Chapters authored
Biotechnological Interventions for the Improvement of Sugarcane Crop and Sugar Production By Ghulam Mustafa, Faiz Ahmad Joyia, Sultana Anwar, Aqsa Parvaiz
and Muhammad Sarwar Khan
Sugarcane, not only fulfills 70% of world sugar needs but is also a prime potential source of bioethanol. It is majorly grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Researchers have improved this grass to great extent and have developed energy cane with ability to accumulate up to 18% sucrose in its Culm. Improvement of this crop is impeded by its complex genome, low fertility, long production cycle and susceptibility to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotechnological interventions hold great promise to address these impediments paving way to get improved sugarcane crop. Further, being vegetatively propagated in most of the agroecological regions, it has become more attractive plant to work with. This chapter highlights, how advanced knowledge of omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) can be employed to improve sugarcane crop. In addition, potential role of in vitro techniques and transgenic technology has also been discussed for developing improved sugarcane clones with enhanced sugar recovery.
Part of the book: Sugarcane
Technical Advances in Chloroplast Biotechnology By Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Ghulam Mustafa and Faiz Ahmad Joyia
Chloroplasts are highly organized cellular organelles after master organelle nucleus. They not only play a central role in photosynthesis but are also involved in several crucial cellular activities. Advancements in molecular biology and transgenic technology have further groomed importance of the organelle, and they are the most ideal ones for the expression of transgene. No doubt, limitations are there, but still research is advancing to resolve those. Certain valuable traits have been engineered for improved agronomic performance of crop plants. Industrial enzymes and therapeutic proteins have been expressed using plastid transformation system. Synthetic biology has been explored to play a key role in engineering metabolic pathways. Further, producing dsRNA in a plant’s chloroplast rather than in its cellular cytoplasm is more effective way to address desired traits. In this chapter, we highlight technological advancements in chloroplast biotechnology and its implication to develop biosafe engineered plants.
Part of the book: Transgenic Crops
Sugarcane as Future Bioenergy Crop: Potential Genetic and Genomic Approaches By Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Ghulam Mustafa, Faiz Ahmad Joyia and Safdar Ali Mirza
Biofuels are gaining increased scientific as well as public attention to fulfill future energy demands and can be the only potential candidates to safeguard and strengthen energy security by reducing the world’s reliance on exhausting fossil energy sources. Sugarcane is an important C4 crop with great potential to contribute to global biofuel production as sugarcane juice can be easily fermented to produce ethanol. The success of bioethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil has widened the scope of the technology and has led to increased demand of purpose-grown sugarcane for biofuel production. Scientific interventions have not only helped to improve the cane crop but industrial procedures have also been upgraded resulting in improved production of bioethanol. Likewise, advancements in omics have led to high hopes for the development of energy cane. This chapter highlights the advancements as well as potential and challenges in the production of sugarcane biofuel, focusing on genetic and genomic interventions improving the crop as energy-cane. Further, controversies in the production and usage of biofuel derived from sugarcane have also been discussed.
Part of the book: Sugarcane
Citrus Biotechnology: Current Innovations and Future Prospects By Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Usman, Faiz Ahmad Joyia and Muhammad Sarwar Khan
Citrus is a valuable fruit crop worldwide. It not only provides essential minerals and vitamins but is also of great commercial importance. Conventional research has contributed a lot to the improvement of this fruit plant. Numerous improved varieties have been developed through conventional breeding, mutational breeding, polyploidization and tissue culture yet pathogens continue to emerge at a consistent pace over a wide range of citrus species. Citriculture is vulnerable to various biotic and abiotic stresses which are quite difficult to be controlled through conventional research. Biotechnological intervention including transgenesis, genome editing, and OMICS offers several innovative options to resolve existing issues in this fruit crop. Genetic transformation has been established in many citrus species and transgenic plants have been developed having the ability to tolerate bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Genome editing has also been worked out to develop disease-resistant plants. Likewise, advancement in OMICS has helped to improve citrus fruit through the knowledge of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, interactomics, and phenomics. This chapter highlights not only the milestones achieved through conventional research but also briefs about the achievements attained through advanced molecular biology research.
Part of the book: Citrus
Emerging Trends to Improve Tropical Plants: Biotechnological Interventions By Irfan Ali, Faiz Ahmad Joyia, Ghulam Mustafa, Safdar Ali Mirza and Muhammad Sarwar Khan
Tropical plants are an integral part of the ecosystem and are of significance for the well-being of humanity. Since their domestication in 10,000 BC, conventional breeding has played a crucial role in their conservation and widespread adaptation worldwide. Advancements in multi-omics approaches, that is, genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, whole genome sequencing, and annotation, have led to the identification of novel genes involved in crucial metabolic pathways, thus helping to develop tropical plant varieties with desirable traits. Information retrieved from the pan-genome, super-pan-genome, and pan-transcriptome has further uplifted marker-assisted selection and molecular breeding. Tissue culture techniques have not only helped to conserve endangered plant species but have also opened up new avenues in terms of mass-scale propagation of ornamental plants. Transgenic technology is increasingly contributing to the betterment of tropical plants, and different plant species have been engineered for valuable traits. Likewise, genome editing is appearing to be a promising tool to develop tropical plants having the potential to fulfill future needs. Hence, this chapter highlights the importance of conventional and modern scientific approaches for the conservation and improvement of tropical plant species.
Part of the book: Tropical Plant Species and Technological Interventions for Improvement
Chloroplast Recycling and Plant Stress Tolerance By Faiz Ahmad Joyia, Ghulam Mustafa and Muhammad Sarwar Khan
Plastids have emerged as pivotal regulators of plant’s response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Chloroplasts have the ability to synthesize a variety of pigments, secondary metabolites, and phytohormones which help plant cells to withstand adverse conditions. Further, plastids communicate with the nucleus and other cellular organelles for the acquisition of essential molecules to survive under unfavorable conditions. They act as environmental sensors which not only synthesize molecules for stress tolerance but also induce nucleus-encoded genes for stress resilience. Senescence is a key developmental process in this context and plays an important role in the release of essential nutrients. Chloroplast proteolytic machinery plays a crucial role in the degradation or remodeling of plastid proteins resulting in the generation of numerous endogenous peptides which are present in the plant secretome. Plastid chaperone system is also activated for the repair/refold of damaged proteins resulting in improved tolerance to stresses. Autophagy is a conserved process that involves large-scale breakdown of chloroplast through piecemeal degradation and chlorophagy. The piecemeal degradation occurs through Rubisco-containing bodies (RCBs) and senescence-associated vacuoles (SAVs), whereas chlorophagy targets chloroplasts as a whole. Though information about chloroplast recycling is limited, the present work provides a comprehensive review on chloroplast recycling and its role in stress mitigation and adaptation in climate change scenarios.
Part of the book: Chloroplast Structure and Function [Working title]
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