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Applications of Transgenic and Targeted Genome Editing in Rice Improvement

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2021) | Viewed by 20574

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. V. Mohan Murali Achary

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Guest Editor

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India

Dr. Malireddy K. Reddy

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Guest Editor

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The daily calorie requirement of over half of the world's population is met by rice consumption. Rapid climate change and associated abiotic and biotic stresses have heavily impacted rice production globally. To cope up with these challenges, present rice research is majorly focused upon the development of climate resilient, high yielding, and nutritionally superior varieties of popular rice varieties which will not only adapt to lesser water requirements, low fertilizer input, and various other abiotic and biotic stresses, but will also yield more per unit land to meet the future food demand of humanity. Scientific advances in targeted genome editing and transgenic technology offer expanded potential to dissect gene function and also re-engineer and design future rice varieties. Novel gene editing systems have emerged as a powerful tool to target one gene or gene-families and modify plant genomes in several ways to address various bottlenecks associated with rice production and productivity. This Special Issue of the Agronomy journal seeks to offer a platform for researchers to publish high quality reviews, opinions, and research articles on the genetic improvement of rice through applications of transgenic and targeted genome editing approaches in the context of improving of grain yield, disease resistance, stress tolerance, and the nutritional quality of rice.

Dr. V. Mohan Murali Achary
Dr. Malireddy K. Reddy
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

genome editing
transgenic technology
stress tolerance
disease resistance
nutritional quality
grain yield
rice improvement

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 1607 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficient Genetic Transformation of Rice for CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated Genome-Editing and Stable Overexpression Studies: A Case Study on Rice Lipase 1 and Galactinol Synthase Encoding Genes

by Tanika Thakur, Kshitija Sinha, Tushpinder Kaur, Ritu Kapoor, Gulshan Kumar, Rupam Kumar Bhunia and Prafull Salvi

Agronomy 2022, 12(1), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12010179 - 12 Jan 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4923

Abstract

Rice is a staple food crop for almost half of the world’s population, especially in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. It is widely grown in different climatic conditions, depending on the quality of the water, soil, and genetic makeup of the rice cultivar. Many (a)biotic stresses severely curtail rice growth and development, with an eventual reduction in crop yield. However, for molecular functional analysis, the availability of an efficient genetic transformation protocol is essential. To ensure food security and safety for the continuously increasing global population, the development of climate-resilient crops is crucial. Here, in this study, the rice transformation protocol has been effectively optimized for the efficient and rapid generation of rice transgenic plants. We also highlighted the critical steps and precautionary measures to be taken while performing the rice transformation. We further assess the efficacy of this protocol by transforming rice with two different transformation constructs for generating galactinol synthase (GolS) overexpression lines and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated edited lines of lipase (Lip) encoding the OsLip1 gene. The putative transformants were subjected to molecular analysis to confirm gene integration/editing, respectively. Collectively, the easy, efficient, and rapid rice transformation protocol used in this present study can be applied as a potential tool for gene(s) function studies in rice and eventually to the rice crop improvement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Transgenic and Targeted Genome Editing in Rice Improvement)

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10 pages, 14318 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of pMDC140 Plasmid Containing the Wheatwin2 Gene into the Tadong Rice Genome

by Eric Tzyy Jiann Chong, Jovita Jun Wong, Zaleha Abdul Aziz, Chia Lock Tan, Sreeramanan Subramaniam, Mariam Abd. Latip and Ping-Chin Lee

Agronomy 2021, 11(6), 1072; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11061072 - 26 May 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2299

