Plant Genomics

Biography

Biography: Rakesh K Srivastava

Abstract

Pearl millet is one of the most climate resilient   cereals  . It i s grown in marginal and dry areas of the world with poor  soil fertility , low moisture holding capacity in subsistence  agricultur e . It forms  critical food,  nutrition and livelihood support for the millions of poor living in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world. P earl millet is one of the cereals which received poor   attention towards generation of  genetic  and genomic resources in the past. However, lately  a lot of efforts have been made in trait discovery, mapping and deployment of some key traits. One successful example is HHB 67 Improved, which is the first marker-assisted breeding product in India, and is gown in more than 750,000 ha every year. In pearl millet more than 20 pairs of    mapping    population have been generated, segregating for an array of traits of  economic interest. In addition, a world association   mapping   panel called PMiGAP,  chromosome  segment substitution   lines (CSSLs), TILLING population have been developed. Recently, at ICRISAT the  whole genome sequencing  of a pearl millet reference line Tift23D2B1P1-P5 has been completed, along with re-sequencing of about 1,000 a ccessions consisting of wild and cultivated  germplasm  and breeding lines. By virtue of available genetic maps, QTL locati ons and effects, the pearl millet community is strongly placed for mining    genes    and gene networks for an array of traits. The   genome sequence   will help us utilize various reverse  genetics  tools, carry our genome-wide ass   ociation studies (GWAS), genomic selection (GS) leading to efficient cultivar development.