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Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
REVIEW

Role of RNA interference in drought stress management: physiological, biochemical and molecular approach

Naveen Sihag https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9113-7333 A , Tushadri Singh https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0582-7096 B * , Sonia Sheoran A , Omvir Singh A , Rekha Malik A , Lokendra Kumar A and Jogendra Singh A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)–Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India.

B Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145, Uttarakhand, India.

* Correspondence to: tushadri@rediffmail.com

Handling Editor: Enrico Francia

Crop & Pasture Science 75, CP23189 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP23183
Submitted: 4 July 2023  Accepted: 29 November 2023  Published: 2 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Plants frequently encounter unfavourable growth conditions due to various biotic and abiotic stress factors. Drought is a significant abiotic stress factor that negatively impacts plant growth and development resulting in reduced crop productivity. Through evolution, plants have developed dynamic mechanisms that involve complex cross-talk between different regulatory levels, providing flexibility in their response to environmental stressors. Small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), particularly microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), have been discovered to play a crucial role in regulating molecular response to stress, and to be the key players in the RNA interference (RNAi) process. RNAi is a reliable strategy for precise regulation of gene expression and has emerged as a game-changer in mitigating plant responses to abiotic stress such as drought. This review summarises the role of RNAi in drought mitigation and its mechanism of action, compiling the current understanding of drought-responsive miRNAs functional at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels in major cereals. Moreover, we discuss the fine-tuning of miRNAs using the CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9) system, a genome editing tool which can enhance the precision of gene expression regulation and increase plant tolerance to drought stress. These technologies have significant potential in ensuring global food security and sustainable agriculture by increasing crop yield and resilience to environmental stress.

Keywords: abiotic stress, cereals, drought, drought resistance, gene targeting, miRNA, molecular genetics, ncRNA, RNA interference, siRNA.

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