Rajeev K Varshney

Murdoch University · Centre for Crop & Food Innovation

Chickpea is the world's fourth largest grown legume crop, which significantly contributes to food security by providing calories and dietary protein globally. However, the increased frequency of drought stress has significantly reduced chickpea production in recent years. Here, we have performed a field experiment with 36 diverse chickpea genotypes...

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), an ecologically and economically important forest species in East Asia, plays vital roles in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. However, intensifying climate change threatens moso bamboo survival. Here we generate high-quality haplotype-based pangenome assemblies for 16 representative moso bamboo...

Root‐lesion nematodes (RLN) pose a significant threat to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) by damaging the root system and causing up to 25% economic losses due to reduced yield. Worldwide commercially grown chickpea varieties lack significant genetic resistance to RLN, necessitating the identification of genetic variants contributing to natural resist...

Viable pollen is crucial for fertilization, but pollen is generally highly susceptible to heat stress. A quick, reliable method for testing the heat-stress tolerance of pollen is needed to improve the heat-stress tolerance in plants, but current methods require considerable space and labor. In addition, many such methods only test tolerance to a si...

Genome evolution of Pitaya

Biotic stresses compromise grain legume production worldwide. Deployment of the resistant varieties of grain legume crops that can withstand high disease/pest pressures is the straightforward and sustainable approach for stress management. A high resistance level of crop plants not only reduces the overall production costs but also poses no or litt...

Helicoverpa armigera (also known as gram pod borer) is a serious threat to chickpea production in the world. A set of 173 chickpea genotypes were evaluated for H. armigera resistance, including mean larval population (MLP), percentage pod damage (PPD), and pest resistance (PR) for 2 consecutive years (year 2020 and 2021). The same core set was also...

Yellow pitaya (Selenicereus megalanthus, 2n=4x=44) breeding remains severely hindered due to lacking a reference genome. Here we report yellow pitaya's high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly and link the phenotypic trait with genomic data, based on Hi-C, ATAC, and RNA-seq data of specific tissues. We declared yellow pitaya as an autotetraplo...

Developing early maturing lentil has the potential to minimize yield losses, mainly during terminal drought. Whole‐genome resequencing (WGRS) based QTL‐seq identified the loci governing earliness in lentil. The genetic analysis for maturity duration provided a good fit to 3:1 segregation (F2), indicating earliness as a recessive trait. WGRS of Glob...

Background: Groundnut is the major oilseed crop that suffers substantial post-harvest losses due to aflatoxin contamination by the fungus Aspergillus flavus. The interaction between A. flavus and groundnut microRNAs in combating aflatoxin contamination remains unclear. This study was carried out to identify microRNAs (miRNAs) to enhance the underst...

In chickpea breeding, drought is a major concern and a complex trait controlled by several genes. To develop drought-tolerant varieties, it is essential to use the available germplasm and genomic resources. Over the years, the landraces have proven to be a good source for the dissection of genes for different yield and yield-related traits. The pre...

Nitrogen (N) as an inorganic macronutrient is inevitable for plant growth, development, and biomass production. Many external factors and stresses, such as acidity, alkalinity, salinity, temperature, oxygen, and rainfall, affect N uptake and metabolism in plants. The uptake of ammonium (NH4⁺) and nitrate (NO3⁻) in plants mainly depends on soil prop...

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)—an important legume crop cultivated in arid and semiarid regions—has limited genetic diversity. Efforts are being undertaken to broaden its diversity by utilizing its wild relatives, which remain largely unexplored. Here, we present the Cicer super-pangenome based on the de novo genome assemblies of eight annual Cicer...

Fusarium wilt (FW) is the most severe soil‐borne disease of chickpea that causes yield losses up to 100%. To improve FW resistance in JG 11, a high‐yielding variety that became susceptible to FW, we used WR 315 as the donor parent and followed the pedigree breeding method. Based on disease resistance and yield performance, four lines were evaluated...

Background Chickpea is prone to many abiotic stresses such as heat, drought, salinity, etc. which cause severe loss in yield. Tolerance towards these stresses is quantitative in nature and many studies have been done to map the loci influencing these traits in different populations using different markers. This study is an attempt to meta-analyse t...

The CRISPR/Cas system comprises RNA-guided nucleases, the target specificity of which is directed by Watson–Crick base pairing of target loci with single guide (sg)RNA to induce the desired edits. CRISPR-associated proteins and other engineered nucleases are opening new avenues of research in crops to induce heritable mutations. Here, we review the...

Background Aspergillus flavus is an important agricultural and food safety threat due to its production of carcinogenic aflatoxins. It has high level of genetic diversity that is adapted to various environments. Recently, we reported two reference genomes of A. flavus isolates, AF13 (MAT1-2 and highly aflatoxigenic isolate) and NRRL3357 (MAT1-1 and...

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) is an important source of quality dietary protein for over a billion people worldwide. The seeds of pigeonpea contain approximately 20–22% digestible protein, which makes it a valuable source of nutrition. Despite this, there has been little attention paid to enhancing the seed protein content (SPC) through genetic mean...

