Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) in the United Arab Emirates: Resources for Climate Resilience and Their Potential Medicinal Applications

Ramya Manoharan,1 Chythra Somanathan Nair,1 Drishya Nishanth,1 Radhakrishnan Subramanian,1 Xiulan Xie,2 Maozhi Ren,2 Abdul Jaleel1 1Department of Integrative Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates; 2Laboratory of Space Biology, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Abdul Jaleel, Department of Integrative Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, Email [email protected]: Global climate change threatens the production, growth, and sustainability of plants. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) offer a practical and sustainable solution to these climatic issues by boosting genetic diversity and crop resilience. Even though CWRs are wild relatives of domesticated plants, they are nevertheless mostly neglected. This review focuses on the possible application of CWRs, which are found in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and are known for their abiotic stress tolerance and potential medicinal properties. In olden days, traditionally, CWRs has been used as medicine for various ailments as they are rich in phytochemical compounds. However, the medicinal potential of these wild plant species is decreasing at an alarming rate due to climate change stress factors. The medicinal potential of these native crop wild plant species must be investigated because they could be a useful asset in the healthcare sector. Research on pangenomics studies of certain CWRs is also highlighted in the review, which reveals genetic variability caused due to climate change stress factors and how these genetic variability changes affect the production of secondary metabolites that have potent medicinal value. This provides insights into developing personalized medicine, in which particular CWRs plant species can be chosen or modified to generate medicinal compounds. Despite their superior medicinal properties, many CWRs in the UAE are still not well understood. Finding the desired genes coding for the biosynthesis of specific phytochemicals or secondary metabolites may help us better understand how these substances are synthesized and how to increase their production for a range of treatments.Keywords: crop wild relatives, CWRs, genetic resource, phytochemicals, pangenomics, medicinal applications