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Main conclusion: Biofortification of legumes using diverse techniques such as plant breeding, agronomic practices, genetic modification, and nano-technological approaches presents a sustainable strategy to address micronutrient deficiencies of underprivileged populations. The widespread issue of chronic malnutrition, commonly referred to as "hidden hunger," arises from the consumption of poor-quality food, leading to various health and cognitive impairments. Biofortified food crops have been a sustainable solution to address micronutrient deficiencies. This review highlights multiple biofortification techniques, such as plant breeding, agronomic practices, genetic modification, and nano-technological approaches, aimed at enhancing the nutrient content of commonly consumed crops. Emphasizing the biofortification of legumes, this review employs bibliometric analysis to examine research trends from 2000 to 2023. It identifies key authors, influential journals, contributing countries, publication trends, and prevalent keywords in this field. The review highlights the progress in developing biofortified crops and their potential to improve global nutrition and help underprivileged populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is a devastating obligate fungal biotroph that causes stripe rust disease in wheat in temperate and cooler regions, especially in Kazakhstan and Turkey. Chemical control of Pst is not a sustainable or economic strategy in these countries. Therefore, a suitable alternative to these pesticides, such as the development of resistant wheat cultivars, is needed. During the present investigation, a large set of wheat germplasms was characterized to determine the presence of the broad-spectrum resistance Yr15 gene using Y15K1_F2/uhw30_1R primers. This collection contained 360 accessions including 233 durum and bread wheat collected from KASIB cultivars and advanced lines that were developed by eight breeding programs within the Kazakhstan-Siberia Wheat Improvement Network and Turkey, and 127 wild emmer collected from Turkey only. The positive control was wild emmer IDs WEW 83-1, WEW 84-1, and WEW-85, which previously showed positive amplification of the Yr15 gene with these primers. Yr15, a broad-spectrum R-gene derived from wild emmer wheat encoding a putative kinase-pseudokinase protein designated as wheat tandem kinase 1, comprises a unique R-gene structure in wheat against the yellow (stripe) rust. None of the tested cultivated wheat germplasms from 174 durum wheat of the KASIB Network or 59 of bread wheat from Turkey showed positive amplification, but 89 of 127 (70.07%) wild Triticum dicoccoides showed positive amplification. The collection from the Karacadağ regions showed the maximum number of genotypes (46) with positive amplification for Yr15, followed by Eruh (10), Şırnak (5), Malazgir-Tunceli (4), Tunceli (4), Şırnak-Uludere yol (3), Tunceli-Pülümür (3), and Karacadağ/Kerteş Köyü –Siverek (3). We conclude that wild wheat cultivars are a good source of the Yr15 gene and that introgression of this gene into the cultivated wheat germplasm of both countries should be performed to manage the Pst pathogen in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) holds significant importance as a crop globally cultivated for sugar production. The genetic diversity present in sugar beet accessions plays a crucial role in crop improvement programs. Methods and results: During the present study, we collected 96 sugar beet accessions from different regions and extracted DNA from their leaves. Genomic DNA was amplified using SCoT primers, and the resulting fragments were separated by gel electrophoresis. The data were analyzed using various genetic diversity indices, and constructed a population STRUCTURE, applied the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and conducted Principle Coordinate Analysis (PCoA). The results revealed a high level of genetic diversity among the sugar beet accessions, with 265 bands produced by the 10 SCoT primers used. The percentage of polymorphic bands was 97.60%, indicating substantial genetic variation. The study uncovered significant genetic variation, leading to higher values for overall gene diversity (0.21), genetic distance (0.517), number of effective alleles (1.36), Shannon's information index (0.33), and polymorphism information contents (0.239). The analysis of molecular variance suggested a considerable amount of genetic variation, with 89% existing within the population. Using STRUCTURE and UPGMA analysis, the sugar beet germplasm was divided into two major populations. Structure analysis partitioned the germplasm based on the origin and domestication history of sugar beet, resulting in neighboring countries clustering together. Conclusion: The utilization of SCoT markers unveiled a noteworthy degree of genetic variation within the sugar beet germplasm in this study. These findings can be used in future