Biological and Clinical Sciences Research Journal
ISSN: 2708-2261
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47264/bcsrj0201004
Biol. Clin.
Sci. Res. J., Volume, 2021: e004
Review Article
IMPROVEMENT FOR BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE IN
CROP PLANTS
AHMAD M, ALI Q, *HAFEEZ MM, MALIK A
Institute of Molecular Biology and
Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Lahore,
Pakistan
Corresponding author email: mansoorhafeez140@gmail.com
Abstract: The field of biotechnology has extraordinarily influence on
science, law, the administrative condition social insurance and business
throughout the world. As the starting of agriculture, people have been
manipulating crops to improve the yield and quantity. Product yields throughout
the world are essentially diminished by the activity of herbivorous insects,
pathogens and parasites. Natural environmental stresses make this circumstance
significantly worse. Biotechnology can be used to increase the yield of food
crops, to improve biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, to modify the traits of
the plant (e.g. oil content, percentage of lignin, cell structure), to make the
conversion to liquid bio fuels more efficient. Various genes have been
discovered for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. The genes discovered for
biotic stress are aryloxyalkanoate, dioxygenase, enzymes (aad-1), nitrilase,
Cry1Ac, Cry2AB, GTgene, AFP (anti-freezing protein gene) gene, Chitinase II and
III gene and Rps1-k. The genes discovered for abiotic stress are SgNCED1,
SgNCED1, USP2, HSP70, BADH, and ALO, PVNCED1, HVA1, LeNCED1. CRISPRs (clustered
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are the short DNA sequences
present in bacteria and archaeal genome which are now currently used by
researchers to edit genome. In different plant species (calli, leaf discs)
protoplasts have been successfully used to edit their genome through
CRISPR/Cas9 system. The aims of the applications are to increase resistance to
abiotic or biotic stress, to engineer metabolic pathways and to increase grain
yield. Incorporation of modern biotechnology, with regular traditional
practices in a sustainable way, can fulfill the objective of achieving food
security for present and as well as in future..
Keywords:
biotechnology,
biotic, abiotic, stress, environment, herbivorous
insects, pathogens, parasites
Introduction
The
Hungarian engineer, Karl Erky, coined the term
biotechnology in 1917 to describe a method for large-scale pig production. In
order to obtain useful goods, biotechnology can be characterized as the use of
technology utilizing living organisms (Christou
and Twyman, 2004; Strange and Scott,
2005). Researchers
have found how genes could be exchanged from particular living organism to
another organism. This may be known as hereditary control, hereditary building
alternately hereditary upgrade (Key
et al., 2008; Ramessar et al., 2007). In any case of
the term, by including genes (DNA) starting with in turn organism, the
procedure empowers the exchange for suitable characteristics (such as
improvement for disease control) in a plant, animal or microorganism.
Conventional breeding include collection of entity plants or animals based on
visible or measurable qualities (Zhang
et al., 2012; Zhu et al., 2013). By examining the DNA of an
organism, researchers can utilize molecular markers to choose plants or animals
that possess an advantageous gene, even in the deficiency of a visible trait.
Thus, breeding is more precise and useful. For example, those universal
foundation of tropical agribusiness need utilized molecular markers for disease-resistant
(Dangl
et al., 2013; Huot et al., 2014; Yuan et al., 2011). Tissue culture
may be used for producing plants from disease free plant. This method empowers
the propagation cost of crop planting material. Citrus, pineapples, avocados,
mangoes, bananas, papaya cotton and maize have been grown through tissue culture
(Bebber
et al., 2013; Savary et al., 2006). There is use
of transgenic techniques to produce plants for inducing resistance against
different living organisms for example viruses, fungi, bacteria, nematodes,
insects as biotic stress. Abiotic stress is those
damaging impact from non-living states, which is all around living organism (Mundt,
2014; Steuernagel et al., 2016). Abiotic stress like dry season (water stress), unreasonable
watering system (water logging), high or low temperatures (cold, hilling and heat),
saltiness or salt and mineral poisonous quality caused a negative effect on
crop plants at different plant growth, production, yield and seed formation (Godard
et al., 2007; Godard et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2014).
