Browsing by Author "Dhatterwal, Pinky"

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Decoding the functionality of plant transcription factors
(Oxford University Press, 2024) Dhatterwal, Pinky; Sharma, Namisha; Prasad, Manoj
Transcription factors (TFs) intricately govern cellular processes and responses to external stimuli by modulating gene expressions. TFs help plants to balance the trade-off between stress tolerance and growth, thus ensuring their long-term survival in challenging environments. Understanding the factors and mechanisms that define the functionality of plant TFs is of paramount importance for unravelling the intricate regulatory networks governing development, growth, and responses to environmental stimuli in plants. The article provides a comprehensive understanding of these factors and mechanisms defining the activity of TFs. Understanding the dynamic nature of TFs has practical implications for modern molecular breeding programs, as it provides insights into how to manipulate gene expression to optimize desired traits in crops. Moreover, recent studies also report the functional duality of transcription factors, highlighting their ability to switch between activation and repression modes, this represents an important mechanism for attuning gene expression. Here we discuss what possible reasons for dual nature of TFs are and how this duality instructs the cell fate decision during development, and fine-tunes stress responses in plants, enabling them to adapt to various environmental challenges.
Yield loss and growth-defense trade-offs: impact of engineering amino acid transporters
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2024) Dhatterwal, Pinky; Prasad, Manoj; Mehrotra, Sandhya; Mehrotra, Rajesh
Recent studies recognize the importance of membrane transporters as vital targets for global food security, with amino acid transporters playing a key role in various plant processes afecting growth, productivity, and nutritional value. The manipulation of amino acid transporters in crop plants ofers a promising avenue for enhancing their nutritional profles, improving seed yield, and ensuring better survival under environmental stresses. However, such genetic modifcations often result in pleiotropic efects, including alterations in seed weight, starch, and sucrose levels, as well as compromised plant growth over improved stress tolerance and nutritional enhancement. These unintended phenotypic trade-ofs consequences underscore the importance of careful consideration in genetic engineering to achieve desired agricultural outcomes without compromising overall plant health and yield.