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Societal Impact Statement Strengthening food and nutrient security is crucial to feeding the ever‐growing world population. Millets provide energy and nutrients for millions of poor people in low‐ and middle‐income countries of Asia and Africa. Millets require less fertilizer and pesticide, unlike mainstream cereals, for cultivation. Millets supply superior nutrients and possess excellent climate resilience properties. Therefore, promotion of millets could help attain the sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). लगातार बढ़ती हुई विश्व जनसंख्या को खिलाने के लिए खाद्य और पोषक तत्वों की सुरक्षा को मजबूत करना महत्वपूर्ण है। बाजरा एशिया और अफ्रीका के निम्न और मध्यम आय वाले देशों में लाखों गरीब लोगों के लिए ऊर्जा और पोषक तत्व प्रदान करता है। बाजरे की खेती में मुख्य अनाज के विपरीत कम उर्वरक और कीटनाशक की आवश्यकता होती है। बाजरा बेहतर पोषक तत्वों की आपूर्ति करता है और इसमें उत्कृष्ट जलवायु लचीलापन गुण होते हैं। इसलिए, बाजरा को बढ़ावा देने से संयुक्त राष्ट्र (यूएन) के सतत विकास लक्ष्यों (एसडीजी) को प्राप्त करने में मदद मिल सकती है।. Strengthening food and nutrient security is crucial to feeding the ever‐growing world population. Millets provide energy and nutrients for millions of poor people in low‐ and middle‐income countries of Asia and Africa. Millets require less fertilizer and pesticide, unlike mainstream cereals, for cultivation. Millets supply superior nutrients and possess excellent climate resilience properties. Therefore, promotion of millets could help attain the sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN).

Millets are nutrient-rich cereals majorly cultivated in Asia and Africa. Foxtail millet (FoxM), pearl millet (PeaM), finger millet (FinM), kodo millet (KodM), little millet (LitM), proso millet (ProM), and barnyard millet (BarM) were examined for the influence of external phosphorous (P) supply on phenotypic traits, P uptake, yield, and PHosphate Transporter1 (PHT1) family gene expression. Millet seedlings grown under low Pi condition (LPC) produced significantly lower mean values for all traits except for lateral root length (LRL) and lateral root number (LRN) which were increased under LPC. Under LPC, seed weight (SW) also reduced by > 75% and had significantly lower levels of total P (TP) and Pi contents in leaf and root tissues. Expression dynamics of 12 PHT1 family (PHT1; 1–1; 12) transporters genes were analyzed in 7 millets. PHT1; 2 has been found to be a constitutive transporter gene in all millets. Under LPC, root tissues showed the overexpression of PHT1; 2, 1; 3, 1; 4 and 1; 9 in FoxM, PHT1; 1, 1; 2, 1; 3, 1; 4, 1; 8 and 1; 10 in PeaM, PHT1; 2 and 1; 3 in FinM and ProM and PHT1; 3, 1; 6 and 1; 11 in BarM. In leaf, LPC induced the expression of PHT1; 3, 1; 4 and 1; 6 in FoxM, PHT1; 2, 1; 3, 1; 4 and 1; 8 in PeaM, PHT1; 2, 1; 3 and 1; 4 in FinM and KodM, PHT1; 2 in LitM and PHT1; 4 in ProM and BarnM. This comprehensive study on the influence of P in phenotype, physiology, and molecular responses may help to improve the P uptake and its use efficiency of millets in future.

We have developed an improved Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and rapid regeneration system for four cultivars (‘CO(Ra)-14’, ‘PR-202’, ‘Try-1’ and ‘Paiyur-2’) of finger millet using optimized transformation and direct plant regeneration conditions. The shoot apical meristems (SAMs) were used as explants in this study. Agrobacterium strain EHA105 carrying binary vector pCAMBIA1301 was used to optimize the transformation conditions. Concentration of hygromycin, the optical density of the culture, infection time, age of the explants, co-cultivation period, the concentrations of acetosyringone and antibiotics were optimized to improve the transformation frequency. The highest frequency of mean transient gus expression (85.1%) was achieved in cultivar ‘CO(Ra)-14’. The entire transformation procedure, from initiating SAMs to planting putative transgenic plantlets in the greenhouse, was completed within 45 days with the highest stable transformation frequency of 11.8% for ‘CO(Ra)-14’. PCR, gus staining and Southern blot analyses were performed in T0 and T1 generations to confirm the gene integration. Six events from T0 had a single copy of the transgene and showed a normal Mendelian pattern of segregation. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the high frequency transformation of finger millet by Agrobacterium and subsequent recovery of transgenic plants via direct plant regeneration without a callus phase, in short duration (45 days). The proposed protocol could be supportive in breaking through the bottleneck in transformation and regeneration of finger millet cultivars.

