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The Poaceae family, commonly known as the grass family, encompasses a diverse group of crops that play an essential role in providing food, fodder, biofuels, environmental conservation, and cultural value for both human and environmental well-being. Crops in Poaceae family are deeply intertwined with human societies, economies, and ecosystems, making it one of the most significant plant families in the world. As the major reservoirs of essential nutrients, seed grain of these crops has garnered substantial attention from researchers. Understanding the molecular and genetic processes that controls seed formation, development and maturation can provide insights for improving crop yield, nutritional quality, and stress tolerance. The diversity in photosynthetic pathways between C3 and C4 plants introduces intriguing variations in their physiological and biochemical processes, potentially affecting seed development. In this review, we explore recent studies performed with omics technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics that shed light on the mechanisms underlying seed development in wheat and maize, as representatives of C3 and C4 plants respectively, providing insights into their unique adaptations and strategies for reproductive success., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Ji, Hewavithana, Sharpe and Jin.)

Seed quality traits of oilseed rape, Brassica napus ( B. napus ), exhibit quantitative inheritance determined by its genetic makeup and the environment via the mediation of a complex genetic architecture of hundreds to thousands of genes. Thus, instead of single gene analysis, network-based systems genomics and genetics approaches that combine genotype, phenotype, and molecular phenotypes offer a promising alternative to uncover this complex genetic architecture. In the current study, systems genetics approaches were used to explore the genetic regulation of lignin traits in B. napus seeds. Four QTL (qLignin_A09_1, qLignin_A09_2, qLignin_A09_3, and qLignin_C08) distributed on two chromosomes were identified for lignin content. The qLignin_A09_2 and qLignin_C08 loci were homologous QTL from the A and C subgenomes, respectively. Genome-wide gene regulatory network analysis identified eighty-three subnetworks (or modules); and three modules with 910 genes in total, were associated with lignin content, which was confirmed by network QTL analysis. eQTL (expression quantitative trait loci) analysis revealed four cis-eQTL genes including lignin and flavonoid pathway genes, cinnamoyl-CoA-reductase ( CCR1 ), and TRANSPARENT TESTA genes TT4 , TT6 , TT8 , as causal genes. The findings validated the power of systems genetics to identify causal regulatory networks and genes underlying complex traits. Moreover, this information may enable the research community to explore new breeding strategies, such as network selection or gene engineering, to rewire networks to develop climate resilience crops with better seed quality., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 His Majesty the King in Right of Canada.)

Crop production often faces challenges from plant diseases, and biological control emerges as an effective, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable alternative to chemical control. Wheat blast disease caused by fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT), is a potential catastrophic threat to global food security. This study aimed to identify potential bacterial isolates from rice and wheat seeds with inhibitory effects against MoT. In dual culture and seedling assays, three bacterial isolates (BTS-3, BTS-4, and BTLK6A) demonstrated effective suppression of MoT growth and reduced wheat blast severity when artificially inoculated at the seedling stage. Genome phylogeny identified these isolates as Bacillus subtilis (BTS-3) and B. velezensis (BTS-4 and BTLK6A). Whole-genome analysis revealed the presence of genes responsible for controlling MoT through antimicrobial defense, antioxidant defense, cell wall degradation, and induced systemic resistance (ISR). Taken together, our results suggest that the suppression of wheat blast disease by seed endophytic B. subtilis (BTS-3) and B. velezensis (BTS-4 and BTLK6A) is liked with antibiosis and induced systemic resistance to wheat plants. A further field validation is needed before recommending these endophytic bacteria for biological control of wheat blast., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Surovy, Dutta, Mahmud, Gupta, Farhana, Paul, Win, Dunlap, Oliva, Rahman, Sharpe and Islam.)

Plant probiotic bacteria enhance growth and yield of crop plants when applied at the appropriate time and dose. Two rice probiotic bacteria, Paraburkholderia fungorum strain BRRh-4 and Delftia sp. strain BTL-M2 promote growth and yield of plants. However, no information is available on application of these two bacteria on growth, yield, and diversity and population of bacteriome in roots and rhizosphere soils of the treated rice plants. This study aimed to assess the effect of BRRh-4 and BTL-M2 application on growth, yield and bacteriome in roots and rhizosphere soil of rice under varying doses of N, P and K fertilizers. Application of BRRh-4 and BTL-M2 strains significantly ( p  < 0.05) increased seed germination, growth and yield of rice compared to an untreated control. Interestingly, the grain yield of rice by these bacteria with 50% less of the recommended doses of N, P, and K fertilizers were statistically similar to or better than the rice plants treated with 100% doses of these fertilizers. Targeted amplicon (16S rRNA) sequence-based analysis revealed significant differences (PERMANOVA, p  = 0.00035) in alpha-diversity between the root (R) and rhizosphere soil (S) samples, showing higher diversity in the microbial ecosystem of root samples. Additionally, the bacteriome diversity in the root of rice plants that received both probiotic bacteria and chemical fertilizers were significantly higher (PERMANOVA, p  = 0.0312) compared to the rice plants treated with fertilizers only. Out of 185 bacterial genera detected, Prevotella , an anaerobic and Gram-negative bacterium, was found to be the predominant genus in both rhizosphere soil and root metagenomes. However, the relative abundance of Prevotella remained two-fold higher in the rhizosphere soil metagenome (52.02%) than in the root metagenome (25.04%). The other predominant bacterial genera detected in the rice root metagenome were Bacillus (11.07%), Planctomyces (4.06%), Faecalibacterium (3.91%), Deinococcus (2.97%), Bacteroides (2.61%), and Chryseobacterium (2.30%). On the other hand, rhizosphere soil metagenome had Bacteroides (12.38%), Faecalibacterium (9.50%), Vibrio (5.94%), Roseomonas (3.40%), and Delftia (3.02%). Interestingly, we found the presence and/or abundance of specific genera of bacteria in rice associated with the application of a specific probiotic bacterium. Taken together, our results indicate that improvement of growth and yield of rice by P. fungorum strain BRRh-4 and Delftia sp. strain BTL-M2 is likely linked with modulation of diversity, structures, and signature of bacteriome in roots and rhizosphere soils. This study for the first time demonstrated that application of plant growth promoting bacteria significantly improve growth, yield and increase the diversity of bacterial community in rice., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Islam, Fatema, Hoque, Gupta, Mahmud, Sakif and Sharpe.)

