Research Projects

Population explosion necessitates efforts to increase crop production by 60% before 2050 without expanding agricultural land. Global climate change, predicted to shorten the growing season by 20% by 2100, particularly a rise in mean temperatures by up to 3°C by the end of this century, will negatively impact crop productivity. India, the world's second-largest tomato producer, is well-known for its sensitivity to high temperatures. MicroRNA (miRNA) networks regulate various pathways, including organ growth and stress response. However, the molecular link between these miRNA transcription networks and core components controlling early maturation and crop yield is currently unknown. The hypothesis is that miR169 and its target Nuclear Factor-YA (NF-YA) play key roles in abiotic stress tolerance, nutrient uptake, carbohydrate metabolism, and cell wall modifying enzymes. MiR169 is highly expressed in tomato inflorescence and fruits and is significantly upregulated in response to heat stress. Preliminary functional characterization using miR169-overexpressing (OX) and nf-ya2 mutant Arabidopsis plants has shown great promise in terms of heat stress tolerance, early maturation, and increased yield. Experiments will be conducted on transgenic miR169-OX, NF-YA10 CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited, and miR169 mimic tomato plants. Evaluation of early maturation and yield parameters will be performed in control and heat stress conditions. Comparative transcriptome and phytohormone analysis will be used to elucidate the miR169-NF-YA10-mediated molecular mechanisms regulating these traits. The findings could be applied to other crop plants where homozygous recessive NF-YA alleles can be bred into popular varieties.