Vijay Gahlaut

• Ph.D., MNASc
• Assistant Professor at Chandigarh University

Background The unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway serves as a crucial mechanism enabling plants to perceive, respond to, and shield themselves from adverse environmental conditions. Inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) is one of the key players of the UPR, and resides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) within the cell. This study provides a compr...

In the realm of ornamental crop breeding, the fusion of conventional and novel molecular techniques empowers breeders to fashion innovative varieties featuring distinctive colors, shapes, fragrances, and heightened resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. As the floral industry dynamically responds to market demands, it unveils substantial p...

Background Biofortification represents a promising and sustainable strategy for mitigating global nutrient deficiencies. However, its successful implementation poses significant challenges. Among staple crops, wheat emerges as a prime candidate to address these nutritional gaps. Wheat biofortification offers a robust approach to enhance wheat culti...

DNA methylation is a well-recognized epigenetic modification linked to plant development, and it serves a crucial function in safeguarding the genome, governing gene expression, and enhancing stress resilience in plants. This mechanism is carried out by several conserved cytosine-5 DNA methyltransferases (C5-MTases). In the present study, a total o...

Buckwheat is an emerging pseudocereal crop with significant nutritional and agronomic importance. Buckwheat consists of both diploid (2n = 16) and tetraploid (2n = 32) species. Recent advancements in genetics, genomics, and the understanding of molecular mechanisms related to different traits have deepened our knowledge of buckwheat’s genetic diver...

Saffron (Crocus sativus) is a high-value industrial herb with a rich history dating back to ancient civilizations. Its significance lies in its aromatic, colouring, and medicinal properties, making it one of the world’s most valuable spices. Understanding the genetic regulation of saffron’s bioactive compounds can lead to improved saffron cultivati...

Key message Recent research has unveiled that the ZmMKK9–ZmMPK20–ZmRIN2 cascade plays a role in suppressing stomatal opening induced by high temperatures and is a significant contributor to enhancing thermotolerance in plants.

Abiotic stresses, like drought, salinity, and high temperature pose significant challenges to global agriculture, jeopardizing crop yields and food security. Traditional breeding methods struggle to efficiently develop stress-tolerant crop varieties due to the complex genetic basis of stress responses. Phenomics, the comprehensive study of plant tr...

Key message A total of 104 foxtail millet accessions were evaluated for 11 nutrients in three environments and 67 high-confidence marker–trait associations (MTAs) were identified. Six SNPs showed pleiotropic effect and associated with two or more nutrients, whereas 24 candidate genes were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven traits. Abstract Mil...

Epigenetic modifications act as conductors of inheritable alterations in gene expression, all while keeping the DNA sequence intact, thereby playing a pivotal role in shaping plant growth and development. This review article presents an overview of techniques employed to investigate and manipulate epigenetic diversity in crop plants, focusing on bo...

Background Wheat is a major staple crop and helps to reduce worldwide micronutrient deficiency. Investigating the genetics that control the concentrations of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) in wheat is crucial. Hence, we undertook a comprehensive study aimed at elucidating the genomic regions linked to the contents of Fe and Zn in the grain. Methods and r...

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a modified stem and important food crop rich in starch, proteins, antioxidants, and vitamins. Potato is consumed globally; however, being a temperate region crop, it is negatively affected by temperature rise. Histone methylation dynamically regulates plant growth and development in response to environmental stresse...

Abiotic stresses in wheat, particularly drought (DR), hamper wheat production and causes up to 86% yield losses. Therefore, developing stress-tolerant genotypes is a major challenge in wheat breeding. In this study, we evaluated 72 diverse wheat genotypes for DR tolerance over two consecutive years, examining 12 morpho-physiological traits under ir...

Recombination UVB (sensitivity) like (RuvBL) helicase genes represent a conserved family of genes, which are known to be involved in providing tolerance against abiotic stresses like heat and drought. We identified nine wheat RuvBL genes, one each on nine different chromosomes, belonging to homoeologous groups 2, 3, and 4. The lengths of genes rang...

