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.

Pathways of cluster growth: infra-red multi-photon dissociation spectroscopy of a series of Re-Si clusters, [ReSi], = 3-9.

Infra-red multiple-photon dissociation spectroscopy on Xe-tagged Re/Si clusters, [ReSi], = 3-9, reveals intense absorption features around 400 cm, along with, in some cases, additional bands in the 250-350 cm window. A survey of the potential energy surface using density functional theory in conjunction with particle swarm optimisation indicates a growth pattern based on a growing network of Si atoms wrapped around the Re centre: the Si units can be viewed as fragments of a putative 16-vertex Frank-Kasper polyhedron. The structural evolution for the [ReSi] series differs significantly from the iso-electronic Mn series studied previously, where the metal ion is typically bound externally to the surface of a growing 3-dimensional Si cluster, the differences reflecting the greater accessibility of 5d 3d electron density.

Intralobar pulmonary sequestration: a rare cause of hemoptysis: a case report.

Overview And Significance: Pulmonary sequestration (PS) is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by aberrant formation of nonfunctional lung tissue with anomalous systemic blood supply. Despite its rarity, PS presents significant diagnostic and management challenges, often necessitating a multidisciplinary approach for optimal patient outcomes. This case report provides insights into the clinical presentation, diagnostic modalities, and management strategies for PS.

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.

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.

Sensitivity of Kβ mainline X-ray emission to structural dynamics in iron photosensitizer.

Photochemistry and photophysics processes involve structures far from equilibrium. In these reactions, there is often strong coupling between nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom. For first-row transition metals, Kβ X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) is a sensitive probe of electronic structure due to the direct overlap between the valence orbitals and the 3p hole in the final state.

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.

Risk clustering and psychopathology from a multi-center cohort of Indian children, adolescents, and young adults.

Developmental adversities early in life are associated with later psychopathology. Clustering may be a useful approach to group multiple diverse risks together and study their relation with psychopathology. To generate risk clusters of children, adolescents, and young adults, based on adverse environmental exposure and developmental characteristics, and to examine the association of risk clusters with manifest psychopathology.

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.

Evolution of Vibrational Spectra in the Manganese-Silicon Clusters MnSi, = 10, 12, and 13, and Cationic [MnSi].

A comparison of DFT-computed and measured infrared spectra reveals the ground state structures of a series of gas-phase silicon clusters containing a common Mn unit. MnSi and [MnSi] are both axially symmetric, allowing for a clean separation of the vibrational modes into parallel (a) and perpendicular (e) components. Information about the Mn-Mn and Mn-Si bonding can be extracted by tracing the evolution of these modes as the cluster increases in size.

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.