Molecular Techniques for Improving Biotic Stress Tolerance

Biotic stressBiotic stress is caused by many factorsFactors, such as fungiFungi, bacteriaBacteria, virusesViruses, and nematodes; it is difficult to control biotic stressBiotic stress, which negatively impacts productivityProductivity and yield. Climate changesClimate change also elevate the impact of biotic stressBiotic stress. There are many ways from which it can be controlled. Traditional methodsMethod, such as chemical pesticides, have many adverse effects on human healthHealth as well as the environmentEnvironment. Additionally, the developmentDevelopment of pest and pathogenPathogen immunity to agrochemicals and the developmentDevelopment of new diseasesDisease is a significant issue, so this chapter highlights nonconventional approaches, such as molecular breedingMolecular breeding, including marker-assisted selectionMarker-assisted selection (MAS) and genetic engineeringGenetic engineering. The marker-assisted selection process leads to the selection of desirable traitsTraits that are more resistant to biotic stressBiotic stress. In genetic engineeringGenetic engineering, site-specific modifications can be accomplished through different techniques, such as transgenesisTransgenesis, TALENTranscription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), ZFNsZinc finger nuclease (ZFN), RNAi andClustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/CAS) CRISPR/Cas. Considering the success rate of these technologiesTechnology, all such techniques can be combined with the benefits of other advanced techniques to achieve multiple stressStress resilience in major staple crops and thus can provide a much-needed boost to the agriculturalAgricultural industry for crop production.