Plant Science in the Face of Global Crises: Biotechnological Innovations for Climate Resilience, Food Security, and Medicinal Plant Conservation

The increasing number of anthropogenic and environmental stresses is leading to multiple global crises, including climate change, food insecurity, soil degradation, and alarming rate of loss of biodiversity of medicinal plants. These issues are challenging the long-term stability of the ecosystem and well-being of humans. In order to mitigate these challenges, plant science is at the forefront to provide answers to the rapidly emerging problems of the world. Keeping this context, this review article primarily focuses on the recent updates in plant biotechnology and its application to understand the impact of climate change, environmental stresses, and anthropogenic activities on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of plants, photosynthesis, and biodiversity of medicinal plants. This is followed by approaches to develop climate-resilient plants with the help of modern biotechnology tools, such as genetic engineering, CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene editing, and manipulation of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that also ensure food security in the context of increasing population pressure and declining soil health. With decreasing biodiversity of medicinal plants due to overexploitation and land use changes, recent tools to conserve them and their sustainable production, such as in vitro plant propagation, engineering of metabolic pathways, and cryopreservation, are also discussed. This is followed by the beneficial role of plant–microbiome interactions in nutrient dynamics, amelioration of plant stress, and sustainable agriculture through biofertilizers and biocontrol agents. This is rounded up with a focus on the biosafety, public perception, and policy issues related to biotechnology approaches and the need to address these, along with the issues related to the intellectual property rights of genetic resources, through appropriate policies. This review article, thus, provides an overview of the current progress in plant science, ranging fro