Abstract

Blast disease resulting from Magnaporthe oryzae fungal infection reduces annual rice yield by up to 30% globally. The wheatwin2 (wwin2) is a pathogenesis-related (PR) gene that encodes for a PR-4 protein with chitinase properties that is capable of degrading chitin, a major constituent of certain fungal cell walls. However, the potential for wwin2 to contribute to M. oryzae resistance in rice is unclear. This study reports the construction of a pMDC140 vector carrying the wwin2 gene and its Agrobacterium-mediated transformation into the Tadong rice genome. In brief, the wwin2 gene was synthesized and integrated into a pMDC140 vector using Gateway cloning technology and was transformed into the Tadong rice genome. Our results show a promising high transformation rate, with more than 90% of the transformed rice calli expressing β-glucuronidase (GUS), the reporter gene marker. The expression of the wwin2 gene in transformed rice calli was further confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In conclusion, a pMDC140-wwin2 vector was constructed, which had a high transformation rate and could consistently induce expression of the GUS and wwin2 genes in Tadong rice. Data of this study is beneficial for subsequent in vitro and M. oryzae-infected field experiments to confirm the defense mechanism of the wwin2 gene towards blast disease in rice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Transgenic and Targeted Genome Editing in Rice Improvement)

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Review

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25 pages, 2118 KiB

Open AccessReview

Precision Genome Editing Toolbox: Applications and Approaches for Improving Rice’s Genetic Resistance to Pathogens

by Anirudha Chattopadhyay, Jyotika Purohit, Sahil Mehta, Hemangini Parmar, Sangeetha Karippadakam, Afreen Rashid, Alexander Balamurugan, Shilpi Bansal, Ganesan Prakash, V. Mohan Murali Achary and Malireddy K. Reddy

Agronomy 2022, 12(3), 565; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12030565 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2727

Abstract

In the present scenario of a looming food crisis, improving per hectare rice productivity at a greater pace is among the topmost priorities of scientists and breeders. In the past decades, conventional, mutational, and marker-assisted breeding techniques have played a significant role in developing multiple desired rice varieties. However, due to certain limitations, these techniques cannot furnish the projected food security of the 2050 population’s aching stomachs. One of the possible options would be precise crop genome editing using various tools, viz., TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 to resolve this multifaceted crisis. Initially, the potentiality of these technologies was tested only in the rice protoplasts. Later, the techniques were employed to edit calli with help of modified vectors, CRISPR variants, cassette cloning systems, and delivery methods. With the continuous technological advancements such as base editing, multiplexing, etc., the precision, rapidness, efficiency, reliability, potency, and range of applications of these platforms have increased and even been used for gene function studies. This leads to a revolution in the field of the rice improvement program, especially the stress tolerance against various pests and pathogens in which the susceptibility factors located within the rice genome are targeted through genome editing tools. Therefore, in this current article, we have summarized the advancements in the rice genome editing tools during the last decade concerning enhanced biotic stress tolerance. Additionally, we have focused on the regulatory aspects of genome editing with associated risks and limitations, and the prospects to reshape the rice genome for durable resistance to complex biotic stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Transgenic and Targeted Genome Editing in Rice Improvement)

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24 pages, 3281 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Applications and Potential of Genome-Editing Systems in Rice Improvement: Current and Future Perspectives

by Javaria Tabassum, Shakeel Ahmad, Babar Hussain, Amos Musyoki Mawia, Aqib Zeb and Luo Ju

Agronomy 2021, 11(7), 1359; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11071359 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 9020

Abstract

Food crop production and quality are two major attributes that ensure food security. Rice is one of the major sources of food that feeds half of the world’s population. Therefore, to feed about 10 billion people by 2050, there is a need to develop high-yielding grain quality of rice varieties, with greater pace. Although conventional and mutation breeding techniques have played a significant role in the development of desired varieties in the past, due to certain limitations, these techniques cannot fulfill the high demands for food in the present era. However, rice production and grain quality can be improved by employing new breeding techniques, such as genome editing tools (GETs), with high efficiency. These tools, including clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) systems, have revolutionized rice breeding. The protocol of CRISPR/Cas9 systems technology, and its variants, are the most reliable and efficient, and have been established in rice crops. New GETs, such as CRISPR/Cas12, and base editors, have also been applied to rice to improve it. Recombinases and prime editing tools have the potential to make edits more precisely and efficiently. Briefly, in this review, we discuss advancements made in CRISPR systems, base and prime editors, and their applications, to improve rice grain yield, abiotic stress tolerance, grain quality, disease and herbicide resistance, in addition to the regulatory aspects and risks associated with genetically modified rice plants. We also focus on the limitations and future prospects of GETs to improve rice grain quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Transgenic and Targeted Genome Editing in Rice Improvement)

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