CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated Genome Editing for Enhancing Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Rice: An Omics Guided Perspective.
Joshi M, Panwar P, Sharma S, Sagar B, Kaur S
Crispr
Rice feeds half the world's population, and the droughts and salty soils creeping across growing regions mean the variety your favorite sushi restaurant depends on may simply stop thriving where it's grown today.
Researchers are using a molecular 'scissors' tool to tweak the genes in rice plants so they can survive droughts and salty soil much better than before. They've figured out which genes act like 'off switches' for stress tolerance and turned them off — and which act like 'on switches' and boosted them — resulting in rice plants that stay productive even when conditions get tough. The hard part now is making this work reliably in actual farm fields, not just in the lab.
Key Findings
CRISPR editing of genes like OsRR22 and OsDST produced rice plants with improved salt and drought tolerance without inserting any foreign genes, making them potentially easier to regulate.
Functional genomics (analyzing gene activity, proteins, and metabolites together) identified entire networks of stress-response regulators — including NAC, WRKY, and bHLH transcription factors — as promising targets for stacking multiple tolerances at once.
Major barriers remain for real-world deployment: most successes are in japonica rice varieties, results vary by genotype, and edited plants sometimes show unintended side effects (pleiotropy) when grown under multiple simultaneous stresses.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists are using a precise gene-editing tool called CRISPR to make rice more resilient to drought and saltiness — two threats that climate change is making worse. By targeting specific genes that control how rice responds to stress, researchers have created modified plants that hold up better under harsh conditions without introducing foreign DNA.
Abstract Preview
The cultivation of rice (Oryza sativa L.) has become increasingly challenging due to various abiotic stresses such as elevated salinity and drought conditions, and these challenges will only worsen...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Chloroplast Genome Editing Eliminates Gluten Immunogenicity in Triticum aestivum
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Rice is a cereal grain and in its domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa —or, much less commonly, Oryza glaberrima. Asian rice was domesticated in China some 13,500 to 8,200 y...