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Adegbaju MS, Ajose T, Adegbaju IE, Omosebi T, Ajenifujah-Solebo SO, Falana OY, Shittu OB, Adetunji CO, Akinbo O. Genetic engineering and genome editing technologies as catalyst for Africa's food security: the case of plant biotechnology in Nigeria. Front Genome Ed 2024; 6:1398813. [PMID: 39045572 PMCID: PMC11263695 DOI: 10.3389/fgeed.2024.1398813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Many African countries are unable to meet the food demands of their growing population and the situation is worsened by climate change and disease outbreaks. This issue of food insecurity may lead to a crisis of epic proportion if effective measures are not in place to make more food available. Thus, deploying biotechnology towards the improvement of existing crop varieties for tolerance or resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses is crucial to increasing crop production. In order to optimize crop production, several African countries have implemented strategies to make the most of this innovative technology. For example, Nigerian government has implemented the National Biotechnology Policy to facilitate capacity building, research, bioresource development and commercialization of biotechnology products for over two decades. Several government ministries, research centers, universities, and agencies have worked together to implement the policy, resulting in the release of some genetically modified crops to farmers for cultivation and Commercialization, which is a significant accomplishment. However, the transgenic crops were only brought to Nigeria for confined field trials; the manufacturing of the transgenic crops took place outside the country. This may have contributed to the suspicion of pressure groups and embolden proponents of biotechnology as an alien technology. Likewise, this may also be the underlying issue preventing the adoption of biotechnology products in other African countries. It is therefore necessary that African universities develop capacity in various aspects of biotechnology, to continuously train indigenous scientists who can generate innovative ideas tailored towards solving problems that are peculiar to respective country. Therefore, this study intends to establish the role of genetic engineering and genome editing towards the achievement of food security in Africa while using Nigeria as a case study. In our opinion, biotechnology approaches will not only complement conventional breeding methods in the pursuit of crop improvements, but it remains a viable and sustainable means of tackling specific issues hindering optimal crop production. Furthermore, we suggest that financial institutions should offer low-interest loans to new businesses. In order to promote the growth of biotechnology products, especially through the creation of jobs and revenues through molecular farming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muyiwa Seyi Adegbaju
- Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology Akure, Akure, Ondo, Nigeria
| | - Titilayo Ajose
- Fruits and Spices Department, National Horticultural Institute, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
| | | | - Temitayo Omosebi
- Department of Agricultural Technology, Federal College of Forestry, Jos, Nigeria
| | | | - Olaitan Yetunde Falana
- Department of Genetics, Genomic and Bioinformatics, National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency, Abuja, Nigeria
| | - Olufunke Bolatito Shittu
- Department of Microbiology, College of Biosciences, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria
| | | | - Olalekan Akinbo
- African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Office of Science, Technology and Innovation, Midrand, South Africa
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2
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Patan SSVK, Vallepu S, Shaik KB, Shaik N, Adi Reddy NRY, Terry RG, Sergeant K, Hausman JF. Drought resistance strategies in minor millets: a review. PLANTA 2024; 260:29. [PMID: 38879859 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-024-04427-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024]
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION The review discusses growth and drought-response mechanisms in minor millets under three themes: drought escape, drought avoidance and drought tolerance. Drought is one of the most prominent abiotic stresses impacting plant growth, performance, and productivity. In the context of climate change, the prevalence and severity of drought is expected to increase in many agricultural regions worldwide. Millets (coarse grains) are a group of small-seeded grasses cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world and are an important source of food and feed for humans and livestock. Although minor millets, i.e., foxtail millet, finger millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet and little millet are generally hardier and more drought-resistant than cereals and major millets (sorghum and pearl millet), understanding their responses, processes and strategies in response to drought is more limited. Here, we review drought resistance strategies in minor millets under three themes: drought escape (e.g., short crop cycle, short vegetative period, developmental plasticity and remobilization of assimilates), drought avoidance (e.g., root traits for better water absorption and leaf traits to control water loss), and drought tolerance (e.g., osmotic adjustment, maintenance of photosynthetic ability and antioxidant potential). Data from 'omics' studies are summarized to provide an overview of the molecular mechanisms important in drought tolerance. In addition, the final section highlights knowledge gaps and challenges to improving minor millets. This review is intended to enhance major cereals and millet per se in light of climate-related increases in aridity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Suneetha Vallepu
- Department of Botany, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, 516005, India
| | - Khader Basha Shaik
- Department of Botany, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, 516005, India
| | - Naseem Shaik
- Department of Botany, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, 516005, India
| | | | | | - Kjell Sergeant
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, (LIST), Avenue Des Hauts Fourneaux 5, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Jean François Hausman
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, (LIST), Avenue Des Hauts Fourneaux 5, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
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Bhavani P, Nandini C, Maharajan T, Ningaraju TM, Nandini B, Parveen SG, Pushpa K, Ravikumar RL, Nagaraja TE, Ceasar SA. Brown-top millet: an overview of breeding, genetic, and genomic resources development for crop improvement. PLANTA 2024; 260:10. [PMID: 38796805 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-024-04446-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION Brown-top millet is a lesser-known millet with a high grain nutrient value, early maturation, and drought tolerance that needs basic research to understand and conserve food security. Brown-top millet [Urochloa ramosa (L.)] is currently cultivated in some developing countries (especially in India) for food and fodder, although it is less known among the small millets. Like other millets, it contains macro- and micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fiber, all of which have rich health benefits. The nutritional importance and health benefits of brown-top millet are still unknown to many people due to a lack of awareness, wide cultivation, and research. Hence, this millet is currently overshadowed by other major cereals. This review article aims to present the nutritional, breeding, genetic, and genomic resources of brown-top millet to inform millet and other plant researchers. It is important to note that genetic and genomic resources have not yet been created for this millet. To date, there are no genomic and transcriptomic resources for brown-top millet to develop single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and insertion/Deletions (InDels) for breeding studies. Furthermore, studies regarding nutritional significance and health benefits are required to investigate the exact nutritional contents and health benefits of the brown-top millet. The present review delves into the nutritional value and health advantages of brown-top millet, as supported by the available literature. The limitations of producing brown-top millet have been enumerated. We also cover the status of marker-assisted breeding and functional genomics research on closely related species. Lastly, we draw insights for further research such as developing omics resources and applying genome editing to study and improve brown-top millet. This review will help to start breeding and other molecular studies to increase the growth and development of this cereal.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Bhavani
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
| | - C Nandini
- Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Babbur Farm, Hiriyur, KSNUAHS, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India.
| | - Theivanayagam Maharajan
- Division of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Cochin, 683104, Kerala, India
| | - T M Ningaraju
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
| | - B Nandini
- College of Horticulture, Kolar, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India
| | - S Gazala Parveen
- AICRP on Small Millets, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - K Pushpa
- Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - R L Ravikumar
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
| | - T E Nagaraja
- AICRP on Small Millets, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Stanislaus Antony Ceasar
- Division of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Cochin, 683104, Kerala, India
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Wright H, Devos KM. Finger millet: a hero in the making to combat food insecurity. TAG. THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS. THEORETISCHE UND ANGEWANDTE GENETIK 2024; 137:139. [PMID: 38771345 PMCID: PMC11108925 DOI: 10.1007/s00122-024-04637-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Climate change and population growth pose challenges to food security. Major crops such as maize, wheat, and rice are expected to face yield reductions due to warming in the coming years, highlighting the need for incorporating climate-resilient crops in agricultural production systems. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is a nutritious cereal crop adapted to arid regions that could serve as an alternative crop for sustaining the food supply in low rainfall environments where other crops routinely fail. Despite finger millet's nutritional qualities and climate resilience, it is deemed an "orphan crop," neglected by researchers compared to major crops, which has hampered breeding efforts. However, in recent years, finger millet has entered the genomics era. Next-generation sequencing resources, including a chromosome-scale genome assembly, have been developed to support trait characterization. This review discusses the current genetic and genomic resources available for finger millet while addressing the gaps in knowledge and tools that are still needed to aid breeders in bringing finger millet to its full production potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hallie Wright
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Katrien M Devos
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
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Kapoor C, Anamika, Mukesh Sankar S, Singh SP, Singh N, Kumar S. Omics-driven utilization of wild relatives for empowering pre-breeding in pearl millet. PLANTA 2024; 259:155. [PMID: 38750378 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-024-04423-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION Pearl millet wild relatives harbour novel alleles which could be utilized to broaden genetic base of cultivated species. Genomics-informed pre-breeding is needed to speed up introgression from wild to cultivated gene pool in pearl millet. Rising episodes of intense biotic and abiotic stresses challenge pearl millet production globally. Wild relatives provide a wide spectrum of novel alleles which could address challenges posed by climate change. Pre-breeding holds potential to introgress novel diversity in genetically narrow cultivated Pennisetum glaucum from diverse gene pool. Practical utilization of gene pool diversity remained elusive due to genetic intricacies. Harnessing promising traits from wild pennisetum is limited by lack of information on underlying candidate genes/QTLs. Next-Generation Omics provide vast scope to speed up pre-breeding in pearl millet. Genomic resources generated out of draft genome sequence and improved genome assemblies can be employed to utilize gene bank accessions effectively. The article highlights genetic richness in pearl millet and its utilization with a focus on harnessing next-generation Omics to empower pre-breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chandan Kapoor
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India.
