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RNAi for Crop Improvement

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Plant Biology and Biotechnology

Abstract

Scientific breakthroughs bring about significant advances in basic research, which ultimately lead to their applications for human welfare. One such discovery is RNA interference (RNAi), a highly conserved gene regulatory mechanism that controls the expression of genes at posttranscriptional level. Since the discovery of RNAi, it has become evident that RNAi has immense potential for crop improvement. The technology has been employed successfully to study the gene function and to alter the gene expression in plants for desired traits. RNAi has proved to be a novel and potential tool in combating abiotic and biotic stresses. Enriched nutritional quality, male sterility, delayed ripening, and secondary metabolite manipulation add to the list of successful applications of RNAi technology. This chapter focuses on the potential of RNAi technology to produce improved crop varieties.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for their Special Assistance Programme and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, for their FIST and DU-DST PURSE Programme. INSPIRE fellowship to SY by DST is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi, 110021, India

    Sneha Yogindran & Manchikatla Venkat Rajam

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  1. Sneha Yogindran
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  2. Manchikatla Venkat Rajam
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Correspondence to Manchikatla Venkat Rajam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sri Biotech Laboratories India Limited, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Bir Bahadur

  2. Department of Genetics, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Manchikatla Venkat Rajam

  3. Division of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Leela Sahijram

  4. Center for Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology, School of Life Sciences, Institute of Trans-Disciplinary Health Science and Technology (IHST), Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    K. V. Krishnamurthy

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Yogindran, S., Rajam, M.V. (2015). RNAi for Crop Improvement. In: Bahadur, B., Venkat Rajam, M., Sahijram, L., Krishnamurthy, K. (eds) Plant Biology and Biotechnology. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2283-5_31

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