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Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals

Drought (D) and heat (H) are the two major abiotic stresses hindering cereal crop growth and productivity, either singly or in combination (D/+H), by imposing various negative impacts on plant physiological and biochemical processes. Consequently, this decreases overall cereal crop production and im...

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Autores principales: Liu, Songtao, Zenda, Tinashe, Tian, Zaimin, Huang, Zhihong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10557149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37810398
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1111875
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author Liu, Songtao
Zenda, Tinashe
Tian, Zaimin
Huang, Zhihong
author_facet Liu, Songtao
Zenda, Tinashe
Tian, Zaimin
Huang, Zhihong
author_sort Liu, Songtao
collection PubMed
description Drought (D) and heat (H) are the two major abiotic stresses hindering cereal crop growth and productivity, either singly or in combination (D/+H), by imposing various negative impacts on plant physiological and biochemical processes. Consequently, this decreases overall cereal crop production and impacts global food availability and human nutrition. To achieve global food and nutrition security vis-a-vis global climate change, deployment of new strategies for enhancing crop D/+H stress tolerance and higher nutritive value in cereals is imperative. This depends on first gaining a mechanistic understanding of the mechanisms underlying D/+H stress response. Meanwhile, functional genomics has revealed several stress-related genes that have been successfully used in target-gene approach to generate stress-tolerant cultivars and sustain crop productivity over the past decades. However, the fast-changing climate, coupled with the complexity and multigenic nature of D/+H tolerance suggest that single-gene/trait targeting may not suffice in improving such traits. Hence, in this review-cum-perspective, we advance that targeted multiple-gene or metabolic pathway manipulation could represent the most effective approach for improving D/+H stress tolerance. First, we highlight the impact of D/+H stress on cereal crops, and the elaborate plant physiological and molecular responses. We then discuss how key primary metabolism- and secondary metabolism-related metabolic pathways, including carbon metabolism, starch metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) biosynthesis, and phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling can be modified using modern molecular biotechnology approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9 system and synthetic biology (Synbio) to enhance D/+H tolerance in cereal crops. Understandably, several bottlenecks hinder metabolic pathway modification, including those related to feedback regulation, gene functional annotation, complex crosstalk between pathways, and metabolomics data and spatiotemporal gene expressions analyses. Nonetheless, recent advances in molecular biotechnology, genome-editing, single-cell metabolomics, and data annotation and analysis approaches, when integrated, offer unprecedented opportunities for pathway engineering for enhancing crop D/+H stress tolerance and improved yield. Especially, Synbio-based strategies will accelerate the development of climate resilient and nutrient-dense cereals, critical for achieving global food security and combating malnutrition.
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spelling pubmed-105571492023-10-07 Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals Liu, Songtao Zenda, Tinashe Tian, Zaimin Huang, Zhihong Front Plant Sci Plant Science Drought (D) and heat (H) are the two major abiotic stresses hindering cereal crop growth and productivity, either singly or in combination (D/+H), by imposing various negative impacts on plant physiological and biochemical processes. Consequently, this decreases overall cereal crop production and impacts global food availability and human nutrition. To achieve global food and nutrition security vis-a-vis global climate change, deployment of new strategies for enhancing crop D/+H stress tolerance and higher nutritive value in cereals is imperative. This depends on first gaining a mechanistic understanding of the mechanisms underlying D/+H stress response. Meanwhile, functional genomics has revealed several stress-related genes that have been successfully used in target-gene approach to generate stress-tolerant cultivars and sustain crop productivity over the past decades. However, the fast-changing climate, coupled with the complexity and multigenic nature of D/+H tolerance suggest that single-gene/trait targeting may not suffice in improving such traits. Hence, in this review-cum-perspective, we advance that targeted multiple-gene or metabolic pathway manipulation could represent the most effective approach for improving D/+H stress tolerance. First, we highlight the impact of D/+H stress on cereal crops, and the elaborate plant physiological and molecular responses. We then discuss how key primary metabolism- and secondary metabolism-related metabolic pathways, including carbon metabolism, starch metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) biosynthesis, and phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling can be modified using modern molecular biotechnology approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9 system and synthetic biology (Synbio) to enhance D/+H tolerance in cereal crops. Understandably, several bottlenecks hinder metabolic pathway modification, including those related to feedback regulation, gene functional annotation, complex crosstalk between pathways, and metabolomics data and spatiotemporal gene expressions analyses. Nonetheless, recent advances in molecular biotechnology, genome-editing, single-cell metabolomics, and data annotation and analysis approaches, when integrated, offer unprecedented opportunities for pathway engineering for enhancing crop D/+H stress tolerance and improved yield. Especially, Synbio-based strategies will accelerate the development of climate resilient and nutrient-dense cereals, critical for achieving global food security and combating malnutrition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-09-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10557149/ /pubmed/37810398 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1111875 Text en Copyright © 2023 Liu, Zenda, Tian and Huang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Liu, Songtao
Zenda, Tinashe
Tian, Zaimin
Huang, Zhihong
Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title_full Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title_fullStr Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title_full_unstemmed Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title_short Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
title_sort metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10557149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37810398
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1111875
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