| | - Anamika
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India
| | - S Mukesh Sankar
- ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, Kerala, 673012, India
| | - S P Singh
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India
| | - Nirupma Singh
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India
| | - Sudhir Kumar
- ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India
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6
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Jadhav Y, Thakur NR, Ingle KP, Ceasar SA. The role of phenomics and genomics in delineating the genetic basis of complex traits in millets. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2024; 176:e14349. [PMID: 38783512 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.14349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Millets, comprising a diverse group of small-seeded grains, have emerged as vital crops with immense nutritional, environmental, and economic significance. The comprehension of complex traits in millets, influenced by multifaceted genetic determinants, presents a compelling challenge and opportunity in agricultural research. This review delves into the transformative roles of phenomics and genomics in deciphering these intricate genetic architectures. On the phenomics front, high-throughput platforms generate rich datasets on plant morphology, physiology, and performance in diverse environments. This data, coupled with field trials and controlled conditions, helps to interpret how the environment interacts with genetics. Genomics provides the underlying blueprint for these complex traits. Genome sequencing and genotyping technologies have illuminated the millet genome landscape, revealing diverse gene pools and evolutionary relationships. Additionally, different omics approaches unveil the intricate information of gene expression, protein function, and metabolite accumulation driving phenotypic expression. This multi-omics approach is crucial for identifying candidate genes and unfolding the intricate pathways governing complex traits. The review highlights the synergy between phenomics and genomics. Genomically informed phenotyping targets specific traits, reducing the breeding size and cost. Conversely, phenomics identifies promising germplasm for genomic analysis, prioritizing variants with superior performance. This dynamic interplay accelerates breeding programs and facilitates the development of climate-smart, nutrient-rich millet varieties and hybrids. In conclusion, this review emphasizes the crucial roles of phenomics and genomics in unlocking the genetic enigma of millets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yashoda Jadhav
- International Crops Research Institutes for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, TS, India
| | - Niranjan Ravindra Thakur
- International Crops Research Institutes for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, TS, India
- Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani, MS, India
| | | | - Stanislaus Antony Ceasar
- Division of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi, KL, India
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7
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Rani V, Rana S, Muthamilarasan M, Joshi DC, Yadav D. Expression profiling of Nuclear Factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors during dehydration and salt stress in finger millet reveals potential candidate genes for multiple stress tolerance. PLANTA 2024; 259:136. [PMID: 38679693 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-024-04417-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION Expression profiling of NF-Y transcription factors during dehydration and salt stress in finger millet genotypes contrastingly differing in tolerance levels identifies candidate genes for further characterization and functional studies. The Nuclear Factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors are known for imparting abiotic stress tolerance in different plant species. However, there is no information on the role of this transcription factor family in naturally drought-tolerant crop finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.). Therefore, interpretation of expression profiles against drought and salinity stress may provide valuable insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of Eleusine coracana Nuclear Factor-Y (EcNF-Y) genes. Given this, we identified 59 NF-Y (18 NF-YA, 23 NF-YB, and 18 NF-YC) encoding genes and designated them EcNF-Y genes. Expression profiling of these genes was performed in two finger millet genotypes, PES400 (dehydration and salt stress tolerant) and VR708 (dehydration and salt stress sensitive), subjected to PEG-induced dehydration and salt (NaCl) stresses at different time intervals (0, 6, and 12 h). The qRT-PCR expression analysis reveals that the six EcNF-Y genes namely EcNF-YA1, EcNF-YA5, EcNF-YA16, EcNF-YB6, EcNF-YB10, and EcNF-YC2 might be associated with tolerance to both dehydration and salinity stress in early stress condition (6 h), suggesting the involvement of these genes in multiple stress responses in tolerant genotype. In contrast, the transcript abundance of finger millet EcNF-YA5 genes was also observed in the sensitive genotype VR708 under late stress conditions (12 h) of both dehydration and salinity stress. Therefore, the EcNF-YA5 gene might be important for adaptation to salinity and dehydration stress in sensitive finger millet genotypes. Therefore, this gene could be considered as a susceptibility determinant, which can be edited to impart tolerance. The phylogenetic analyses revealed that finger millet NF-Y genes share strong evolutionary and functional relationship to NF-Ys governing response to abiotic stresses in rice, sorghum, maize, and wheat. This is the first report of expression profiling of EcNF-Ys genes identified from the finger millet genome and reveals potential candidate for enhancing dehydration and salt tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varsha Rani
- Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India
| | - Sumi Rana
- Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500046, India
| | - Mehanathan Muthamilarasan
- Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500046, India
| | - D C Joshi
- ICAR-Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, Uttarakhand, 263601, India
| | - Dinesh Yadav
- Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India.
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8
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Bančič J, Odeny DA, Ojulong HF, Josiah SM, Buntjer J, Gaynor RC, Hoad SP, Gorjanc G, Dawson IK. Genomic and phenotypic characterization of finger millet indicates a complex diversification history. THE PLANT GENOME 2024; 17:e20392. [PMID: 37986545 DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Advances in sequencing technologies mean that insights into crop diversification can now be explored in crops beyond major staples. We use a genome assembly of finger millet, an allotetraploid orphan crop, to analyze DArTseq single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the whole and sub-genome level. A set of 8778 SNPs and 13 agronomic traits was used to characterize a diverse panel of 423 landraces from Africa and Asia. Through principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis of principal components, four distinct groups of accessions were identified that coincided with the primary geographic regions of finger millet cultivation. Notably, East Africa, presumed to be the crop's origin, exhibited the lowest genetic diversity. The PCA of phenotypic data also revealed geographic differentiation, albeit with differing relationships among geographic areas than indicated with genomic data. Further exploration of the sub-genomes A and B using neighbor-joining trees revealed distinct features that provide supporting evidence for the complex evolutionary history of finger millet. Although genome-wide association study found only a limited number of significant marker-trait associations, a clustering approach based on the distribution of marker effects obtained from a ridge regression genomic model was employed to investigate trait complexity. This analysis uncovered two distinct clusters. Overall, the findings suggest that finger millet has undergone complex and context-specific diversification, indicative of a lengthy domestication history. These analyses provide insights for the future development of finger millet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Bančič
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Research Centre, Midlothian, UK
- Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Damaris A Odeny
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRAF House, Gigiri Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Henry F Ojulong
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRAF House, Gigiri Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Samuel M Josiah
- Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
| | - Jaap Buntjer
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Research Centre, Midlothian, UK
| | - R Chris Gaynor
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Research Centre, Midlothian, UK
| | - Stephen P Hoad
- Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Gregor Gorjanc
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Research Centre, Midlothian, UK
| | - Ian K Dawson
- Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, UK
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9
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Sun M, Yan H, Zhang A, Jin Y, Lin C, Luo L, Wu B, Fan Y, Tian S, Cao X, Wang Z, Luo J, Yang Y, Jia J, Zhou P, Tang Q, Jones CS, Varshney RK, Srivastava RK, He M, Xie Z, Wang X, Feng G, Nie G, Huang D, Zhang X, Zhu F, Huang L. Milletdb: a multi-omics database to accelerate the research of functional genomics and molecular breeding of millets. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2023; 21:2348-2357. [PMID: 37530223 PMCID: PMC10579705 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.14136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
Millets are a class of nutrient-rich coarse cereals with high resistance to abiotic stress; thus, they guarantee food security for people living in areas with extreme climatic conditions and provide stress-related genetic resources for other crops. However, no platform is available to provide a comprehensive and systematic multi-omics analysis for millets, which seriously hinders the mining of stress-related genes and the molecular breeding of millets. Here, a free, web-accessible, user-friendly millets multi-omics database platform (Milletdb, http://milletdb.novogene.com) has been developed. The Milletdb contains six millets and their one related species genomes, graph-based pan-genomics of pearl millet, and stress-related multi-omics data, which enable Milletdb to be the most complete millets multi-omics database available. We stored GWAS (genome-wide association study) results of 20 yield-related trait data obtained under three environmental conditions [field (no stress), early drought and late drought] for 2 years in the database, allowing users to identify stress-related genes that support yield improvement. Milletdb can simplify the functional genomics analysis of millets by providing users with 20 different tools (e.g., 'Gene mapping', 'Co-expression', 'KEGG/GO Enrichment' analysis, etc.). On the Milletdb platform, a gene PMA1G03779.1 was identified through 'GWAS', which has the potential to modulate yield and respond to different environmental stresses. Using the tools provided by Milletdb, we found that the stress-related PLATZs TFs (transcription factors) family expands in 87.5% of millet accessions and contributes to vegetative growth and abiotic stress responses. Milletdb can effectively serve researchers in the mining of key genes, genome editing and molecular breeding of millets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Sun
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Haidong Yan
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
- School of Plant and Environmental SciencesVirginia TechBlacksburgVirginiaUSA
- Department of GeneticsUniversity of GeorgiaAthensGeorgiaUSA
| | - Aling Zhang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Yarong Jin
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Chuang Lin
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Lin Luo
- College of Life SciencesFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujianChina
| | - Bingchao Wu
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Yuhang Fan
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Shilin Tian
- Novogene Bioinformatics InstituteBeijingChina
- Department of Ecology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life SciencesWuhan UniversityWuhanChina
| | | | - Zan Wang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologyChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Jinchan Luo
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Yuchen Yang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Jiyuan Jia
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Puding Zhou
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Qianzi Tang
- College of Animal Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Chris Stephen Jones
- Feed and Forage DevelopmentInternational Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
| | - Rajeev K. Varshney
- Center of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology (CEGSB)International Crops Research Institute for the Semi‐Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)PatancheruIndia
- Murdoch's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Food Futures InstituteMurdoch UniversityMurdochWestern AustraliaAustralia
| | - Rakesh K. Srivastava
- Center of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology (CEGSB)International Crops Research Institute for the Semi‐Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)PatancheruIndia
| | - Min He
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest ChinaSichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduSichuanChina
| | - Zheni Xie
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
- College of Agro‐Grassland ScienceNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjingChina
| | - Xiaoshan Wang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Guangyan Feng
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Gang Nie
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Dejun Huang
- Herbivorous Livestock Research InstituteChongqing Academy of Animal SciencesChongqingChina
| | - Xinquan Zhang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
| | - Fangjie Zhu
- College of Life SciencesFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujianChina
| | - Linkai Huang
- College of Grassland Science and TechnologySichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest ChinaSichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduSichuanChina
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10
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Chaudhary N, Salgotra RK, Chauhan BS. Genetic Enhancement of Cereals Using Genomic Resources for Nutritional Food Security. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:1770. [PMID: 37761910 PMCID: PMC10530810 DOI: 10.3390/genes14091770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in genomics resources have facilitated the evolution of cereal crops with enhanced yield, improved nutritional values, and heightened resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Genomic approaches present a promising avenue for the development of high-yielding varieties, thereby ensuring food and nutritional security. Significant improvements have been made within the omics domain, specifically in genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. The advent of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques has yielded an immense volume of data, accompanied by substantial progress in bioinformatic tools for proficient analysis. The synergy between genomics and computational tools has been acknowledged as pivotal for unravelling the intricate mechanisms governing genome-wide gene regulation. Within this review, the essential genomic resources are delineated, and their harmonization in the enhancement of cereal crop varieties is expounded upon, with a paramount focus on fulfilling the nutritional requisites of humankind. Furthermore, an encompassing compendium of the available genomic resources for cereal crops is presented, accompanied by an elucidation of their judicious utilization in the advancement of crop attributes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neeraj Chaudhary
- School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu 180009, Jammu and Kashmir, India; (N.C.); (R.K.S.)
| | - Romesh Kumar Salgotra
- School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu 180009, Jammu and Kashmir, India; (N.C.); (R.K.S.)