Background Cinnamomum verum (true cinnamon) and Cinnamomum cassia (cassia cinnamon) are two important species belonging to family Lauraceae. These species are recognized by morphological, chemical composition and essential oil contents. The appropriate identification of species would be considerably improved by a genetic method. The main objective...

Rice, wheat and maize are the three major cereal crops that are imperative to food security and nutrition. Out of the three cereals, wheat has the most complex and largest genome (~16 GB) and is a staple food for most people worldwide. Therefore, continuous efforts are being made to improve the production of important cereals, including wheat. Bree...

Two major future challenges are an increase in global earth temperature and a growing world population, which threaten agricultural productivity and nutritional food security. Underutilized crops have the potential to become future climate crops due to their high climate-resilience and nutritional quality. In this context, C4 pseudocereals such as...

Background Cinnamomum verum (true cinnamon) and Cinnamomum cassia (cassia cinnamon) are two important species belonging to family Lauraceae. These species are recognized by morphological, chemical composition and essential oil contents. The appropriate identification of species would be considerably improved by a genetic method. The main objective...

Main conclusion Abiotic stresses adversely affect the productivity and production of vegetable crops. The increasing number of crop genomes that have been sequenced or re-sequenced provides a set of computationally anticipated abiotic stress-related responsive genes on which further research may be focused. Knowledge of omics approaches and other a...

Rising weather extremes and evolving pest and pathogen dynamics associated with climate change exert profound negative impacts on global crop production. Plants are sessile organisms, and intrinsic mechanisms enable them to respond to a variety of challenges posed by stressful conditions. Technological advances, especially in development of new hig...

Wheat is belonging to grass family and one of the most cultivated field crops growing world widely. Wheat is considered as a major crop to meet the food and nutrition requirement of rapidly increasing population and therefore helping to meet the challenges of global food security. However, climate changes increasing the spells of abiotic stresses f...

Abiotic stresses, such as drought, temperature, salt, and metal stresses, cause a substantial decline in wheat growth and productivity. Various efforts to mitigate abiotic stresses through breeding resilient wheat varieties are ongoing across the globe. Progress is, however, impeded because abiotic stresses are regulated by several genes/quantitati...

The genetic architecture of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its two component traits i.e. NUpE (N uptake efficiency) and NUtE (N utilization efficiency) was studied using a bi-parental RIL mapping population derived from a cross HUW468 (high NUE)/C306 (low NUE). The mapping population, two parental genotypes and three check genotypes were evaluat...

The Myo-Inositol-1-phosphate synthase (MIPS) gene family is involved in the myo-inositol synthesis and plays a significant role in signal transduction, membrane biogenesis, oligosaccharides synthesis, auxin storage and transport, programmed cell death and abiotic stress tolerance in plants. This study comprehensively identified the MIPS genes in Ro...

RuvBL helicase genes represent a conserved family of genes, which are known to be involved in providing tolerance against abiotic stresses like heat and drought in plants. We identified nine wheat RuvBL genes on nine different chromosomes, belonging to homoeologous groups 2, 3, and 4. Analysis of the structure and function of these genes revealed t...

Hybrid breeding is one of the efficacious methods of crop improvement. Here, we report our work towards understanding the molecular basis of F1 hybrid heterosis from Capsicum chinense and C. frutescens cross. Bisulfite sequencing identified a total of 70597 CG, 108797 CHG and 38418 CHH differentially methylated regions (DMRs) across F1 hybrid and p...

The Annual Wheat Newsletter is edited by W.J. Raupp and published by the Wheat Genetic and Genomic Resources Center at Kansas State University. The scope of the Newsletter includes current project activities, cultivar releases, special reports, and publications of wheat researchers worldwide. The Newsletter annually has over 100 contributors from m...

The GAI-RGA - and -SCR (GRAS) proteins regulate a myriad of biological functions in plants. The C-terminus of GRAS proteins is highly conserved, while N-terminus is hypervariable. So far, GRAS proteins have been reported in more than 50 plant species. However, not many GRAS proteins are characterized, thus limiting the revelation of their more func...