The recent reemergence of the monkeypox pandemic in non-endemic regions has raised serious concerns regarding the possibility of a global outbreak. The study employed various modules of the Schrodinger suite through Maestro V 14.1 for molecular docking, MD simulations, MM-GBSA, and FMO. To explore the drug potential of Kabasura Kudineer against the key proteins of the Mpox virus: E5, poxin, and DNA polymerase, a total of 982 chemical constituents belonging to this herbal formulation were investigated. The molecular docking studies revealed that chlorogenic acid, chebulic acid, rosmarinic acid, and citric acid had high binding affinities for E5, with docking scores of −13.3289, −11.3933, −9.8999, and −9.59471 kcal/mol, respectively. Likewise, caffeic acid, citric acid, and plumbagic acid have good binding affinities for poxin with docking scores of −8.49023, −6.80386 and −5.91719 kcal/mol, respectively. Plumbagic acid and delphinidin have considerable binding affinities for DNA polymerase with docking scores of −7.57867 and −7.55301 kcal/mol, respectively. In the MD simulation, chlorogenic acid, chebulic acid, citric acid, and rosmarinic acid exhibited remarkable stability with strong binding affinities for the E5, poxin and DNA polymerase. We further explored the stability of the E5 complexes by calculating the binding free energy every 20 ns for 100 ns. The ΔG bind values of chlorogenic acid, chebulic acid, and rosmarinic acid were 61.10, 78.14, and 75.49 kcal/mol at 0 ns. Hence, the research suggests that this formulation has antiviral potential against Monkeypox and can be used to inhibit viral replication in hosts and boost the antiviral immune response.

The production of high-quality horticultural seedlings is essential for successful field transplantation. Nevertheless, increasing soil salinization poses a significant challenge, particularly in salt-affected regions. Watermelon seedlings were cultivated in pots with a substrate (mixture of ground blonde peat (60%), black peat (30%), and perlite (10%) with pH 5.5–6.0) within a bamboo nethouse and subjected to varying salinity levels, i.e., 2–8 dS m−1 (T1, T2, T3, and T4). At the end of the experimental period (4 weeks), the growth parameters, spectral vegetation indices, and chemical parameters of the sap and leachate were evaluated. The results demonstrated that increased salinity levels reduced the biomass of watermelon seedlings. In addition, elevated salinity levels were associated with increased values of B (48%) and NBI (46%) and decreased values of G (9%) and NGI (7%) at the end of the experimental period. The effects of the salinity levels were also evident in the sap chemical parameters, with marked increases in Cl−, Ca2+, and Na+ concentrations (9.6, 3.1, and 4.9 times, respectively) and decreases in the N-NO3−, P, and K+ concentrations (51, 8, and 25%, respectively). The leachate analysis reported clear increases in the values of EC and concentrations of Cl−, Ca2+, and Na+ at the end of the experimental period. To validate the relevance of these findings, further research under field conditions and across a range of climatic environments is warranted.

The high-oleic acid content of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) oil, regulated by the fatty acid desaturase 2-1 (CtFAD2-1) gene, provides superior oxidative stability for applications. To explore alternative genetic sources for this trait, we employed induced mutagenesis with gamma irradiation and ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) for two safflower cultivars, AKS 207 and PKV Pink. Screening of M2 populations identified several mutants with significantly higher oleic acid content, reaching up to 36.86%. The mutagenized populations also exhibited a wide spectrum of variation for other agronomically important traits, including increased oil content (up to 35.19%), enhanced seed protein (up to 22.51%), and seed size and weight. Correlation and principal component analyses confirmed the antagonistic relationship between oleic and polyunsaturated fatty acids and the positive association among seed size parameters. Molecular profiling using an allele-specific PCR assay targeting the CtFAD2-1 locus revealed that high-oleic mutants did not carry known mutations, suggesting the involvement of alternative alleles, micro-mutations, or other genes regulating oleic acid accumulation. This study provides valuable pre-breeding germplasm with improved agronomic and quality traits and identifies novel genetic sources for high-oleic acid in safflower. These mutants form a new genetic basis for understanding fatty acid biosynthesis and developing next-generation high-stability oil cultivars.

