Engineering Climate-Change-Resilient Crops: New Tools and Approaches
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Date
2021-07-23
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Description
Environmental adversities, particularly drought and nutrient limitation, are among the
major causes of crop losses worldwide. Due to the rapid increase of the world’s population, there is
an urgent need to combine knowledge of plant science with innovative applications in agriculture to
protect plant growth and thus enhance crop yield. In recent decades, engineering strategies have been
successfully developed with the aim to improve growth and stress tolerance in plants. Most strategies
applied so far have relied on transgenic approaches and/or chemical treatments. However, to cope
with rapid climate change and the need to secure sustainable agriculture and biomass production,
innovative approaches need to be developed to effectively meet these challenges and demands.
In this review, we summarize recent and advanced strategies that involve the use of plant-related
cyanobacterial proteins, macro- and micronutrient management, nutrient-coated nanoparticles, and
phytopathogenic organisms, all of which offer promise as protective resources to shield plants from
climate challenges and to boost stress tolerance in crops.
Keywords
Cyanobacteria, Photosynthesis, Volatile compounds, Gene expression, Metabolites, Plant protection resources, Macro- and micronutrients