Geminiviruses and Food Security: A Molecular Genetics Perspective for Sustainable Agriculture in Africa

Minenhle Felicia Zenda, Priscilla Masamba, Farhahna Allie, Abidemi Paul Kappo

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The African continent is vulnerable to food insecurity. Increased food costs, job losses, and climate change force Africans to chronic hunger. Biotechnology can be used to mitigate this by using techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 systems, TALENs, and ZFNs. Biotechnology can utilize geminiviruses to deliver the necessary reagents for precise genome alteration. Additionally, plants infected with geminiviruses can withstand harsher weather conditions such as drought. Therefore, this article discusses geminivirus replication and its use as beneficial plant DNA viruses. It focuses explicitly on genome editing to increase plant resistance by manipulating plants’ salicylic acid and jasmonic acid pathways.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2768
JournalPlants
Volume13
Issue number19
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Keywords

  • Africa
  • Geminiviruses
  • agriculture
  • crop improvement
  • food security
  • genome editing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Ecology
  • Plant Science

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