The role of millets in attaining United Nation's sustainable developmental goals

Millets are food and nutrient security crops in the semi-arid tropics of developing countries. Crop improvement using modern tools is one of the priority areas of research in millets. The whole-genome sequence (WGS) of millets provides new insight into understanding and studying the genes, genome organization and genomic-assisted improvement of millets. The WGS of millets helps to carry out genome-wide comparison and co-linearity studies among millets and other cereal crops. This approach might lead to the identification of genes underlying biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in millets. The available genome sequence of millets can be used for SNP identification, allele discovery, association and linkage mapping, identification of valuable candidate genes, and marker-assisted breeding (MAB) programs. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology provides opportunities for genome-assisted breeding (GAB) through genomic selection (GS) and genome-wide association studies (GAWS) for crop improvement. Clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) genome editing (GE) system provides new opportunities for millet improvement. In this review, we discuss the details on the WGS available for millets and highlight the importance of utilizing such resources in the post-genomic era for millet improvement. We also draw inroads on the utilization of various approaches such as GS, GWAS, functional genomics, gene validation and GE for millet improvement. This review might be helpful for understanding the developments in the post-genomic era of millet improvement. 

Improvement of millets in the post-genomic era

Cereal crops, including triticeae species (barley, wheat, rye), as well as edible cereals (wheat, corn, rice, oat, rye, sorghum), are significant suppliers for human consumption, livestock feed, and breweries. Over the past half-century, modern varieties of cereal crops with increased yields have contributed to global food security. However, presently cultivated elite crop varieties were developed mainly for optimal environmental conditions. Thus, it has become evident that taking into account the ongoing climate changes, currently a priority should be given to developing new stress-tolerant cereal cultivars. It is necessary to enhance the accuracy of methods and time required to generate new cereal cultivars with the desired features to adapt to climate change and keep up with the world population expansion. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been developed as a powerful and versatile genome editing tool to achieve desirable traits, such as developing high-yielding, stress-tolerant, and disease-resistant transgene-free lines in major cereals. Despite recent advances, the CRISPR/Cas9 application in cereals faces several challenges, including a significant amount of time required to develop transgene-free lines, laboriousness, and a limited number of genotypes that may be used for the transformation and in vitro regeneration. Additionally, developing elite lines through genome editing has been restricted in many countries, especially Europe and New Zealand, due to a lack of flexibility in GMO regulations. This review provides a comprehensive update to researchers interested in improving cereals using gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9. We will review some critical and recent studies on crop improvements and their contributing factors to superior cereals through gene-editing technologies. 

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing techniques and new breeding strategies in cereals - current status, improvements, and perspectives.

Food insecurity and malnutrition, compounded by climate change, are seriously threatening the growing African population. Unpredictable precipitation patterns and droughts are contributing to declining crop productivity. Efforts to increase agricultural productivity include adoption of crops that are resistant to climate change and engaging in climate resilient agriculture. Currently, CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats - associated protein) technology is being used in crop breeding practices to improve traits such as drought tolerance, nutrition and disease resistance. The aim of this review is to explore the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology in developing climate resilient crops for mitigation of food insecurity and hunger and the attendant implications for small holder farmers in Africa. A comprehensive systematic search of peer reviewed articles in three bibliographic databases, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar, was conducted to identify documents relevant to applications and implications of CRISPR-mediated genome editing in crop improvement in the African context. The literature shows that CRISPR-Cas technology has been harnessed to enhance the resilience and nutritional content of various crops, by combatting biotic and abiotic stresses. The adoption of CRISPR-assisted crop improvement in breeding strategies can help smallholder farmers in low-middle income countries of Africa to adapt to climate change without productivity loss. By harnessing this technology, smallholder farmers can benefit from growing climate resilient crops with improved yields and stress resistance thereby contributing to food security and sustainable agriculture on the continent. 

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in crop breeding for climate change resilience: Implications for smallholder farmers in Africa

Genetic enhancement of climate-resilient traits in small millets: A review.

Millets are small seeded cereal crops predominantly cultivated and consumed by resource-poor farmers in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. Millets possess rich nutrients and a climate resilience property when compared to the other cereals such as rice and wheat. Millet improvement using modern genetic and genomic tools is falling behind other cereal crops due to their cultivation being restricted to less developed countries. Genome editing tools have been successfully applied to major cereal crops and, as a result, many key traits have been introduced into rice, wheat and maize. However, genome editing tools have not yet been used for most millets although they possess rich nutrients. The foxtail millet is the only millet utilised up to now for genome editing works. Limited genomic resources and lack of efficient transformation systems may slow down genome editing in millets. As millets possess many important traits of agricultural importance, high resolution studies with genome editing tools will help to understand the specific mechanism and transfer such traits to major cereals in the future. This review covers the current status of genome editing studies in millets and discusses the future prospects of genome editing in millets to understand key traits of nutrient fortification and develop climate resilient crops in the future.

Genome-editing in millets: current knowledge and future perspectives.

Biofortified foxtail millet: towards a more nourishing future

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Genome-editing in millets: current knowledge and future perspectives.

Biofortified foxtail millet: towards a more nourishing future