jason K. Norsworthy ◽

Sarah M. Ward ◽

David R. Shaw ◽

Rick S. Llewellyn ◽

Robert L. Nichols ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Weed Control ◽

Herbicide Resistance ◽

Best Management Practices ◽

Weed Management ◽

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

Production Systems ◽

Herbicide Resistant ◽

Economic Thresholds ◽

Soil Seedbank

Herbicides are the foundation of weed control in commercial crop-production systems. However, herbicide-resistant (HR) weed populations are evolving rapidly as a natural response to selection pressure imposed by modern agricultural management activities. Mitigating the evolution of herbicide resistance depends on reducing selection through diversification of weed control techniques, minimizing the spread of resistance genes and genotypes via pollen or propagule dispersal, and eliminating additions of weed seed to the soil seedbank. Effective deployment of such a multifaceted approach will require shifting from the current concept of basing weed management on single-year economic thresholds.

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FRAMING GM CROPS AS A SOLUTION FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH ◽

10.29121/granthaalayah.v3.i9se.2015.3117 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (9SE) ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

P.B Reddy

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Crop Production ◽

Genetically Modified Organisms ◽

Well Being ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Environmental Damage ◽

Fruit Storage ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Adverse Health Effects ◽

Global Food

Genetically Modified organisms (GMOs) are a tool of solution in helping to tackle the challenge of global food security for ever growing population. With global population expected to grow by 40% in the next few decades, agriculture will need to become more productive and more sustainable in order to keep pace with rapidly increasing demands. The current biotechnology permits to alter the genetic makeup of living organisms to produce much quicker and beneficial results. The present study is aimed to evaluate the economic, environmental and nutritive benefits of transgenic crops. We have reviewed many articles from various journals, blogs and media clips related to the subject. Results indicate that the use of GMOs have many potential benefits that include increased crop production, improved nutrition, and drought tolerance, reduced fertilizers and pesticides, better environmental condition, improved economic benefits and improvement in fruit storage. Conversely, there are few concerns about possible unpredicted adverse health effects, environmental damage, gene pollution and business exploitation. Results also indicate the towering costs and uncertainty about the guidelines of GMOs have slowed the rate of innovation of new qualities and prevented set ups and major corporate sectors from developing many second-generation varieties to facilitate the improvement of our well-being.

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Reconciling Techno-simplicity and Eco-complexity for future food security

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.7562.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 1507

Author(s):

Santiago L. Poggio ◽

Sarina Macfadyen ◽

David A. Bohan

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Crop Production ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Landscape Complexity ◽

Ecosystem Integrity ◽

Ecological Intensification ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Yield Gaps ◽

Global Food

Ecological intensification has been proposed as a paradigm for ensuring global food security while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Ecological intensification was originally coined to promote precise site-specific farming practices aimed at reducing yield gaps, while avoiding negative environmental impacts (techno-simplicity). Recently, it has been extended to stress the importance of landscape complexity to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services (eco-complexity). While these perspectives on ecological intensification may seem distinct, they are not incompatible and should be interwoven to create more comprehensive and practical solutions. Here, we argue that designing cropping systems to be more diverse, across space and time would be an effective route to accomplish environmentally-friendly intensification of crop production. Such a novel approach will require better integration of knowledge at the landscape level for increasing agro-biodiversity (focused on interventions outside fields) with strategies diversifying cropping systems to manage weeds and pests (focused on interventions inside fields).

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CONTRIBUTION OF INDUCED MUTATION IN CROPS TO GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

Avances en Ciencias e Ingeniería ◽

10.18272/aci.v12i3.2031 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 10

Author(s):

Fatma Sarsu

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Mutation Breeding ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Mutation Induction ◽

Crop Species ◽

Genetic Changes ◽

Global Food Security ◽

Pests And Diseases ◽

Global Food

Mutation breeding for crop improvement is a technique used for over 70 years. It is a fast way to increase the rate of spontaneous genetic variation in plants contributing to global food security. The genetic variability, created through mutagenesis i.e. physical or chemical, is an important breeding material for developing improved varieties and many studies in the field of functional genomics. The randomly generated heritable genetic changes are expressed in the mutant plants, which are selected for new and useful traits, such as high yielding, disease resistance, tolerance to abiotic stresses and improved nutritional quality. The technique helps to improve the tolerance of crop species to adverse climatic conditions, such as extremes of temperatures, drought, occurrence of pests and diseases. Through support provided by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division, significant agronomic and economic impact has been generated in many countries. The FAO/IAEA Mutant Variety Database (MVD) (http://mvd.iaea.org) demonstrates the significance of mutation induction as an efficient tool in crop improvement. The extensive use of induced mutant germplasms in crop improvement programmes resulted in releasing of more than 3,332 mutant varieties from around 228 crop species (20 July 2020).

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