Role of Interference RNA (RNAi) in Plant Disease Management

Author(s) : Umair Abbas, Hafiza Madeeha Khan, Muhammad Faisal, Iqra Ayub, Khadija Shafqat, Tayyab Tahir

Abstract:

In our agricultural world, the inefficient control of pathogens which cause diseases in plant yield, is still a very big issue. Although for controlling plant diseases classical means such as plant breeding exists but genetic engineering has provided us an entirely new approach. Genetically modified crops having resistance against diseases occupy less area as compared to those crops having resistance to “herbicide” or resistance to insects. Various approaches exist for making a plant tolerant against bacteria, virus, fungi and nematode. RNA interference (RNAi) technology has emerged as a new defense system to combat plant diseases by making plant transgenic having resistance against diseases. The major benefit of RNAi technology as Novel Gene therapy against bacterial, fungal and the viral infection clearly shows that it controls the gene expression by translational degradation or translational inhibition. The silencing process is triggered by the product of dsRNA such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and micro RNAs (miRNAs). This targeted or specific gene silencing has enabled researchers to look after yields counter to detrimental microbes. This assessment is based upon the usage of RNAi. This is a deliberate approach in plant disease management for protecting our eye-catching world from the harmful pathogen invaders in eco-friendly mode.