breeding programs with the objective of enhancing both sugar beet yield and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elucidation of the molecular basis underlying plant-pathogen interactions is imperative for the development of sustainable resistance strategies against pathogens. Plants employ a dual-layered immunological detection and response system wherein cell surface-localized Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) and intracellular Nucleotide-Binding Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptors (NLRs) play pivotal roles in initiating downstream signalling cascades in response to pathogen-derived chemicals. Pattern-Triggered Immunity (PTI) is associated with PRRs and is activated by the recognition of conserved molecular structures, known as Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns. When PTI proves ineffective due to pathogenic effectors, Effector-Triggered Immunity (ETI) frequently confers resistance. In ETI, host plants utilize NLRs to detect pathogen effectors directly or indirectly, prompting a rapid and more robust defense response. Additionally epigenetic mechanisms are participating in plant immune memory. Recently developed technologies like CRISPR/Cas9 helps in exposing novel prospects in plant pathogen interactions. In this review we explore the fascinating crosstalk and cooperation between PRRs and NLRs. We discuss epigenomic processes and CRISPR/Cas9 regulating immune response in plants and recent findings that shed light on the coordination of these defense layers. Furthermore, we also have discussed the intricate interactions between the salicylic acid and jasmonic acid signalling pathways in plants, offering insights into potential synergistic interactions that would be harnessed for the development of novel and sustainable resistance strategies against diverse group of pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cowpea belongs to the fabaceae family, originated in Africa, and grown in subtropical and tropical areas worldwide. Cowpea seeds contain high nutritional contents and play a vital role in nutritional feed for animals and humans in many countries. The present investigation aimed to check the genetic variations among cowpea germplasm collected from 6 countries using iPBS-retrotransposons markers system. Twelve highly polymorphic iPBS-retrotransposons primers were used for PCR amplification. These primers generated 200 total bands of which 188 were highly polymorphic and 94.30% polymorphism was observed. Mean values of genetic diversity indices i.e., Shannon's information index (I = 0.452), effective number of alleles (ne = 1.501), overall gene diversity (ht = 0.236), gene diversity (h = 0.298), polymorphism information content (PIC = 0.308), and average genetic distance 0.61 confirmed a great level of genetic variations in studied germplasm. Analysis of molecular variance revealed 96% variation within the population. The STRUCTURE analysis divided germplasm into 2 populations according to geographically. The Neighbor-joining tree and Principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) divided the germplasm into 3 groups and the grouping was mostly aline with STRUCTURE-based clustering. This study revealed high genetic variability in cowpea germplasm and the high values of diversity indices revealed the utility and efficiency of iPBS-retrotransposons marker system. The PCoA, Neighbor-joining tree and STRUCTURE analysis separated the accessions geographically. Analysis of molecular variance revealed 94% genetic variation within a population and Ghana 1 and Turkey 4 had the greatest genetic distance and could be recommended for breeding activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Upland cotton is one of the utmost significant strategic fiber crops, and play a vital role in the global textile industry. Methods and results: A total of 128 genotypes comprised Gossypium hirsutum L, Gossypium barbadense L., and pure lines were used to examine genetic diversity using iPBS-retrotransposon markers system. Eleven highly polymorphic primers yielded 287 bands and 99.65% polymorphism was recorded. The mean polymorphism information content was estimated at 0.297 and the average diversity indices for the effective number of alleles, Shannon's information index, and overall gene diversity were 1.481, 0.443, and 0.265, respectively. