Chapter 6 - RNA interference as a promising strategy for plant disease management

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) in plant disease management is a novel gene silencing tool that uses several types of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) to knock down the genes either at transcriptional or posttranscriptional level aimed at sequence-specific degradation of phytopathogen’s gene/s or gene/s that code for suppressor molecules to combat negative effects of plant pathogens in crop production. Transformative and nontransformative approaches viz. host-induced gene silencing, spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), and virus-induced gene silencing have been exploited to elicit RNAi mechanism, and recent strategy SIGS uses exogenous applications of naked in vitro-synthesized or crude dsRNAs. Disease control via RNA silencing in plant disease management has broadly been studied for viral and fungal diseases, and very few investigations have been reported against bacterial diseases. This chapter summarizes the potential of RNAi technology in plant disease management to control major phytopathogens. It also critically and comprehensively examines various methods used for induction of RNAi mechanism and current applications of such strategies of RNAi in different crop systems against plant pathogens. Therefore it can be concluded that RNA silencing is a promising and effective tactic in managing phytopathogens without causing any deleterious effects on the environment.