N. R. Raghavendra’s research while affiliated with University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and other places

Millets are a diverse group of small-seeded annual C4 Panicoid grasses cultivated as food and fodder crops mainly grown in poor and marginal subtropical and tropical regions globally. Generally, the millets are subjected to various abiotic stresses, like drought, heat, waterlogging, and lodging which affect the overall crop yield significantly. Plants exhibit several complex mechanisms to combat such adverse stress conditions. During this time, the gene expressions of stress-responsive genes are either up or downregulated, and several signal cascades are modulated causing an altered accumulation of osmoprotectants. During this signal transduction, transcription factors (TFs) directly regulate the expression of stress-associated genes via serving as molecular switches. In this chapter, we identified TFs across the genomes of millets for which the whole genome and gene repertoire are available. Also, a brief overview of a few well-characterized TFs in some small millets has been also reviewed. Overall, our in silico analysis revealed that bHLH, ERF, NAC, MYB, WRKY, bZIP, MYB_related TFs were represented in higher fractions across all the small millets. These TFs are known to impart tolerance against many abiotic stresses and might be the possible reason for small millets being hardy crops that can thrive under adverse climatic conditions.

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana) is a cereal food crop for millions of resource-poor people of Africa and Indian subcontinent. It is climate-resilient nutri-cereal which survives under drought and marginal fertile soil. Owing to its ability to grow under diverse agroclimatic conditions, it is a model crop to study the genomic factors responsible for tolerance to abiotic stresses and the same knowledge can be transferred to improve other cereal crops. Finger millet can give nutritional security since it is rich in iron, methionine, and calcium. It is a recommended diet for diabetic patients because of its low glycemic index, high fiber content and lowers cholesterol level. In spite of this, genomic resources developed for this crop were very meager. Fortunately, two genomes of finger millet varieties namely ML365 and PR202 have been sequenced and made available to the scientific community. These genome sequencing efforts will strengthen millet scientists for allele discovery, development of DNA markers, genetic mapping, and identification of candidate genes for disease resistance, drought tolerance and other agronomically important traits, which will boost the finger millet production in near future.KeywordsFinger milletGenomeComparative genomicsFunctional annotation

Sandalwood is an economically important tree species with global demand for its fragrant heartwood oil. Considering the global demand, understanding the population diversity, genetic architecture of important traits using molecular markers may play a vital role in improving sandalwood tree genetically for long term stability and short term productivity. At the same time, deployment of molecular markers will enable understanding the genetic variation, inbreeding and gene flow. Till now, very less efforts have been undertaken to understand the population diversity of sandalwood due to lack of reliable DNA marker system. With the advent of next generation sequencing technologies, several research groups have attempted whole genome sequencing and assembly of sandalwood tree. Now, researchers can look at genetic variations at whole genome level include microsatellites/simple sequence repeats (SSRs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertions and deletions (InDels) and structural variations (SVs).KeywordsDNA markersBreedingSNPsSSRsDiversity

Indian sandalwood (Santalum album L.) is an exquisite evergreen woody tropical tree which yields one of the world’s most expensive essential oil from its matured heartwood (~US$2600 l−1). The tree accumulates sesquiterpenes, second important group of active compounds in essential oil of plants. α- and β-santalols (C15H24O) in addition to α-and β-santalenes are the major constituents. The minor constituents of essential oil includes lanceol, nuciferol, bisabolol and the sesquiterpene hydrocarbons such as, bergamotenes, α-, β- and γ-curcumenes, β-bisabolene. Oil yield vary from 3 to 4% through steam distillation (48–72 h). Sandalwood oil having incredible signature in their base and top note, Cis-α-santalol is responsible for the light woody smell, and Cis-β-santalol is more linked to the stronger woody smell with a distinctive mark which fetch high value in the perfume and fragrance industries. In addition to this, sandalwood oil is well known to aid wide range of ailments and it has long antiquity of pharmacology and aromatherapy.Keywords Santalum album Sandalwood oilSesquiterpeneα-santalenesHeartwoodSantalol