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 69% of the genetic variation was within the population. A model-based STRUCTURE algorithm divided the entire germplasm into four populations and one un-classified population, the genotypes G42 (originating in Egypt) and G128 (originating in the United States), showed the highest genetic distance (0.996) so these genotypes could be suggested for breeding programs as parental lines. Conclusions: This is the first investigation using an iPBS-retrotransposon marker system to examine the genetic diversity and population structure of upland cotton germplasm. The rich diversity found in upland cotton germplasm could be exploited as a genetic resource when developing breeding programs and could also help with efforts to breed cotton around the world. These findings also show the applicability and effectiveness of iPBS-retrotransposons for the molecular characterization of cotton germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to its ecological and geographical location, Turkey is the homeland of many fruit species and allows many fruit species to be grown. Hawthorn, which is understood to be important in human health and nutrition, is one of these fruit types. This study was carried out to identify morphological, biochemical, and molecular genetic variations of 22 hawthorn genotypes belonging to three different species collected from Kayseri province. The fruit (fruit length, fruit width, fruit weight, stone weight and soluble solid content) and leaf (leaf length, leaf width, petiole thickness) characteristics of the genotypes showed differences. Among the biochemical properties of the genotypes, the antioxidant activity, as % inhibition, ranged from 23.13 to 61.59%, the total flavonoid content ranged from 14.63 to 57.22 mg QE/100 g, and the total phenolic content ranged from 277.28 to 310.80 mg GAE/100 g. In the principal component analysis, species generally formed similar clusters. In molecular marker analysis, 101 bands were obtained from 13 ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeats) primers. 76 of the bands were polymorphic and the polymorphism rate was calculated as 75.24%. The similarity index in the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean of Cluster analysis) dendogram because of the molecular analysis ranged between 0.71 and 0.88. In the dendrogram, genotypes did not show a dense clustering by species. The results obtained may benefit researchers in the determination and protection of genetic resources in breeding studies on hawthorn species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant with a great diversity shows several responses towards the biotic and abiotic stresses. Among these abiotic stresses, salinity is the main damaging factor as it reduces the yield of wheat plant with moderate salt tolerance. For its survival, plant undergoes through some genetic, biochemical and physiological changes to tackle the stress. This review mainly describes the conditions where various ions present in the soil, especially sodium and chlorine, enter into the plant and the genes or proteins involved with survival mechanism against the damage in plants. Salt stress causes alteration in enzymatic activity and Photosynthesis, oxidative stress, damage of cellular structure and components and ionic imbalance. Ion toxicity stress occur due to accumulation of excessive sodium ion and chloride ion. Transcriptional factors TaPIMP, TaSRG and TaMYBsdu 1 play key role in gene expression mechanism to overcome the stress. High affinity potassium transporter gene family is responsible for salt tolerance in wheat plant. HKT1;4 and HKT1;5 genes are responsible for Na exclusion in Triticum monococcum. Forty QTLs were found with the marker assisted selection in bread wheat for salinity tolerance and some morphological traits, 5 QTLs were related to sodium ion exclusion. In bread wheat, salt stress tolerance mechanism is mainly an exclusion of Na+ ions but also include K+ ion concentration. The salinity tolerant germplasm MW#293 provides an opportunity for the development of future salinity tolerant bread wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an old oilseed crop with a 1.4 GB genome size and its flowers are used for food coloring, dyes and pharmaceutical industries. It was domesticated from its putative wild ancestor Carthamus palestinus about forty-five hundred years ago in the fertile crescent region.The current study was aimed to determine the genetic diversity, population structure and to check the applicability of iPBS-retrotransposons markers. Methods and results: Eleven POGP primers yielded 70 bands of which 61 were highly polymorphic with 87.14% polymorphism. A great level of genetic variation was examined with higher values of overall gene diversity (0.27), genetic distance (0.53), number of effective alleles (1.46), Shannon's information index (0.41) and polymorphism information contents (0.71). Analysis of molecular variance revealed high genetic variation with 79% within the population. The STRUCTURE, PCoA and Neighbor-joining analysis separated the safflower germplasm into 2 major populations and 1 un-classified population. The accessions which were from Asian countries i.e., China, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan were genetically similar and clustered together in both populations A and B. The maximum genetic distance was measured 0.88 between Pakistan 26 x Pakistan 24. Conclusion: Findings of this research such as maximum diversity indices, higher PIC values showed the effectiveness and utility of POGP markers