Background Foliar diseases namely late leaf spot (LLS) and leaf rust (LR) reduce yield and deteriorate fodder quality in groundnut. Also the high oleic acid content has emerged as one of the most important traits for industries and consumers due to its increased shelf life and health benefits. Results Genetic mapping combined with pooled sequencin...

Ship voyage to Antarctica under stressful conditions impacts the health of expedition members. Measures can be taken to prevent adverse physical and psychological effects. Compared with minimally stressed control subjects in Delhi (India), these effects were investigated in a placebo-controlled study with multi-species probiotics intervention on se...

Chickpea, being an important grain legume crop, is often confronted with the adverse effects of high temperatures at the reproductive stage of crop growth, drastically affecting yield and overall productivity. The current study deals with an extensive evaluation of chickpea genotypes, focusing on the traits associated with yield and their response...

Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) is an important legume crop cultivated in over 30 countries worldwide. We developed a high‐quality chromosome‐level reference genome of adzuki bean cultivar Jingnong6 by combining PacBio Sequel long‐read sequencing with short‐read and Hi‐C technologies. The assembled genome covers 97.8% of the adzuki bean genome with a...

Key message Integrating GAB methods with high-throughput phenotyping, genome editing, and speed breeding hold great potential in designing future smart peanut cultivars to meet market and food supply demands. Abstract Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), a legume crop greatly valued for its nourishing food, cooking oil, and fodder, is extensiv...

Trehalose (Tre) is a non-reducing disaccharide found in many species, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, yeast, and even plants, where it acts as an osmoprotectant, energy source, or protein/membrane protector. Despite relatively small amounts in plants, Tre concentrations increase following exposure to abiotic stressors. Trehalose-6-phospha...

Trehalose (Tre) is a non-reducing disaccharide found in many species, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, yeast, and even plants, where it acts as an osmoprotectant, energy source, or protein/membrane protector. Despite relatively small amounts in plants, Tre concentrations increase following exposure to abiotic stressors. Trehalose-6-phospha...

The escalating challenges posed by metal(loid) toxicity in agricultural ecosystems, exacerbated by rapid climate change and anthropogenic pressures, demand urgent attention. Soil contamination is a critical issue because it significantly impacts crop productivity. The widespread threat of metal(loid) toxicity can jeopardize global food security due...

Venous thrombosis (VT) is a complex multi-factorial disease and a major health concern worldwide. Its clinical implications include deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). VT pathogenesis involves intricate interplay of various coagulants and anti-coagulants. Growing evidences from epidemiological studies have shown that many non-co...

Although the regulatory mechanisms of dark and light‐induced plant morphogenesis have been broadly investigated, the biological process in peanuts has not been systematically explored on single‐cell resolution. Herein, 10 cell clusters were characterized using scRNA‐seq‐identified marker genes, based on 13 409 and 11 296 single cells from 1‐week‐ol...

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important allotetraploid oil and food legume crop. China is one of the world’s largest peanut producers and consumers. However, genomic variations underlying the migration and divergence of peanuts in China remain unclear. Here we reported a genome-wide variation map based on the resequencing of 390 peanut accessi...

Background Aspergillus flavus is an important agricultural and food safety threat due to its production of carcinogenic aflatoxins. It has high level of genetic diversity that is adapted to various environments. Recently, we reported two reference genomes of A. flavus isolates, AF13 (MAT1-2 and highly aflatoxigenic isolate) and NRRL3357 (MAT1-1 and...

In the face of climate change, developing resilient crops is crucial for global food security in the 21st century to feed a growing population. Lentil ( Lens culinaris Medikus) plays a vital role in ensuring global food and nutritional security. Traits like early flowering enable the crop to mature faster, thereby shortening the growing window and...

The adverse effects of mounting environmental challenges, including extreme temperatures, threaten the global food supply due to their impact on plant growth and productivity. Temperature extremes disrupt plant genetics, leading to significant growth issues and eventually damaging phenotypes. Plants have developed complex signaling networks to resp...

Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight and Botrytis grey mould caused by fungal pathogens are major biotic stresses that lead to 100% yield loss in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Several independent studies reported the genomic regions, using heterogeneous populations, that are of limited use in breeding programs for the development of enhanced disease re...

The rapid growth in the human population and increasing environmental fluctuations have created a pressing necessity to develop crops that exhibit greater yields and heightened resilience to climate change. Genome editing mediated by Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas), hold the potentia...

Alternative splicing (AS), an important post‐transcriptional regulation mechanism in eukaryotes, can significantly increase transcript diversity and contribute to gene expression regulation and many other complicated developmental processes. While plant gene AS events are well described, few studies have investigated the comprehensive regulation ma...

Global food security is the numero uno priority in the current global situation, threatened by a number of challenges catalyzed by accelerated climate change and population growth. Crop improvement coupled with the modern plant breeding approaches, such as genomic-assisted breeding, is a proven solution to meet the food security. One of the key...

