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A deletion created by CRISPR/Cas9 system in the 5' UTR of the carotenoid isomerase gene in tomato leads to downregulation of the gene resulting in the low conversion of prolycopene to lycopene. CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing is an effective and useful tool adopted from the bacterial immune response system for altering specific, pre-determined DNA sequences in eukaryotes. Such targeted changes are finding wide application in human health as well as in precision breeding of crop plants for improved traits. Mutations in the coding and regulatory regions can have varying impacts on the function of the gene. In the current study, we demonstrate this on tomato carotenoid isomerase, a key gene in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. Mutations were generated in the 5' UTR and exon 1 of the carotenoid isomerase gene using CRISPR/Cas9 expression via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tomato variety Periyakulam 1 (PKM1). Molecular and biochemical studies demonstrate that CRISPR-mediated point mutations in the exon sequence lead to complete knockout of protein function whereas deletion in 5' UTR region lowers the expression of the gene leading to changes in plant phenotype.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been responsible for the current global pandemic that has caused a death toll of >1.12 million worldwide and number continues to climb in several countries. Currently, there are neither specific antiviral drugs nor vaccines for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. We screened in silico, a group of natural spice and herbal secondary metabolites (SMs) for their inhibition efficacy against multiple target proteins of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protein. Docking and simulation results indicated that epicatechin, embelin, hesperidin, cafestol, murrayanine and murrayaquinone-A have higher inhibition efficacy over at least one of the known antiviral drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and Ribavirin. Combination of these potentially effective SMs from their respective plant sources was analysed, and its absorption and acute oral toxicity were examined in Wistar rats and classified as category 5 as per the Globally Harmonized System. The identified SMs may be useful in the development of preventive nutraceuticals, food supplements and antiviral drugs. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma, Graphical Abstract

Growth and yield of pea crops are severely affected by various fungal diseases, including root rot, Ascochyta blight, powdery mildew, and rust, in different parts of the world. Conventional breeding methods have led to enhancement of host plant resistance against these diseases in adapted cultivars, which is the primary option to minimize the yield losses. To support the breeding programs for marker-assisted selection, several successful attempts have been made to detect the genetic loci associated with disease resistance, based on SSR and SNP markers. In recent years, advances in next-generation sequencing platforms, and resulting improvements in high-throughput and economical genotyping methods, have been used to make rapid progress in identification of these loci. The first reference genome sequence of pea was published in 2019 and provides insights on the distribution and architecture of gene families associated with disease resistance. Furthermore, the genome sequence is a resource for anchoring genetic linkage maps, markers identified in multiple studies, identification of candidate genes, and functional genomics studies. The available pea genomic resources and the potential application of genomic technologies for development of disease-resistant cultivars with improved agronomic profile will be discussed, along with the current status of the arising improved pea germplasm.

Environmental stress hampers pea productivity. To understand the genetic basis of heat resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on six stress responsive traits of physiological and agronomic importance in pea, with an objective to identify the genetic loci associated with these traits. One hundred and thirty-five genetically diverse pea accessions from major pea growing areas of the world were phenotyped in field trials across five environments, under generally ambient (control) and heat stress conditions. Statistical analysis of phenotype indicated significant effects of genotype (G), environment (E), and G &times, E interaction for all traits. A total of 16,877 known high-quality SNPs were used for association analysis to determine marker-trait associations (MTA). We identified 32 MTAs that were consistent in at least three environments for association with the traits of stress resistance: six for chlorophyll concentration measured by a soil plant analysis development meter, two each for photochemical reflectance index and canopy temperature, seven for reproductive stem length, six for internode length, and nine for pod number. Forty-eight candidate genes were identified within 15 kb distance of these markers. The identified markers and candidate genes have potential for marker-assisted selection towards the development of heat resistant pea cultivars.