| | - Bhagirath Singh Chauhan
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia
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Maybery-Reupert K, Isenegger D, Hayden M, Cogan N. Development of genomic resources for Rhodes grass ( Chloris gayana), draft genome and annotated variant discovery. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1239290. [PMID: 37731974 PMCID: PMC10507473 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1239290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Genomic resources for grasses, especially warm-season grasses are limited despite their commercial and environmental importance. Here, we report the first annotated draft whole genome sequence for diploid Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), a tropical C4 species. Generated using long read nanopore sequencing and assembled using the Flye software package, the assembled genome is 603 Mbp in size and comprises 5,233 fragments that were annotated using the GenSas pipeline. The annotated genome has 46,087 predicted genes corresponding to 92.0% of the expected genomic content present via BUSCO analysis. Gene ontology terms and repetitive elements are identified and discussed. An additional 94 individual plant genotypes originating from three diploid and two tetraploid Rhodes grass cultivars were short-read whole genome resequenced (WGR) to generate a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) resource for the species that can be used to elucidate inter- and intra-cultivar relationships across both ploidy levels. A total of 75,777 high quality SNPs were used to generate a phylogenetic tree, highlighting the diversity present within the cultivars which agreed with the known breeding history. Differentiation was observed between diploid and tetraploid cultivars. The WGR data were also used to provide insights into the nature and evolution of the tetraploid status of the species, with results largely agreeing with the published literature that the tetraploids are autotetraploid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kellie Maybery-Reupert
- Agriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, The Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
| | - Daniel Isenegger
- Agriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, The Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
| | - Matthew Hayden
- Agriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, The Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
| | - Noel Cogan
- Agriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, The Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
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12
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Rani V, Joshi DC, Joshi P, Singh R, Yadav D. "Millet Models" for harnessing nuclear factor-Y transcription factors to engineer stress tolerance in plants: current knowledge and emerging paradigms. PLANTA 2023; 258:29. [PMID: 37358736 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-023-04186-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION The main purpose of this review is to shed light on the role of millet models in imparting climate resilience and nutritional security and to give a concrete perspective on how NF-Y transcription factors can be harnessed for making cereals more stress tolerant. Agriculture faces significant challenges from climate change, bargaining, population, elevated food prices, and compromises with nutritional value. These factors have globally compelled scientists, breeders, and nutritionists to think of some options that can combat the food security crisis and malnutrition. To address these challenges, mainstreaming the climate-resilient and nutritionally unparalleled alternative crops like millet is a key strategy. The C4 photosynthetic pathway and adaptation to low-input marginal agricultural systems make millets a powerhouse of important gene and transcription factor families imparting tolerance to various kinds of biotic and abiotic stresses. Among these, the nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y) is one of the prominent transcription factor families that regulate diverse genes imparting stress tolerance. The primary purpose of this article is to shed light on the role of millet models in imparting climate resilience and nutritional security and to give a concrete perspective on how NF-Y transcription factors can be harnessed for making cereals more stress tolerant. Future cropping systems could be more resilient to climate change and nutritional quality if these practices were implemented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varsha Rani
- Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India
| | - D C Joshi
- ICAR-Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, Uttarakhand, 263601, India
| | - Priyanka Joshi
- Plant and Environmental Sciences, 113 Biosystems Research Complex, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, USA
| | - Rajesh Singh
- Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India
| | - Dinesh Yadav
- Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India.
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Pandey S, Singh A, Jaiswal P, Singh MK, Meena KR, Singh SK. The potentialities of omics resources for millet improvement. Funct Integr Genomics 2023; 23:210. [PMID: 37355501 DOI: 10.1007/s10142-023-01149-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
Millets are nutrient-rich (nutri-rich) cereals with climate resilience attributes. However, its full productive potential is not realized due to the lack of a focused yield improvement approach, as evidenced by the available literature. Also, the lack of well-characterized genomic resources significantly limits millet improvement. But the recent availability of genomic data and advancement in omics tools has shown its enormous potential to enhance the efficiency and precision faced by conventional breeding in millet improvement. The development of high throughput genotyping platforms based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) has provided a low-cost method for genomic information, specifically for neglected nutri-rich cereals with the availability of a limited number of reference genome sequences. NGS has created new avenues for millet biotechnological interventions such as mutation-based study, GWAS, GS, and other omics technologies. The simultaneous discovery of high-throughput markers and multiplexed genotyping platform has aggressively aided marker-assisted breeding for millet improvement. Therefore, omics technology offers excellent opportunities to explore and combine useful variations for targeted traits that could impart high nutritional value to high-yielding cultivars under changing climatic conditions. In millet improvement, an in-depth account of NGS, integrating genomics data with different biotechnology tools, is reviewed in this context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saurabh Pandey
- Department of Agricultural, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, 143005, India
| | - Ashutosh Singh
- Centre for Advanced Studies on Climate Change, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, 848125, India.
| | - Priyanka Jaiswal
- Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar - Delhi G.T. Road, Phagwara, Punjab, 144411, India
| | - Mithilesh Kumar Singh
- Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, 848125, India
| | - Khem Raj Meena
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Kishangarh, Rajasthan, 305817, India
| | - Satish Kumar Singh
- Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, 848125, India
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Devos KM, Qi P, Bahri BA, Gimode DM, Jenike K, Manthi SJ, Lule D, Lux T, Martinez-Bello L, Pendergast TH, Plott C, Saha D, Sidhu GS, Sreedasyam A, Wang X, Wang H, Wright H, Zhao J, Deshpande S, de Villiers S, Dida MM, Grimwood J, Jenkins J, Lovell J, Mayer KFX, Mneney EE, Ojulong HF, Schatz MC, Schmutz J, Song B, Tesfaye K, Odeny DA. Genome analyses reveal population structure and a purple stigma color gene candidate in finger millet. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3694. [PMID: 37344528 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38915-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Finger millet is a key food security crop widely grown in eastern Africa, India and Nepal. Long considered a 'poor man's crop', finger millet has regained attention over the past decade for its climate resilience and the nutritional qualities of its grain. To bring finger millet breeding into the 21st century, here we present the assembly and annotation of a chromosome-scale reference genome. We show that this ~1.3 million years old allotetraploid has a high level of homoeologous gene retention and lacks subgenome dominance. Population structure is mainly driven by the differential presence of large wild segments in the pericentromeric regions of several chromosomes. Trait mapping, followed by variant analysis of gene candidates, reveals that loss of purple coloration of anthers and stigma is associated with loss-of-function mutations in the finger millet orthologs of the maize R1/B1 and Arabidopsis GL3/EGL3 anthocyanin regulatory genes. Proanthocyanidin production in seed is not affected by these gene knockouts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrien M Devos
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
| | - Peng Qi
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Bochra A Bahri
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA, 30223, USA
| | - Davis M Gimode
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - Eastern and Southern Africa, P.O. Box 39063-00623, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Katharine Jenike
- Departments of Computer Science, Biology and Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Samuel J Manthi
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - Eastern and Southern Africa, P.O. Box 39063-00623, Nairobi, Kenya
- Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Dagnachew Lule
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 81265, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, Addis Ababa, Bole, Ethiopia
| | - Thomas Lux
- Plant Genome and Systems Biology, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Liliam Martinez-Bello
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- UR Ventures, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA
| | - Thomas H Pendergast
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Chris Plott
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Dipnarayan Saha
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibers, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700120, India
| | - Gurjot S Sidhu
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Avinash Sreedasyam
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Xuewen Wang
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Hao Wang
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Hallie Wright
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Jianxin Zhao
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Santosh Deshpande
- ICRISAT, Patancheru, 502 324, T.S., India
- Hytech Seed India Pvt. Ltd., Ravalkol Village, Medcahl-Malkajgiri Dist-, 501 401, Hubballi, T.S, India
| | - Santie de Villiers
- Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Pwani University, Kilifi, 80108, Kenya
- Pwani University Biosciences Research Center (PUBReC), Kilifi, 80108, Kenya
| | - Mathews M Dida
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, Maseno University, P.O. 333, Maseno, Kenya
| | - Jane Grimwood
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Jerry Jenkins
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - John Lovell
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Klaus F X Mayer
- Plant Genome and Systems Biology, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany
- School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Emmarold E Mneney
- Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 6226, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
- Biotechnology Society of Tanzania, P.O. Box 10257, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Henry F Ojulong
- ICRISAT, Matopos Research Station, P.O. Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
| | - Michael C Schatz
- Departments of Computer Science, Biology and Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Bo Song
- BGI-Shenzhen, Beishan Industrial Zone, Yantian District, Shenzhen, 518083, China
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, 518120, China
| | - Kassahun Tesfaye
- Institute of Biotechnology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Damaris A Odeny
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - Eastern and Southern Africa, P.O. Box 39063-00623, Nairobi, Kenya
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Choudhary P, Shukla P, Muthamilarasan M. Genetic enhancement of climate-resilient traits in small millets: A review. Heliyon 2023; 9:e14502. [PMID: 37064482 PMCID: PMC10102230 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Agriculture is facing the challenge of feeding the ever-growing population that is projected to reach ten billion by 2050. While improving crop yield and productivity can address this challenge, the increasing effects of global warming and climate change seriously threaten agricultural productivity. Thus, genomics and genome modification technologies are crucial to improving climate-resilient traits to enable sustained yield and productivity; however, significant research focuses on staple crops such as rice, wheat, and maize. Crops that are naturally climate-resilient and nutritionally superior to staple cereals, such as small millets, remain neglected and underutilized by mainstream research. The ability of small millets to grow in marginal regions having limited irrigation and poor soil fertility makes these crops a better choice for cultivation in arid and semi-arid areas. Hence, mainstreaming small millets for cultivation and using omics technologies to dissect the climate-resilient traits to identify the molecular determinants underlying these traits are imperative for addressing food and nutritional security. In this context, the review discusses the genomics and genome modification approaches for dissecting key traits in small millets and their application for improving these traits in cultivated germplasm. The review also discusses biofortification for nutritional security and machine-learning approaches for trait improvement in small millets. Altogether, the review provides a roadmap for the effective use of next-generation approaches for trait improvement in small millets. This will lead to the development of improved varieties for addressing multiple insecurities prevailing in the present climate change scenario.
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Yan H, Sun M, Zhang Z, Jin Y, Zhang A, Lin C, Wu B, He M, Xu B, Wang J, Qin P, Mendieta JP, Nie G, Wang J, Jones CS, Feng G, Srivastava RK, Zhang X, Bombarely A, Luo D, Jin L, Peng Y, Wang X, Ji Y, Tian S, Huang L. Pangenomic analysis identifies structural variation associated with heat tolerance in pearl millet. Nat Genet 2023; 55:507-518. [PMID: 36864101 PMCID: PMC10011142 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01302-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Abstract
Pearl millet is an important cereal crop worldwide and shows superior heat tolerance. Here, we developed a graph-based pan-genome by assembling ten chromosomal genomes with one existing assembly adapted to different climates worldwide and captured 424,085 genomic structural variations (SVs). Comparative genomics and transcriptomics analyses revealed the expansion of the RWP-RK transcription factor family and the involvement of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-related genes in heat tolerance. The overexpression of one RWP-RK gene led to enhanced plant heat tolerance and transactivated ER-related genes quickly, supporting the important roles of RWP-RK transcription factors and ER system in heat tolerance. Furthermore, we found that some SVs affected the gene expression associated with heat tolerance and SVs surrounding ER-related genes shaped adaptation to heat tolerance during domestication in the population. Our study provides a comprehensive genomic resource revealing insights into heat tolerance and laying a foundation for generating more robust crops under the changing climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haidong Yan
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
- School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Min Sun
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | | | - Yarong Jin
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Ailing Zhang
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Chuang Lin
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Bingchao Wu
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Min He
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Bin Xu
- College of Grassland Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Jing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Bio-Source and Environmental Conservation, School of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Peng Qin
- Rice Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | | | - Gang Nie
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jianping Wang
- Agronomy Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Chris S Jones
- Feed and Forage Development, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Guangyan Feng
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Rakesh K Srivastava
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India
| | - Xinquan Zhang
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Aureliano Bombarely
- Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas, UPV-CSIC, Valencia, Spain
| | - Dan Luo
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Long Jin
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuanying Peng
- Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaoshan Wang
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yang Ji
- Sichuan Animal Science Academy, Chengdu, China
| | - Shilin Tian
- Novogene Bioinformatics Institute, Beijing, China.
