Chemical Interventions to Alleviate Salt Stress in Cotton Plants: A Review

The alleviation of salt stress in cotton plants through the application of exogenous chemicals has emerged as a viable strategy to mitigate the adverse effects on various plant attributes, including growth, development, yield, and flowering. Plant hormones, known for their efficacy at low doses, have garnered significant attention in this context. Despite being inherently susceptible to salt stress, cotton plants experience severe impediments in water absorption from the soil, leading to delayed growth and development. Several phytohormones, including jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and glycine betaine, have been extensively investigated in numerous studies for their potential to ameliorate salt stress in cotton plants. Promising results have been obtained with both foliar and seed treatments employing these substances. This foundational knowledge has paved the way for the development of alternative strategies to mitigate salt stress. However, the practical utilization of these chemicals is hindered by their elevated cost. Plant growth regulators, such as nitric oxide and melatonin, have also garnered interest for their ability to alleviate salt stress in cotton plants. Numerous studies have corroborated their effectiveness in this regard. This review comprehensively examines the aforementioned substances and extracts that have been investigated for their potential to mitigate the detrimental effects of salt stress on cotton plants

Recent Developments in Fiber Genomics of Tetraploid Cotton Species

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) produces naturally soft, single-celled trichomes as fiber on the seed coat supplying the main source of natural raw material for the textile industry. It is economically considered as one of the most leading cash crops in the world and evolutionarily very important as a model system for detailed scientific investigations. Cotton production is going through a big transition stage such as losing the market share in competition with the synthetic fibers, high popularity of Bt and herbicide resistance genes in cotton cultivars, and the recent shift of fiber demands to meet the standard fiber quality due to change of textile technologies to produce high superior quality of fibers in the global market. Recently, next-generation sequencing technologies through high-throughput sequencing at greatly reduced costs provided opportunities to sequence the diploid and tetraploid cotton genomes. With the availability of large volume of literatures on molecular mapping, new genomic resources, characterization of cotton genomes, discoveries of many novel genes, regulatory elements including small and microRNAs and new genetic tools such as gene silencing or gene editing technique for genome manipulation, this report attempted to provide the readers a comprehensive review on the recent advances of cotton fiber genomics research

RNA Interference for Functional Genomics and Improvement of Cotton (Gossypium sp.)

RNA interference (RNAi), is a powerful new technology in the discovery of genetic sequence functions, and has become a valuable tool for functional genomics of cotton (Gossypium ssp.). The rapid adoption of RNAi has replaced previous antisense technology. RNAi has aided in the discovery of function and biological roles of many key cotton genes involved in fiber development, fertility and somatic embryogenesis, resistance to important biotic and abiotic stresses, and oil and seed quality improvements as well as the key agronomic traits including yield and maturity. Here, we have comparatively reviewed seminal research efforts in previously used antisense approaches and currently applied breakthrough RNAi studies in cotton, analyzing developed RNAi methodologies, achievements, limitations, and future needs in functional characterizations of cotton genes. We also highlighted needed efforts in the development of RNAi-based cotton cultivars, and their safety and risk assessment, small and large-scale field trials, and commercialisation

METABOLIC ENGINEERING OF ARTEMISININ

Artemisinin in combination with other drugs is used to treat the parasite of malaria, one of the most dangerous parasitic diseases in the world. Due to the very low content of artemisin (~ 0.5-1.2%) in A. annua, it does not satisfy the need for artemisin. Methods of metabolic engineering and genetic engineering are used for microorganisms, Artemisia annua and other plants to solve this problem. This review provides information on the metabolic pathways of artemisinin biosynthesis in any gene involved that have been studied in recent years. By metabolic injection, it can obtain large amounts of artemisinin from Artemisia annua and other plants. This will decrease the price of artemisinin in the future and brings tremendous benefits to millions of people around the world

Identification of nematodes of the genus

The present study delves into a methodological framework aimed at establishing species-specific markers via the utilization of sequences derived from the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. This method, in conjunction with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, serves as a diagnostic tool for discerning species belonging to the genus Teladorsagia Andreeva et Satubaldin, 1954. These species, constituents of the subfamily Ostertagiinae (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae), exhibit wide distribution within the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants across the geographic expanse of Uzbekistan. The heart of this endeavor is the development of species-specific primers, a pioneering creation in its own right. These primers are crafted using sequences emanating from the ITS2 region of the ribosomal DNA, an innovative approach that facilitates the precise identification of morphospecies within the Teladorsagia genus. Notably, the primers exhibit a nucleotide length of 153 base pairs, an attribute instrumental in their capacity to accurately distinguish and diagnose eggs and larvae of three distinct morphspecies: T. circumcincta, T. trifurcata, and T. davtiani. The potential implications of this method are significant, with ramifications reverberating across the field of veterinary diagnostics. Through the application of these primers, practitioners and researchers alike can effectively ascertain the presence of specific Teladorsagia morphospecies in ruminant animals. This holds the promise of not only enhancing diagnostic precision but also contributing to the broader comprehension of the prevalence and distribution of these nematode species within the local ruminant populations