Heat and drought, individually or in combination, limit pea productivity. Fortunately, substantial genetic diversity exists in pea germplasm for traits related to abiotic stress resistance. Understanding the genetic basis of resistance could accelerate the development of stress-adaptive cultivars. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in pea on six stress-adaptive traits with the aim to detect the genetic regions controlling these traits. One hundred and thirty-five genetically diverse pea accessions were phenotyped in field studies across three or five environments under stress and control conditions. To determine marker trait associations (MTAs), a total of 16,877 valuable single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used in association analysis. Association mapping detected 15 MTAs that were significantly (p ≤ 0.0005) associated with the six stress-adaptive traits averaged across all environments and consistent in multiple individual environments. The identified MTAs were four for lamina wax, three for petiole wax, three for stem thickness, two for the flowering duration, one for the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and two for the normalized pigment and chlorophyll index (NPCI). Sixteen candidate genes were identified within a 15 kb distance from either side of the markers. The detected MTAs and candidate genes have prospective use towards selecting stress-hardy pea cultivars in marker-assisted selection.

Objective Low DNA sequence polymorphism despite enormous phenotypic variations in peanut indicates the possible role of epigenetic variations. An attempt was made to analyze genome-wide DNA methylation pattern and its influence on gene expression across 11 diverse genotypes of peanut. Results The genotypes were subjected to bisulfite sequencing after 21 days of sowing (DAS). CHG regions showed the highest (30,537,376) DNA methylation followed by CpG (30,356,066) and CHH (15,993,361) across 11 genotypes. The B sub-genome exhibited higher DNA methylation sites (46,294,063) than the A sub-genome (30,415,166). Overall, the DNA methylation was more frequent in inter-genic regions than in the genic regions. The genes showing altered methylation and expression between the parent (TMV 2) and its EMS-derived mutant (TMV 2-NLM) were identified. Foliar disease resistant genotypes showed significant differential DNA methylation at 766 sites corresponding to 25 genes. Of them, two genes (Arahy.1XYC2X on chromosome 01 and Arahy.00Z2SH on chromosome 17) coding for senescence-associated protein showed differential expression with resistant genotypes recording higher fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads (FPKM) at their epialleles. Overall, the study indicated the variation in the DNA methylation pattern among the diverse genotypes of peanut and its influence of gene expression.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to identify loci associated with agronomic (days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, seed yield and seed weight), seed morphology (shape and dimpling), and seed quality (protein, starch, and fiber concentrations) traits of field pea (Pisum sativum L.). A collection of 135 pea accessions from 23 different breeding programs in Africa (Ethiopia), Asia (India), Australia, Europe (Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom), and North America (Canada and USA), was used for the GWAS. The accessions were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). After filtering for a minimum read depth of five, and minor allele frequency of 0.05, 16,877 high quality SNPs were selected to determine marker-trait associations (MTA). The LD decay (LD1/2max,90) across the chromosomes varied from 20 to 80 kb. Population structure analysis grouped the accessions into nine subpopulations. The accessions were evaluated in multi-year, multi-location trials in Olomouc (Czech Republic), Fargo, North Dakota (USA), and Rosthern and Sutherland, Saskatchewan (Canada) from 2013 to 2017. Each trait was phenotyped in at least five location-years. MTAs that were consistent across multiple trials were identified. Chr5LG3_566189651 and Chr5LG3_572899434 for plant height, Chr2LG1_409403647 for lodging resistance, Chr1LG6_57305683 and Chr1LG6_366513463 for grain yield, Chr1LG6_176606388, Chr2LG1_457185, Chr3LG5_234519042 and Chr7LG7_8229439 for seed starch concentration, and Chr3LG5_194530376 for seed protein concentration were identified from different locations and years. This research identified SNP markers associated with important traits in pea that have potential for marker-assisted selection towards rapid cultivar improvement.