- Department of Ecology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
| | - Linkai Huang
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
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17
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Lydia Pramitha J, Ganesan J, Francis N, Rajasekharan R, Thinakaran J. Revitalization of small millets for nutritional and food security by advanced genetics and genomics approaches. Front Genet 2023; 13:1007552. [PMID: 36699471 PMCID: PMC9870178 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1007552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Small millets, also known as nutri-cereals, are smart foods that are expected to dominate food industries and diets to achieve nutritional security. Nutri-cereals are climate resilient and nutritious. Small millet-based foods are becoming popular in markets and are preferred for patients with celiac and diabetes. These crops once ruled as food and fodder but were pushed out of mainstream cultivation with shifts in dietary habits to staple crops during the green revolution. Nevertheless, small millets are rich in micronutrients and essential amino acids for regulatory activities. Hence, international and national organizations have recently aimed to restore these lost crops for their desirable traits. The major goal in reviving these crops is to boost the immune system of the upcoming generations to tackle emerging pandemics and disease infestations in crops. Earlier periods of civilization consumed these crops, which had a greater significance in ethnobotanical values. Along with nutrition, these crops also possess therapeutic traits and have shown vast medicinal use in tribal communities for the treatment of diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and gastrointestinal issues. This review highlights the significance of small millets, their values in cultural heritage, and their prospects. Furthermore, this review dissects the nutritional and therapeutic traits of small millets for developing sustainable diets in near future.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Lydia Pramitha
- Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, India,*Correspondence: J. Lydia Pramitha,
| | - Jeeva Ganesan
- Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
| | - Neethu Francis
- Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, India
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Rakkammal K, Priya A, Pandian S, Maharajan T, Rathinapriya P, Satish L, Ceasar SA, Sohn SI, Ramesh M. Conventional and Omics Approaches for Understanding the Abiotic Stress Response in Cereal Crops-An Updated Overview. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 11:plants11212852. [PMID: 36365305 PMCID: PMC9655223 DOI: 10.3390/plants11212852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/22/2022] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Cereals have evolved various tolerance mechanisms to cope with abiotic stress. Understanding the abiotic stress response mechanism of cereal crops at the molecular level offers a path to high-yielding and stress-tolerant cultivars to sustain food and nutritional security. In this regard, enormous progress has been made in the omics field in the areas of genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. Omics approaches generate a massive amount of data, and adequate advancements in computational tools have been achieved for effective analysis. The combination of integrated omics and bioinformatics approaches has been recognized as vital to generating insights into genome-wide stress-regulation mechanisms. In this review, we have described the self-driven drought, heat, and salt stress-responsive mechanisms that are highlighted by the integration of stress-manipulating components, including transcription factors, co-expressed genes, proteins, etc. This review also provides a comprehensive catalog of available online omics resources for cereal crops and their effective utilization. Thus, the details provided in the review will enable us to choose the appropriate tools and techniques to reduce the negative impacts and limit the failures in the intensive crop improvement study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kasinathan Rakkammal
- Department of Biotechnology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Arumugam Priya
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA
| | - Subramani Pandian
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54874, Korea
| | - Theivanayagam Maharajan
- Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Cochin 683104, Kerala, India
| | - Periyasamy Rathinapriya
- Department of Biotechnology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Lakkakula Satish
- Applied Phycology and Biotechnology Division, Marine Algal Research Station, Mandapam Camp, CSIR—Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar 623519, Tamil Nadu, India
| | | | - Soo-In Sohn
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54874, Korea
| | - Manikandan Ramesh
- Department of Biotechnology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, Tamil Nadu, India
- Correspondence:
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Akagi T, Jung K, Masuda K, Shimizu KK. Polyploidy before and after domestication of crop species. CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY 2022; 69:102255. [PMID: 35870416 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Recent advances in the genomics of polyploid species answer some of the long-standing questions about the role of polyploidy in crop species. Here, we summarize the current literature to reexamine scenarios in which polyploidy played a role both before and after domestication. The prevalence of polyploidy can help to explain environmental robustness in agroecosystems. This review also clarifies the molecular basis of some agriculturally advantageous traits of polyploid crops, including yield increments in polyploid cotton via subfunctionalization, modification of a separated sexuality to selfing in polyploid persimmon via neofunctionalization, and transition to a selfing system via nonfunctionalization combined with epistatic interaction between duplicated S-loci. The rapid progress in genomics and genetics is discussed along with how this will facilitate functional studies of understudied polyploid crop species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takashi Akagi
- Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
| | - Katharina Jung
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Kanae Masuda
- Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland; Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12 Maioka, 244-0813 Totsuka-ward, Yokohama, Japan.
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20
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Blume R, Yemets A, Korkhovyi V, Radchuk V, Rakhmetov D, Blume Y. Genome-wide identification and analysis of the cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase ( ckx) gene family in finger millet ( Eleusine coracana). Front Genet 2022; 13:963789. [PMID: 36299586 PMCID: PMC9589517 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.963789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytokinin dehydrogenase/oxidase (CKX) enzymes play a key role in regulating cytokinin (CK) levels in plants by degrading the excess of this phytohormone. CKX genes have proven an attractive target for genetic engineering, as their silencing boosts cytokinin accumulation in various tissues, thereby contributing to a rapid increase in biomass and overall plant productivity. We previously reported a similar effect in finger millet (Eleusine coracana) somaclonal lines, caused by downregulation of EcCKX1 and EcCKX2. However, the CKX gene family has numerous representatives, especially in allopolyploid crop species, such as E. coracana. To date, the entire CKX gene family of E. coracana and its related species has not been characterized. We offer here, for the first time, a comprehensive genome-wide identification and analysis of a panel of CKX genes in finger millet. The functional genes identified in the E. coracana genome are compared with the previously-identified genes, EcCKX1 and EcCKX2. Exon-intron structural analysis and motif analysis of FAD- and CK-binding domains are performed. The phylogeny of the EcCKX genes suggests that CKX genes are divided into several distinct groups, corresponding to certain isotypes. Finally, the phenotypic effect of EcCKX1 and EcCKX2 in partially silencing the SE7 somaclonal line is investigated, showing that lines deficient in CKX-expression demonstrate increased grain yield and greater bushiness, enhanced biomass accumulation, and a shorter vegetation cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rostyslav Blume
- Department of Population Genetics, Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine,*Correspondence: Rostyslav Blume,
| | - Alla Yemets
- Department of Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Vitaliy Korkhovyi
- Department of Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Volodymyr Radchuk
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany
| | - Dzhamal Rakhmetov
- M. M. Gryshko National Botanic Garden of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Yaroslav Blume
- Department of Genomics and Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
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21
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Chapman MA, He Y, Zhou M. Beyond a reference genome: pangenomes and population genomics of underutilized and orphan crops for future food and nutrition security. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 234:1583-1597. [PMID: 35318683 PMCID: PMC9994440 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2022] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Underutilized crops are, by definition, under-researched compared to staple crops yet come with traits that may be especially important given climate change and the need to feed a globally increasing population. These crops are often stress-tolerant, and this combined with unique and beneficial nutritional profiles. Whilst progress is being made by generating reference genome sequences, in this Tansley Review, we show how this is only the very first step. We advocate that going 'beyond a reference genome' should be a priority, as it is only at this stage one can identify the specific genes and the adaptive alleles that underpin the valuable traits. We sum up how population genomic and pangenomic approaches have led to the identification of stress- and disease-tolerant alleles in staple crops and compare this to the small number of examples from underutilized crops. We also demonstrate how previously underutilized crops have benefitted from genomic advances and that many breeding targets in underutilized crops are often well studied in staple crops. This cross-crop population-level resequencing could lead to an understanding of the genetic basis of adaptive traits in underutilized crops. This level of investment may be crucial for fully understanding the value of these crops before they are lost.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark A. Chapman
- Biological SciencesUniversity of SouthamptonLife Sciences Building 85, Highfield CampusSouthamptonSO17 1BJUK
| | - Yuqi He
- Institute of Crop SciencesChinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesRoom 405, National Crop Gene Bank BuildingZhongguancun South Street No. 12Haidian DistrictBeijing100081China
| | - Meiliang Zhou
- Institute of Crop SciencesChinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesRoom 405, National Crop Gene Bank BuildingZhongguancun South Street No. 12Haidian DistrictBeijing100081China
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22
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Kadri SUT, Mulla SI, Babu R N, Suchithra B, Bilal M, Ameen F, Bharagava RN, Saratale GD, Ferreira LFR, Américo-Pinheiro JHP. Transcriptome-wide identification and computational insights into protein modeling and docking of CAMTA transcription factors in Eleusine coracana L (finger millet). Int J Biol Macromol 2022; 206:768-776. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.03.073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Pendergast TH, Qi P, Odeny DA, Dida MM, Devos KM. A high-density linkage map of finger millet provides QTL for blast resistance and other agronomic traits. THE PLANT GENOME 2022; 15:e20175. [PMID: 34904374 DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] is a critical subsistence crop in eastern Africa and southern Asia but has few genomic resources and modern breeding programs. To aid in the understanding of finger millet genomic organization and genes underlying disease resistance and agronomically important traits, we generated a F2:3 population from a cross between E. coracana (L.) Gaertn. subsp. coracana accession ACC 100007 and E. coracana (L.) Gaertn. subsp. africana , accession GBK 030647. Phenotypic data on morphology, yield, and blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) resistance traits were taken on a subset of the F2:3 population in a Kenyan field trial. The F2:3 population was genotyped via genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and the UGbS-Flex pipeline was used for sequence alignment, nucleotide polymorphism calling, and genetic map construction. An 18-linkage-group genetic map consisting of 5,422 markers was generated that enabled comparative genomic analyses with rice (Oryza sativa L.), foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.], and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. Notably, we identified conserved acrocentric homoeologous chromosomes (4A and 4B in finger millet) across all species. Significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) were discovered for flowering date, plant height, panicle number, and blast incidence and severity. Sixteen putative candidate genes that may underlie trait variation were identified. Seven LEUCINE-RICH REPEAT-CONTAINING PROTEIN genes, with homology to nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) disease resistance proteins, were found on three chromosomes under blast resistance QTL. This high-marker-density genetic map provides an important tool for plant breeding programs and identifies genomic regions and genes of critical interest for agronomic traits and blast resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas H Pendergast
- Dep. of Plant Biology, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Peng Qi
- Dep. of Plant Biology, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Damaris Achieng Odeny
- The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics-Eastern and Southern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Mathews M Dida
- Dep. of Applied Sciences, Maseno Univ., Private Bag-40105, Maseno, Kenya
| | - Katrien M Devos
- Dep. of Plant Biology, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
- Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
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Ajeesh Krishna TP, Maharajan T, Ceasar SA. Improvement of millets in the post-genomic era. PHYSIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PLANTS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY 2022; 28:669-685. [PMID: 35465206 PMCID: PMC8986959 DOI: 10.1007/s12298-022-01158-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Millets are food and nutrient security crops in the semi-arid tropics of developing countries. Crop improvement using modern tools is one of the priority areas of research in millets. The whole-genome sequence (WGS) of millets provides new insight into understanding and studying the genes, genome organization and genomic-assisted improvement of millets. The WGS of millets helps to carry out genome-wide comparison and co-linearity studies among millets and other cereal crops. This approach might lead to the identification of genes underlying biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in millets. The available genome sequence of millets can be used for SNP identification, allele discovery, association and linkage mapping, identification of valuable candidate genes, and marker-assisted breeding (MAB) programs. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology provides opportunities for genome-assisted breeding (GAB) through genomic selection (GS) and genome-wide association studies (GAWS) for crop improvement. Clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) genome editing (GE) system provides new opportunities for millet improvement. In this review, we discuss the details on the WGS available for millets and highlight the importance of utilizing such resources in the post-genomic era for millet improvement. We also draw inroads on the utilization of various approaches such as GS, GWAS, functional genomics, gene validation and GE for millet improvement. This review might be helpful for understanding the developments in the post-genomic era of millet improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- T P Ajeesh Krishna
- Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, 683104 Kochi, Kerala India
| | - T Maharajan
- Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, 683104 Kochi, Kerala India
| | - S Antony Ceasar
- Department of Biosciences, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, 683104 Kochi, Kerala India
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25