for the evaluation of genetic relationships among safflower accessions. The results of this study also showed that POGP markers are less effective compared to ISSRs, iPBS-retrotransposons and DArTSeq markers. AMOVA showed high genetic variation (79%) within a population and maximum genetic distance was found between the accessions Pakistan 26- Pakistan 24 and may be suggested as candidate parents for future breeding activities of safflower. The accessions from the fertile crescent region were clustered together and proved the origin of safflower domestication. This study highlights genetic variation among safflower germplasm and could be helpfull for parental selection and planning for future breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oryza sativa, king of cereals, is staple food for almost one third of global population. Water deficit is one of the main abiotic factors mitigating its yield potential. Among possible controlling practices, application of Silicon and Selenium are known to affect various physiological and biochemical mechanisms to curtail water deficiency stress. The purpose of the present research was to observe the effects of Silicon (Si) and Selenium (Se) to minimize the harmful effects of water deficient condition. Treatments included control (CK), water stress (40 % water holding capacity, WHC), water stress + Silicon (40 % WHC + 1.5 mM Silicon), water stress + Selenium (40 % WHC + 0.5 mM Se) and water stress + Silicon + Selenium (40 % WHC + 1.5 mM Si and 0.5mM Se solutions). Data of root and shoot length, plant height, root and shoot dry and fresh weight, relative water contents, chlorophyll contents, protein contents, grain length, grain width and grain yield were collected. Application of Si and Se promoted plant growth and development, yield and quality traits under drought stress but maximum performance was observed with co-application of both micronutrients. It is concluded that combine application of Silicon and Selenium alleviates the effect of drought stress on growth and yield of rice by reducing the water loss and improving the chlorophyll contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet the growing human food and nutrition demand a perpetual process of crop improvement is idealized. It has seen changing trends and varying concepts throughout human history; from simple selection to complex gene-editing. Among these techniques, random mutagenesis has been shown to be a promising technology to achieve desirable genetic gain with less time and minimal efforts. Over the decade, several hundred varieties have been released through random mutagenesis, but the production is falling behind the demand. Several food crops like banana, potato, cassava, sweet potato, apple, citrus, and others are vegetatively propagated. Since such crops are not propagated through seed, genetic improvement through classical breeding is impractical for them. Besides, in the case of polyploids, accomplishment of allelic homozygosity requires a considerable land area, extensive fieldwork with huge manpower, and hefty funding for an extended period of time. Apart from induction, mapping of induced genes to facilitate the knowledge of biological processes has been performed only in a few selected facultative vegetative crops like banana and cassava which can form a segregating population. During the last few decades, there has been a shift in the techniques used for crop improvement. With the introduction of the robust technologies like meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) more and more crops are being subjected to gene editing. However, more work needs to be done in case of vegetatively propagated crops [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke), which has a great demand due to its essential oil globally, is an evergreen tree of the Amazon forests. Rosewood natural stands have been depleted through deforestation and the destruction of habitat. Currently, rosewood is included in the ICUN red list of endangered species. Methods and results: The 11 highly polymorphic primers amplified total 305 bands of which 301 (98.69%) were polymorphic. The number of effective alleles (Ne), Shannon's information index (I), overall gene diversity (Ht), gene diversity (h), and polymorphism information content (PIC) were (1.562), (0.505), (0.330), (0.337) and (0.343), respectively. These diversity indices explored high genetic diversity in rosewood germplasm. Among studied germplasm, the Santa Marta population was found most diverse by reflecting higher values of diversity indices while the Zungarococha population was found least diverse. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 79% of the genetic variation was within the populations. The STRUCTURE algorithm, unweighted pair group with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and principal coordinate's analysis (PCoA) separated all germplasms into different population groups according to their geographic locations. Santa Marta population was found more diverse by reflecting higher values of diversity indices. The maximum genetic distance (0.868) was found between the Huajoya-10 and Nanay-3. In this investigation, iPBS- retrotransposon marker system was used to explore the genetic diversity of Peruvian rosewood germplasm. Conclusions: The results in this study such as higher genetic diversity indices, AMOVA (79%) within population and PIC value (0.343) showed the utility and reproducibility of iPBS-retrotransposons in this species successfully. The STRUCTURE algorithm separated the germplasms into six population groups according to their geographic locations. These results have valuable information for the conservation, management strategies and future breeding activities of rosewood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Scarlet eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum gr. gilo) is a part of African indigenous vegetables and acknowledged as a source of variations in the breeding of Brinjal. Since its genetic diversity is still largely unexplored, therefore genetic diversity and population structure of this plant were investigated in this study. Methods and results: Scarlet eggplant germplasm made of fifty-two accessions originated from two districts of Rwanda was assessed by employing the iPBS-retrotransposon markers system. Twelve most polymorphic primers were employed for molecular characterization and they yielded 329 total bands whereupon 85.03% were polymorphic. The recorded mean polymorphism information content was 0.363 and other diversity indices such as; mean the effective number of alleles, mean Shannon's information index and gene diversity with the following values; 1.298, 0.300 and 0.187 respectively. A superior level of diversity was noticed among accessions from Musanze district. The model-based structure, neighbor-joining, and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) gathered scarlet germplasm in a divergence manner to their collection district. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) displayed that the utmost variations (81%) in scarlet eggplant germplasm are resulting in differences within populations. Conclusions: The extensive diversity of scarlet eggplant in Rwanda might be used to form the base and genetic resource of an exhaustive breeding program of this economically important African indigenous vegetable. For instance, accessions MZE53 and GKE11 might be proposed as parent candidates due to their high relative genetic distance (0.6781). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common bean is a nutrient‐dense legume crop serving as a source of food for millions of people. Characterization of unexplored common bean germplasm to unlock the phenotypic and genetic variations is still needed to explore the breeding potential of this crop. The current study aimed to dissect the genetic basis having association for days to flowering (DF). A total of 188 common bean accessions collected from 19 provinces of Turkey were used as plant material under five environments and two locations. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that genotypes and genotype by environment interaction have significant effects on DF. A total of 10 most stable accessions were evaluated from stability analysis. Overall maximum (75) and minimum (54) DF were observed for Hakkari-51 and Mus-46 accessions, respectively. The implemented constellation plot divided studied germplasm according to their DF and growth habit. A total of 7900 DArTseq markers were used for association analysis. Mixed linear model using the Q + K Model resulted a total of 18 DArTseq markers from five environments. DArT-8668385 marker identified in Bolu during 2016 was also associated with DF in Sivas during 2017. Combined data of five years resulted a total of four markers (DArT-22346534, DArT-3369768, DArT-3374613, and DArT-3370801) having significant association (p < 0.01) for DF. DArT-22346534 present on Pv 08 accounted a maximum of 9.89% variation to the studied trait. A total of four putative candidate genes were predicted from sequences reflecting homology to identified four DArTseq markers. We envisage that exploitation of identified DArTseq markers will hopefully beneficial for the development of new common bean varieties having better adaptation ability to changing climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asian region is home to wild soybean and has high topographic complexity. Measuring genetic diversity and geographical distribution patterns are essential steps to expand the germplasm base. We used SoySNP6K to determine the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the wild soybean populations from four East-Asian geographies i.e. China, Japan, Korea, and Russian Far East. The wild soybean populations from China, Japan, and Korea are distinct from one another based on genetic structure, whereas the one from Russian Far East was not distinguishable from the Chinese wild