Browsing by Author "Gahlaut, Vijay"

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Genome-wide association study (GWAS) delineates genomic loci for ten nutritional elements in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.)
(Elsevier B.V., 2019) Jaiswal, Vandana; Bandyopadhyay, Tirthankar; Gahlaut, Vijay; Gupta, Sarika; Dhaka, Annvi; Ramchiary, Nirala; Prasad, Manoj
Nutritional deficiency is found to be a major threat to human health, especially in low-income countries. Thus it is essential to improve nutritional qualities of important food crops. Foxtail millet is second largest cultivated millet and 2–5 times nutritionally richer than major cereal crops. During the present study, we identified genetic determinants of ten nutritional elements including potassium, nickel, calcium, boron, magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur, zinc, manganese and iron for the first time in foxtail millet. For this purpose, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using 93 diverse accessions and 10 K SNPs (distributed across all the nine foxtail millet chromosomes). Altogether, 74 marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified to be associated with above mentioned ten elements, out of which ten (10) MTAs (associated with B, Mg, Zn and Fe) showed high confidence [-log(p) > 5.78]. Identified desirable SNP alleles and favourable haplotypes may prove useful in foxtail breeding. Also, significant pyramiding effect suggested that associated elements can be substantially enhanced through combining more than one MTA. Candidate genes residing within or near the association signal may be selected for functional characterization. Superior genotypes identified may prove as a potential donor in foxtail millet breeding assisted through the molecular marker.
Genome-wide association study of major agronomic traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) using ddRAD sequencing
(Springer Nature, 2019) Jaiswal, Vandana; Gupta, Sarika; Gahlaut, Vijay; Muthamilarasan, Mehanathan; Bandyopadhyay, Tirthankar; Ramchiary, Nirala; Prasad, Manoj
Foxtail millet (Setaria italica), the second largest cultivated millet crop after pearl millet, is utilized for food and forage globally. Further, it is also considered as a model crop for studying agronomic, nutritional and biofuel traits. In the present study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed for ten important agronomic traits in 142 foxtail millet core eco-geographically diverse genotypes using 10 K SNPs developed through GBS-ddRAD approach. Number of SNPs on individual chromosome ranged from 844 (chromosome 5) to 2153 (chromosome 8) with an average SNP frequency of 25.9 per Mb. The pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) estimated using the squared-allele frequency correlations was found to decay rapidly with the genetic distance of 177 Kb. However, for individual chromosome, LD decay distance ranged from 76 Kb (chromosome 6) to 357 Kb (chromosome 4). GWAS identified 81 MTAs (marker-trait associations) for ten traits across the genome. High confidence MTAs for three important agronomic traits including FLW (flag leaf width), GY (grain yield) and TGW (thousand-grain weight) were identified. Significant pyramiding effect of identified MTAs further supplemented its importance in breeding programs. Desirable alleles and superior genotypes identified in the present study may prove valuable for foxtail millet improvement through marker-assisted selection.
Identification of novel SNP in promoter sequence of TaGW2-6A associated with grain weight and other agronomic traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
(PLOS, 2015) Jaiswal, Vandana; Gahlaut, Vijay; Mathur, Saloni; Agarwal, Priyanka; Khandelwal, Manoj Kumar; Khurana, Jitendra Paul; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.; Balyan, Harindra Singh; Gupta, Pushpendra Kumar
TaGW2 is an orthologue of rice gene OsGW2, which encodes E3 RING ubiquitin ligase and controls the grain size in rice. In wheat, three copies of TaGW2 have been identified and mapped on wheat homoeologous group 6 viz. TaGW2-6A, TaGW2-6B and TaGW2-6D. In the present study, using as many as 207 Indian wheat genotypes, we identified four SNPs including two novel SNPs (SNP-988 and SNP-494) in the promoter sequence of TaGW2-6A. All the four SNPs were G/A or A/G substitutions (transitions). Out of the four SNPs, SNP-494 was causal, since it was found associated with grain weight. The mean TGW (41.1 g) of genotypes with the allele SNP-494_A was significantly higher than mean TGW (38.6 g) of genotypes with the allele SNP-494_G. SNP-494 also regulates the expression of TaGW2-6A so that the wheat genotypes with SNP-494_G have higher expression and lower TGW and the genotypes with SNP-494_A have lower expression but higher TGW. Besides, SNP-494 was also found associated with grain length-width ratio, awn length, spike length, grain protein content, peduncle length and plant height. This suggested that gene TaGW2-6A not only controls grain size, but also controls other agronomic traits. In the promoter region, SNP-494 was present in 'CGCG' motif that plays an important role in Ca2+/calmodulin mediated regulation of genes. A user-friendly CAPS marker was also developed to identify the desirable allele of causal SNP (SNP-494) for use in marker-assisted selection for improvement of grain weight in wheat. Using four SNPs, five haplotypes were identified; of these, Hap_5 (G_A_G_A) was found to be a desirable haplotype having significantly higher grain weight (41.13g) relative to other four haplotypes (36.33-39.16 g).
