Pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) countering environmental stress in plants: A review

Plants are sessile; they cannot move to avoid adverse environmental conditions. Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are induced in the plant by imposing different biotic stresses such as pathogens and abiotic stresses like drought, cold, salinity, heavy metal etc. There are currently nineteen families of PR proteins (PR-1 to PR -19), with 17 confirmed and two putative PR families identified and classified based on their biochemical nature. PR proteins promote innate resistance in plants by disintegrating fungal cell walls, permeabilizing membranes, suppressing transcription, and inactivating ribosomes. Previous research has shown that they play an important role in determining resistance to phytopathogens, making them a promising candidate for developing disease-resistant crop varieties. Plant genetic engineering could be used to create disease -resis-tant transgenic crops by utilizing several PR genes (thaumatin, osmotin-like proteins, chitinases, glucanases, defensins, thionins, oxalate oxidase, oxalate oxidase-like proteins/germin-like proteins, and LTPs). In this review, we attempt to demonstrate the types and biochemical nature of various PR proteins, as well as their insight mechanism for pathogen resistance and the use of PR proteins for disease-tolerant plants developed at a low cost. & COPY; 2023 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Plants induce pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins in response to biotic and abiotic stresses to enhance innate resistance. There are 19 families of PR proteins identified and classified based on their biochemical nature. PR proteins promote pathogen resistance in plants through various mechanisms and have the potential to be used for developing disease-resistant crops via genetic engineering. This review provides insights into the types and biochemical nature of PR proteins and their applications in creating cost-effective disease-tolerant plants.