Nutrient and Water Availability Influence Rice Physiology, Root Architecture and Ionomic Balance via Auxin Signalling.

Water and soil nutrients are the vital ingredients of crop production, and their efficient uptake is essentially dependent on root development, majorly regulated by auxin. For a water-loving crop like rice, how water availability regulates nutrient acquisition, additionally, how ambient nutrient level modulates water uptake, and the role of auxin therein is not well studied. While investigating the cross-talks among these components, we found water to be essential for auxin re-distribution in roots and shaping the root architecture.

Breeding rice for yield improvement through CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing method: current technologies and examples.

Unlabelled: The impending climate change is threatening the rice productivity of the Asian subcontinent as instances of crop failures due to adverse abiotic and biotic stress factors are becoming common occurrences. CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing offers a potential solution for improving rice yield as well as its stress adaptation. This technology allows modification of plant's genetic elements and is not dependent on foreign DNA/gene insertion for incorporating a particular trait.

A rapid and robust colorimetric method for measuring relative abundance of auxins in plant tissues.

Introduction: Auxin estimation in plant tissues is a crucial component of auxin signaling studies. Despite the availability of various high-throughput auxin quantification methods like LC-MS, GC-MS, HPLC, biosensors, and DR5-gus/gfp-based assays, auxin quantification remains troublesome because these techniques are very expensive and technology intensive and they mostly involve elaborate sample preparation or require the development of transgenic plants.

Objectives: To find a solution to these problems, we made use of an old auxin detection system to quantify microbe derived auxins and modified it to effectively measure auxin levels in rice plants.

A simplified and improved protocol of rice transformation to cater wide range of rice cultivars.

The latest CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing technology is expected to bring about revolution in rice yield and quality improvement, and thus validation of rice transformation protocols using CRISPR-Cas9-gRNA constructs is the need of the hour. Moreover, regeneration of more number of transgenic rice plants is prerequisite for developing genome-edited rice lines, as recalcitrant rice varieties were shown to have lower editing efficiencies which necessities screening of large number of transgenic plants to find the suitable edits. In the present study, we have simplified the Agrobacterium-mediated rice transformation protocol for both Indica and Japonica rice cultivars using CRISPR/Cas9 empty vector construct, and the protocols have been suitably optimized for getting large numbers of the regenerated plantlets within the shortest possible time.

Revisiting the role of MAPK signalling pathway in plants and its manipulation for crop improvement.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is an important signalling event associated with every aspect of plant growth, development, yield, abiotic and biotic stress adaptation. Being a central metabolic pathway, it is a vital target for manipulation for crop improvement. In this review, we have summarised recent advancements in understanding involvement of MAPK signalling in modulating abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, architecture and yield of plants.

Characterization and expression profiling of PIN auxin efflux transporters reveal their role in developmental and abiotic stress conditions in rice.

The auxin efflux transporter proteins called PINs ferry auxin from its source to sinks in particular directions depending on their polar localizations in the plasma membrane, thus facilitating the development of the entire plant architecture. The rice genome has 12 PIN genes distributed over eight chromosomes. To study their roles in plant development, abiotic stress responsiveness, and shaping an auxin-dependent root architecture, a genome-wide analysis was carried out.

Sugar transporters and their molecular tradeoffs during abiotic stress responses in plants.

Sugars as photosynthates are well known as energy providers and as building blocks of various structural components of plant cells, tissues and organs. Additionally, as a part of various sugar signaling pathways, they interact with other cellular machinery and influence many important cellular decisions in plants. Sugar signaling is further reliant on the differential distribution of sugars throughout the plant system.

Phytohormone signaling and crosstalk in regulating drought stress response in plants.

