Browsing by Author "Singla-Pareek, Sneh L."

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Analysis of a salinity induced BjSOS3 protein from Brassica indicate it to be structurally and functionally related to its ortholog from Arabidopsis
(Elsevier, 2011) Kushwaha, Hemant R.; Kumar, Gautam; Verma, Praveen K.; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Pareek, Ashwani
Arabidopsis has been a favorite model system for plant biologist. It is anticipated that comparative analysis of this plant with other members of Brassicaceae may aid in identification of orthologs playing role as key genetic determinants for salinity response. In this endeavor, we have recently identified SOS family members from Brassica juncea in our laboratory and reported their salinity responsive transcriptional induction in seedlings of various diploid and amphidiploids species. In the present study, we have carried out detailed time kinetics for BjSOS3 expression in a salinity tolerant B. juncea var. CS52. Transcript analysis at the sensitive growth stages of plants viz. seedling and reproductive stage indicated clear differential transcriptional regulation of BjSOS3 under non-induced as well as salinity induced conditions in a time and organ specific manner, mirroring their respective tolerance physiology. Similar to its ortholog from Arabidopsis thaliana, the modeled BjSOS3 protein show typical features of a Ca(2+) binding protein with four conserved EF-hands. We have also attempted to study the binding of SOS3 protein with the modeled SOS2 protein. It has been established that SOS3 protein senses Ca(2+) though the binding is very weak; we show the down regulation of BjSOS3 mRNA in presence of calcium chelator - EGTA under the various stress conditions including ABA. In situ localization of BjSOS3-GFP fusion protein in onion peel has shown its presence strongly in plasma membrane as well as cytosol. The leads presented in the paper will assist in understanding and establishing the SOS signaling machinery in B. juncea.
Can we secure food and nutrition through crop innovation ?
(John Wiley & Sons, 2025) Pareek, Ashwani; Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Foyer, Christine H.
Climate change poses an existential challenge to global food and nutritional security by disrupting agricultural systems, altering crop yields, and affecting the availability of essential nutrients. Increasing temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and a greater frequency of extreme weather events negatively impact crop productivity, threatening the stability of food supply chains. Additionally, climate-induced stresses such as drought, salinity, and heat not only reduce yield quantity but also affect the nutritional composition of staple crops, potentially exacerbating micronutrient deficiencies. Addressing these challenges necessitates a multi-faceted approach, integrating genetic improvements, sustainable agricultural practices, and the development of climate-resilient crops that can thrive under adverse conditions. This special issue on ‘Food and Nutritional Security' brings together state-of-the-art reviews by experts and cutting-edge studies that highlight the importance of current research in crop science. The reviews and case studies that are contained in this volume provide a concise overview of the field, acknowledging current gaps in knowledge, while examining the potential of genetic innovations, sustainable agronomic practices, and biotechnological advancements in addressing food security challenges.
Complex networks of prion-like proteins reveal cross talk between stress and memory pathways in plants
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2021) Garai, Sampurna; Citu; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Sopory, Sudhir K.; Kaur, Charanpreet; Yadav, Gitanjali
Prions are often considered as molecular memory devices, generating reproducible memory of a conformational change. Prion-like proteins (PrLPs) have been widely demonstrated to be present in plants, but their role in plant stress and memory remains unexplored. In this work, we report the widespread presence of PrLPs in plants through a comprehensive meta-analysis of 39 genomes representing major taxonomic groups. We find diverse functional roles associated with these proteins in various species and term the full complement of PrLPs in a genome as its “prionome.” In particular, we found the rice prionome being significantly enriched in transposons/retrotransposons (Ts/RTRs) and identified over 60 rice PrLPs that were differentially regulated in stress and developmental responses. This prompted us to explore whether and to what extent PrLPs may build stress memory. By integrating the available rice interactome, transcriptome, and regulome data sets, we could find links between stress and memory pathways that would not have otherwise been discernible. Regulatory inferences derived from the superimposition of these data sets revealed a complex network and cross talk between PrLPs, transcription factors (TFs), and the genes involved in stress priming. This integrative meta-analysis connects transient and transgenerational memory mechanisms in plants with PrLPs, suggesting that plant memory may rely upon protein-based signals in addition to chromatin-based epigenetic signals. Taken together, our work provides important insights into the anticipated role of prion-like candidates in stress and memory, paving the way for more focused studies for validating the role of the identified PrLPs in memory acclimation.