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for plants and humans. Nearly 50% of the agriculture soils of world are Zn-deficient. The low availability of Zn reduces the yield and quality of the crops. The zinc-regulated, iron-regulated transporter-like proteins (ZIP) family and iron-regulated transporters (IRTs) are involved in cellular uptake of Zn, its intracellular trafficking and detoxification in plants. In addition to Zn, ZIP family transporters also transport other divalent metal cations (such as Cd2+, Fe2+, and Cu2+). ZIP transporters play a crucial role in biofortification of grains with Zn. Only a very limited information is available on structural features and mechanism of Zn transport of plant ZIP family transporters. In this article, we present a detailed account on structure, function, regulations and phylogenetic relationships of plant ZIP transporters. We give an insight to structure of plant ZIPs through homology modeling and multiple sequence alignment with Bordetella bronchiseptica ZIP (BbZIP) protein whose crystal structure has been solved recently. We also provide details on ZIP transporter genes identified and characterized in rice and other plants till date. Functional characterization of plant ZIP transporters will help for the better crop yield and human health in future.

Finger millet plays a vital role in the food and nutritional security of many people in developing countries particularly in Asia and Africa. It is a staple food for poor people in many regions of Asian (India, China, Nepal, and Sri Lanka etc.) and African (South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria etc.) countries. Finger millet contains nutrient rich components such as dietary fibers, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals that include phenolic compounds with several potential health benefits. Calcium (Ca) is an important macronutrient for healthy life of plants, humans and animals. It plays an indispensable role in structure and signaling and its deficiency causes low bone density, osteoporosis, colon cancer etc. Finger millet grains contain exceptionally higher amount of Ca (>300 mg/100 g) when compared to other major cereals. Ca transporter and sensor family genes are involved in the uptake, transport and accumulation of Ca. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Ca transporter and sensor family genes is important for growth, development and seed fortification in finger millet. Expression analysis of Ca transporter and sensor family genes has been carried out in various tissues of finger millet. Only a very little research work has been done to understand the Ca accumulation in the grains of finger millet. In this review, we discuss the nutritional importance and health benefits of finger millet. We discuss the studies on Ca sensor, accumulation and transport genes that help to improve the grains of finger millet with special reference to Ca. Improved Ca content in finger millet may help to alleviate the Ca deficiency throughout the world particularly in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa.

This review aims to identify in vivo studies investigating the potential of plant substances and their natural molecules in managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Specifically, the objective is to examine the impact of these substances on interleukins and other key inflammatory signaling markers. Relevant articles published up to December 2022 were identified through a search of the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases. The search used keywords including “inflammatory bowel disease”, “medicinal plants”, “natural molecules”, “anti-inflammatory”, and “ulcerative colitis”, and identified 1878 potentially relevant articles, of which 89 were included in this review after completion of the selection process. This study provides preclinical data on natural products (NPs) that can potentially treat IBD, including ulcerative colitis. The main actions of these NPs relate to their effects on nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling pathway, the regulation of T helper 17/regulatory T cells balance, and oxidative stress. The ability of these NPs to inhibit intestinal inflammation appears to be dependent on lowering levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-17, via the Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)1, NF-κβ-p65, and STAT3 pathways. In addition, NPs were shown to reduce oxidative stress and the severity of ulcerative colitis, as well as increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. These actions suggest that NPs represent a promising treatment for IBD, and potentially having greater efficacy and safety than current treatments. [Display omitted] •Preclinical evidence suggests that natural products (NPs) can reduce IBD progression•NPs decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibit intestinal inflammation.•NPs can be used to regulate interleukins in the treatment of IBD•NPs regulate NF-κB, JAK-STAT signaling, and T helper 17/regulatory T cells imbalance•NPs lessen oxidative stress and ulcerative colitis severity