Phytohormones are ubiquitously involved in plant biological processes and regulate cellular signaling pertaining to unheralded environmental cues, such as salinity, drought, extreme temperature and nutrient deprivation. The association of phytohormones to nearly all the fundamental biological processes epitomizes the phytohormone syndicate as a candidate target for consideration during engineering stress endurance in agronomically important crops. The drought stress response is essentially driven by phytohormones and their intricate network of crosstalk, which leads to transcriptional reprogramming.

Imperative role of sugar signaling and transport during drought stress responses in plants.

Cellular sugar status is essentially maintained during normal growth conditions but is impacted negatively during various environmental perturbations. Drought presents one such unfavorable environmental cue that hampers the photosynthetic fixation of carbon into sugars and affects their transport by lowering the cellular osmotic potential. The transport of cellular sugar is facilitated by a specific set of proteins known as sugar transporters.

Transcription factors as key molecular target to strengthen the drought stress tolerance in plants.

Amid apprehension of global climate change, crop plants are inevitably confronted with a myriad of abiotic stress factors during their growth that inflicts a serious threat to their development and overall productivity. These abiotic stresses comprise extreme temperature, pH, high saline soil, and drought stress. Among different abiotic stresses, drought is considered the most calamitous stressor with its serious impact on the crops' yield stability.

Overexpression of improved EPSPS gene results in field level glyphosate tolerance and higher grain yield in rice.

Glyphosate is a popular, systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide used in modern agriculture. Being a structural analog of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), it inhibits 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) which is responsible for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids and various aromatic secondary metabolites. Taking a lead from glyphosate-resistant weeds, two mutant variants of the rice EPSPS gene were developed by amino acid substitution (T173I + P177S; TIPS-OsEPSPS and G172A + T173I + P177S; GATIPS-OsEPSPS).

Concurrent Overexpression of and Genes in Transgenic Rice ( L.): Impact on Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is a key enzyme involved in the nitrogen metabolism of higher plants. Abiotic stresses have adverse effects on crop production and pose a serious threat to global food security. GS activity and expression is known to be significantly modulated by various abiotic stresses.

Co-expression of P173S Mutant Rice and Genes Results in Higher Glyphosate Tolerance in Transgenic Rice.

Weeds and their devastating effects have been a great threat since the start of agriculture. They compete with crop plants in the field and negatively influence the crop yield quality and quantity along with survival of the plants. Glyphosate is an important broad-spectrum systemic herbicide which has been widely used to combat various weed problems since last two decades.

Phosphite: a novel P fertilizer for weed management and pathogen control.

The availability of orthophosphate (Pi) is a key determinant of crop productivity because its accessibility to plants is poor due to its conversion to unavailable forms. Weed's competition for this essential macronutrient further reduces its bio-availability. To compensate for the low Pi use efficiency and address the weed hazard, excess Pi fertilizers and herbicides are routinely applied, resulting in increased production costs, soil degradation and eutrophication.

The development of a phosphite-mediated fertilization and weed control system for rice.

Fertilizers and herbicides are two vital components of modern agriculture. The imminent danger of phosphate reserve depletion and multiple herbicide tolerance casts doubt on agricultural sustainability in the future. Phosphite, a reduced form of phosphorus, has been proposed as an alternative fertilizer and herbicide that would address the above problems to a considerable extent.

Glutathione Peroxidase of Pennisetum glaucum (PgGPx) Is a Functional Cd2+ Dependent Peroxiredoxin that Enhances Tolerance against Salinity and Drought Stress.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) arise in the plant system due to inevitable influence of various environmental stimuli. Glutathione peroxidases are one of the important ROS scavengers inside the cell. A glutathione peroxidase (PgGPx) gene was previously found from Pennisetum glauccum abiotic stressed cDNA library.

Isolation and molecular characterization of thermostable phytase from Bacillus subtilis (BSPhyARRMK33).

The thermostable phytase gene was isolated from Bacillus subtilis ARRMK33 (BsPhyARRMK33). The gene has an ORF of 1152 bp and that encodes a protein of 383 amino acids. Sequence analysis showed high homology with Bacillus sp.