Comprehensive insights on association mapping in perennial fruit crops breeding - Its implications, current status and future perspectives.

In order to provide food and nutritional security for the world's rapidly expanding population, fruit crop researchers have identified two critical priorities: increasing production and preserving fruit quality during the pre- and post-harvest periods. The genetic basis of these complex, commercially important fruit traits which are uniquely regulated by polygenes or multi-allelic genes that interact with one another and the environment can be analyzed with the aid of trait mapping tools. The most interesting trait mapping approach that offers the genetic level investigation for marker-trait associations (MTAs) for these complex fruit traits, without the development of mapping population, is association mapping.

Physiological and omics-based insights for underpinning the molecular regulation of secondary metabolite production in medicinal plants: UV stress resilience.

Despite complex phytoconstituents, the commercial potential of medicinal plants under ultraviolet (UV) stress environment hasn't been fully comprehended. Due to sessile nature, these plants are constantly exposed to damaging radiation, which disturbs their natural physiological and biochemical processes. To combat with UV stress, plants synthesized several small organic molecules (natural products of low molecular mass like alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids and phenolics, etc.

De novo transcriptome profiling and development of novel secondary metabolites based genic SSRs in medicinal plant Phyllanthus emblica L. (Aonla).

Phyllanthus emblica (Aonla, Indian Gooseberry) is known to have various medicinal properties, but studies to understand its genetic structure are limited. Among the various secondary metabolites, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols and tannins possess great potential for its pharmacological applications. Keeping this consideration, we assembled the transcriptome using the Illumina RNASeq500 platform, generating 39,933,248 high-quality paired-end reads assembled into 1,26,606 transcripts.

Molecular insights into rare earth element (REE)-mediated phytotoxicity and its impact on human health.

Rare earth elements (REEs) that include 15 lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium are a special class of elements due to their remarkable qualities such as magnetism, corrosion resistance, luminescence, and electroconductivity. Over the last few decades, the implication of REEs in agriculture has increased substantially, which was driven by rare earth element (REE)-based fertilizers to increase crop growth and yield. REEs regulate different physiological processes by modulating the cellular Ca level, chlorophyll activities, and photosynthetic rate, promote the protective role of cell membranes, and increase the plant's ability to withstand various stresses and other environmental factors.