Dynamic role of aquaporin transport system under drought stress in plants
(Elsevier B.V., 2021) Shivaraj, SM; Sharma, Yogesh; Chaudhary, Juhi; Rajora, Nitika; Sharma, Shivani; Thakral, Vandana; Ram, Hasthi; Sonah, Humira; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Sharma, Tilak Raj; Deshmukh, Rupesh
Prolonged soil moisture deficit poses major threat to plant survival. Plants have evolved to withstand such condition by maintaining water status through adoptive mechanisms. Such mechanisms include modulation of Aquaporins (AQPs) activity. The AQPs are small integral membrane proteins which facilitate water movement across the cells. This review summarizes the important regulatory mechanisms controlling the dynamics of AQP activity to fine tune the plant water status under the water deficit condition. Numerous studies have shown differential AQP expression under drought stress in plants. Among the known AQP subfamilies, members of plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) and tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP) showed most significant expression under drought condition. The activity, stability, and membrane targeting of these AQPs are known to be regulated at transcriptional as well as post-translational level. Drought induced transcription factors and hormones are also involved in direct or indirect transcriptional regulation. At post-translational level modifications such as phosphorylation, glycosylation, ubiquitination, gating and tetramerization play a role in regulation of the abundance and activity of AQP proteins. Understanding such regulatory mechanisms will help in exploration of AQPs to improve crop plants for sustainable agriculture under changing environmental conditions.
Expression of abiotic stress inducible ETHE1-like protein from rice is higher in roots and is regulated by calcium
(John Wiley & Sons, 2014) Kaur, Charanpreet; Mustafiz, Ananda; Sarkar, Ananda K.; Ariyadasa, Thilini U.; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Sopory, Sudhir K.
ETHYLMALONIC ENCEPHALOPATHY PROTEIN 1 (ETHE1) encodes sulfur dioxygenase (SDO) activity regulating sulfide levels in living organisms. It is an essential gene and mutations in ETHE1 leads to ethylmalonic encephalopathy (EE) in humans and embryo lethality in Arabidopsis. At present, very little is known regarding the role of ETHE1 beyond the context of EE and almost nothing is known about factors affecting its regulation in plant systems. In this study, we have identified, cloned and characterized OsETHE1, a gene encoding ETHE1-like protein from Oryza sativa. ETHE1 proteins in general are most similar to glyoxalase II (GLYII) and hence OsETHE1 has been earlier annotated as OsGLYII1, a putative GLYII gene. Here we show that OsETHE1 lacks GLYII activity and is instead an ETHE1 homolog being localized in mitochondria like its human and Arabidopsis counterparts. We have isolated and analyzed 1618 bp OsETHE1 promoter (pOsETHE1) to examine the factors affecting OsETHE1 expression. For this, transcriptional promoter pOsETHE1: 5-bromo-5-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-glucuronide (GUS) fusion construct was made and stably transformed into rice. GUS expression pattern of transgenic pOsETHE1:GUS plants reveal a high root-specific expression of OsETHE1. The pOsETHE1 activity was stimulated by Ca(II) and required light for induction. Moreover, pOsETHE1 activity was induced under various abiotic stresses such as heat, salinity and oxidative stress, suggesting a potential role of OsETHE1 in stress response.
Gaining acceptance of novel plant breeding technologies
(Elsevier B.V., 2021) Anders, Sven; Cowling, Wallace; Pareek, Ashwani; Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Foyer, Christine H.
Ensuring the sustainability of agriculture under climate change has led to a surge in alternative strategies for crop improvement. Advances in integrated crop breeding, social acceptance, and farm-level adoption are crucial to address future challenges to food security. Societal acceptance can be slow when consumers do not see the need for innovation or immediate benefits. We consider how best to address the issue of social licence and harmonised governance for novel gene technologies in plant breeding. In addition, we highlight optimised breeding strategies that will enable long-term genetic gains to be achieved. Promoted by harmonised global policy change, innovative plant breeding can realise high and sustainable productivity together with enhanced nutritional traits.