Potato is a temperate crop consumed globally as a staple food. High temperature negatively impacts the tuberization process, eventually affecting crop yield. DNA methylation plays an important role in various developmental and physiological processes in plants. It is a conserved epigenetic mark determined by the dynamic concurrent action of cytosin...

Legume crops provide significant nutrition to humans as a source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids as well as specific macro and micronutrients. Additionally, legumes improve the cropping environment by replenishing the soil nitrogen content. Chickpeas are the second most significant staple legume food crop worldwide behind dry bean which contains 17...

DNA demethylases (dMTases) are essential proteins in plants that regulate DNA methylation levels. The dMTase genes have been explored in a number of plant species, however, members of this family have not been reported in wheat. We identified 12 wheat dMTase genes divided into two subfamilies: repressor of silencing 1 (ROS1) and DEMETER-Like (DML)....

The genetic architecture of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its two component traits i.e. NUpE (N uptake efficiency) and NUtE (N utilization efficiency) was studied using a bi-parental RIL mapping population derived from a cross HUW468 (high NUE)/C306 (low NUE). The mapping population, two parental genotypes and three check genotypes were evaluat...

QTL interval mapping (IM) is a very potent approach for genetic dissection of complex traits. Due to the high power of the approach, QTL IM has been conducted in each of the important crops for many traits, including agronomic, quality, stress-related traits, and so on. In this protocol chapter, we describe the successive steps of QTL interval mapp...

DNA methylations are well known for their regulatory functions and involved in various biological processes. Due to its great importance, the exploration of DNA methylation for different phenotypic characters is gaining much attention among the research community. DNA methylations are mainly reported on cytosine (C) residues particularly CG, CHH, a...

Globally more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition (also known as “hidden hunger”). Further, the pregnant women and children in developing nations are mainly affected by micronutrient deficiencies. One of the most important factors is food insecurity which can be mitigated by improving the nutritional values through biofor...

Sugars are the major source of energy in living organisms and play important roles in osmotic regulation, cell signaling and energy storage. SWEETs (Sugars Will Eventually be Exported Transporters) are the most recent family of sugar transporters that function as uniporters, facilitating the diffusion of sugar molecules across cell membranes. In pl...

Unlabelled: Improvement of grain protein content (GPC), loaf volume, and resistance to rusts was achieved in 11 Indian wheat cultivars that are widely grown in four different agro-climatic zones of India. This involved use of marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) for introgression and pyramiding of the following genes: (i) the high GPC gene Gp...

Plant-specific GRAS transcription factors (TFs) are reported to play an essential role in regulating several biological processes, such as plant growth and development, phytochrome signal, arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis, stress responses. However, rose GRAS genes are still unexplored. In this study, 59 rose GRAS genes (RcGRAS) were identified and...

Increasing temperature is a key component of global climate change, affecting crop growth and productivity worldwide. Wheat is a major cereal crop grown in various parts of the globe, which is affected severely by heat stress. The morphological parameters affected include germination, seedling establishment, source-sink activity, leaf area, shoot a...

Higher yield and broad adaptation to drought-prone environments are key targets of wheat breeding programs. This can be achieved through a complete knowledge of the genetic architecture of yield and its related traits. This brief article provides analyzed mean data used in the research article entitled “QTL mapping for nine drought-responsive agron...

In wheat, a multi-locus genome-wide association study (ML-GWAS) was conducted for the four grain weight-related traits (days to anthesis, grain filling duration, grain number per ear, and grain weight per ear) using data recorded under irrigated (IR) and rain-fed (RF) conditions. Seven stress-related indices were estimated for these four traits: (i...

Variations in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO concentration due to global warming and climate change signi cantly a ect crop production. For example, recent studies have shown that each degree Celsius increase in the global mean temperature would, on average, reduce global yields of wheat by. %, rice by. %, maize by. %, and soybean b...

The genus Capsicum belongs to the Solanaceae family which contains more than 30 species, of which only five, namely, C. annuum L., C. chinense Jacq., C. frutescens L., C. baccatum L. and C. pubescens L. are cultivated. Capsicums are very important crop plants and widely consumed worldwide as they are important source of several nutritional and diet...