Multi-environment GWAS identifies genomic regions underlying grain nutrient traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italica)
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2024) Jaiswal, Vandana; Bandyopadhyay, Tirthankar; Singh, Roshan Kumar; Gahlaut, Vijay; Muthamilarasan, Mehanathan; Prasad, Manoj
A total of 104 foxtail millet accessions were evaluated for 11 nutrients in three environments and 67 high-confidence marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified. Six SNPs showed pleiotropic effect and associated with two or more nutrients, whereas 24 candidate genes were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven traits. Millets are known for their better nutritional profiles compared to major cereals. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is rich in nutrients essential to circumvent malnutrition and hidden hunger. However, the genetic determinants underlying this trait remain elusive. In this context, we evaluated 104 diverse foxtail millet accessions in three different environments (E1, E2, and E3) for 11 nutrients and genotyped with 30K SNPs. The genome-wide association study showed 67 high-confidence (Bonferroni-corrected) marker-trait associations (MTAs) for the nutrients except for phosphorus. Six pleiotropic SNPs were also identified, which were associated with two or more nutrients. Around 24 candidate genes (CGs) were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven nutrients. A total of 17 associated SNPs were present within the gene region, and five (5) were mapped in the exon of the CGs. Significant SNPs, desirable alleles and CGs identified in the present study will be useful in breeding programmes for trait improvement.
A multi-step phosphorelay two-component system impacts on tolerance against dehydration stress in common wheat
(Springer, 2014) Gahlaut, Vijay; Mathur, Saloni; Dhariwal, Raman; Khurana, Jitendra P.; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.; Balyan, Harindra S.; Gupta, Pushpendra K.
Wheat is an important staple crop, and its productivity is severely constrained by drought stress (DS). An understanding of the molecular basis of drought tolerance is necessary for genetic improvement of wheat for tolerance to DS. The two-component system (TCS) serves as a common sensor-regulator coupling mechanism implicated in the regulation of diverse biological processes (including response to DS) not only in prokaryotes, but also in higher plants. In the latter, TCS generally consists of two signalling elements, a histidine kinase (HK) and a response regulator (RR) associated with an intermediate element called histidine phosphotransferase (HPT). Keeping in view the possible utility of TCS in developing water use efficient (WUE) wheat cultivars, we identified and characterized 62 wheat genes encoding TCS elements in a silico study; these included 7 HKs, 45 RRs along with 10 HPTs. Twelve of the 62 genes showed relatively higher alterations in the expression under drought. The quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR)-based expression analysis of these 12 TCS genes was carried out in wheat seedlings of a drought sensitive (HD2967) and a tolerant (Dharwar Dry) cultivar subjected to either dehydration stress or cytokinin treatment. The expression of these 12 genes under dehydration stress differed in sensitive and tolerant genotypes, even though for individual genes, both showed either up-regulation or down-regulation. In response to the treatment of cytokinin, the expression of type-A RR genes was higher in the tolerant genotype, relative to that in the sensitive genotype, the situation being reverse for the type-B RRs. These results have been discussed in the context of the role of TCS elements in drought tolerance in wheat.
Stage-specific reprogramming of gene expression characterizes Lr48-mediated adult plant leaf rust resistance in wheat
(Springer, 2015) Dhariwal, Raman; Gahlaut, Vijay; Govindraj, Bhaganagare R.; Singh, Dharmendra; Mathur, Saloni; Vyas, Shailendra; Bandopadhyay, Rajib; Khurana, Jitendra Paul; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.; Prabhu, Kumble Vinod; Mukhopadhyay, Kunal; Balyan, Harindra Singh; Gupta, Pushpendra Kumar
Wheat genotype CSP44 carrying a recessive gene Lr48 exhibits adult plant resistance (APR; incompatible reaction) but gives a compatible reaction (susceptibility) at the seedling stage against leaf rust. A comparative gene expression analysis involving cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) was carried out for incompatible and compatible reactions in the genotype CSP44. cDNA-AFLP analysis was conducted using RNA samples that were isolated from flag leaves following inoculation with leaf rust race 77-5 (the most virulent race) and also after mock inoculation. As many as 298 of a total of 493 expressed transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) exhibited differential expression (262 upregulated and 36 downregulated). Of these 298 TDFs, 48 TDFs were eluted from gels, re-amplified, cloned, and sequenced. Forty two of these 48 TDFs had homology with known genes involved in the following biological processes: energy production, metabolism, transport, signaling, defense response, plant-pathogen interaction, transcriptional regulation, translation, and proteolysis. The functions of the remaining six TDFs could not be determined; apparently, these represented some novel genes. The qPCR analysis for 18 TDFs (with known and unknown functions, but showing major differences in expression) was conducted using RNA isolated from the seedlings as well as from the adult plants. The expression of at least 11 TDFs was induced and that of 4 other TDFs attenuated or remained near normal in adult plants following leaf rust inoculations. The remaining three TDFs had non-specific/developmental stage-specific expression. Functional annotation of TDFs that were upregulated suggest that the APR was supported by transient recruitment and reprogramming of processes like perception and recognition of pathogen effector by receptors, followed by CDPK and MAPK signaling, transport, metabolism, and energy release.