Raising crops for dry and saline lands: Challenges and the way forward
(John Wiley & Sons, 2022) Singh, Anil Kumar; Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Foyer, Christine H.; Pareek, Ashwani
Plants are continuously exposed to various environmental stresses. Of these, soil salinity and drought are considered to be the most important environmental stresses globally because they have a negative impact on plant growth and crop productivity. Drought and salinity thus threaten global food and nutritional security. The estimated annual global loss in crop production due to saline soils in irrigated areas is approximately US$27.3 billion (Qadir et al., 2014). Drought caused direct losses to the developing world's agriculture in the order of US$ 29 billion between 2005 and 2015 (FAO, 2018). Conversely, there is an increasing pressure to enhance agricultural production by 70% to feed a predicted increase in the world population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Hence, agriculture systems must become extremely productive and less wasteful throughout the world. Achieving this goal will be extremely challenging under the prevailing environmental conditions coupled with reductions in arable land and freshwater availability, together with climate change-induced environmental uncertainties. Over the past six decades, classical plant breeding technologies have played a major role in increasing crop performance and productivity. However, the consensus of scientific opinion is that most major crops have reached their maximum yield potential. Hence, the challenge for plant science is to develop improved crop varieties that can achieve sustainable higher yields with limited soil water availability and on saline soils. Recent developments in gene editing and innovative plant breeding technologies are crucial to the nature-based roadmap for sustainable agriculture intensification and climate resilience.
Seedling-stage salinity tolerance in rice: decoding the role of transcription factors
(John Wiley & Sons, 2022) Tiwari, Shalini; Nutan, Kamlesh Kant; Deshmukh, Rupesh; Sarsu, Fatma; Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis; Singh, Anil K.; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Pareek, Ashwani
Rice is an important staple food crop that feeds over half of the human population, particularly in developing countries. Increasing salinity is a major challenge for continuing rice production. Though rice is affected by salinity at all the developmental stages, it is most sensitive at the early seedling stage. The yield thus depends on how many seedlings can withstand saline water at the stage of transplantation, especially in coastal farms. The rapid development of ‘omics’ approaches has assisted researchers in identifying biological molecules that are responsive to salt stress. Several salinity-responsive quantitative trait loci (QTL) contributing to salinity tolerance have been identified and validated, making it essential to narrow down the search for the key genes within QTLs. Owing to the impressive progress of molecular tools, it is now clear that the response of plants towards salinity is highly complex, involving multiple genes, with a specific role assigned to the repertoire of transcription factors. Targeting the transcription factors for improving salinity tolerance can have an inbuilt advantage of influencing multiple downstream genes, which in turn can contribute towards tolerance to multiple stresses. This is the first comparative study for TF-driven salinity tolerance in contrasting rice cultivars at the seedling stage that shows how tolerant genotypes behave differently than sensitive ones in terms of stress tolerance. Understanding the complexity of salt-responsive transcription factor networks at the seedling stage will be helpful to alleviate crop resilience and prevent crop damage at an early growth stage in rice.
Sensing and signalling in plant stress responses: ensuring sustainable food security in an era of climate change
(John Wiley & Sons, 2020) Pareek, Ashwani; Joshi, Rohit; Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Foyer, Christine
‘EMBO India Symposium ‘Sensing and signalling in plant stress response’ held in New Delhi, India, 15–17 April 2019 Agriculture in the 21stcentury faces multiple challenges from biotic and abiotic stresses, which impose major constraints on crop yield. Under field conditions, the combined or sequential occurrence of environmental stresses poses a serious threat to global food security. Plants exhibit plasticity in their responses to environmental stresses, which may be attributed to their genetic and/or epigenetic makeup. One of the major challenges facing plant biology today concerns how gene regulatory networks function to generate morphological and adaptive diversity. Gaining a better understanding of the responses of crop plants to environmental stresses will allow the identification of improved genetic markers to increase yield stability and enhance productivity over a wide range of growth conditions. The availability of high-throughput sequencing technologies provides an opportunity to uncover the genetic/epigenetic basis of plant stress responses and adaptation. Furthermore, dissection of the molecular mechanisms underlying resilience will help us understand how plants cope with extreme environmental conditions, and ultimately lead to the development of climatesmart crops. Understanding the sensing and signalling mechanisms that plants use to perceive and respond appropriately to stress is crucial for the development of stress-resistant crops using current strategies and technologies.