Enhancing cotton resilience to challenging climates through genetic modifications

Cotton is one of the most important fiber crops that plays a vital role in the textile industry. Its production has been unstable over the years due to climate change induced biotic stresses such as insects, diseases, and weeds, as well as abiotic stresses including drought, salinity, heat, and cold. Traditional breeding methods have been used to breed climate resilient cotton, but it requires a considerable amount of time to enhance crop tolerance to insect pests and changing climatic conditions. A promising strategy for improving tolerance against these stresses is genetic engineering. This review article discusses the role of genetic engineering in cotton improvement. The essential concepts and techniques include genome editing via clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9(CRISPR-Cas9), overexpression of target genes, downregulation using RNA interference(RNAi), and virus-induced gene silencing(VIGS). Notably, the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation has made significant contributions to using these techniques for obtaining stable transgenic plants.