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Talabi AO, Vikram P, Thushar S, Rahman H, Ahmadzai H, Nhamo N, Shahid M, Singh RK. Orphan Crops: A Best Fit for Dietary Enrichment and Diversification in Highly Deteriorated Marginal Environments. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:839704. [PMID: 35283935 PMCID: PMC8908242 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.839704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Orphan crops are indigenous and invariably grown by small and marginal farmers under subsistence farming systems. These crops, which are common and widely accepted by local farmers, are highly rich in nutritional profile, good for medicinal purposes, and well adapted to suboptimal growing conditions. However, these crops have suffered neglect and abandonment from the scientific community because of very low or no investments in research and genetic improvement. A plausible reason for this is that these crops are not traded internationally at a rate comparable to that of the major food crops such as wheat, rice, and maize. Furthermore, marginal environments have poor soils and are characterized by extreme weather conditions such as heat, erratic rainfall, water deficit, and soil and water salinity, among others. With more frequent extreme climatic events and continued land degradation, orphan crops are beginning to receive renewed attention as alternative crops for dietary diversification in marginal environments and, by extension, across the globe. Increased awareness of good health is also a major contributor to the revived attention accorded to orphan crops. Thus, the introduction, evaluation, and adaptation of outstanding varieties of orphan crops for dietary diversification will contribute not only to sustained food production but also to improved nutrition in marginal environments. In this review article, the concept of orphan crops vis-à-vis marginality and food and nutritional security is defined for a few orphan crops. We also examined recent advances in research involving orphan crops and the potential of these crops for dietary diversification within the context of harsh marginal environments. Recent advances in genomics coupled with molecular breeding will play a pivotal role in improving the genetic potential of orphan crops and help in developing sustainable food systems. We concluded by presenting a potential roadmap to future research engagement and a policy framework with recommendations aimed at facilitating and enhancing the adoption and sustainable production of orphan crops under agriculturally marginal conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Rakesh Kumar Singh
- International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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26
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Widanagama SD, Freeland JR, Xu X, Shafer ABA. Genome assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis of the cattail Typha latifolia. G3 GENES|GENOMES|GENETICS 2022; 12:6433155. [PMID: 34871392 PMCID: PMC9210280 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 11/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Cattails (Typha species) comprise a genus of emergent wetland plants with a global distribution. Typha latifolia and Typha angustifolia are two of the most widespread species, and in areas of sympatry can interbreed to produce the hybrid Typha × glauca. In some regions, the relatively high fitness of Typha × glauca allows it to outcompete and displace both parent species, while simultaneously reducing plant and invertebrate biodiversity, and modifying nutrient and water cycling. We generated a high-quality whole-genome assembly of T. latifolia using PacBio long-read and high coverage Illumina sequences that will facilitate evolutionary and ecological studies in this hybrid zone. Genome size was 287 Mb and consisted of 1158 scaffolds, with an N50 of 8.71 Mb; 43.84% of the genome were identified as repetitive elements. The assembly has a BUSCO score of 96.03%, and 27,432 genes and 2700 RNA sequences were putatively identified. Comparative analysis detected over 9000 shared orthologs with related taxa and phylogenomic analysis supporting T. latifolia as a divergent lineage within Poales. This high-quality scaffold-level reference genome will provide a useful resource for future population genomic analyses and improve our understanding of Typha hybrid dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shane D Widanagama
- Department of Computer Science, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - Joanna R Freeland
- Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - Xinwei Xu
- Department of Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Aaron B A Shafer
- Department of Forensic Sciences, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada
- Corresponding author: Department of Forensic Sciences, Trent University, DNA Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9L 0G2, Canada.
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27
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Kavi Kishor PB, Anil Kumar S, Naravula J, Hima Kumari P, Kummari D, Guddimalli R, Edupuganti S, Karumanchi AR, Venkatachalam P, Suravajhala P, Polavarapu R. Improvement of small seed for big nutritional feed. PHYSIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PLANTS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY 2021; 27:2433-2446. [PMID: 34566283 PMCID: PMC8455807 DOI: 10.1007/s12298-021-01071-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/11/2021] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Exploding global population, rapid urbanization, salinization of soils, decreasing arable land availability, groundwater resources, and dynamic climatic conditions pose impending damage to our food security by reducing the grain quality and quantity. This issue is further compounded in arid and semi-arid regions due to the shortage of irrigation water and erratic rainfalls. Millets are gluten (a family of proteins)-free and cultivated all over the globe for human consumption, fuel, feed, and fodder. They provide nutritional security for the under- and malnourished. With the deployment of strategies like foliar spray, traditional/marker-assisted breeding, identification of candidate genes for the translocation of important minerals, and genome-editing technologies, it is now tenable to biofortify important millets. Since the bioavailability of iron and zinc has been proven in human trials, the challenge is to make such grains accessible. This review encompasses nutritional benefits, progress made, challenges being encountered, and prospects of enriching millet crops with essential minerals.
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Affiliation(s)
- P. B. Kavi Kishor
- Department of Biotechnology, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Vadlamudi, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522 213 India
| | - S. Anil Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Vadlamudi, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522 213 India
- Bioclues.Org, Hyderabad, India
| | - Jalaja Naravula
- Department of Biotechnology, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Vadlamudi, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522 213 India
| | | | - Divya Kummari
- Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 007 India
| | | | - Sujatha Edupuganti
- Department of Botany, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 007 India
| | - Appa Rao Karumanchi
- Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, 522 508 India
| | | | - Prashanth Suravajhala
- Bioclues.Org, Hyderabad, India
- Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amrita University, Amritapuri, 690 525, Clappana, Kerala, India
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28
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Mbinda W, Mukami A. A Review of Recent Advances and Future Directions in the Management of Salinity Stress in Finger Millet. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:734798. [PMID: 34603359 PMCID: PMC8481900 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.734798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Salinity stress is a major environmental impediment affecting the growth and production of crops. Finger millet is an important cereal grown in many arid and semi-arid areas of the world characterized by erratic rainfall and scarcity of good-quality water. Finger millet salinity stress is caused by the accumulation of soluble salts due to irrigation without a proper drainage system, coupled with the underlying rocks having a high salt content, which leads to the salinization of arable land. This problem is projected to be exacerbated by climate change. The use of new and efficient strategies that provide stable salinity tolerance across a wide range of environments can guarantee sustainable production of finger millet in the future. In this review, we analyze the strategies that have been used for salinity stress management in finger millet production and discuss potential future directions toward the development of salt-tolerant finger millet varieties. This review also describes how advanced biotechnological tools are being used to develop salt-tolerant plants. The biotechnological techniques discussed in this review are simple to implement, have design flexibility, low cost, and highly efficient. This information provides insights into enhancing finger millet salinity tolerance and improving production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilton Mbinda
- Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya
- Pwani University Biosciences Research Centre (PUBReC), Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Asunta Mukami
- Department of Life Sciences, South Eastern Kenya University, Kitui, Kenya
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29
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Backiyalakshmi C, Vetriventhan M, Deshpande S, Babu C, Allan V, Naresh D, Gupta R, Azevedo VCR. Genome-Wide Assessment of Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of the Global Finger Millet Germplasm Panel Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:692463. [PMID: 34489996 PMCID: PMC8417690 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.692463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] is an important climate-resilient nutrient-dense crop grown as a staple food grain in Asia and Africa. Utilizing the full potential of the crop mainly depends on an in-depth exploration of the vast diversity in its germplasm. In this study, the global finger millet germplasm diversity panel of 314 accessions was genotyped, using the DArTseq approach to assess genetic diversity and population structure. We obtained 33,884 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers on 306 accessions after filtering. Finger millet germplasm showed considerable genetic diversity, and the mean polymorphic information content, gene diversity, and Shannon Index were 0.110, 0.114, and 0.194, respectively. The average genetic distance of the entire set was 0.301 (range 0.040 - 0.450). The accessions of the race elongata (0.326) showed the highest average genetic distance, and the least was in the race plana (0.275); and higher genetic divergence was observed between elongata and vulgaris (0.320), while the least was between compacta and plana (0.281). An average, landrace accessions had higher gene diversity (0.144) and genetic distance (0.299) than the breeding lines (0.117 and 0.267, respectively). A similar average gene diversity was observed in the accessions of Asia (0.132) and Africa (0.129), but Asia had slightly higher genetic distance (0.286) than African accessions (0.276), and the distance between these two regions was 0.327. This was also confirmed by a model-based STRUCTURE analysis, genetic distance-based clustering, and principal coordinate analysis, which revealed two major populations representing Asia and Africa. Analysis of molecular variance suggests that the significant population differentiation was mainly due to within individuals between regions or between populations while races had a negligible impact on population structure. Finger millet diversity is structured based on a geographical region of origin, while the racial structure made negligible contribution to population structure. The information generated from this study can provide greater insights into the population structure and genetic diversity within and among regions and races, and an understanding of genomic-assisted finger millet improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. Backiyalakshmi
- Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, India
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
| | - Mani Vetriventhan
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
| | - Santosh Deshpande
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
| | - C. Babu
- Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, India
| | - V. Allan
- Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, India
| | - D. Naresh
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
| | - Rajeev Gupta
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
| | - Vania C. R. Azevedo
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India
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30
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Kuo TCY, Hatakeyama M, Tameshige T, Shimizu KK, Sese J. Homeolog expression quantification methods for allopolyploids. Brief Bioinform 2021; 21:395-407. [PMID: 30590436 PMCID: PMC7299288 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bby121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome duplication with hybridization, or allopolyploidization, occurs in animals, fungi and plants, and is especially common in crop plants. There is an increasing interest in the study of allopolyploids because of advances in polyploid genome assembly; however, the high level of sequence similarity in duplicated gene copies (homeologs) poses many challenges. Here we compared standard RNA-seq expression quantification approaches used currently for diploid species against subgenome-classification approaches which maps reads to each subgenome separately. We examined mapping error using our previous and new RNA-seq data in which a subgenome is experimentally added (synthetic allotetraploid Arabidopsis kamchatica) or reduced (allohexaploid wheat Triticum aestivum versus extracted allotetraploid) as ground truth. The error rates in the two species were very similar. The standard approaches showed higher error rates (>10% using pseudo-alignment with Kallisto) while subgenome-classification approaches showed much lower error rates (<1% using EAGLE-RC, <2% using HomeoRoq). Although downstream analysis may partly mitigate mapping errors, the difference in methods was substantial in hexaploid wheat, where Kallisto appeared to have systematic differences relative to other methods. Only approximately half of the differentially expressed homeologs detected using Kallisto overlapped with those by any other method in wheat. In general, disagreement in low-expression genes was responsible for most of the discordance between methods, which is consistent with known biases in Kallisto. We also observed that there exist uncertainties in genome sequences and annotation which can affect each method differently. Overall, subgenome-classification approaches tend to perform better than standard approaches with EAGLE-RC having the highest precision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tony C Y Kuo
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, AIST, 2-3-26 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan.,AIST-Tokyo Tech RWBC-OIL, 2-12-1 Okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Masaomi Hatakeyama
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland.,Functional Genomics Center Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge - Batiment Genopode, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Toshiaki Tameshige
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12, Maioka, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama 244-0813, Japan
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland.,Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12, Maioka, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama 244-0813, Japan
| | - Jun Sese
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, AIST, 2-3-26 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan.,AIST-Tokyo Tech RWBC-OIL, 2-12-1 Okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
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Maharajan T, Antony Ceasar S, Ajeesh Krishna TP, Ignacimuthu S. Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn]: An Orphan Crop With a Potential to Alleviate the Calcium Deficiency in the Semi-arid Tropics of Asia and Africa. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.684447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Finger millet plays a vital role in the food and nutritional security of many people in developing countries particularly in Asia and Africa. It is a staple food for poor people in many regions of Asian (India, China, Nepal, and Sri Lanka etc.) and African (South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria etc.) countries. Finger millet contains nutrient rich components such as dietary fibers, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals that include phenolic compounds with several potential health benefits. Calcium (Ca) is an important macronutrient for healthy life of plants, humans and animals. It plays an indispensable role in structure and signaling and its deficiency causes low bone density, osteoporosis, colon cancer etc. Finger millet grains contain exceptionally higher amount of Ca (>300 mg/100 g) when compared to other major cereals. Ca transporter and sensor family genes are involved in the uptake, transport and accumulation of Ca. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Ca transporter and sensor family genes is important for growth, development and seed fortification in finger millet. Expression analysis of Ca transporter and sensor family genes has been carried out in various tissues of finger millet. Only a very little research work has been done to understand the Ca accumulation in the grains of finger millet. In this review, we discuss the nutritional importance and health benefits of finger millet. We discuss the studies on Ca sensor, accumulation and transport genes that help to improve the grains of finger millet with special reference to Ca. Improved Ca content in finger millet may help to alleviate the Ca deficiency throughout the world particularly in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa.
