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Drought transcriptome analysis of finger millet ( Eleusine coracana ) by cDNA subtraction identified drought responsive genes that have a potential role in drought tolerance. Through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in a related crop species, maize ( Zea mays ), several genes, including a G-BOX BINDING FACTOR 3 ( GBF3 ) were identified as candidate drought stress response genes and the role of GBF3 in drought tolerance was studied in Arabidopsis thaliana . Overexpression of both EcGBF3 and AtGBF3 in A. thaliana resulted in improved tolerance to osmotic stress, salinity and drought stress in addition to conferring insensitivity to ABA. Conversely, loss of function of this gene increased the sensitivity of A. thaliana plants to drought stress. EcGBF3 transgenic A. thaliana results also suggest that drought tolerance of sensitive plants can be improved by transferring genes from far related crops like finger millet. Our results demonstrate the role of GBF3 in imparting drought tolerance in A. thaliana and indicate the conserved role of this gene in drought and other abiotic stress tolerance in several plant species.

Whiteflies not only damage plants directly, they also transmit phytopathogenic viruses. To facilitate whitefly studies, we made microcages from a microcentrifuge tube with a ring-shaped base of muslin and sealed the base to a leaf using wheat gum. Whitefly retention in the cages was high, leaf surfaces were not damaged during the experiment, no external support was required to hold the cages in place, and the cages worked on other crop plants. Acquisition and inoculation efficiency for begomoviruses, mungbean yellow mosaic India virus and tomato leaf curl Karnataka virus was higher in microcages than in macrocages.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third most economically important food legume in the world. Its production is severely hampered by diseases and pests. Leguminous plants generate a specific class of secondary metabolites known as isoflavonoids playing a significant role in plant-microbe interactions. The role of the Isoflavone synthase 1 (Ifs1) gene in biotic stress is long studied, however its regulation of expression and its promoter structure are yet to be explored. In this study, we have identified, cloned and characterized the promoter region of the Ifs1 gene in chickpea (PCaIfs1). Sequence analysis revealed that the nucleotide sequence of promoter of Ifs1 gene from chickpea had 42–47% with the promoter of Ifs1 gene sequence of soybean and cowpea. In-silicoanalysis of promoter sequence of Ifs1 gene identified cis regulatory motifs involved in signaling and regulation of downstream defense genes in major legumes and pathogen induced gene expression. Histochemical analysis further confirmed the activity of promoter upon induction of Sclerotium rolfsii and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri causing collar rot and wilt disease in chickpea, respectively indicating the direct regulation of Ifs1 gene expression by pathogen inoculation.

Drought is a calamitous abiotic stress hampering agricultural productivity all over the world and its severity is likely to increase further. Abscisic acid-stress-ripening proteins (ASR), are a group of small hydrophilic proteins which are induced by abscisic acid, stress and ripening in many plants. In the present study, ZnAsr 1 gene was fully characterized for the first time from Ziziphus nummularia, which is one of the most low water forbearing plant. Full length ZnAsr 1 gene was characterised and in silico analysis of ZnASR1 protein was done for predicting its phylogeny and physiochemical properties. To validate transcriptional pattern of ZnAsr 1 in response to drought stress, expression profiling in polyethylene glycol (PEG) induced Z. nummularia seedlings was studied by RT-qPCR analysis and heterologous expression of the recombinant ZnAsr1 in Escherichia coli. The nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the complete open reading frame of ZnAsr 1 is 819 bp long encoding a protein of 273 amino acid residues, consisting of a histidine rich N terminus with an abscisic acid/water deficit stress domain and a nuclear targeting signal at the C terminus. In expression studies, ZnAsr 1 gene was found to be highly upregulated under drought stress and recombinant clones of E. coli cells expressing ZnASR1 protein showed better survival in PEG containing media. ZnAsr1 was proven to enhance drought stress tolerance in the recombinant E.coli cells expressing ZnASR1. The cloned ZnAsr1 after proper validation in a plant system, can be used to develop drought tolerant transgenic crops.