Maize Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.2, 98-107 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/mgg 105 broader spectrum and more durable resistance. Given the rapid development and increasingly widespread application of this technology, it will surely play an important role in corn disease resistance breeding in the future (Langner et al., 2018; Bisht et al., 2019; Ahmad et al., 2020; Zaidi et al., 2020). 7.3 New challenges brought by climate change and disease adaptability Climate change has brought a lot of trouble to corn production, especially in terms of disease resistance. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather will complicate the disease problem. Pathogens may also gradually adapt to these environmental changes and even break through the existing disease resistance barriers of corn. This interaction between climate and disease requires us to respond with more active breeding strategies (Bisht et al., 2019; Miedaner et al., 2020; Zaidi et al., 2020). 8 Suggestions and Prospects The future development direction of maize disease resistance research cannot only focus on a single technology or method, but must be considered comprehensively from multiple angles. For example, the diversity of germplasm resources has always been the basis of breeding, but it is not only the increase in quantity, but more importantly, their performance must be repeatedly verified under different environments. The genetic differences between maize germplasms in different regions are very large, which brings valuable genetic resources to disease resistance breeding. Introducing germplasms from different regions can discover some unique disease resistance genes and help create varieties that are both stable and widely resistant to diseases. In particular, testing under multiple environmental conditions can screen out truly disease-resistant and stable genotypes. Although this process is more complicated, it is precisely because the disease resistance mechanism is diverse and complex that it can provide more practical solutions for responding to climate change and pathogen mutations. As long as it is verified through these multi-environment tests, the breeding results may be promoted to a wider range. Speaking of gene editing technology, the emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 has made new breakthroughs in maize disease resistance breeding. Unlike traditional genetic modification, CRISPR can modify genes more accurately, such as knocking out genes that are easily attacked by pathogens, or directly adding disease resistance genes. These operations can improve corn's resistance to diseases such as northern leaf spot. However, the application of CRISPR is not limited to this. It can also regulate the relationship between effectors and targets, and even design new immune receptors, or intervene in the role of defense hormones, thereby achieving long-term resistance to a variety of pathogens. In the future, if gene editing is combined with traditional breeding, it will be more efficient and can breed excellent disease-resistant varieties more quickly. Especially in the context of climate change accelerating the spread of pathogens, this flexible and efficient technology is particularly important. Acknowledgments We would like to thank CropSci Publisher continuous support throughout the development of this study. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The authors affirm that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Ahmad S., Wei X., Sheng Z., Hu P., and Tang S., 2020, CRISPR/Cas9 for development of disease resistance in plants: recent progress, limitations and future prospects, Briefings in functional genomics, Briefings in Functional Genomics, 19(1): 26-39. https://doi.org/10.1093/bfgp/elz041 Anwer M.A., Niwas R., Ranjan T., Mandal S.S., Ansar M., Srivastava J.N., Kumar J., Jain K., Kumari N., and Bharti A., 2022, Molecular and morphological characterization of Exserohilum turcicum(Passerini) leonard and suggs causing northern corn leaf blight of maize in bihar, Bioengineering, 9(8): 403. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9080403 Bisht D.S., Bhatia V., and Bhattacharya R., 2019, Improving plant-resistance to insect-pests and pathogens: the new opportunities through targeted genome editing, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 96: 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2019.04.008 Cao Z.Y., Zhang K., Guo X.Y., Turgeon G.B., and Dong J.G., 2020, A genome resource of Setosphaeria turcica, causal agent of northern leaf blight of maize, Phytopathology, 110(12): 2014-2016. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-06-20-0225-A
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==