Transcriptome Analysis Using RNA Sequencing for Finding Genes Related to Fiber in Cotton: A Review

The cotton crop is economically important and primarily grown for its fiber. Although the genus Gossypium consists of over 50 species, only four domesticated species produce spinnable fiber. However, the genes determine the molecular phenotype of fiber, and variation in their expression primarily contributes to associated phenotypic changes. Transcriptome analyses can elucidate the similarity or variation in gene expression (GE) among organisms at a given time or a circumstance. Even though several algorithms are available for analyzing such high-throughput data generated from RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq), a reliable pipeline that includes a combination of tools such as an aligner for read mapping, an assembler for quantitating full-length transcripts, a differential gene expression (DGE) package for identifying differences in the transcripts across the samples, a gene ontology tool for assigning function, and enrichment and pathway mapping tools for finding interrelationships between genes based on their associated functions are needed. Therefore, this chapter first introduces the cotton crop, fiber phenotype, transcriptome, then discusses the basic RNA-Seq pipeline and later emphasizes various transcriptome analyses studies focused on genes associated with fiber quality and its attributes

Target genes utilized for drought tolerance enhancement in maize

Among the most widely grown cereal crops is maize, which is a staple food for millions of people worldwide. It is primarily used for human consumption in various forms, animal feed, and industrial applications. In many countries like Mexico, Africa, and South America, it is the main source of calories in their daily diet, making it crucial for food security. Many nations worldwide are more at risk of drought as global warming continues to accelerate. One of the major hurdles to food production in the twenty-first century and a serious threat to our present and future food security is a water crisis. Crop failure due to water scarcity can put millions of lives at risk. Along with traditional breeding, transgenic approaches are an essential tool in modern plant breeding. They allow the introduction of beneficial genes from other organisms or within the same organism to improve plant characteristics. This review focuses on specific genes that are stably expressed and tested for drought tolerance in maize. Several genes have been identified as potential targets for improving drought tolerance in maize. Although mechanisms of target genes overlap to some extent, we attempted to divide the selected research articles according to the mechanism of the targeted gene into categories and reviewed them

Engineering Drought Tolerance in Crops Using CRISPR Cas systems

Drought stress is one of the most considerable threats to global agricultural food security, causing yield losses worldwide. Therefore, the search for effective genetic and molecular methods for developing cultivars that are tolerant or resistant to harsh environments has been more intensive over the last decades. Apart from time-consuming conventional breeding techniques, biotechnologists are now investigating modern genome editing tools for engineering tolerance and resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses in crops. Various genetic engineering techniques such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) were developed based on the discovery of the DNA structure. However, these methods have limitations, with ZFNs being prone to errors due to their limited base pair recognition, and TALENs requiring a complex protein engineering process and struggling to cleave methylated DNA. In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) and its alternatives have gained popularity in plant biotechnology. Out of the genome editing techniques mentioned earlier, CRISPR/Cas9 is becoming more popular because it's faster and easier to use. Given that drought is now a significant threat to global agriculture due to the drying of arable lands, this review focuses on how we can use CRISPR genome editing to enhance crop tolerance to drought stress and explores its future potential

A review of approaches to enhance salt stress tolerance in cotton by genetic engineering

Due to climate change, deserts are expanding, water reservoirs are drying, soil erosion is becoming more serious, and salinity areas are expanding worldwide. Among these disasters, soil salinization is one of the serious issues that affect agricultural production, with significant effects on plant development. Although plants have a solid adaptation to severe environmental conditions, their vulnerability to some abiotic stresses is still preserved in the plant genome. Cotton is a salt stress-tolerant crop among other main cash crops. However, its tolerance is limited in overwatered soil conditions or water-deficient soil. Several research investigations have been carried out to date to better understand salinity stress responses in various cotton species. The accumulation of salt due to irrigation-dependent practices exerts an adverse impact on crop productivity. However, this deleterious effect can be mitigated through a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which certain plants flourish under saline conditions. Over the past few decades, there has been a notable augmentation in mechanistic comprehension, leading to the initiation of discovery-oriented methodologies aimed at discerning the genetic determinants of salt tolerance. Recent studies are showing the results of the manipulation of some important genes and proteins for salt tolerance using modern approaches. The identification of salt-resistance genes from salt-tolerant germplasm resources plays an essential role in improving the yield of cotton in saline soils. In this paper, we reviewed what has been achieved in cotton in terms of the development of its salt tolerance using genetic engineering