Grafting-biotech is the application of modern biotechnological methods to enhance and optimize the ancient horticultural practice of physically joining two plant tissues so they grow as a single organism. This field investigates the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying graft compatibility, vascular reconnection, and long-distance signaling across graft junctions. Understanding these processes opens new avenues for engineering disease resistance, improving rootstock-scion interactions, and accelerating crop improvement without genetic transformation.
Grafting — joining one plant's shoot onto another's root system — turns out to be a two-way molecular conversation. This review shows how engineering only the rootstock can make the fruit-bearing top of the plant more resistant to disease and climate stress, without altering its own DNA.
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mRNAs, small RNAs, proteins, and peptides physically cross the graft junction through the phloem, enabling direct molecular communication between rootstock and scion.
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Small RNAs and regulatory peptides are the key stress-resistance messengers, activating systemic defence responses in the scion by modulating its gene expression.
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CRISPR-Cas9-engineered rootstocks successfully deliver protective mobile molecules to unmodified scions, enhancing tolerance to pathogens, pests, and abiotic stresses without altering the scion genome.
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