soybeans. These populations share three ancestral populations and have a large number of common SNPs. Despite the low genetic diversity scores between the populations, the Chinese accessions had the highest genetic diversity values while the accession from Russian Far East had the lowest. Our analysis also showed that the population is showing a departure from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and there is a possibility of inbreeding for most of the loci. The results showed that the genetic variation follows the geographic distribution within each geographically distinct wild soybeans population. Therefore, a diverse collection of wild soybeans representing all-natural habitats should include representatives from each of these sub-centers. This population would provide important breeding materials to expand the allelic pool of cultivated soybeans through introgression. Based on these criteria, the Chung's wild legume germplasm collection from Korea provides a good representation of the genetic diversity in wild soybeans for use in soybean breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrodia elata is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine with good therapeutic effect on various nervous and cerebrovascular diseases. In the present study, we generated 20,611,556 raw reads from the young tuber transcriptome of a G. elata hybrid (Gastrodia elata BI.f.elata × Gastrodia elata BI.f.pilifera) by using Illumina HiSeq™ 4000 sequencing platform. De novo assembly and bioinformatics analysis revealed 20,237,474 clean reads, including 2,529,684,250 bp that assembled into 34,323 unigenes with an average length of 695.19 bp. Among them, 24,698 (71.96%) unigenes were annotated by at least one of the Nr, Swiss-Prot, COG and KEGG databases. A total of 4236 (12.34%) unigenes were identified as candidate transcription factors, and 2007 (5.85%) unigenes were found to contain at least one single sequence repeat (SSR). Of these SSRs, AG/CT repeat motif was the most frequent, with a total of 498 (21.67%). This study will enhance our understanding about the molecular mechanism of physiological metabolism, growth and development of G. elata, particularly abundant SSR markers will offer plenty of alternative tools for further studies about molecular genetics, molecular breeding and association analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose synthase A (CESA) is a key enzyme involved in the complex process of plant cell wall biosynthesis, and it remains a productive subject for research. We employed systems biology approaches to explore structural diversity of eudicot CESAs by exon–intron organization, mode of duplication, synteny, and splice site analyses. Using a combined phylogenetics and comparative genomics approach coupled with co-expression networks we reconciled the evolution of cellulose synthase gene family in eudicots and found that the basic forms of CESA proteins are retained in angiosperms. Duplications have played an important role in expansion of CESA gene family members in eudicots. Co-expression networks showed that primary and secondary cell wall modules are duplicated in eudicots. We also identified 230 simple sequence repeat markers in 103 eudicot CESAs. The 13 identified conserved motifs in eudicots will provide a basis for gene identification and functional characterization in other plants. Furthermore, we characterized (in silico) eudicot CESAs against senescence and found that expression levels of CESAs decreased during leaf senescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tianma (Gastrodia elata Blume) has unique biological characteristics and high medicinal value. The wild resource of G. elata is being overutilized and should be conserved as it is already included in the list of endangered species in China. The population size of cultivated G. elata is small because of domestication bottleneck. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to evolve high-quality varieties and conserve wild resources of G. elata. In this study, we sequenced tuber transcriptomes of three major cultivated sub-species of Gastrodia elata, namely G. elata BI. f. elata, G. elata Bl. f. glauca S. Chow, and G. elata Bl. f. Viridis, and obtained about 7.8G clean data. The assembled high-quality reads of three sub-species were clustered into 56,884 unigenes. Of these, 31,224 (54.89%), 25,733 (45.24%), 22,629 (39.78%), and 11,856 (20.84%) unigenes were annotated by Nr, Swiss-Port, Eukaryotic Ortholog Groups (KOG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases, respectively. Here, a total of 3766 EST-SSRs and 128,921 SNPs were identified from the unigenes. The results not only offer huge number of genes that were responsible for the growth, development, and metabolism of bioactive components, but also a large number of molecular markers were detected for future studies on the conservation genetics and molecular breeding of G. elata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]