CRISPR-cas 9 directed genome engineering for enhancing salt stress tolerance in rice

Publication date: Available online 21 May 2019Source: Seminars in Cell & Developmental BiologyAuthor(s): Sufia Farhat, Neha Jain, Nisha Singh, Rohini Sreevathsa, Prasanta K. Das, Rhitu Rai, Sandeep Yadav, Pramod Kumar, Anand Sarkar, Ajay Jain, Nagendra K Singh, Vandna RaiAbstractCrop productivity in rice is harshly limited due to high concentration of salt in the soil. To understand the intricacies of the mechanism it is important to unravel the key pathways operating inside the plant cell. Emerging state-of-the art technologies have provided the tools to discover the key components inside the plant cell for salt tolerance. Among the molecular entities, transcription factors and/or other important components of sensing and signaling cascades have been the attractive targets and the role of NHX and SOS1 transporters amply described. Not only marker assisted programs but also transgenic approaches by using reverse genetic strategies (knockout or knockdown) or overexpression have been extensively used to engineer rice crop. CRISPR/Cas is an attractive paradigm and provides the feasibility for manipulating several genes simultaneously. Here, in this review we highlight some of the molecular entities that could be potentially targeted for generating rice amenable to sustain growth under high salinity conditions by employing CRISPR/Cas. We also try to address key questions for rice salt stress tolerance other than what is already known.
Source: Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology - Category: Cytology Source Type: research