Introduction: Heat stress poses a significant environmental challenge, impacting plant growth, diminishing crop production, and reducing overall productivity. Plants employ various mechanisms to confront heat stress, and their ability to survive hinges on their capacity to perceive and activate appropriate physiological and biochemical responses. One such mechanism involves regulating multiple genes and coordinating their expression through different signaling pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite being a highly nutritious and resilient cereal, pearl millet is not popular among consumers and food industries due to the short shelf-life of flour attributed to rapid rancidity development. The biochemical mechanism underlying rancidity, a complex and quantitative trait, needs to be better understood. The present study aims to elucidate the differential accumulation of metabolites in pearl millet that impact the rancidity process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Plant Biol
October 2024
Dinanath grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin.) is an extensively grown forage grass known for its significant drought resilience. In order to comprehensively grasp the adaptive mechanism of Dinanath grass in response to water deficient conditions, transcriptomic and metabolomics were applied in the leaves of Dinanath grass exposed to two distinct drought intensities (48-hour and 96-hour).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe growth-regulating factor (GRF) and GRF-interacting factor (GIF) families encode plant-specific transcription factors and play vital roles in plant development and stress response processes. Although GRF and GIF genes have been identified in various plant species, there have been no reports of the analysis and identification of the GRF and GIF transcription factor families in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan). The present study identified seven CaGRFs, eleven CcGRFs, four CaGIFs, and four CcGIFs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAphid salivary proteins mediate the interaction between aphids and their host plants. Moreover, these proteins facilitate digestion, detoxification of secondary metabolites, as well as activation and suppression of plant defenses. The cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora, is an important sucking pest of leguminous crops worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the increasing population, there lies a pressing demand for food, feed and fibre, while the changing climatic conditions pose severe challenges for agricultural production worldwide. Water is the lifeline for crop production; thus, enhancing crop water-use efficiency (WUE) and improving drought resistance in crop varieties are crucial for overcoming these challenges. Genetically-driven improvements in yield, WUE and drought tolerance traits can buffer the worst effects of climate change on crop production in dry areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAflatoxins are immunosuppressive and carcinogenic secondary metabolites, produced by the filamentous ascomycete , that are hazardous to animal and human health. In this study, we show that multiplexed host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) of genes essential for fungal sporulation and aflatoxin production (, , , and confers enhanced resistance to infection and aflatoxin contamination in groundnut (<20 ppb). Comparative proteomic analysis of contrasting groundnut genotypes (WT and near-isogenic HIGS lines) supported a better understanding of the molecular processes underlying the induced resistance and identified several groundnut metabolites that might play a significant role in resistance to infection and aflatoxin contamination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPHOSPHORUS-STARVATION TOLERANCE 1 (OsPSTOL1) is a variably present gene that benefits crown root growth and phosphorus (P) sufficiency in rice (Oryza sativa). To explore the ecophysiological importance of this gene, we performed a biogeographic survey of landraces and cultivars, confirming that functional OsPSTOL1 alleles prevail in low nutrient and drought-prone rainfed ecosystems, whereas loss-of-function and absence haplotypes predominate in control-irrigated paddy varieties of east Asia. An evolutionary history analysis of OsPSTOL1 and related genes in cereal, determined it and other genes are kinase-only domain derivatives of membrane-associated receptor like kinases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe clustered regularly interspaced short palindrome repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein Cas) system is a powerful and highly precise gene-editing tool in basic and applied research for crop improvement programs. CRISPR/Cas tool is being extensively used in plants to improve crop yield, quality, and nutritional value and make them tolerant to environmental stresses. CRISPR/Cas system consists of a Cas protein with DNA endonuclease activity and one CRISPR RNA transcript that is processed to form one or several short guide RNAs that direct Cas9 to the target DNA sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiseases are one of the major constraints in commercial crop production. Genetic diversity in varieties is the best option to manage diseases. Molecular marker-assisted breeding has produced hundreds of varieties with good yields, but the resistance level is not satisfactory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA fundamental factor to improve crop productivity involves the optimization of reduced carbon translocation from source to sink tissues. Here, we present data consistent with the positive effect that the expression of the H-PPase () has on reduced carbon partitioning and yield increases in wheat. Immunohistochemical localization of H-PPases (TaVP) in spring wheat Bobwhite L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrop plant resistance against pathogens is governed by dynamic molecular and biochemical responses driven by complex transcriptional networks. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely unclear. Here we report an interesting role of HvWRKY23 transcription factor (TF) in modulating defense response against Fusarium head blight (FHB) in barley.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe resistance to late blight is either qualitative or quantitative in nature. Quantitative resistance is durable, but challenging due to polygenic inheritance. In the present study, the diploid potato genotypes resistant and susceptible to late blight, were profiled for metabolites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is a devastating disease affecting potato production worldwide. The quantitative resistance is durable, but the underlying molecular and biochemical mechanisms are poorly understood, limiting its application in breeding. Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics approach was used for the first time to study the hierarchies of molecular events occurring, following inoculation of resistant and susceptible potato genotypes with P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is a devastating disease affecting potato production worldwide. The quantitative resistance is durable, but the underlying molecular and biochemical mechanisms are poorly understood, limiting its application in breeding. Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics approach was used for the first time to study the hierarchies of molecular events occurring, following inoculation of resistant and susceptible potato genotypes with P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat and barley. Resistance to FHB is highly complex and quantitative in nature, and is most often classified as resistance to spikelet infection and resistance to spread of pathogen through the rachis. In the present study, a resistant (CI9831) and a susceptible (H106-371) two-row barley genotypes, with contrasting levels of spikelet resistance to FHB, pathogen or mock-inoculated, were profiled for metabolites based on liquid chromatography and high resolution mass spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResistance to late blight in potato is either qualitative or quantitative in nature. The quantitative resistance is durable, but the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying quantitative resistance are poorly understood, and are not efficiently utilised in potato breeding. A non-targeted metabolomics, using high resolution hybrid mass spectrometry, was applied to decipher the mechanisms of resistance in the advanced breeding diploid potato genotypes (Solanum tuberosum L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate blight is a serious economic threat to potato crop, sometimes leading to complete crop loss. The resistance in potato to late blight can be qualitative or quantitative in nature. Qualitative resistance is not durable.
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