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Systems genetics is key for integrating a large number of variants associated with diseases. Vitamin K (VK) is one of the scarcely studied conditions in lieu of ascertaining either the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) or variants in an individual subpopulation of diseased phenotypes associated with VK, viz. myocardial infarction, renal failure, prostate cancer, thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, coagulation related diseases to name a few. In this work, we have screened characteristic DEGs common to three VK-related diseases, viz. myocardial infarction, renal failure and prostate cancer and asked whether or not any DEGs in addition to pathogenic variants are common to these conditions. We attempt to bridge the gap in finding characteristic biomarkers and discuss the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the biogenesis of VK deficiencies.

Systems genetics is key for integrating a large number of variants associated with diseases. Vitamin K (VK) is one of the scarcely studied disease conditions. In this work, we ascertained the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and variants associated with individual subpopulations of VK disease phenotypes, viz., myocardial infarction, renal failure and prostate cancer. We sought to ask whether or not any DEGs harbor pathogenic variants common in these conditions, attempt to bridge the gap in finding characteristic biomarkers and discuss the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the biogenesis of VK deficiencies.

Genes encoding bacterial cold shock proteins A (CspA, 213 bp) and B (CspB, 216 bp) were isolated from Escherichia coli strain K12, which showed 100% homology with gene sequences isolated from other bacterial species. In silico domain, analysis showed eukaryotic conserved cold shock domain (CSD) and ribonuclease-binding domain (RBD) indicating that they bind to RNA and are involved in temperature stress tolerance. Overexpression of these two genes in E. coli resulted in higher growth in presence of 200 mM NaCl and 300 mM mannitol. Western blot confirmed the translational products of the two genes. Seedlings of indica rice were transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing pCAMBIA1301 CspA and CspB genes. Transgene integration was confirmed by β-glucuronidase (GUS) histochemical assay, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, and gene copy number by Southern blotting. Chlorophyll, proline, Na+, and K+ contents were higher in transgenics exposed to 150 mM NaCl and drought (imposed by withholding water) stresses during floral initiation stage. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) activities increased, while malondialdehyde (MDA) content was low in transgenics. Transgenics displayed increased root, shoot, and panicle lengths, root dry mass, and a distinct stay-green (SGR) phenotype. Higher transcript levels of CspA, CspB, SGR, chlorophyllase, isopentenyl adenine transferase 1 (IPT1), 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED), SOD, and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) genes were observed in transgenics compared to wild type plants (WT) under multiple stresses. Present work indicates that bacterial chaperone proteins are capable of imparting SGR phenotype, salt and drought stress tolerance alongside grain improvement.

Sorghum is widely grown as a failsafe crop in semi-arid regions particularly in post rainy season. Though the effect of drought on crop performance is studied widely there are few studies illustrating the association of fodder quality and agronomic traits under drought. To study the interactions we evaluated a set of 24 cultivars under drought for three years in post rainy season. The effect of drought was evident in delayed flowering (by 2 days) and reduce plant height (by 0.98 cm) compared to control. The fodder digestibility traits were reduced (in vitro organic matter digestibility by 2.25 times) under drought. All the plant growth and yield parameters recorded higher heritability compared to fodder quality parameters (