Designing Climate-Resilient Crops for Sustainable Agriculture: A Silent Approach

Sustainable management of plant diseases has become crucial in the context of climate change and food security. In this regard, several plant disease control methods are in use, however the RNA silencing or RNA interference (RNAi) technology is a promising tool for molecular breeding aimed at crop improvement that is efficacious, environmentally safe and cost-effective approach. The molecular tool-kit of RNAi pathway for crop improvement has (i) RNAi, (ii) microRNA (miRNA) or artificial microRNA (amiRNA), and (iii) artificial/synthetic trans-acting small interfering RNA (atasiRNA/syn-tasiRNA). RNAi has been successfully exploited for designing crop plants for biotic and abiotic stress resistance with high target specificity allowing growers to target stress condition more precisely compared to the conventional methods. The Spray-Induced Gene Silencing (SIGS) technology has attracted more attention due to its feasibility and non-transgenic nature. While the RNAi technology has been considered promising for plant stress management, issues such as efficiency of RNAi, degradation of silencing signals, environmental risk assessments, and development of resistance are some of the challenges that need to be addressed. RNAi technology is further improved in terms of delivery using BioClay or carbon nanodots for increased effectivity. Further, the benefits of RNAi merged with gene editing platform can provide potential benefits over existing technologies for precisely improving quality traits without incorporation of foreign DNA fragments. The review encompasses on the use of RNAi technology to develop plants with improved abiotic stress tolerance and biotic stress resistance.