A Brief Overview for the Development of Herbicide-Resistant Sugarcane Transformation Approaches

Mohsin Shad,Muhammad Usmaan,Aneeq Ur Rehman,Muhammad Usman,Sohail Ahmad,Hamza Zafar,Faheem Akram,Gulzaib Liaqat

doi:10.53992/njns.v6i1.62

Abstract

 Weeds are the undesirable and unwanted plants in the wrong place in a situation that can significantly decrease the yield of desirable plant such as sugarcane. One solution to tackle this problem is the development of herbicide resistant crops like sugar cane that are highly resistant to several herbicides or broad-spectrum herbicides which is done in most cases by genetic transformation, site-directed mutagenesis, and plant breeding. Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is the 2nd vital cash crop of Pakistan, placed at 6th position in world cane acreage and 15th in sugar production. Hence, sugarcane occupies a crucial position in the economy of Pakistan and acts like a backbone in economic development of country. There are several reasons for the lower sugarcane yield in Pakistan but the most important is the large number of weeds that covered most of the area of sugarcane cultivated fields which results in major loss of sugarcane yield in terms of quality and quantity. Broad spectrum herbicide resistant plants are produced to tackle this issue by the insertion of CP4 EPSPS (Glyphosate tolerant gene; 5-enolpyruvulshikimate-3-phosphate synthase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4) into sugarcane which provides them the ability to survive after the spray of glyphosate but weeds do not survive in this condition. The most common herbicide resistant technology is Glyphosate resistant technology which gives broad-spectrum weed control feasibility along with the flexibility in the application time of herbicide. There are numerous methods of transformation which are available now-a-days for insertion of foreign DNA into plant cells like Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, micro-projectile bombardment (gene gun) and protoplast transformation. Glyphosate tolerant gene expression is showed by three sugarcane cultivars (CPF-213, SPF-234 and HSF-240). Transgenic sugarcane plants showed these expressions are most stable against herbicide to control weeds. Several farmers in many countries have rapidly and extensively utilized herbicide-tolerant crops due to low production and labour costs, huge profit, increased weed control and many environmental benefits.

Highlights

Weeds are undesirable plants grown in a place that can significantly decrease the yield of desirable plants such as sugarcane
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is produced on a big scale in tropical and subtropical regions of the world used as raw material for sugar and several industrial products
The successful transformation of genes in sugarcane plants was confirmed through PCR by using gene-specific primers [26]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Weeds are undesirable plants grown in a place that can significantly decrease the yield of desirable plants such as sugarcane [1]. Broad-spectrum herbicideresistant plants are produced to combat weeds by the insertion of CP4 EPSPS (Glyphosate tolerant gene; 5enolpyruvulshikimate-3-phosphate synthase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4) into the plant of interest like sugarcane. The well-known broad-spectrum herbicide is Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl glycine) which is commonly used to eliminate unwanted and undesirable plants i.e., weeds [11]. The most common herbicide-resistant technology is glyphosate-resistant technology which gives broad-spectrum weeds control feasibility along with flexibility in the application timing of herbicide. The glyphosate-resistant EPSPS enzyme contributes to high-level herbicide resistance in most transgenic plants [11, 12]. 3-phosphate synthase) that results in failure of aromatic amino acid synthesis but the overexpression of the EPSPS gene in transgenic cells gives them the glyphosate resistance [13]. Most alternative transformation methods have low transformation efficiency and they have less or limited popularity except the infiltration and silicon carbide (SiC) mediated transformation (Aly, Lubna, & Bradford, 2021)

METHODS

CONCLUSION