Sclerospora graminicola pathogen is the most important biotic production constraints of pearl millet in India, Africa and other parts of the world. We report a de novo whole genome assembly and analysis of pathotype 1, one of the most virulent pathotypes of S. graminicola from India. The draft genome assembly contained 299,901,251 bp with 65,404 genes. This study may help understand the evolutionary pattern of pathogen and aid elucidation of effector evolution for devising effective durable resistance breeding strategies in pearl millet. Keywords: Sclerospora graminicola, Pathotype 1, Pearl millet, Downy mildew, Whole genome sequence

Purpleputtu (Oryza sativa ssp. indica cv. Purpleputtu) is a unique rice landrace from southern India that exhibits predominantly purple color. This study reports the underlying genetic complexity of the trait and associated domestication and de-domestication processes during its coevolution with present day cultivars. Along-with genome level allelic variations in the entire gene repertoire associated with purple, red coloration of grain and other plant parts. Comparative genomic analysis of the whole genome sequence of Purpleputtu (PP) revels total of 3,200,951 variants including 67,774 unique variations were observed in PP when compared with 108 rice genomes. Multiple sequence alignment uncovered a 14bp deletion in Rc (Red colored, a transcription factor of bHLH class) locus of PP, a key regulatory gene of anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway. Interestingly, this deletion in Rc gene is a characteristic feature of the present-day white pericarped rice cultivars. Phylogenetic analysis of Rc locus revealed a distinct clade showing proximity to the progenitor species rufipogon and nivara. In addition, PP genome exhibits a well conserved a 4.5Mbp region on chromosome 5 that harbors several loci associated with domestication of rice. Further, PP showed 1,387 unique SNPs compared to 3,024 lines of rice (SNP-Seek database). The results indicate that PP genome is rich in allelic diversity and can serve as an excellent resource for rice breeding for a variety of agronomically important traits such as disease resistance, enhanced nutritional values, stress tolerance and protection from harmful UV-B rays.

The Gossypium barbadense L. cotton is known for its superior quality fibre. A study on the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) responsible for fibre quality and other economic traits in this species will ultimately hasten the process of cotton improvement. In the present study, using 63K Illumina Infinium SNP bead chip, 525 homozygous polymorphic markers were detected between the parents, Suvin and BCS 23-18-7 (G. barbadense) and were used in genotyping of 185 F2 plants. About 11.4% (60 markers) recorded segregation distortion from the expected Mendelian F2 ratio (1:2:1). The linkage map covering 1219.4 cM was constructed with 460 SNP loci distributed on 21 chromosomes with an average marker interval of 2.7 cM. Through composite interval mapping, 29 QTLs were identified on 13 chromosomes, with LOD values ranging from 2.51 to 11.56 and explaining 0.4 to 28.0% of the phenotypic variation. Of these, 29 QTLs, 13 and 16 QTLs were identified for yield components and fibre quality traits, respectively. Major QTLs responsible for fibre quality traits were, Uhml-1, Uhml-2, Str-2 and El-3 which were detected on the chromosomes 5, 6 and 23 of G. barbadense. These major fibre QTLs, after validation can be used in introgression breeding to improve fibre quality of G. hirsutum.

The impacts of drought on plant growth and development limit cereal crop production worldwide. Rice (Oryza sativa) productivity and production is severely affected due to recurrent droughts in almost all agroecological zones. With the advent of molecular and genomic technologies, emphasis is now placed on understanding the mechanisms of genetic control of the drought-stress response. In order to identify genes associated with water-stress response in rice, ESTs generated from a normalized cDNA library, constructed from drought-stressed leaf tissue of an indica cultivar, Nagina 22 were used. Analysis of 7794 cDNA sequences led to the identification of 5815 rice ESTs. Of these, 334 exhibited no significant sequence homology with any rice ESTs or full-length cDNAs in public databases, indicating that these transcripts are enriched during drought stress. Analysis of these 5815 ESTs led to the identification of 1677 unique sequences. To characterize this drought transcriptome further and to identify candidate genes associated with the drought-stress response, the rice data were compared with those for abiotic stress-induced sequences obtained from expression profiling studies in Arabidopsis, barley, maize, and rice. This comparative analysis identified 589 putative stress-responsive genes (SRGs) that are shared by these diverse plant species. Further, the identified leaf SRGs were compared to expression profiles for a drought-stressed rice panicle library to identify common sequences. Significantly, 125 genes were found to be expressed under drought stress in both tissues. The functional classification of these 125 genes showed that a majority of them are associated with cellular metabolism, signal transduction, and transcriptional regulation.