Biotechnology
for biotic stress tolerance
The
damage caused to plants by different living organisms including, viruses,
fungi, bacteria, nematodes, insects, and weeds caused biotic stress. Dissimilar
to that of abiotic stress which showed up to caused
critical and harmful impact because of environmental change. Different
varieties of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides are often utilized to
control crop losses which became the cause of damages in crop yield and
production (Isman
and Grieneisen, 2014; Law et al., 2017; Yoon et al., 2013). The use of the
chemicals caused harmful effects on crop plants as well as the environmental
quality through causing chemical pollution in environment and soil (Ahanger
et al., 2017; Mattah et al., 2015). Utilization of
pesticides, fungicides and herbicides needs to get an essential analytics before
applying on crop plants (Mabe
et al., 2017; Mahmood et al., 2014). Residues of
sprayed pesticides, fungicides which are usually residing on the fruits or
vegetables became the cause of an immediate harmful effect on health of human. Crop
plant yields fluctuate alongside their degree for affectability towards a
specific pesticide, herbicide and fungicide, the applications of these
chemicals also caused problems in metabolic pathways of plant (Aktar
et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2017).
Insect-resistance
inducible promoters
In
potatoes, pest attacks or abiotic stress conditions
caused the potato protease inhibitor II (pinII) gene
expression. The insect attack on transgenic Arabidopsis
plant which was carrying GUS gene along with potato pinII
promoter showed response in the form of expression against insect attack (Bu et al., 2006; Liu et al., 1996). In most plants,
the promoter of potato protease inhibitor II (pinII-2x) was induced and
regarded as an ideal promoter of defense for gene expression (Bu et al., 2006). The expression
of the promoters mannopine synthase
(mas) (Godard,
2007; Li et al., 2013) and nopaline synthase (nos) promoter (An et al., 1990; Kim et al., 1993) was induced in
leaf and stem tissues through injury and insect attack. Transgenic peanut (Arachis hypogaea L) from
an inducible promoter PR1-a expressing transgene
Cry1Ac confers enhanced resistance to the insect Spodoptera litura (Zhu-Salzman
et al., 2004).
Insect-inducible PR1-a promoter is considered an appropriate promoter for the
production of transgenic genes for aphid resistance, as the expression of the
genes under this promoter was only induced during the aphid attack (War
et al., 2012). Induced
expression under wound and insect attack was shown by Tomato Lipoxygenase D (TomLoxD) promoter
(Yan
et al., 2013). Transgenic
broccoli expressing insecticide with Cry1Ab showed resistance to insect Plutella xylostella
(Linnaeus) under inducible promoter PR-1a (Cao
et al., 2001).
Nematode-inducible
promoters
The most important and crops universal
plant parasitic nematodes have became the basis of important production losses.
There have been still litter attempts to separate the inducible promoters of
nematodes. Promotors Pdf2.1, Pdf2.2 and Pdf2.3 showed
induced expression in beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii infestation in on Arabidopsis (De
Coninck et al., 2013; Siddique et al., 2011). The provoked
outflow with root tie nematode meloidogyne incognita
spoiling might have been indicated the GUS reporting gene combined with those
nematode-responsive-root-specific promoter (AT1G26530) (Kumar
et al., 2010). Creating RNAi-based transgenics alongside
demonstrative promoters against plant parasitic nematodes might be a chance to
be a perfect gas method for combating parasitic nematodes to plants (Banerjee
et al., 2017; Coyne et al., 2018).
Pathogen-inducible
promoters
A critical problem caused damaging to
crop plants around the world are microbial, bacterial and contagious pathogens.
