Browsing by Author "Kumar, Kuldeep"

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Genome-wide association analysis using multi model approach identified novel associations for plant architectural traits in chickpea germplasm collection
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2026) Raiya, Rahul; Yadav, Hemant Kumar; Kumar, Kuldeep; Prakash, Nitish Ranjan; Parida, Swarup K.; Bharadwaj, Chellapilla; Hegde, Venkatraman; Tripathi, Shailesh
Crop plant architecture dictates plant performance under different ecological conditions and is responsible for its establishment, development, and morphology. It plays an important role in plant breeding for yield optimization, regulating photosynthetic rate and efficiency, utilization of resources, occurrence of pests and diseases, effective mechanical harvesting, space optimization, and improving the quality of plant produce. The subtle changes in the plant’s architecture could help the plant adapt to different ecological niches and are very important, keeping in view the challenges posed due to climate change. A set of 280 diverse genotypes, which included the core collection of chickpea was evaluated during the rabi season of 2021 and 2022. A total of 10 plant architecture related traits, including plant height, first pod height, canopy width, inter-nodal length, and days to flowering were studied and significant variability was observed as per the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and phenotypic descriptors. Diversity based on π and θ estimates suggests the presence of substantial diversity, while Tajima’s D reflects balancing selection due to the abundance of shared alleles. Significant marker trait associations (MTAs) for traits like plant height (PH), first pod height (FDPH) and days to flowering were observed using trait based or BLUP estimates. In total, 97 and 51 MTAs were identified using trait based and BLUP based on multi model GWAS analysis, respectively. Among these 17 were consistent MTAs being present either across the year or were identified using more than one GWAS model. Likewise, 9 consistent MTAs were identified using the BLUP estimates. Interestingly, two genomic regions present on chromosome 5 and 7 were found to harbor multiple MTAs for PH and FPDH. The linkage disequilibrium (LD) block analysis reflects the prevalence of multiple LD blocks in these regions. The allelic effects of the MTAs reflect their additive nature in determining the phenotype. Overall, the MTAs identified in the current study are highly useful for the chickpea breeder in modulating the plant architecture, mainly PH and FPDH.
Potential regulation of cleistogamy in pigeonpea through jasmonic acid and bHLH transcription factor interactions
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2025) Gupta, Palak; Srivastava, Harsha; Kumar, Kuldeep; Nirgude, Machindra; Arpita, Kumari; Vadassery, Jyothilakshmi; Sharma, Sandhya; Abdin, Malik Zainul; Gaikwad, Kishor
This study provides insights into the molecular and hormonal control of cleistogamy in pigeonpea, focusing on bHLH transcription factors and jasmonic acid pathway. Pigeonpea, an annual diploid (2n = 22) grain legume, holds significant nutritional value in cereal-dominated diets. The chasmogamous flowers of pigeonpea have a typical 9 + 1 diadelphous stamen where flowers open pre-fertilization resulting in cross-pollination. In contrast, a cleistogamous genotype characterized by polyadelphous stamens and flowers that open post-fertilization ensuring seed purity was analyzed for identifying causal pathways. Subsequent analysis focused on a set of transcription factors and their interaction with the hormonal networks associated with cleistogamy. Genes of the Jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway have been established to play a significant role in inducing cleistogamy and one of the key regulators of the JA pathway is bHLH (basic helix loop helix). A genome-wide survey identified 176 bHLH genes in the pigeonpea genome. Phylogenetic analysis classified 176 bHLH genes into 21 subfamilies distributed randomly across the genome. Gene ontology, cis-motifs analysis in the upstream region, and protein-protein interaction network implied the involvement of these genes in various biological processes. Expression analysis of key genes of the jasmonic acid pathway which includes MYC2 (Cc_bHLH135) along with its interacting partners TIFY/JAZ in chasmogamous and cleistogamous floral tissues revealed their potential role in flower opening. The results of UHPLC-MS/MS quantitation of Jasmonic acid and its bioactive form JA-Ile align with the expression analysis. The congruence of gene expression and hormone profiling highlights the involvement of the JA pathway in regulating flower opening, implying their potential role in cleistogamy in pigeonpea.