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Shimizu KK, Copetti D, Okada M, Wicker T, Tameshige T, Hatakeyama M, Shimizu-Inatsugi R, Aquino C, Nishimura K, Kobayashi F, Murata K, Kuo T, Delorean E, Poland J, Haberer G, Spannagl M, Mayer KFX, Gutierrez-Gonzalez J, Muehlbauer GJ, Monat C, Himmelbach A, Padmarasu S, Mascher M, Walkowiak S, Nakazaki T, Ban T, Kawaura K, Tsuji H, Pozniak C, Stein N, Sese J, Nasuda S, Handa H. De Novo Genome Assembly of the Japanese Wheat Cultivar Norin 61 Highlights Functional Variation in Flowering Time and Fusarium-Resistant Genes in East Asian Genotypes. PLANT & CELL PHYSIOLOGY 2021; 62:8-27. [PMID: 33244607 PMCID: PMC7991897 DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcaa152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Bread wheat is a major crop that has long been the focus of basic and breeding research. Assembly of its genome has been difficult because of its large size and allohexaploid nature (AABBDD genome). Following the first reported assembly of the genome of the experimental strain Chinese Spring (CS), the 10+ Wheat Genomes Project was launched to produce multiple assemblies of worldwide modern cultivars. The only Asian cultivar in the project is Norin 61, a representative Japanese cultivar adapted to grow across a broad latitudinal range, mostly characterized by a wet climate and a short growing season. Here, we characterize the key aspects of its chromosome-scale genome assembly spanning 15 Gb with a raw scaffold N50 of 22 Mb. Analysis of the repetitive elements identified chromosomal regions unique to Norin 61 that encompass a tandem array of the pathogenesis-related 13 family. We report novel copy-number variations in the B homeolog of the florigen gene FT1/VRN3, pseudogenization of its D homeolog and the association of its A homeologous alleles with the spring/winter growth habit. Furthermore, the Norin 61 genome carries typical East Asian functional variants different from CS, ranging from a single nucleotide to multi-Mb scale. Examples of such variation are the Fhb1 locus, which confers Fusarium head-blight resistance, Ppd-D1a, which confers early flowering, Glu-D1f for Asian noodle quality and Rht-D1b, which introduced semi-dwarfism during the green revolution. The adoption of Norin 61 as a reference assembly for functional and evolutionary studies will enable comprehensive characterization of the underexploited Asian bread wheat diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kentaro K Shimizu
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Dario Copetti
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Molecular Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Moeko Okada
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Wicker
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Toshiaki Tameshige
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
| | - Masaomi Hatakeyama
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Functional Genomics Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Kazusa Nishimura
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kizugawa, Japan
| | - Fuminori Kobayashi
- Division of Basic Research, Institute of Crop Science, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Kazuki Murata
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Tony Kuo
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, Japan
- University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Emily Delorean
- Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
| | - Jesse Poland
- Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
| | - Georg Haberer
- Helmholtz Zentrum München—Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Manuel Spannagl
- Helmholtz Zentrum München—Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Klaus F X Mayer
- Helmholtz Zentrum München—Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
- School of Life Sciences, Technical University Munich, Weihenstephan, Germany
| | | | - Gary J Muehlbauer
- Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA
| | - Cecile Monat
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
| | - Axel Himmelbach
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
| | - Sudharsan Padmarasu
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
| | - Martin Mascher
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
| | - Sean Walkowiak
- Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
- Canadian Grain Commission, Grain Research Laboratory, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Tetsuya Nakazaki
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kizugawa, Japan
| | - Tomohiro Ban
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Kanako Kawaura
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Tsuji
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Curtis Pozniak
- Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Nils Stein
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
- Department of Crop Science, Center of Integrated Breeding Research (CiBreed), Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jun Sese
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, Japan
- Humanome Lab, Inc, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shuhei Nasuda
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hirokazu Handa
- Division of Basic Research, Institute of Crop Science, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan
- Laboratoty of Plant Breeding, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
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Hall ND, Patel JD, McElroy JS, Goertzen LR. Detection of subgenome bias using an anchored syntenic approach in Eleusine coracana (finger millet). BMC Genomics 2021; 22:175. [PMID: 33706694 PMCID: PMC7953713 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07447-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Finger millet (Eleusine coracana 2n = 4x = 36) is a hardy, nutraceutical, climate change tolerant, orphan crop that is consumed throughout eastern Africa and India. Its genome has been sequenced multiple times, but A and B subgenomes could not be separated because no published genome for E. indica existed. The classification of A and B subgenomes is important for understanding the evolution of this crop and provide a means to improve current and future breeding programs. Results We produced subgenome calls for 704 syntenic blocks and inferred A or B subgenomic identity for 59,377 genes 81% of the annotated genes. Phylogenetic analysis of a super matrix containing 455 genes shows high support for A and B divergence within the Eleusine genus. Synonymous substitution rates between A and B genes support A and B calls. The repetitive content on highly supported B contigs is higher than that on similar A contigs. Analysis of syntenic singletons showed evidence of biased fractionation showed a pattern of A genome dominance, with 61% A, 37% B and 1% unassigned, and was further supported by the pattern of loss observed among cyto-nuclear interacting genes. Conclusion The evidence of individual gene calls within each syntenic block, provides a powerful tool for inference for subgenome classification. Our results show the utility of a draft genome in resolving A and B subgenomes calls, primarily it allows for the proper polarization of A and B syntenic blocks. There have been multiple calls for the use of phylogenetic inference in subgenome classification, our use of synteny is a practical application in a system that has only one parental genome available. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-07447-y.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan D Hall
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
| | - Jinesh D Patel
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| | - J Scott McElroy
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| | - Leslie R Goertzen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
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Ye CY, Fan L. Orphan Crops and their Wild Relatives in the Genomic Era. MOLECULAR PLANT 2021; 14:27-39. [PMID: 33346062 DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2020.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2020] [Revised: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
More than half of the calories consumed by humans are provided by three major cereal crops (rice, maize, and wheat). Orphan crops are usually well adapted to low-input agricultural conditions, and they not only play vital roles in local areas but can also contribute to food and nutritional needs worldwide. Interestingly, many wild relatives of orphan crops are important weeds of major crops. Although orphan crops and their wild relatives have received little attentions from researchers for many years, genomic studies have recently been performed on these plants. Here, we provide an overview of genomic studies on orphan crops, with a focus on orphan cereals and their wild relatives. The genomes of at least 12 orphan cereals and/or their wild relatives have been sequenced. In addition to genomic benefits for orphan crop breeding, we discuss the potential ways for mutual utilization of genomic data from major crops, orphan crops, and their wild relatives (including weeds) and provide perspectives on genetic improvement of both orphan and major crops (including de novo domestication of orphan crops) in the coming genomic era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chu-Yu Ye
- Institute of Crop Sciences & Institute of Bioinformatics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Longjiang Fan
- Institute of Crop Sciences & Institute of Bioinformatics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Hainan Institute of Zhejiang University, Sanya 572024, China.
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Computational Genomics. Adv Bioinformatics 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/978-981-33-6191-1_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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Sousa EC, Raizada MN. Contributions of African Crops to American Culture and Beyond: The Slave Trade and Other Journeys of Resilient Peoples and Crops. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.586340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a general unawareness of food crops indigenous to the African continent that have contributed to Western culture. This under-appreciation is particularly relevant in the current context of societal movements to end historic racism and value the contributions of peoples of African origin and African skin colors. Lack of awareness of the contributions of Africa's crops has negative practical consequences, including inadequate investments in preserving and maximizing the use of crop diversity to facilitate breeding. This paper provides an overview and analysis of African crops that have made significant contributions to the United States and globally, and/or hold potential in the twenty-first century. The paper specifically discusses watermelon, coffee, kola, rooibos, oil palm, shea, cowpea/black eyed pea, leafy greens, okra, yam, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, teff, and fonio. The review focuses on the intersection of these crops with racialized peoples, with a particular focus on African-Americans starting with slavery. The analysis includes the sites of domestication of African crops, their historical migration out of Africa, their sociocultural contributions to cuisines and products around the world, their uses today, and the indigenous knowledge associated with traditional cultivation and landrace selection. The untapped potential of local genetic resources and indigenous agronomic strategies are also described. The review demonstrates that African crops played an important role in the development of American cuisine, beverages and household products. Many of these crops are nutritious, high value and stress tolerant. The paper concludes that African crops hold significant promise in improving the resiliency of global food production systems, to mitigate climate change and alleviate food insecurity and rural poverty, especially in dry regions of the world. It is hoped that this review contributes to teaching the next generation of agriculturalists, food scientists and international development professionals about the valuable contributions of Africa's resilient crops and peoples.