Jackfruit ( Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) is the national fruit of Bangladesh and produces fruit in the summer season only. However, jackfruit is not commercially grown in Bangladesh because of an extremely high variation in fruit quality, short seasonal fruiting (June-August) and susceptibility to abiotic stresses. Conversely, a year-round high yielding (ca. 4-fold higher than the seasonal variety) jackfruit variety, BARI Kanthal-3 developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) derived from a wild accession found in Ramgarh of Chattogram Hiltracts of Bangladesh, provides fruits from September to June. This study aimed to generate a draft whole-genome sequence (WGS) of BARI Kanthal-3 to obtain molecular insights including genes associated with year-round fruiting trait of this important unique variety. The estimated genome size of BARI Kanthal-3 was 1.04-gigabase-pair (Gbp) with a heterozygosity rate of 1.62%. De novo assembly yielded a scaffolded 817.7 Mb genome while a reference-guided approach, yielded 843 Mb of genome sequence. The estimated GC content was 34.10%. Variant analysis revealed that BARI Kanthal-3 included 5.7 M (35%) and 10.4 M (65%) simple and heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and about 90% of all these polymorphisms are in inter-genic regions. Through BUSCO assessment, 97.2% of the core genes were represented in the assembly with 1.3% and 1.5% either fragmented or missing, respectively. By comparing identified orthologous gene groups in BARI Kanthal-3 with five closely and one distantly related species of 10,092 common orthogroups were found across the genomes of the six species. The phylogenetic analysis of the shared orthogroups showed that A. heterophyllus was the closest species to BARI Kanthal-3 and orthogroups related to flowering time were found to be more highly prevalent in BARI Kanthal-3 compared to the other Arctocarpus spp. The findings of this study will help better understanding the evolution, domestication, phylogenetic relationships, year-round fruiting of this highly nutritious fruit crop as well as providing a resource for molecular breeding., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Islam, Afroz, Koh, Hoque, Rahman, Gupta, Mahmud, Nahid, Islam, Bhowmik and Sharpe.)

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and black gram (Vigna mungo) accumulate γ-Glutamyl-S-methylcysteine and γ-Glutamyl-methionine in seed, respectively. Transcripts were profiled by 454 pyrosequencing data at a similar developmental stage coinciding with the beginning of the accumulation of these metabolites. Expressed sequence tags were assembled into Unigenes, which were assigned to specific genes in the early release chromosomal assembly of the P. vulgaris genome. Genes involved in multiple sulfur metabolic processes were expressed in both species. Expression of Sultr3 members was predominant in P. vulgaris, whereas expression of Sultr5 members predominated in V. mungo. Expression of the cytosolic SERAT1;1 and -1;2 was approximately fourfold higher in P. vulgaris while expression of the plastidic SERAT2;1 was twofold higher in V. mungo. Among BSAS family members, BSAS4;1, encoding a cytosolic cysteine desulfhydrase, and BSAS1;1, encoding a cytosolic O-acetylserine sulphydrylase were most highly expressed in both species. This was followed by BSAS3;1 encoding a plastidic β-cyanoalanine synthase which was more highly expressed by 10-fold in P. vulgaris. The data identify BSAS3;1 as a candidate enzyme for the biosynthesis of S-methylcysteine through the use of methanethiol as substrate instead of cyanide. Expression of GLC1 would provide a complete sequence leading to the biosynthesis of γ-Glutamyl-S-methylcysteine in plastids. The detection of S-methylhomoglutathione in P. vulgaris suggested that homoglutathione synthetase may accept, to some extent, γ-Glutamyl-S-methylcysteine as substrate, which might lead to the formation of S-methylated phytochelatins. In conclusion, 454 sequencing was effective at revealing differences in the expression of sulfur metabolic genes, providing information on candidate genes for the biosynthesis of distinct sulfur amino acid γ-Glutamyl dipeptides between P. vulgaris and V. mungo.