Different intricate pathways have shown that the plants usually transmit
pathogen-responsive proteins. On keep the contaminations of pathogens caused
production of pathogen-responsive proteins, anti-viral and so forth to combat
with the pathogenic attack. The safety for transgenic plants with pathogenic
infections might have been expanded toward transgenic formation, pathogen-responsive
proteins, antiviral genes and so on (Bebber
et al., 2013; Christou and Twyman,
2004). Phenylalanine
ammonia-lyase promoter (PAL1) has been found produced
under the spoiling effects for the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae
(Godard
et al., 2007; Puthoff et al., 2010). A
pathogen-responsive CMPG1 gene has also been identified to enhance tolerance
against pathogenic attack.
Diseases
A
large number of plant diseases perusing biotic stresses, including viruses, bacteria,
fungi and nematodes caused losses of crop plant yield and production potential.
Over 1978, a population of Geminiviruses might have
been found in plants during different spans with single-stranded
deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) infections caused
losses in crop plants (Moffat,
1999). The Geminiviridae has three genera, including Mastrevirus, Begomovirus and Curtovirus. The Begomovirus class
has become the cause of loss of yield in cotton.
Cotton leaf curl
disease
The
cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD) is one of the serious
diseases of cotton, which caused damage in cotton production. The indications are
including thickening and yellowing about little veins on the down surface of
leaf with shrinked margins. Margins twist descending
alternately upward with hindered plant growth under disease attack because of
decreased inter-nodal separation (Qazi
et al., 2007; Zhou, 2013). Flowering,
boll development, maturation, seed cotton generation and fiber quality are extremely
effected (Amrao
et al., 2010). CLCuD reveals to upward twisting (Fig. 1) alongside
thickening of the cotton plant leaves, twisting alongside leaf thickening, enations on the underside of the leaves, and cotton plant
hindering growth. Transgenic cotton expressing partial AC1 and βC1 gene of
CLCuV can be used as virus resistance source in
cotton breeding programs aiming to improve yield and potential of cotton (Sattar
et al., 2013; Tahir et al., 2011).
Fig
1. Curling upward
along with the thickening of cotton plant leaves.
Bacterial blight
disease
Bacterial
blight disease caused tannic-grey with white lesions along the veins of leaves
of plants. In the tillering stage (Fig. 1), the stricks expands with plant growth, peaking at up to the blooming
stage of plant. The additional harming show fate of the disease is Kresek, wherein those abandons of the entire plant
transform pale yellow and shrivel of the early tillering
phase throughout the seedling, bringing about an incomplete or totally finish
crop yield (Ronald
et al., 1992; Yang et al., 2006). Same time in
the least development stages, leaf bud occurs, in spite of the fact that when kresek proceeds, harmful effect became extensive,
post-flowering infections bring next to no sway for grain yield. The Xa1 gene which
has been identified and transform in rice confers a resistance to Japanese race
1 of Xanthomonas
oryzae pv. oryzae,
against causal pathogen of disease bacterial blight (BB). One of the BB-resistance
genes, Xa1, confers a high level of specific resistance to race 1 strains of Xoo in Japan (Antony
et al., 2010; Gnanamanickam et al., 1999).
Figure
1. Symptoms in
rice of bacterial leaf blight.
Cassava common mosaic disease
Leaves
of CsCMD-affected cassava plants produce mosaic and chlorotic symptoms. There are dark and light green areas
that are delimited by veins on some of the affected leaves. During relatively
cool periods, the symptoms are most extreme and the disease is most affected by
cassava grown in the semitropical areas of South America. The affected plants
are often stunted in these relatively cool conditions and yield losses can be
up to 60 per cent (Costa
and Kitajima, 1972). CMD2 has been
combined with CMD1 through genetic crossing to induce resistance against CsCMVD (Calvert
and Thresh, 2002).
Viruses
In
plants, the viruses that complete their life cycle are called plant viruses.
Since all viruses are intracellular parasites, plant viruses often rely on
plant cell machinery to complete their replication.
Gemini
viruses
Geminiviruses in tropical and
subtropical regions of the world are a group of small insects spread viruses as
plant pathogenic viruses responsible for various crop diseases (Bilal
et al., 2020; Moffat, 1999; Varma and Malathi,
2003). These viruses
also contribute to epidemics, causing major crop losses. The recombination of
various geminiviruses co-infecting the same plant,
the expansion of agriculture into new growing areas and the transfer of
contaminated plant material to new locations are various factors contributing
to crop epidemics (Varsani
et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2010).