INBIX-2020 Proceedings.

Improvement of grain protein content (GPC), loaf volume and resistance to rusts was achieved in 11 Indian wheat cultivars that are widely grown in four different agro-climatic zones of India. This involved use of marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) for introgression and pyramiding of the following genes: (i) the high GPC gene Gpc-B1 ; (ii) HMW glut...

Unlabelled: The present study involved incorporation of two major QTLs for pre-harvest sprouting tolerance (PHST) in an Indian wheat cultivar named Lok1, which happens to be PHS susceptible. For transfer of two QTLs, two independent programmes with two different donors (AUS1408, CN19055) were utilized. The recipient cv. Lok1 was crossed with each...

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03792-4

Rose is one of the most important ornamental crops of the family Rosaceae. It is a complex crop having a patchy genome with different ploidies (2× to 10×), majorly tetraploid. With advancements in technologies, Rosa species are also being explored to understand the genetic, genomics, and molecular mechanisms behind variations of the traits. Whole-g...

In the past few years, plant-specific GRAS transcription factors (TFs) were reported to play an essential role in regulating several biological processes, such as plant growth and development, phytochrome signal, arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbiosis, environmental stress responses. GRAS genes have been thoroughly studied in several plant species, b...

The GAI-RGA-and-SCR (GRAS) proteins belong to the plant-specific transcription factor gene family and involved in several developmental processes, phytohormone and phytochrome signaling, symbiosis, stress responses etc. GRAS proteins have a conserved GRAS domain at C- terminal and hypervariable N-terminal. The C-terminal conserved domain directly a...

The present study was undertaken for developing pre-harvest sprouting tolerant (PHST) wheat genotypes using marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). A major QTL for PHST was introgressed into an elite Indian wheat cv. Lok1 that is PHS susceptible. These PHST lines were also pyramided with one gene each for high grain protein content ( Gpc-B1 ) an...

INSPIRE Faculty fellows engineering of heat-tolerant variety with increase in grain yield may improve wheat productivity We may soon have a wheat variety that does not lose its productivity under heat stress. Heat stress causes a dramatic reduction in yield and quality loss of wheat, the food crop that nurtures more than one-third of the world po...

RNA interference (RNAi) technology involves sequence-specific gene regulation by small RNAs (sRNA), and it has emerged as one of the promising approaches to study plant functional genomics. RNAi is efficient, precise, stable, and highly preferred than the antisense technology that was prominent earlier. In the last two decades, RNAi has been succes...

Plant breeding conventionally depends on genetic variability available in a species to improve a particular trait in the crop. However, epigenetic diversity may provide an additional tier of variation. The recent advent of epigenome technologies has elucidated the role of epigenetic variation in shaping phenotype. Furthermore, the development of ep...

Plant breeding conventionally depends on genetic variability available in a species to improve a particular trait in the crop. However, epigenetic diversity may provide an additional tier of variation. The recent advent of epigenome technologies has elucidated the role of epigenetic variation in shaping phenotype. Further, the development of epigen...

Plant breeding conventionally depends on genetic variability available in a species to improve a particular trait in the crop. However, epigenetic diversity may provide an additional tier of variation. The recent advent of epigenome technologies has elucidated the role of epigenetic variation in shaping phenotype. Further, the development of epigen...

DNA methylation is a potential epigenetic mechanism that regulates genome stability, development, and stress mitigation in plants. It is mediated by cytosine-5 DNA methyltransferases (C5-MTases). We identified 52 wheat C5-MTases; and based on domain structure and phylogenetics, these 52 C5-MTases were classified into four sub-families including MET...

Phosphorus is considered to be one of the least plant macronutrients available in the soil. This important mineral element play an important role in plant growth and development, and also represent essential constitutes of nucleic acids, phosphoproteins, phospholipids and ATP. Various environmental factors in the form of abiotic stresses adversely...

