Biotic stress is one of the major factors caused by living organisms like bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, nematodes, arachnids and other pests and pathogens that represent a major cause of pre- and post-harvest losses in agricultural products. Various novel genetic approaches can help plants to resist these stressors. Conservation of genes amongst the various host species has boosted research for the management of pathogens. For crop improvements, breeding programmes are facing great challenges due to non-availability of suitable resistant sources within the crop germplasm. Therefore, genetic engineering has emerged as a precious alternative and corresponding approach for imposing resistance to diseases. The engineered plants with cry genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Cry toxins) that are resistant against insect pests are the most extensively used technology till date. In general, bioengineered advances for fungi, bacteria and nematodes, RNAi in pathogenicity-related genes and post-transcriptional silencing of viral coat proteins from viruses proved to be an effective strategy. A large number of engineered crops have already been developed and more are in progress. However, the number of transgenic crops reaching the agricultural field is still limited. There is a great necessity in speeding up the crop improvement programmes that can incorporate modern biotechnological tools with improved breeding practices for enhanced global food security.
Biotic stress is one of the major factors caused by living organisms like bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, nematodes, arachnids and other pests and pathogens that represent a major cause of pre- and post-harvest losses in agricultural products. Various novel genetic approaches can help plants to resist these stressors. Conservation of genes amongst the various host species has boosted research for the management of pathogens. For crop improvements, breeding programmes are facing great challenges due to non-availability of suitable resistant sources within the crop germplasm. Therefore, genetic engineering has emerged as a precious alternative and corresponding approach for imposing resistance to diseases. The engineered plants with cry genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Cry toxins) that are resistant against insect pests are the most extensively used technology till date. In general, bioengineered advances for fungi, bacteria and nematodes, RNAi in pathogenicity-related genes and post-transcriptional silencing of viral coat proteins from viruses proved to be an effective strategy. A large number of engineered crops have already been developed and more are in progress. However, the number of transgenic crops reaching the agricultural field is still limited. There is a great necessity in speeding up the crop improvement programmes that can incorporate modern biotechnological tools with improved breeding practices for enhanced global food security.