Begomo viruses
Begomoviruses is the most
significant genus of Geminiviruses. Begomoviruses are the largest and most economically
important genus to date, comprising more than 200 species, and their number is
still growing (Moffat,
1999; Yu et al., 2010).
Cotton leaf curl
viruse
The
economically relevant monopartite Geminivirus
is the cotton leaf curl virus, which is transmitted in persistent circulatory
forms by whitefly. CLCuV causes serious damage to Gossipium hirsutum in
Pakistan, while G. arborecum
is immune to a virus like this (Amrao
et al., 2010; Calvert and Thresh,
2002; Sattar
et al., 2013).
Genes to control
biotic stress
Plants
usually have two safe support levels that guard them against various types and
strains of pathogens. Pathogenic strike produces on the surface of the plant
distinguished by plant pattern recognition receptor (PRR). Those PRR generates
signs that initiate defense-related genes also exchange of the core. The
secondary ROS emission and actuation of pathogenesis-related (PRs) caused unsafe
debilitating pathogens perusing plant pheromones (Kumar
et al., 2010; Li et al., 2013). At the same time, inside the
cell, pathogens frequently all the infuse sets of influencing particles that
endeavor on mischief alternately thrashing the plant resistance system. The
affecter particles harm the signaling and reaction from claiming transduction
that disrupts the plant defense system (Fig. 3). Throughout stress conditions signal
transmitted the abiotic stress sign required with
control transmission factors (Bordenave
et al., 2013; Singh and Singh,
2018).
Figure 3. A graphical model of the relationship of plant-pathogen and
molecular processes involved in tolerance and susceptibility to attacks by
pathogens. PRR: receptor for pattern recognition, PRs: related to
pathogenesis, ROS: reactive oxygen species.
Biotechnology for Abiotic
Stress Tolerance
Along
with abiotic stresses, drought and high temperature
are the 2 main stresses that harmfully affect the potential and production of
crop plants. Such abiotic stresses decrease farm
earnings and agricultural benefits. The
reduction of water up to 40% reasons the bringing down for maize yields up to
40% of yield while wheat with 21% of yield losses (Daryanto
et al., 2016; Ronald et al., 1992). In Africa,
agricultural crops, like cowpea, right now appearances dry season stress,
decreasing yields from 34% to 68% (Farooq
et al., 2017a). Under abiotic stress the creation for reactive oxygen species
(ROS) takes place which caused harmful effects on carbohydrates, nucleic acids,
lipids and proteins. This oxidative stress adversely affects plant development (Zhu-Salzman
et al., 2004). Further, water
deficiency and heat stress could harm
transpiration, stomata conductance and photosynthesis in crop plant (Varsani
et al., 2014).
Drought
stress
Adaptation with water stress states is a
standout amongst the significant tests for plant researchers and
biotechnologists in the present situation for fast environmental change.
Researchers are expanding their deliberations to explain different atmosphere
triggered metabolic forms during cell division as well as gene levels in plants
(Farooq
et al., 2017b; Lamaoui et al., 2018). There is need
to develop patterns to move forward water use efficiency by plant cells (Chen
et al., 2017; Sehgal et al., 2018) available water.
The tolerance inducible genes which have also been isolated and identify by
using microarray techniques (Ye et al., 2018) use to produce
transgenic crop plants, the phytohormone like ABA
which help to maintain the stomata conductance is due to a stress responsive
genes (Banerjee
et al., 2017; Christou and Twyman,
2004). In Arabidopsis 1354 genes have been
identified which up and down-regulated accompanying ABA applications or
treatments, the most coding indicator transduction in plants (Huot
et al., 2014). Likewise, it
has been accounted that over outflow from claiming capsicum annuum
dry season stress responsive 6 (CaDSR6) gene of Arabidopsis prompted elevated tolerance in dry season than for wild
sort plants. Additionally indicated that those genes which are for
stress-responsive to NaCl (SNAC1) controlled its
signaling about suction phosphate synthesis kind
1-phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate-5-kinase, 2C protein phosphates and in
addition ABA receptor clinched alongside wheat plants under dry season stress (Key
et al., 2008; Liu et al., 1996).