Rice is the primary source of dietary energy for half of the World population, and 90% of them are present in developing countries in Asia. We have sequenced three local rice varieties Chenga, Tulai-panji, Kalonunia and compared with Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare, Oryza sativa cv. 93-11 and Oryza sativa cv.Kasalath. 30X paired end 2 X 100 bp reads were generated for each of the 3 samples on Illumina HiSeq 4000, next generation sequencing platform. The raw data was subjected to pre-processing and aligned with reference genomes individually. The SNPs/INDELs were identified for each of the 3 local rice varieties with the each reference genome. A total of 0.15, 0.34 and 0.57 million SNPs and 10863, 11435 and 21841 INDELs were identified in Chenga, compared to Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare, Oryza sativa cv. 93-11 and Oryza sativa cv.Kasalath, respectively. In Tulai-panji, 0.23, 0.76 and 0.71 SNPs as well as 12854, 18987 and 22901 INDELs were identified when compared to MSU7, 93-11 and Kasalath assemblies respectively. Analysis of Kalonunia data revealed 0.24, 0.58 and 0.54 SNPs and 10775, 14281 and 16657 INDELs against 3 reference genomes as above. We investigated for homozygous polymorphic markers between Chenga (Non aromatic) and Tulai-panji (Aromatic), and found 38,471 SNPs at read depth of 10. Similarly, comparative analysis between Chenga (Non aromatic) and Kalonunia (Aromatic) 130,376 homozygous polymorphic markers which can be explored for mapping novel alleles associated with aroma.

Sclerospora graminicola pathogen is the most important biotic production constraints of pearl millet in India, Africa and other parts of the world. We report a de novo whole genome assembly and analysis of pathotype 1, one of the most virulent pathotypes of S. graminicola from India. The whole genome sequencing was performed by sequencing of 7.38 Gb with 73,889,924 paired end reads from the paired-end library, and 1.15 Gb with 3,851,788 reads from the mate pair library generated from Illumina HiSeq 2500 and Illumina MiSeq, respectively. A total 597,293 filtered sub reads with average read length of 6.39 Kb was generated on PACBIO RSII with P6-C4 chemistry. Assembled draft genome sequence of S. graminicola pathotype 1 was 299,901,251 bp in length, N50 of 17,909 bp with a minimum of 1 Kb scaffold size. The GC content was 47.2 % consisting of 26,786 scaffolds with longest scaffold size of 238,843 bp. The overall coverage was 40X. The draft genome sequence was used for gene prediction using AUGUSTUS which resulted in 65,404 genes using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model. A total of 52,285 predicted genes found homology using BLASTX against nr database and 38,120 genes were observed with a significant BLASTX match with E-value cutoff of 1e-5 and 40% identity percentage. Out of 38,120 genes annotated a set of 11,873 genes had UniProt entries, while 7,248 were GO terms and 9,686 with KEGG IDs. Of the 7,248 GO terms, 2,724 were associated with the biological processes. The genome information of downy mildew pathogen is available in the NCBI GenBank database. The Sclerospora graminicola whole genome shotgun (WGS) project has the project accession MIQA00000000. This version of the project (02) has the accession number MIQA02000000, and consists of sequences MIQA02000001-MIQA02026786, with BioProject ID PRJNA325098 and BioSample ID SAMN05219233. This study may help understand the evolutionary pattern of pathogen and aid elucidation of effector evolution for devising effective durable resistance breeding strategies in pearl millet.