CRISPR-Cas9: A Promising Tool in Plant Disease Management
Plants suffer both biotic and abiotic stresses due to their sessile nature. Among these, plant biotic stresses are more damaging and pose a serious threat to global food security. Plant pathogens are notorious for their severe consequences when there is talk of plant yield. They cause famous famine and lead to the death of a million people over the decades. For example, the famous Irish potato famine which is caused by Phytophthora infestans and Bengal famine which took two million people’s lives, caused by Helminthosporium oryzae.
By co-inhabiting, both genera’s have evolved wisely, for example, plants in terms of immunity and pathogens in terms of virulence. In plants, a strong defense mechanism is always a privilege to escape pathogen’s deadly infection.
There are many promising tools to manipulate plant-pathogen battle. One is CRISPR/Cas9.
What is CRISPR/Cas9?
CRISPR is synonymous with genome editing or gene editing. This exciting technique has paved the way open for scientists to change an organism's DNA. By using this technology, a segment of DNA can be added, removed or altered at specific locations.
This technology exists in bacteria as a way to ward off bacteriophages. The question is “how does CRISPR/Cas9 work in bacteria”? The bacteria utilize the invading virus DNA pieces to create DNA segments which are known as “CRISPR array”. “The CRISPR arrays allow the bacteria to remember viruses. If the viruses attack again; the bacteria produce RNA segments from CRISPR arrays to kill the invading viruses. Then, bacteria use Cas9 enzymes to disable the virus.”
CRISPR/Cas9 mechanisms can be used to disable the virulent factors of invading pathogens. It can be used as a screening tool against pathogens, for example, nucleic acid detection, and gene tagging.
A thorough understanding of plant and pathogen interactions is fundamental to sustainable agriculture. By characterizing plant resistance and pathogen virulent genes will help in CRISPR/CAS9 based applications in sustainable agriculture and food security.