Tolerance
for Cold stress
Plants which can survival at very lower
temperature conditions relies on their physiological, sub-molecular reactions
triggered by those plant ahead purposes of presentation on low temperature (John
et al., 2016). These plants
could survive under chilling temperature. Water availability, development, photorespiration,
photoperiod are usually imperative factors that figure out the deacclimation and reacclimation
for plants under chilling stress (Hossain
et al., 2018; John et al., 2016). Perfect
solutes, proteins, antioxidants and outflow for chilling responsive genes have
a significant role in chilling tolerance (John
et al., 2016). Modified gene
interpretation for specific proteins for chilly
tolerance assume an important role in the survival of plants and increasing
crop plant yield (Ban
et al., 2017). Various genes
have been isolated and identified to control chilling stress like TFs and
CBF/DREB. Chilling stress caused harm on photosynthetic machinery, including
photo-systems and photosynthetic pigments, adjusting the outflow for
photosynthetic genes (Jan
et al., 2018) in plants. The violaxanthinde-epoxidasegene (LeVDE),
directed for temperature rhythms. The over expression about gene expanded
quenching non-photochemical, Fv/Fm and oxidizable
P700, quantum yield, and action of xanthophyllcycle
and mitigated PSI and PSII photoinhibition at low
temperature stress (Thakur
et al., 2020).
Genes to Overcome abiotic Stress
Plants
developed various resistance methods throughout creation of composite signaling
cascade in varying stress conditions (AbuQamar
et al., 2009). Plant exposed
to biotic and abiotic stresses, endorse to trigger kinase surge and specific ion channels remain turn on, or
producing reactive oxygen species phytoharmones such
as jasmonic acid, abscisic acid (Atkinson
and Urwin, 2012). A basic model
need been suggested over (Fig. 4), the place separate components about
reactions on abiotic focuses on plants alongside
their comparing would exhibited for finer understanding.
Figure 4. Simple model of
different signaling pathway involved in plants to overcome the abiotic stresses. ABA: abscisic acid, ROS: reactive oxygen
species.
Plant
cell sensors or receptors placed in the cell divider alternately recognize stress
conditions. Abiotic stress indicator transduction caused
(i) ABA-dependent (ii) ABA-independent pathways. In
the ABA-dependent pathway, ABRE is the fundamental ABA responsive components
that initiate the stress receptive genes. On the other hand, in the
ABA-independent pathway for dehydration responsive components may also be
included which alongside drought, chilling also salt stress receptive genes
parameter (Fig. 4). These signals are usually established by cell surface
sensors that produced from plants.
Abiotic
and biotic tolerance
CRISPR/Cas9 is a recently developed
technology for genome editing and it has widely connected for perception
mutation, gene modification, utilitarian gene analysis, Furthermore mix for
remote genes to gene pyramiding, genes knockouts, protein conveyance on
genomic, gene interpretation repression/activation, Furthermore epigenome altering to different organisms (Zhang
et al., 2014). There are
large numbers of reports on the utilization of this genome editing system in
plant genome around ~ 20 crop species in crop plants have been edited genetically
through CRISPR (Gao
et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2014). A preview of CRISPR/Cas9-based
gene edited plants now has biotic and
abiotic stress tolerance.
Conclusion
Plants
are frequently exposed with different biotic and abiotic
stresses, which cause important disaster over crop yields around the world. Thus,
it might make logical that understanding stress tolerance in crop plants now a
day’s biotechnology enable those achievements for nourish and feed humanity
through improving crop plant yield and potential under stressful environmental
conditions.
Conflict
of interest
The
authors declared absence of any conflict of interest.
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