Enhancing the productivity and resilience of rice (Oryza sativa) under environmental stress conditions using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technology.

Riaz, Aamir; Uzair, Muhammad; Raza, Ali; Inam, Safeena; Iqbal, Rashid; Jameel, Saima; Bibi, Bushra; Khan, Muhammad Ramzan

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a crucial staple crop worldwide, providing nutrition to more than half of the global population. Nonetheless, the sustainability of grain production is increasingly jeopardized by both biotic and abiotic stressors exacerbated by climate change, which increases the crop's rvulnerability to pests and diseases. Genome-editing by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated Protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) presents a potential solution for enhancing rice productivity and resilience under climatic stress. This technology can alter a plant's genetic components without the introduction of foreign DNA or genes. It has become one of the most extensively used approaches for discovering new gene functions and creating novel varieties that exhibit a higher tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stresses, herbicide resistance, and improved yield production. This study examines numerous CRISPR-Cas9-based genome-editing techniques for gene knockout, gene knock-in, multiplexing for simultaneous disruption of multiple genes, base-editing, and prime-editing. This review elucidates the application of genome-editing technologies to enhance rice production by directly targeting yield-related genes or indirectly modulating numerous abiotic and biotic stress-responsive genes. We highlight the need to integrate genetic advancements with conventional and advanced agricultural methods to create rice varieties that are resilient to stresses, thereby safeguarding food security and promoting agricultural sustainability amid climatic concerns. Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important food crop globally. With a constant need to enhance rice traits in a changing climate, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated Protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) offers cutting-edge and precise genome-editing tool to modify rice genome to provide resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses. This review focuses on the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in rice breeding to create rice varieties that have enhanced tolerance to stresses, herbicide resistance, and higher productivity. This article belongs to the Collection Functional Genomics for Developing Climate Resilient Crops.

SUSTAINABLE agriculture; AGRICULTURE; HERBICIDE resistance; FOOD crops; FUNCTIONAL genomics

Functional Plant Biology, 2025, Vol 52, Issue 1, p1

1445-4408

Academic Journal

10.1071/FP24101