When an Intruder Comes Home: GM and GE Strategies to Combat Virus Infection in Plants

Abstract

Viruses are silent enemies that intrude and take control of the plant cell’s machinery for their own multiplication. Infection by viruses and the resulting damage is still a major challenge in the agriculture sector. Plants have the capability to fight back, but the ability of viruses to mutate at a fast rate helps them to evade the host’s response. Therefore, classical approaches for introgressing resistance genes by breeding have obtained limited success in counteracting the virus menace. Genetic modification (GM)-based strategies have been successful in engineering artificial resistance in plants. Several different approaches based on pathogen-derived resistance, antisense constructs, hairpin RNAs, double-stranded RNA, etc., have been used to enhance plants’ resistance to viruses. Recently, genome editing (GE) strategies mainly involving the CRISPR/Cas-mediated modifications are being used for virus control. In this review, we discuss the developments and advancements in GM- and GE-based methods for tackling viral infection in plants.