ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, HP, India.
ICAR-Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, Uttarakhand, India.
Planta. 2019 Sep;250(3):731-751. doi: 10.1007/s00425-019-03159-6. Epub 2019 Apr 9.
Diverse gene pool, advanced plant phenomics and genomics methods enhanced genetic gain and understanding of important agronomic, adaptation and nutritional traits in finger millet. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is an important minor millet for food and nutritional security in semi-arid regions of the world. The crop has wide adaptability and can be grown right from high hills in Himalayan region to coastal plains. It provides food grain as well as palatable straw for cattle, and is fairly climate resilient. The crop has large gene pool with distinct features of both Indian and African germplasm types. Interspecific hybridization between Indian and African germplasm has resulted in greater yield enhancement and disease resistance. The crop has shown numerous advantages over major cereals in terms of stress adaptation, nutritional quality and health benefits. It has indispensable repository of novel genes for the benefits of mankind. Although rapid strides have been made in allele mining in model crops and major cereals, the progress in finger millet genomics is lacking. Comparative genomics have paved the way for the marker-assisted selection, where resistance gene homologues of rice for blast and sequence variants for nutritional traits from other cereals have been invariably used. Transcriptomics studies have provided preliminary understanding of the nutritional variation, drought and salinity tolerance. However, the genetics of many important traits in finger millet is poorly understood and need systematic efforts from biologists across disciplines. Recently, deciphered finger millet genome will enable identification of candidate genes for agronomically and nutritionally important traits. Further, improvement in genome assembly and application of genomic selection as well as genome editing in near future will provide plethora of information and opportunity to understand the genetics of complex traits.
多样化的基因库、先进的植物表型和基因组学方法提高了遗传增益，并加深了对珍珠粟重要农艺、适应性和营养特性的理解。珍珠粟（Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn）是一种重要的小杂粮，在世界半干旱地区为粮食和营养安全提供保障。该作物适应性广，从喜马拉雅山脉的高山到沿海平原都可以种植。它不仅提供粮食，还为牛提供可口的秸秆，并且具有较强的气候适应能力。该作物拥有丰富的基因库，具有印度和非洲种质类型的明显特征。印度和非洲种质之间的种间杂交导致了更高的产量提高和抗病性。与主要谷物相比，该作物在适应压力、营养质量和健康益处方面具有诸多优势。它为人类提供了不可或缺的新型基因库。尽管在模式作物和主要谷物中的等位基因挖掘方面取得了快速进展，但珍珠粟基因组学的进展却相对滞后。比较基因组学为标记辅助选择铺平了道路，水稻的抗病基因同源物和其他谷物的营养特性的序列变体一直被用于此。转录组学研究初步了解了营养变异、干旱和盐度耐受性。然而，许多重要的珍珠粟性状的遗传学仍知之甚少，需要跨学科的生物学家进行系统研究。最近，破译的珍珠粟基因组将能够识别与农艺和营养重要性状相关的候选基因。此外，未来基因组组装的改进、基因组选择的应用以及基因组编辑将提供大量的信息和机会，以了解复杂性状的遗传学。