Phosphorus is considered to be one of the least plant macronutrients available in the soil. This important mineral element play an important role in plant growth and development, and also represent essential constitutes of nucleic acids, phosphoproteins, phospholipids and ATP. Various environmental factors in the form of abiotic stresses adversely...

In wheat, a major yield QTL (Qyld.csdh.7AL) contributing ~ 20% to the variation for grain yield under drought was introgressed into each of the four Indian wheat cultivars (HUW234, HUW468, K307 and DBW17) with an objective to develop high yielding drought tolerant genotypes. The marker Xwmc273.3 linked to the yield QTL was used for marker assisted...

Genetic control of grain yield and phenology was examined in the Excalibur/Kukri doubled haploid mapping population grown in 32 field experiments across the climatic zones of southern Australia, India and north-western Mexico where the wheat crop experiences drought and heat stress. A total of 128 QTL were identified for four traits: grain yield, t...

Multi-locus genome wide association study was undertaken using a set of 320 diverse spring wheat accessions, which were each genotyped for 9,626 SNPs. The association panel was grown in replicated trials in four environments [two each in irrigated (IR) and rainfed (RF) environments], and phenotypic data were recorded for five traits including days...

Multi-locus genome wide association study was undertaken using a set of 320 diverse spring wheat accessions, which were each genotyped for 9,626 SNPs. The association panel was grown in replicated trials in four environments [two each in irrigated (IR) and rainfed (RF) environments], and phenotypic data were recorded for five traits including days...

Key message The review outlines past failures, present status and future prospects of hybrid wheat, and includes information on CMS/CHA/transgenic approaches for male sterility, heterotic groups and cost-effective hybrid seed production. Abstract Hybrid varieties give increased yield and improved grain quality in both cross- and self-pollinated cr...

The SPX gene family, ubiquitous in all vascular plants, plays a critical role in plant development and growth as well as in response to phosphorus stress. Based on genomic census, 46 TaSPX genes were identified in the wheat genome. All of them are evenly distributed on 13 of the 21 wheat chromosomes and chromosome 7A contains the largest members. A...

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important staple crop and provides about 20% of the daily required protein and calories for 4.5 billion people world-over. ▪ Currently there is limited water supply for irrigation in 70% of the area under wheat cultivation; this area may increase in future and would thus become the major cause of limiting global w...

SWEET proteins represent one of the largest sugar transporter family in the plant kingdom and play crucial roles in plant development and stress responses. In the present study, a total of 108 TaSWEET genes distributed on all the 21 wheat chromosomes were identified using the latest whole genome sequence (as against 59 genes reported in an earlier...

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica), the second largest cultivated millet crop after pearl millet, is utilized for food and forage globally. Further, it is also considered as a model crop for studying agronomic, nutritional and biofuel traits. In the present study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed for ten important agronomic traits...

A major QTL (Qyld.csdh.7AL) contributing to >20% higher yield per ear under stress environments (including drought stress) was introgressed from wheat genotype SQ1 into four popular Indian wheat varieties (HUW234, HUW468, K307 and DBW17) using marker assisted selection. A set of 62 BC2F4 progenies with desirable phenotypes were evaluated in randomi...

Capsicum is one of the most important vegetable crops of the family Solanaceae and is widely used as spice due to its pungent nature. Besides, Capsicum fruit rich in metabolites and vitamins; and also has anticancerous property, which further increases the importance of this crop. However, Capsicum crop is highly affected by abiotic/biotic stresses...

RWP-RKs represent a small family of transcription factors (TFs) that are unique to plants and function particularly under conditions of nitrogen starvation. These RWP-RKs have been classified in two sub-families, NLPs (NIN-like proteins) and RKDs (RWP-RK domain proteins). NLPs regulate tissue-specific expression of genes involved in nitrogen use ef...

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) identified in TaRKD and TaNLP genes. (DOCX)

Physicochemical properties of TaRKD and TaNLP proteins. (DOCX)

Homology modeling and structure validation of TaRKD and TaNLP proteins using Swiss-Model and Protein Structure Validation Suite (PSVS) respectively, along with their PMDB accessions. (DOCX)