Current Science

Shouvik Das ¹, Deepak Bajaj ¹, S. Gopala Krishnan ², Ashok K. Singh ², Swarup K. Parida ¹

Affiliations
1 National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110 067, IN
2 Division of Genetics, Rice Section, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

Post Arabidopsis thaliana, 55 genomes comprising 49 different plant species have been decoded by use of clone-by-clone, whole genome shotgun and next-generation sequencing approaches. The structural outcomes of these sequenced genomes shed light on their genomic constitution, particularly the way genes, transposable elements and genetic markers are orga-nized within the genomes. The functional outcomes provide a brief account of specific phenotypic trait characteristics of crop genomes by digging deep into the genetic make-up of transcription factors, regulato-ry elements and gene families governing multiple ag-ronomic traits in these crop plants. The comparative and evolutionary outcomes deduce the genetic basis of biological diversity and basic process of ge-nome evolution by analysing the syntenic relationships among genes and genomes/chromosomes of the se-quenced crop plants. Therefore, a revisit to published genome sequence landmarks in 30 major cultivated food crops constituting major groups (cereals, leg-umes, vegetables, fruits, oil seeds and fibres) would significantly assist us to gain a detailed insight into their genome organization and dissect the structural, functional, comparative and evolutionary intricacies for identifying species- and lineage-specific genes con-trolling multiple characteristics in crop plants. The es-sential inputs obtained will be helpful in devising efficient strategies to develop high-yielding climate-ready crop varieties through translational genomics.

Keywords

Decoding, Food Crops, Plant Genome, Trans-Lational Genomics.

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