Are CRISPR/Cas9 and RNA interference-based new technologies to relocate crop pesticides?

초록

Advances in agricultural research made considerable improvements in crop yield; however, the crop loss due to pathogen infection remains challenging. The use of various chemical pesticides and biopesticides has been increasing in many Asian countries, including India, China, Korea, and Vietnam to combat against pathogenic organisms. However, prolonged use of such chemicals may decrease crop yield gradually, followed by an accumulation in the food chain and posing a danger to human health with eroded profits. Therefore an alternative in planta method must be developed in a way to protect plants against harmful pathogens. With the advent of biotechnology, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated gene (Cas9) and plant-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) showed a significant effect on crop protection. However, the practical application of such technology is still under consideration due to the amount of required double-strand RNA (dsRNA). Several pathogens, including insects and nematodes, do not respond to exogenous application of dsRNA. This chapter briefly discusses a comparative account between conventional pesticides and RNAi-based strategies that could be useful for future crop improvements. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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