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Genetic and genomic resources, and breeding for accelerating improvement of small millets: current status and future interventions. THE NUCLEUS 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s13237-020-00322-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
AbstractCurrent agricultural and food systems encourage research and development on major crops, neglecting regionally important minor crops. Small millets include a group of small- seeded cereal crops of the grass family Poaceae. This includes finger millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet, little millet, teff, fonio, job’s tears, guinea millet, and browntop millet. Small millets are an excellent choice to supplement major staple foods for crop and dietary diversity because of their diverse adaptation on marginal lands, less water requirement, lesser susceptibility to stresses, and nutritional superiority compared to major cereal staples. Growing interest among consumers about healthy diets together with climate-resilient features of small millets underline the necessity of directing more research and development towards these crops. Except for finger millet and foxtail millet, and to some extent proso millet and teff, other small millets have received minimal research attention in terms of development of genetic and genomic resources and breeding for yield enhancement. Considerable breeding efforts were made in finger millet and foxtail millet in India and China, respectively, proso millet in the United States of America, and teff in Ethiopia. So far, five genomes, namely foxtail millet, finger millet, proso millet, teff, and Japanese barnyard millet, have been sequenced, and genome of foxtail millet is the smallest (423-510 Mb) while the largest one is finger millet (1.5 Gb). Recent advances in phenotyping and genomics technologies, together with available germplasm diversity, could be utilized in small millets improvement. This review provides a comprehensive insight into the importance of small millets, the global status of their germplasm, diversity, promising germplasm resources, and breeding approaches (conventional and genomic approaches) to accelerate climate-resilient and nutrient-dense small millets for sustainable agriculture, environment, and healthy food systems.
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Manimekalai R, Suresh G, Govinda Kurup H, Athiappan S, Kandalam M. Role of NGS and SNP genotyping methods in sugarcane improvement programs. Crit Rev Biotechnol 2020; 40:865-880. [PMID: 32508157 DOI: 10.1080/07388551.2020.1765730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is one of the most economically significant crops because of its high sucrose content and it is a promising biomass feedstock for biofuel production. Sugarcane genome sequencing and analysis is a difficult task due to its heterozygosity and polyploidy. Long sequence read technologies, PacBio Single-Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing, the Illumina TruSeq, and the Oxford Nanopore sequencing could solve the problem of genome assembly. On the applications side, next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies played a major role in the discovery of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and the development of low to high throughput genotyping platforms. The two mainstream high throughput genotyping platforms are the SNP microarray and genotyping by sequencing (GBS). This paper reviews the NGS in sugarcane genomics, genotyping methodologies, and the choice of these methods. Array-based SNP genotyping is robust, provides consistent SNPs, and relatively easier downstream data analysis. The GBS method identifies large scale SNPs across the germplasm. A combination of targeted GBS and array-based genotyping methods should be used to increase the accuracy of genomic selection and marker-assisted breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramaswamy Manimekalai
- Crop Improvement Division, ICAR - Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Gayathri Suresh
- Crop Improvement Division, ICAR - Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Hemaprabha Govinda Kurup
- Crop Improvement Division, ICAR - Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Selvi Athiappan
- Crop Improvement Division, ICAR - Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Mallikarjuna Kandalam
- Business Development, Asia Pacific Japan region, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA
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Rodríguez JP, Rahman H, Thushar S, Singh RK. Healthy and Resilient Cereals and Pseudo-Cereals for Marginal Agriculture: Molecular Advances for Improving Nutrient Bioavailability. Front Genet 2020; 11:49. [PMID: 32174958 PMCID: PMC7056906 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 01/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
With the ever-increasing world population, an extra 1.5 billion mouths need to be fed by 2050 with continuously dwindling arable land. Hence, it is imperative that extra food come from the marginal lands that are expected to be unsuitable for growing major staple crops under the adverse climate change scenario. Crop diversity provides right alternatives for marginal environments to improve food, feed, and nutritional security. Well-adapted and climate-resilient crops will be the best fit for such a scenario to produce seed and biomass. The minor millets are known for their high nutritional profile and better resilience for several abiotic stresses that make them the suitable crops for arid and salt-affected soils and poor-quality waters. Finger millet (Eleucine coracana) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica), also considered as orphan crops, are highly tolerant grass crop species that grow well in marginal and degraded lands of Africa and Asia with better nutritional profile. Another category of grains, called pseudo-cereals, is considered as rich foods because of their protein quality and content, high mineral content, and healthy and balance food quality. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) fall under this category. Nevertheless, both minor millets and pseudo-cereals are morphologically different, although similar for micronutrient bioavailability, and their grains are gluten-free. The cultivation of these millets can make dry lands productive and ensure future food as well as nutritional security. Although the natural nutrient profile of these crop plant species is remarkably good, little development has occurred in advances in molecular genetics and breeding efforts to improve the bioavailability of nutrients. Recent advances in NGS have enabled the genome and transcriptome sequencing of these millets and pseudo-cereals for the faster development of molecular markers and application in molecular breeding. Genomic information on finger millet (1,196 Mb with 85,243 genes); S. italica, a model small millet (well-annotated draft genome of 420 Mb with 38,801 protein-coding genes); amaranth (466 Mb genome and 23,059 protein-coding genes); buckwheat (genome size of 1.12 Gb with 35,816 annotated genes); and quinoa (genome size of 1.5 Gb containing 54,438 protein-coding genes) could pave the way for the genetic improvement of these grains. These genomic resources are an important first step toward genetic improvement of these crops. This review highlights the current advances and available resources on genomics to improve nutrient bioavailability in these five suitable crops for the sustained healthy livelihood.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Rakesh K. Singh
- Crop Diversification and Genetics Program, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Maharajan T, Ceasar SA, Krishna TPA, Ignacimuthu S. Phosphate supply influenced the growth, yield and expression of PHT1 family phosphate transporters in seven millets. PLANTA 2019; 250:1433-1448. [PMID: 31300887 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-019-03237-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Phosphate starvation altered the root morphology and phosphate uptake with the induction of PHT1 family transporter genes in root and shoot tissues of seven millets. Millets are nutrient-rich cereals majorly cultivated in Asia and Africa. Foxtail millet (FoxM), pearl millet (PeaM), finger millet (FinM), kodo millet (KodM), little millet (LitM), proso millet (ProM), and barnyard millet (BarM) were examined for the influence of external phosphorous (P) supply on phenotypic traits, P uptake, yield, and PHosphate Transporter1 (PHT1) family gene expression. Millet seedlings grown under low Pi condition (LPC) produced significantly lower mean values for all traits except for lateral root length (LRL) and lateral root number (LRN) which were increased under LPC. Under LPC, seed weight (SW) also reduced by > 75% and had significantly lower levels of total P (TP) and Pi contents in leaf and root tissues. Expression dynamics of 12 PHT1 family (PHT1;1-1;12) transporters genes were analyzed in 7 millets. PHT1;2 has been found to be a constitutive transporter gene in all millets. Under LPC, root tissues showed the overexpression of PHT1;2, 1;3, 1;4 and 1;9 in FoxM, PHT1;1, 1;2, 1;3, 1;4, 1;8 and 1;10 in PeaM, PHT1;2 and 1;3 in FinM and ProM and PHT1;3, 1;6 and 1;11 in BarM. In leaf, LPC induced the expression of PHT1;3, 1;4 and 1;6 in FoxM, PHT1;2, 1;3, 1;4 and 1;8 in PeaM, PHT1;2, 1;3 and 1;4 in FinM and KodM, PHT1;2 in LitM and PHT1;4 in ProM and BarnM. This comprehensive study on the influence of P in phenotype, physiology, and molecular responses may help to improve the P uptake and its use efficiency of millets in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theivanayagam Maharajan
- Division of Plant Biotechnology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, 600034, India
| | - Stanislaus Antony Ceasar
- Division of Plant Biotechnology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, 600034, India.
- Functional Genomics and Plant Molecular Imaging Lab, University of Liege, 4000, Liege, Belgium.
| | | | - Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu
- Division of Plant Biotechnology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, 600034, India
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Johnson M, Deshpande S, Vetriventhan M, Upadhyaya HD, Wallace JG. Genome-Wide Population Structure Analyses of Three Minor Millets: Kodo Millet, Little Millet, and Proso Millet. THE PLANT GENOME 2019; 12:1-9. [PMID: 33016596 DOI: 10.3835/plantgenome2019.03.0021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/23/2019] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Developed genome-wide SNP marker data for kodo, proso, and little millet Marker data used to analyze genetic diversity Heritability results of various traits used to validate genetic data Millets are a diverse group of small-seeded grains that are rich in nutrients but have received relatively little advanced plant breeding research. Millets are important to smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia because of their short growing season, good stress tolerance, and high nutritional content. To advance the study and use of these species, we present genome-wide marker datasets and population structure analyses for three minor millets: kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth), and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.).We generated genome-wide marker data sets for 190 accessions of each species with genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). After filtering, we retained between 161 and 165 accessions of each species, with 3461, 2245, and 1882 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for kodo, little, and proso millet, respectively. Population genetic analysis revealed seven putative subpopulations of kodo millet and eight each of proso millet and little millet. To confirm the accuracy of this genetic data, we used public phenotype data on a subset of these accessions to estimate the heritability of various agronomically relevant phenotypes. Heritability values largely agree with the prior expectation for each phenotype, indicating that these SNPs provide an accurate genome-wide sample of genetic variation. These data represent one of first genome-wide population genetics analyses-and the most extensive-in these species and the first genomic analyses of any sort for little millet and kodo millet. These data will be a valuable resource for researchers and breeders trying to improve these crops for smallholder farmers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Johnson
- Johnson Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia, 111 Riverbend Rd. Athens, GA
| | - Santosh Deshpande
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, 502324, Telangana, India
| | - Mani Vetriventhan
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, 502324, Telangana, India
| | - Hari D Upadhyaya
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, 502324, Telangana, India
| | - Jason G Wallace
- Johnson Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, Univ. of Georgia, 111 Riverbend Rd. Athens, GA
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42
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Tadele Z. Orphan crops: their importance and the urgency of improvement. PLANTA 2019; 250:677-694. [PMID: 31190115 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-019-03210-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Due to significant contributions of orphan crops in the economy of the developing world, scientific studies need to be promoted on these little researched but vital crops of smallholder farmers and consumers. Food security is the main challenge in the developing world, particularly in the least developed countries. Orphan crops play a vital role in the food security and livelihood of resource-poor farmers and consumers in these countries. Like major crops, there are members of all food types-cereals, legumes, vegetables and root and tuber crops, that are considered to be orphan crops. Despite their huge importance for present and future agriculture, orphan crops have generally received little attention by the global scientific community. Due to this, they produce inferior yields in terms of both quantity and quality. The major bottlenecks affecting the productivity of these crops are little or no selection of improved genetic traits, extreme environmental conditions and unfavorable policy. However, some orphan crops have recently received the attention of the global and national scientific community where advanced research and development initiatives have been launched. These initiatives which implement a variety of genetic and genomic tools targeted major constraints affecting productivity and/or nutritional quality of orphan crops. In this paper, some of these initiatives are briefly described. Here, I provide key suggestions to relevant stakeholders regarding improvement of orphan crops. Concerted efforts are urgently needed to advance the research and development of both the major and orphan crops so that food security will be achieved and ultimately the livelihood of the population will be improved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zerihun Tadele
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
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43
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Sood S, Joshi DC, Chandra AK, Kumar A. Phenomics and genomics of finger millet: current status and future prospects. PLANTA 2019; 250:731-751. [PMID: 30968267 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-019-03159-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2018] [Accepted: 04/02/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Diverse gene pool, advanced plant phenomics and genomics methods enhanced genetic gain and understanding of important agronomic, adaptation and nutritional traits in finger millet. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is an important minor millet for food and nutritional security in semi-arid regions of the world. The crop has wide adaptability and can be grown right from high hills in Himalayan region to coastal plains. It provides food grain as well as palatable straw for cattle, and is fairly climate resilient. The crop has large gene pool with distinct features of both Indian and African germplasm types. Interspecific hybridization between Indian and African germplasm has resulted in greater yield enhancement and disease resistance. The crop has shown numerous advantages over major cereals in terms of stress adaptation, nutritional quality and health benefits. It has indispensable repository of novel genes for the benefits of mankind. Although rapid strides have been made in allele mining in model crops and major cereals, the progress in finger millet genomics is lacking. Comparative genomics have paved the way for the marker-assisted selection, where resistance gene homologues of rice for blast and sequence variants for nutritional traits from other cereals have been invariably used. Transcriptomics studies have provided preliminary understanding of the nutritional variation, drought and salinity tolerance. However, the genetics of many important traits in finger millet is poorly understood and need systematic efforts from biologists across disciplines. Recently, deciphered finger millet genome will enable identification of candidate genes for agronomically and nutritionally important traits. Further, improvement in genome assembly and application of genomic selection as well as genome editing in near future will provide plethora of information and opportunity to understand the genetics of complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salej Sood
- ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, HP, India.
| | - Dinesh C Joshi
- ICAR-Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, Uttarakhand, India
| | - Ajay Kumar Chandra
- GB Pant University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India
| | - Anil Kumar
- GB Pant University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.
- Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhanshi, UP, India.
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Zhang H, Hall N, Goertzen LR, Chen CY, Peatman E, Patel J, McElroy JS. Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Unique Relationships Among Eleusine Species and Heritage of Eleusine coracana. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2019; 9:2029-2036. [PMID: 31010823 PMCID: PMC6553535 DOI: 10.1534/g3.119.400214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Accepted: 04/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Relationships in the genus Eleusine were obtained through transcriptome analysis. Eleusine coracana (E. coracana ssp. coracana), also known as finger millet, is an allotetraploid minor crop primarily grown in East Africa and India. Domesticated E. coracana evolved from wild E. africana (E. coracana ssp. africana) with the maternal genome donor largely supported to be E. indica; however, the paternal genome donor remains elusive. We developed transcriptomes for six Eleusine species from fully developed seedlings using Illumina technology and three de novo assemblers (Trinity, Velvet, and SOAPdenovo2) with the redundancy-reducing EvidentialGene pipeline. Mapping E. coracana reads to the chloroplast genes of all Eleusine species detected fewer variants between E. coracana and E. indica compared to all other species. Phylogenetic analysis further supports E. indica as the maternal parent of E. coracana and E. africana, in addition to a close relationship between E. indica and E. tristachya, and between E. floccifolia and E. multiflora, and E. intermedia as a separate group. A close relationship between E. floccifolia and E. multiflora was unexpected considering they are reported to have distinct nuclear genomes, BB and CC, respectively. Further, it was expected that E. intermedia and E. floccifolia would have a closer relationship considering they have similar nuclear genomes, AB and BB, respectively. A rethinking of the labeling of ancestral genomes of E. floccifolia, E. multiflora, and E. intermedia is maybe needed based on this data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Zhang
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science
| | - Nathan Hall
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science
| | | | | | - Eric Peatman
- School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849
| | - Jinesh Patel
- Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science
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Parvathi MS, Nataraja KN, Nanja Reddy YA, Naika MBN, Channabyre Gowda MV. Transcriptome analysis of finger millet ( Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) reveals unique drought responsive genes. J Genet 2019; 98:46. [PMID: 31204698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.), an important C4 species is known for its stress hardiness and nutritional significance. To identify novel drought responsive mechanisms, we generated transcriptome data from leaf tissue of finger millet, variety GPU-28, exposed to gravimetrically imposed drought stress so as to simulate field stress conditions. De novo assembly based approach yielded 80,777 and 90,830 transcripts from well-irrigated (control) and drought-stressed samples, respectively. A total of 1790 transcripts were differentially expressed between the control and drought-stress treatments. Functional annotation and pathway analysis indicated activation of diverse drought-stress signalling cascade genes such as serine threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), calcineurin B-like interacting protein kinase31 (CIPK31), farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPS), signal recognition particle receptor α (SRPR α) etc. The basal regulatory genes such as TATA-binding protein (TBP)-associated factors (TAFs) werefound to be drought responsive, indicating that genes associated with housekeeping or basal regulatory processes are activated underdrought in finger millet. A significant portion of the expressed genes was uncharacterized, belonging to the category of proteins of unknown functions (PUFs). Among the differentially expressed PUFs, we attempted to assign putative function for a few, using anovel annotation tool, Proteins of Unknown Function Annotation Server. Analysis of PUFs led to the discovery of novel drought responsive genes such as pentatricopeptide repeat proteins and tetratricopeptide repeat proteins that serve as interaction modules in multiprotein interactions. The transcriptome data generated can be utilized for comparative analysis, and functional validation of the genes identified would be useful to understand the drought adaptive mechanisms operating under field conditions in finger millet, as has been already attempted for a few candidates such as CIPK31 and TAF6. Such an attempt is needed to enhance the productivity of finger millet under water-limited conditions, and/or to adopt the implicated mechanisms in other related crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- M S Parvathi
- Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India.
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46
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Parvathi MS, Nataraja KN, Reddy YAN, Naika MBN, Gowda MVC. Transcriptome analysis of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) reveals unique drought responsive genes. J Genet 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s12041-019-1087-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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47
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Gutierrez-Gonzalez JJ, Mascher M, Poland J, Muehlbauer GJ. Dense genotyping-by-sequencing linkage maps of two Synthetic W7984×Opata reference populations provide insights into wheat structural diversity. Sci Rep 2019; 9:1793. [PMID: 30741967 PMCID: PMC6370774 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38111-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Accepted: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) genetic maps are a key enabling tool for genetic studies. We used genotyping-by-sequencing-(GBS) derived markers to map recombinant inbred line (RIL) and doubled haploid (DH) populations from crosses of W7984 by Opata, and used the maps to explore features of recombination control. The RIL and DH populations, SynOpRIL and SynOpDH, were composed of 906 and 92 individuals, respectively. Two high-density genetic linkage framework maps were constructed of 2,842 and 2,961 cM, harboring 3,634 and 6,580 markers, respectively. Using imputation, we added 43,013 and 86,042 markers to the SynOpRIL and SynOpDH maps. We observed preferential recombination in telomeric regions and reduced recombination in pericentromeric regions. Recombination rates varied between subgenomes, with the D genomes of the two populations exhibiting the highest recombination rates of 0.26-0.27 cM/Mb. QTL mapping identified two additive and three epistatic loci associated with crossover number. Additionally, we used published POPSEQ data from SynOpDH to explore the structural variation in W7984 and Opata. We found that chromosome 5AS is missing from W7984. We also found 2,332 variations larger than 100 kb. Structural variants were more abundant in distal regions, and overlapped 9,196 genes. The two maps provide a resource for trait mapping and genomic-assisted breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Martin Mascher
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), D-06466, Seeland OT, Gatersleben, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jesse Poland
- Wheat Genetics Resource Center, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 4024 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA
| | - Gary J Muehlbauer
- Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA.
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA.
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Paape T, Briskine RV, Halstead-Nussloch G, Lischer HEL, Shimizu-Inatsugi R, Hatakeyama M, Tanaka K, Nishiyama T, Sabirov R, Sese J, Shimizu KK. Patterns of polymorphism and selection in the subgenomes of the allopolyploid Arabidopsis kamchatica. Nat Commun 2018; 9:3909. [PMID: 30254374 PMCID: PMC6156220 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06108-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/10/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome duplication is widespread in wild and crop plants. However, little is known about genome-wide selection in polyploids due to the complexity of duplicated genomes. In polyploids, the patterns of purifying selection and adaptive substitutions may be affected by masking owing to duplicated genes or homeologs as well as effective population size. Here, we resequence 25 accessions of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis kamchatica, which is derived from the diploid species A. halleri and A. lyrata. We observe a reduction in purifying selection compared with the parental species. Interestingly, proportions of adaptive non-synonymous substitutions are significantly positive in contrast to most plant species. A recurrent pattern observed in both frequency and divergence–diversity neutrality tests is that the genome-wide distributions of both subgenomes are similar, but the correlation between homeologous pairs is low. This may increase the opportunity of different evolutionary trajectories such as in the HMA4 gene involved in heavy metal hyperaccumulation. Despite the prevalence of genome duplication in plants, little is known about the evolutionary patterns of entire subgenomes. Here the authors resequence allopolyploid Arabidopsis kamchatica genome to estimate diversity, linkage disequilibrium and strengths of both positive and purifying selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Paape
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland. .,Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Roman V Briskine
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland.,Functional Genomics Center Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Gwyneth Halstead-Nussloch
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Heidi E L Lischer
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Masaomi Hatakeyama
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zurich, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland.,Functional Genomics Center Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Kenta Tanaka
- Sugadaira Montane Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Nagano, Ueda, 386-2204, Japan
| | - Tomoaki Nishiyama
- Advanced Science Research Center, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, 920-0934, Japan
| | - Renat Sabirov
- Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nauki street, 1-B, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 693022, Russian Federation
| | - Jun Sese
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan.,AIST-Tokyo Tech Real World Big-Data Computation Open Innovation Laboratory, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland. .,Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zurich, Switzerland. .,Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12 Maioka, Yokohama, 244-0813, Japan.
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Abstract
Understanding how crop plants evolved from their wild relatives and spread around the world can inform about the origins of agriculture. Here, we review how the rapid development of genomic resources and tools has made it possible to conduct genetic mapping and population genetic studies to unravel the molecular underpinnings of domestication and crop evolution in diverse crop species. We propose three future avenues for the study of crop evolution: establishment of high-quality reference genomes for crops and their wild relatives; genomic characterization of germplasm collections; and the adoption of novel methodologies such as archaeogenetics, epigenomics, and genome editing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Schreiber
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466, Seeland, Germany
| | - Nils Stein
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466, Seeland, Germany
| | - Martin Mascher
- Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466, Seeland, Germany.
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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50
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Kyriakidou M, Tai HH, Anglin NL, Ellis D, Strömvik MV. Current Strategies of Polyploid Plant Genome Sequence Assembly. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2018; 9:1660. [PMID: 30519250 PMCID: PMC6258962 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Polyploidy or duplication of an entire genome occurs in the majority of angiosperms. The understanding of polyploid genomes is important for the improvement of those crops, which humans rely on for sustenance and basic nutrition. As climate change continues to pose a potential threat to agricultural production, there will increasingly be a demand for plant cultivars that can resist biotic and abiotic stresses and also provide needed and improved nutrition. In the past decade, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has fundamentally changed the genomics landscape by providing tools for the exploration of polyploid genomes. Here, we review the challenges of the assembly of polyploid plant genomes, and also present recent advances in genomic resources and functional tools in molecular genetics and breeding. As genomes of diploid and less heterozygous progenitor species are increasingly available, we discuss the lack of complexity of these currently available reference genomes as they relate to polyploid crops. Finally, we review recent approaches of haplotyping by phasing and the impact of third generation technologies on polyploid plant genome assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Kyriakidou
- Department of Plant Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Helen H. Tai
- Fredericton Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Fredericton, NB, Canada
| | | | | | - Martina V. Strömvik
- Department of Plant Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- *Correspondence: Martina V. Strömvik
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