Research Projects

The Gazette of India (Extraordinary, Part-1-sec.1; F. No. 4-4/2017-NFsM dt. April 10, 2018) declares millets comprising sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, kodo millet, barnyard millet, and little millet as 'Nutri-Cereals'. Among these, foxtail millet (setaria italica) is one of the most important millet crops grown in India for food and forage purposes. India is the second top-most producer of foxtail millet in Asia after China, both in terms of area and production. As a C4 hardy crop, foxtail millet also secures the life and livelihood of marginal farmers cultivating this millet species. In research perspective, several studies are underway to dissect its nutritional, abiotic stress tolerance, and C4 photosynthetic traits. However, studies on biotic stresses challenging foxtail millet cultivation are limited. Recent reports have shown an upsurge in the infection by Pyricularia setariae, which causes blast disease in foxtail millet and inflicts considerable damage (~80%) on yield and productivity. Given this, a preliminary screening of foxtail millet core collection was performed to identify the resistant (Ise 1181) and susceptible (Ise 1118) accessions. A comparative study of these contrasting accessions subjected to P. setariae infection is imperative to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying disease resistance. In this context, the project proposes to: (i) pursue the comparative study at morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels in contrasting accessions, and (ii) integrate the transcriptomic and proteomic datasets to identify disease-responsive genes and pathways. Further, the candidate genes will be characterized using functional genomics approaches to delineate their precise roles in conferring disease resistance. To date, no such comprehensive study has been performed in foxtail millet to understand the defense mechanism operating at different levels against P. setariae infection. The present study will provide insights into the molecular determinants of disease resistance and potentiates the long-term goal of deploying breeding, transgene-based and/or genome-editing approaches to impart durable tolerance to blast disease in cultivated germplasm.