The last two decades have witnessed the rapid development and application of several frontier technologies for crop improvement, which have brought speed, precision and cost-effectiveness in making selection decisions for improved breeding lines with better genetics. A few such technologies to be mentioned are accurate and efficient germplasm chara...

In 2020, more than 800 million people suffered from hunger, and this number will continue to rise as the world’s population increases, in addition to heightening the consequences of climate change and the probability of increasing the risk of wars. We cannot continue to use the conventional breeding techniques employed 50 years ago, which require 7...

A boost in the crop improvement rate is essential for accomplishing a sustainable food supply and other demands of rapid population growth. Genomic selection (GS), a very promising breeding strategy used effectively in animal breeding, is now used in crop improvement. GS offers a reduced duration of breeding cycles by rapidly selecting better genot...

Global food demand is expected to increase between 55 and 70% by 2050. Plant breeders and geneticists are constantly under pressure to develop high-yielding climate-resilient varieties using novel approaches. The quest for simplifying complex traits and efforts for developing high-yielding varieties during the twenty-first century led to a paradigm...

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are important high-protein and oil-containing legume crops adapted to arid to semi-arid regions. The yield and quality of peanuts are complex quantitative traits that show high environmental influence. In this study, a recombinant inbred line population (RIL) (Valencia-C × JUG-03) was developed and phenotyped for nine...

Sojourning to high-altitude regions often leads to gastrointestinal distress, with symptoms such as anorexia, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. The infectious agents that contribute to this distress include microorganisms. Hypoxic stress is a central factor affecting human behavior in high-altitude areas. Hypoxia can cause bacterial displacement and...

Crops arose from wild ancestors and to understand their domestication it is essential to compare the cultivated species with their crop wild relatives. These represent an important source of further crop improvement, in particular in relation to climate change. Although there are about 58,000 Lens accessions held in genebanks, only 1% are wild. We...

Protein SUMOylation is a reversible and well known post-translational modification process of the cells. It may change a protein's cellular location, interactions, and possible structural shape before it develops to carry out its basic functions. Also, it decides the binding of transcription factors and DNA binding proteins to chromatin in addition...

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops grown in the Western Himalayas of India but its production is challenged by the insect “cereal leaf beetle (CLB)”. This study explores the impact of domestication and modern crop improvement on wheat's defense mechanisms against the CLB, a global threat to wheat cultivation. Sixteen diverse wheat geno...

As precise phenotyping is essential and the cost of generating phenotyping data at every generation is very expensive, recent advances in genomics technologies and the availability of a wide range of genotyping platforms have made the cost of genotyping much less expensive compared with phenotyping. The recent developments in sequencing technolo...

The rising number of food-insecure people in the developing world puts enormous pressure on agrifood systems to improve productivity and resilience. Adopting innovative genomic technologies and new breeding methods will help to achieve a faster increase in crop yields. A shift from resource intensive to low-input agriculture necessitates considerab...

The rising number of food-insecure people in the developing world puts enormous pressure on agrifood systems to improve productivity and resilience. Adopting innovative genomic technologies and new breeding methods will help to achieve a faster increase in crop yields. A shift from resource intensive to low-input agriculture necessitates considerab...

Ramasamy, S., eds. 2023. Case studies of the use of agricultural biotechnologies to meet the needs of smallholders in developing countries. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8940en The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food a...

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] stands as a climate-smart, sixth most important cereal crop globally. This resilient nutri-cereal is extensively grown by the poor smallholder farmers of the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and serves as a grain and stover crop. Its cultivation spans approximatel...

Peanut is a significant source of protein for human consumption. One of the primary objectives in peanut breeding is the development of new cultivars with enhanced nutritional values. To further this goal, a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to analyze seed amino acids contents in 390 diverse peanut accessions collected worldwide,...

Currently, hunger affects nearly 12 per cent of the world’s population — 4 per cent more than in 2015, when the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. If all scientific knowledge and technological innovation in crop development were readily available and globally adopted, could zero hunger have been achieved by 2030? M...

Life under deep-sea undergoes unusual adaption, especially with darkness, increased pressure, cold, and recalcitrant carbon. Microbes in the deep sea usually evolved through selection and are likely to increase little important natural ability like motility, surface adhesion, and membrane with polyunsaturated fatty acids. Sporulation within the gen...

High confidence QTLs and key genes identified using Meta-QTL analysis for enhancing heat tolerance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Climate change threatens global food and nutritional security through negative effects on crop growth and agricultural productivity. Many countries have adopted ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation targets that will exacerbate the problem, as they require significant changes in current agri-food systems. In this review, we provide a r...

The nutritional value of wheat grains, particularly their protein and metabolite composition, is a result of the grain‐filling process, especially in the endosperm. Here, we employ laser microdissection (LMD) combined with shotgun proteomics and metabolomics to generate a cell type‐specific proteome and metabolome inventory of developing wheat endo...