Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.1, 10-18 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 12 which will be more resistant to disease (Zhang et al., 2018). Another gene, GhWRKY1-like, is a regulatory gene that can also improve disease resistance by affecting lignin synthesis (Hu et al., 2021). These experiments indicate: If you want cotton to resist disease, you must first find out the genes and verify whether it is useful. Figure 1GhnsLTPsA10negatively regulates the resistance of aphids and cotton bollworms Image caption: (a) The tissue-specific expression of GhnsLTPsA10 in NDM23 was analyzed by qRT PCR 24 hours after infection (hai). (b, c) Conduct non selective feeding assays using wild-type and transgenic Arabidopsis and cotton plants. (d) Selective feeding test for cotton bollworm. (e) Cotton selection aphid feeding determination. (f) Determination of cotton feeding selection for cotton bollworm (Adopted from Chen et al., 2021) 3.2 Application of cotton genome editing technologies 3.2.1 Application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology in cotton CRISPR-Cas9 is a very popular gene editing technology nowadays. It can “precisely use” the DNA of the crop to change bad genes, or add disease-resistant functions. Although there are not many examples of directly using CRISPR to transform cotton disease resistance, success stories on other crops have proven its potential (Wang and Zhang, 2024). So we have reason to believe that CRISPR can also play a role in cotton. 3.2.2 Case studies on improving resistance through genome editing Although CRISPR is not used much, there is a similar method called HIGS (host-induced gene silencing), which has also been used on cotton. HIGS practices are to let cotton actively “turn off” the key genes of bacteria. For example, some studies have “silenced” certain virulence genes of Verticillium dahliae, so that the bacteria are not that powerful and cotton is more resistant to disease (Wei et al., 2020). This shows that gene editing technology can indeed help prevent diseases. 3.3 Mechanisms of fungal toxins and strategies for cotton resistance Fungi produces some toxins that can interfere with the normal activity of the plant, such as making its defense worse. If we want cotton to be more resistant to disease, we must first figure out how these toxins work. Studies have found that a plant hormone called strigolactones can help. It can work with other hormones, such as abscisic acid and jasmonic acid, making the disease-resistant genes in cotton more active and the activity of antioxidant enzymes can also increase. In this way, cotton will be more resistant to Verticillium wilt (Han et al., 2024). There are also scientists trying to use a new method called “fusion antimicrobial peptide”. This substance can specifically attack components in the cell membrane of fungi, such as ergosterol. At present, this method is quite promising (Tong et al., 2020). These studies show that we are not just relying on traditional breeding or pesticides to prevent diseases. Scientists are still looking for solutions from a molecular perspective, hoping to fight fungal diseases more effectively.
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