The Prospects of gene introgression from crop wild relatives into cultivated lentil for climate change mitigation.

Crop wild relatives (CWRs), landraces and exotic germplasm are important sources of genetic variability, alien alleles, and useful crop traits that can help mitigate a plethora of abiotic and biotic stresses and crop yield reduction arising due to global climatic changes. In the pulse crop genus , the cultivated varieties have a narrow genetic base due to recurrent selections, genetic bottleneck and linkage drag. The collection and characterization of wild germplasm resources have offered new avenues for the genetic improvement and development of stress-tolerant, climate-resilient lentil varieties with sustainable yield gains to meet future food and nutritional requirements.

Comparative analysis of the efficiency of seed protein profiles in assessing genetic variation and population structure among indigenous Manipur black rice cultivars.

Background: The state of Manipur, North East India has distinct topology of hill and valley regions with vast agroclimatic variability, being considered as one of the centers of rice diversity. The indigenous Manipur black rice cultivars exhibit wide range of diversity in morphology, pericarp color, shape and size of grain, aroma, glutinous or non-glutinous features but remain less characterised. Many of these cultivars, such as those named Chakhao, are endowed with multiple health benefits due to high anthocyanins, and hold special importance for the local people.

Comprehending the evolution of gene editing platforms for crop trait improvement.

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) system was initially discovered as an underlying mechanism for conferring adaptive immunity to bacteria and archaea against viruses. Over the past decade, this has been repurposed as a genome-editing tool. Numerous gene editing-based crop improvement technologies involving CRISPR/Cas platforms individually or in combination with next-generation sequencing methods have been developed that have revolutionized plant genome-editing methodologies.

A comprehensive account of SARS-CoV-2 genome structure, incurred mutations, lineages and COVID-19 vaccination program.

This review collates information on the onset of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 genome architecture, emergence of novel viral lineages that drove multiple waves of infection around the world and standard and fast track development of vaccines. With the passage of time, the continuously evolving SARS-CoV-2 has acquired an expanded mutational landscape. The functional characterization of spike protein mutations, the primary target of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines has revealed increased transmission, pathogenesis and immune escape potential in the variant lineages of the virus.

Mapping of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein evolution during first and second waves of COVID-19 infections in India.

The aim of this study was to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein evolution during the first and second wave of COVID-19 infections in India. Detailed mutation analysis was done in 763 samples taken from GISAID for the ten most affected Indian states between March 2020 to August 2021. The study revealed 242 mutations corresponding to 207 sites.

Induction and evaluation of colchitetraploids of two species of Miers, 1851.

Autotetraploidy, both natural and/or induced, has potential for genetic improvement of various crop species including that of medicinal importance. (Willdenow, 1806) Miers, 1851 ex Hooker et Thomson, 1855 and (Loureiro, 1790) Merrill, 1934 are two diploid species, which are dioecious, deciduous and climbing shrubs with high medicinal importance. Among the three methods used for induction of polyploidy by colchicine treatment, it was cotton swab method which successfully induced the polyploidy in both species.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of Chitinase gene family in Brassica juncea and Camelina sativa in response to Alternaria brassicae.

Chitinases belong to the group of Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins that provides protection against fungal pathogens. This study presents the, genome-wide identification and characterization of chitinase gene family in two important oilseed crops B. juncea and C.

Seed protein fraction electrophoresis in peanut ( L.) accessions and wild species.

Total seed storage proteins were studied in 50 accessions of (11 ssp. var , 13 ssp. var , 11 ssp.

Crystal structure and functional insights of hemopexin fold protein from grass pea.

A regulatory protein from grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), LS-24, a close homolog of albumin 2 from garden pea (Pisum sativum) that is associated with polyamine biosynthesis, was characterized and the structure of a hemopexin-type fold among plant proteins illustrated. Crystal structure of LS-24 determined at 2.2 A resolution by multiple isomorphous replacement phasing showed four-bladed beta-propeller structure having a pseudo 4-fold molecular symmetry along a metal ion-binding central channel.