Genome editing of susceptibility and resistance genes for engineering disease-resistant crops: recent advances, challenges and future prospects.

Plant diseases caused by bacterial, fungal, oomycete, and viral pathogens remain a major constraint to crop productivity worldwide. Recent advances in genome-editing technologies have enabled precise manipulation of genes involved in plant-pathogen interactions, providing new opportunities for developing disease-resistant crops. In particular, CRISPR/Cas-based systems have facilitated functional dissection and engineering of susceptibility genes, resistance genes, and immune regulatory networks across diverse crop species. In this review, we initially discuss emerging genome-engineering platforms and highlighting their potential for precise disease-resistance engineering. We then summarize current progress in genome-editing strategies for improving resistance against bacterial, fungal, oomycete, and viral pathogens through targeted manipulation of host susceptibility factors, immune receptors, transcription factors, and defense-signaling components, while critically evaluating the limitations and challenges associated with the reported approaches. The review further examines pleiotropic effects and fitness costs associated with susceptibility-gene editing, alongside the functional validation and precision engineering of classical resistance genes and quantitative and multilocus resistance mechanisms. Recent field-validation studies are also discussed in relation to agronomic performance, while ethical, regulatory, and policy considerations governing the adoption of gene-edited crops are addressed. Emerging applications of CRISPR-based transcriptional regulation and de novo domestication are highlighted as complementary strategies for developing disease-resistant crops. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future directions, emphasizing AI-driven target discovery and gRNA design and the transition from single-gene modification toward integrated disease-resistance engineering. Collectively, these advances highlight the potential of genome editing to accelerate the development of durable, agronomically competitive, and precisely engineered disease-resistant crops.