Browsing by Author "Ramesh, Palakurthi"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

5M approach to decipher starch-lipid interaction in minor millets
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2023) Ramesh, Palakurthi; Singh, Roshan Kumar; Panchal, Anurag; Prasad, Manoj
The 5M approach can be applied to understand genetic complexity underlying nutritional traits of minor millets. It will help to systematically identify genomic regions/candidate genes imprinting metabolite profiles. Author’s work in this area is supported by research grants from Ministry of Science and Technology, Gov. of India [GrantCRG/2020/000488 and BT/Ag/Network/Wheat/2019–20].
Deciphering cold stress resilience: multiomics insights in contrasting wheat genotypes from the western himalayas
(John Wiley & Sons, 2026) Jan, Sofora; Jan, Farkhandah; Rathore, Mukesh; Singh, Yogita; Kapoor, Prexha; Chaturvedi, Palak; Ghatak, Arindam; Ramesh, Palakurthi; Kumar, Upendra; Prasad, Manoj; Kumar, Sundeep; Rustgi, Sachin; Weckwerth, Wolfram; Kalia, Sanjay; Varshney, Rajeev Kumar; Mir, Reyazul Rouf
Cold stress threatens wheat productivity, particularly in regions with extreme climatic conditions. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying wheat's response to cold stress, we performed a multiomics analysis integrating lipidomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. Our study focused on two wheat genotypes with contrasting cold tolerance levels, SKAU_52 (tolerant) and SKAU_4301 (susceptible) to capture genotype-specific responses under cold stress. Lipidomic analysis revealed significant changes in lipid composition, with unsaturated lipids such as digalactosyldiacyl glycerols (DGDGs) and monogalactosyldiacylglycerols (MGDGs) upregulated in response to cold stress. These lipids are associated with maintaining membrane fluidity, whereas saturated lipids were downregulated in the cold-tolerant genotype. Transcriptomics analysis provides a strong evidence that cold tolerance in wheat is governed by coordinated activation of the ICE-CBF-COR regulatory cascade, with the cold-tolerant genotype ‘SKAU_52’ showing stronger and more sustained induction across pathway tiers than the cold susceptible wheat genotype ‘SKAU_4301’. Similarly, proteomic data highlighted differential abundance of proteins involved in antioxidative defence, osmotic adjustment and signal transduction, including late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins. Metabolome assessment revealed substantial alterations in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, with sucrose and amino acids such as hydroxyproline identified as key contributors to cold tolerance. Additionally, defence hormones such as salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) exhibited genotype-specific regulation with higher accumulation in cold-tolerant genotype. Overall, this integrated multi-omics approach provides novel insights into the complex molecular mechanisms underlying cold stress adaptation in wheat, supporting the development of resilient wheat varieties capable of thriving in challenging cold environments.
The promise of millets in the twenty-first century: emphasis on breeding, nutrition, food security and sustainability
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2023) Bandyopadhyay, Tirthankar; Singh, Roshan Kumar; Ramesh, Palakurthi; Maurya, Jyoti; Prasad, Manoj
Global population is expected to cross 11 billion by the turn of the century, which has put immense pressure on the existing agricultural systems worldwide. This is complicated by gradually decreasing productivity and acreage as a result of climate change in addition to ever-increasing input costs of resource hungry staple crops like rice, wheat, and maize. Unfortunately, the most affected by these events are those who have the least resources at their disposal to mitigate the issue, especially in countries of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is therefore pertinent to explore and adopt alternative and/or complementary crops that are easier to cultivate, climate change tolerant, less resource hungry, nutritionally richer for human consumption, and agriculturally sustainable. Millets are perfect cereal crops which meet all of these requirements and can realistically provide much-needed solutions to current global food and nutritional security challenges. In this review, we provide a bird’s eye view of the relevance of millets in global agro-ecosystems in the context of their nutritional and agronomic attributes. Furthermore, we share perspectives on the major areas of crop improvement programs worldwide and discuss major challenges confronting the same. Finally, we discourse on the scope of millets for wider acceptability and highlight major points at the interface of genetic intervention–crop management post-harvest practices worth considering to potentially facilitate robust millet-based nutritional and food security.
Targeted lipidome analysis reveals nutritionally enhanced foxtail millet genotypes across diverse grain colours
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2026) Ramesh, Palakurthi; Seni, Sushmita; Singh, Roshan Kumar; Pandey, Ashutosh; Prasad, Manoj
Foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a small-grained cereal crop, is a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fibers, and lipids, with lipid content ranging from 1–5% of the total grain composition. Whole grain is an excellent natural source of nutraceutical properties and health-beneficial components that significantly reduce chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Different grain colours in foxtail millet are associated with distinct metabolome composition. However, the relationship between lipid composition and grain colour remains largely unexplored. In this study, a comprehensive metabolomic analysis of eight differently coloured foxtail millet grains led to the identification of 352 distinct metabolites. Among these, 44 metabolites were chemically classified into categories such as fatty acids, steroids, hydrocarbons, benzenes, monoradylglycerols, quinones, and hydroquinones. Linoleic acid was identified as the predominant fatty acid, while lutein emerged as the most abundant carotenoid across all accessions. Gene expression profiling of carotenoid biosynthesis genes revealed significant genotype-specific variations, with SiPSY1, SiPSY2, SiPSY3, SiZDS, SiLCYB, and SiLCYE exhibiting markedly higher expression in the golden yellow genotype SI 101. Furthermore, several unique compounds, including decane 1-iodo, dodecane 4, 6-dimethyl, hexadecane, heptadecane, eicosane, heneicosane, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, dotriacontane, 2-methylhexacosane, hexatriacontane, squalene, tetrapentacontane, and tetracosane, were identified in foxtail millet grains. These findings provide valuable insights into the metabolic diversity and the differential accumulation of bioactive compounds in among foxtail millet grains with different colours. The study also assists in selecting foxtail millet genotypes with desirable lipid traits for sustainable crop improvement.