Search

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) poses a substantial threat to many important crops worldwide, emphasizing the need to develop and implement advanced technologies for effective pest control. CRISPR/Cas9, derived from the bacterial adaptive immune system, is a prominent tool used for genome editing in living organisms. Due to its high specificity and adaptability, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been used in various functional gene studies through gene knockout and applied in research to engineer phenotypes that may cause economical losses. The practical application of CRISPR/Cas9 in diverse insect orders has also provided opportunities for developing strategies for genetic pest control, such as gene drive and the precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT). In this review, a comprehensive overview of the recent progress in the application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for functional gene studies in S. frugiperda is presented. We outline the fundamental principles of applying CRISPR/Cas9 in S. frugiperda through embryonic microinjection and highlight the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in the study of genes associated with diverse biological aspects, including body color, insecticide resistance, olfactory behavior, sex determination, development, and RNAi. The ability of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to induce sterility, disrupt developmental stages, and influence mating behaviors illustrates its comprehensive roles in pest management strategies. Furthermore, this review addresses the limitations of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in studying gene function in S. frugiperda and explores its future potential as a promising tool for controlling this insect pest.

Environmental stresses diversely affect multiple processes related to the growth, development, and yield of many crops worldwide. In response, plants have developed numerous sophisticated defense mechanisms at the cellular and subcellular levels to react and adapt to biotic and abiotic stressors. RNA silencing, which is an innate immune mechanism, mediates sequence-specific gene expression regulation in higher eukaryotes. ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are essential components of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). They bind to small noncoding RNAs (sRNAs) and target complementary RNAs, causing translational repression or triggering endonucleolytic cleavage pathways. In this review, we aim to illustrate the recently published molecular functions, regulatory mechanisms, and biological roles of AGO family proteins in model plants and cash crops, especially in the defense against diverse biotic and abiotic stresses, which could be helpful in crop improvement and stress tolerance in various plants.

Increasing vulnerability of crops to a wide range of abiotic and biotic stresses can have a marked influence on the growth and yield of major crops, especially sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). In response to various stresses, plants have evolved a variety of complex defense systems of signal perception and transduction networks. Transcription factors (TFs) that are activated by different pathways of signal transduction and can directly or indirectly combine with cis-acting elements to modulate the transcription efficiency of target genes, which play key regulators for crop genetic improvement. Over the past decade, significant progresses have been made in deciphering the role of plant TFs as key regulators of environmental responses in particular important cereal crops; however, a limited amount of studies have focused on sugarcane. This review summarizes the potential functions of major TF families, such as WRKY, NAC, MYB and AP2/ERF, in regulating gene expression in the response of plants to abiotic and biotic stresses, which provides important clues for the engineering of stress-tolerant cultivars in sugarcane.