Millets for a sustainable future.

Our current agricultural system faces a perfect storm-climate change, burgeoning population, and unpredictable outbreaks like COVID-19 disrupt food production, particularly for vulnerable populations in developing countries. A paradigm shift in agriculture practices is needed to tackle these issues. One solution is the diversification of crop production.

Breaking the yield-quality tradeoff: OsNLP3 in rice.

A recent study by Sun et al. OsNLP3 enhances grain weight and reduces grain chalkiness in rice sheds new insight on the crucial role of OsNLP3 in regulating grain weight and chalkiness through its interaction with OsCEP6.1 and OsNF-YA8 and suppress their expression.

Major transcription factor families at the nexus of regulating abiotic stress response in millets: a comprehensive review.

Millets stand out as a sustainable crop with the potential to address the issues of food insecurity and malnutrition. These small-seeded, drought-resistant cereals have adapted to survive a broad spectrum of abiotic stresses. Researchers are keen on unravelling the regulatory mechanisms that empower millets to withstand environmental adversities.

Newly identified Pijx gene: a weapon against both seedling and panicle blast in rice.

A recently reported Pijx gene interacts and promotes the ATPb degradation through 26 proteasomal pathways activate OsRbohC mediated ROS burst, leading to broad-spectrum rice blast resistance in seedling and panicle.

Multi-environment GWAS identifies genomic regions underlying grain nutrient traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italica).

A total of 104 foxtail millet accessions were evaluated for 11 nutrients in three environments and 67 high-confidence marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified. Six SNPs showed pleiotropic effect and associated with two or more nutrients, whereas 24 candidate genes were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven traits. Millets are known for their better nutritional profiles compared to major cereals.

Histone deacetylase 9 interacts with SiHAT3.1 and SiHDA19 to repress dehydration responses through H3K9 deacetylation in foxtail millet.

Climate change inflicts several stresses on plants, of which dehydration stress severely affects growth and productivity. C4 plants possess better adaptability to dehydration stress; however, the role of epigenetic modifications underlying this trait is unclear. In particular, the molecular links between histone modifiers and their regulation remain elusive.

Dynamics of epigenetic control in plants via SET domain containing proteins: Structural and functional insights.

Plants control expression of their genes in a way that involves manipulating the chromatin structural dynamics in order to adapt to environmental changes and carry out developmental processes. Histone modifications like histone methylation are significant epigenetic marks which profoundly and globally modify chromatin, potentially affecting the expression of several genes. Methylation of histones is catalyzed by histone lysine methyltransferases (HKMTs), that features an evolutionary conserved domain known as SET [Su(var)3-9, E(Z), Trithorax].

An insight into the roles of regulatory ncRNAs in plants: An abiotic stress and developmental perspective.

Different environmental cues lead to changes in physiology, biochemistry and molecular status of plant's growth. Till date, various genes have been accounted for their role in regulating plant development and response to abiotic stress. Excluding genes that code for a functional protein in a cell, a large chunk of the eukaryotic transcriptome consists of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) which lack protein coding capacity but are still functional.

SiHSFA2e regulated expression of SisHSP21.9 maintains chloroplast proteome integrity under high temperature stress.

High temperature-induced crop failures are prominent nowadays in major staples, including rice, wheat, and maize; however, crops such as foxtail millet (Setaria italica) are resilient to temperature stress. In this study, a novel small heat shock protein of foxtail millet, SisHSP21.9, is identified and characterized for its role in conferring tolerance to high-temperature stress.

5M approach to decipher starch-lipid interaction in minor millets.

The 5M approach can be applied to understand genetic complexity underlying nutritional traits of minor millets. It will help to systematically identify genomic regions/candidate genes imprinting metabolite profiles.

Multi-omics intervention in to dissect climate-resilient traits: Progress and prospects.

Millets constitute a significant proportion of underutilized grasses and are well known for their climate resilience as well as excellent nutritional profiles. Among millets, foxtail millet () and its wild relative green foxtail () are collectively regarded as models for studying broad-spectrum traits, including abiotic stress tolerance, C photosynthesis, biofuel, and nutritional traits. Since the genome sequence release, the crop has seen an exponential increase in omics studies to dissect agronomic, nutritional, biofuel, and climate-resilience traits.

DNA methylation dynamics in response to abiotic and pathogen stress in plants.

