Regulatory short RNAs: A decade's tale for manipulating salt tolerance in plants.

Salt stress is a globally increasing environmental detriment to crop growth and productivity. Exposure to salt stress evokes a complex medley of cellular signals, which rapidly reprogram transcriptional and metabolic networks to shape plant phenotype. To date, genetic engineering approaches were used with success to enhance salt tolerance; however, their performance is yet to be evaluated under realistic field conditions.

Overexpression of native Musa-miR397 enhances plant biomass without compromising abiotic stress tolerance in banana.

Plant micro RNAs (miRNAs) control growth, development and stress tolerance but are comparatively unexplored in banana, whose cultivation is threatened by abiotic stress and nutrient deficiencies. In this study, a native Musa-miR397 precursor harboring 11 copper-responsive GTAC motifs in its promoter element was identified from banana genome. Musa-miR397 was significantly upregulated (8-10) fold in banana roots and leaves under copper deficiency, correlating with expression of root copper deficiency marker genes such as Musa-COPT and Musa-FRO2.

Iron fortification of banana by the expression of soybean ferritin.

Iron deficiency anemia is one of the serious ailments related to nutrition in the developing countries. Fruit and vegetable crops favor the bioavailability of iron. Banana is consumed as a staple food in the tropics.