Targeted editing of susceptibility genes for plant disease resistance: Current state and future hopes

Plants are constantly exposed to a plethora of pathogens including bacteria, fungi, and viruses posing significant challenges to global food security. The susceptibility of plants to these pathogens is often determined by specific genes within their genome. Understanding the role of susceptibility genes in plant-pathogen interactions is crucial for devising effective strategies to combat crop diseases. This review elucidates the importance of susceptibility genes in plants concerning their interactions with fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens. Susceptibility genes often encode proteins involved in crucial cellular processes such as signal transduction, defense response and pathogen recognition. Pathogens exploit vulnerabilities in these genes to establish infection and multiply within the host plant. In addition, advances in genome editing technologies offer promising avenues to enhance plant resistance against pathogens by targeting susceptibility genes. Techniques such as genome editing tools and epigenomic modification allow precise changes to be made in plant genomes, including the elimination or modification of susceptibility genes to confer resistance. However, ethical considerations and regulatory frameworks need to be addressed to ensure the potential use of gene editing in agriculture.