The Use of Transgenic Plants Expressing Antimicrobial Peptide Genes as a Promising Strategy to Improve Plant Resistance to Phytopathogens

Plant diseases lead to considerable reduction of crop yields and also reduce the quality of agricultural products. This review focuses on the problem of enhancing plant resistance to pathogens by creating transgenic plants expressing antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes as one of the strategies for plant disease control. The main economically important plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi and bacteria are summarized, and methods for their control are described. The need for developing new, environmentally friendly plant protection products that harness plant’s innate defense mechanisms is emphasized. These products could be incorporated into an integrated defense system alongside traditionally used chemical pesticides. Plant antimicrobial peptides may become such new biopesticides. The key properties of AMPs, which make them promising molecules for enhancing crop resistance to phytopathogens, are outlined, and numerous examples of laboratory-produced transgenic plants expressing AMP genes are provided. Thus, the described strategy could potentially become an important component of integrated plant disease control strategy against phytopathogens.