DNA methylation is a dynamic epigenetic mechanism that plays a significant role in gene expression and also maintains chromatin stability. The process is conserved in both plants and animals, and crucial for development and stress responses. Differential DNA methylation during adverse environmental conditions or pathogen attack facilitates the selective expression of defense-related genes.

De novo transcriptome analysis identifies key genes involved in dehydration stress response in kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.).

Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.) is a small millet species known for its excellent nutritional and climate-resilient traits. To understand the genes and pathways underlying dehydration stress tolerance of kodo millet, the transcriptome of cultivar 'CO3' subjected to dehydration stress (0 h, 3 h, and 6 h) was sequenced.

Genetics and Genomics Interventions for Promoting Millets as Functional Foods.

Several crops, including millets with immense nutritional and therapeutic values, were once a part of our regular diet. However, due to domestication and selection pressures, many of them have become marginally cultivated crops confined to a particular region, race, or locality. Millets are a perfect example of neglected species that have the potential to address both food and nutritional insecurities prevalent among the ever-growing global population.

Big genomic data analysis leads to more accurate trait prediction in hybrid breeding for yield enhancement in crop plants.

The 'big data' in plant breeding refers to the cumulative genotyping and phenotyping information obtained from either a series of experimental sets or generated from a large number of accessions. Recent study supports the employment of big data for enhancing the accuracy of complex trait prediction during hybrid breeding of crop plants.

Delineating the epigenetic regulation of heat and drought response in plants.

Being sessile in nature, plants cannot overlook the incursion of unfavorable environmental conditions, including heat and drought. Heat and drought severely affect plant growth, development, reproduction and therefore productivity which poses a severe threat to global food security. Plants respond to these hostile environmental circumstances by rearranging their genomic and molecular architecture.

Regulation of small RNA-mediated high temperature stress responses in crop plants.

Small RNAs have emerged as key players of gene expression regulation. Several lines of evidences highlight their role in modulating high temperature stress responsiveness in plants. Throughout their life cycle, plants have to regulate their gene expression at various developmental phases, physiological changes, and in response to biotic or environmental stress.

Biotechnological approaches to dissect climate-resilient traits in millets and their application in crop improvement.

'Small millets' is a generic term that includes all the millets except pearl millet and sorghum. These small or minor millets constitute eleven species that are marginally cultivated and consumed worldwide. These small millets possess excellent agronomic-, climate-resilient, and nutritional traits, although they lack popularity.

Breeding and biotechnological interventions for trait improvement: status and prospects.

Present review describes the molecular tools and strategies deployed in the trait discovery and improvement of major crops. The prospects and challenges associated with these approaches are discussed. Crop improvement relies on modulating the genes and genomic regions underlying key traits, either directly or indirectly.

MicroRNAs as Key Regulators of Ovarian Cancers.

The tumor microenvironment can be realistically viewed as an active battle ground between the host immune system and the growing tumor cells. This reactive space surrounding the tumor possesses several possibilities and facilitates the progression of a tumor from a neoplastic stage to that of metastasis. The contemporary approach of understanding the cancer biology from a "within the cell" perspective has been largely challenged with complex and intricate "outside the cell" events.

Genomic dissection and expression analysis of stress-responsive genes in C panicoid models, Setaria italica and Setaria viridis.

The study reports the identification and expression profiling of five major classes of C pathway-specific genes, namely, carbonic anhydrase (CaH), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK), NADP-dependent malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and NADP-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME), in the model species, Setaria italica and Setaria viridis. A total of 42 and 41 genes were identified in S. italica and S.

Versatile roles of aquaporin in physiological processes and stress tolerance in plants.

Aquaporins are pore-forming transmembrane proteins that facilitate the movement of water and many other small neutral solutes across the cells and intracellular compartments. Plants exhibits high diversity in aquaporin isoforms and broadly classified into five different subfamilies on the basis of phylogenetic distribution and subcellular occurrence: plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), nodulin 26-like proteins (NIPs), small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs) and uncharacterized intrinsic proteins (XIPs). The gating mechanism of aquaporin channels is tightly regulated by post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, glycosylation, and deamination.

An efficient Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation method for foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.).

A simple and robust Agrobacterium-mediated gene expression system in the C4 panicoid model crop, foxtail millet has been developed with up to 27 % transformation efficiency. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is a model crop to study C photosynthesis, abiotic stress tolerance, and bioenergy traits.