Genome-wide SNP discovery and genotyping delineates potential QTLs underlying major yield-attributing traits in buckwheat.

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) is an important nutritional and nutraceutical-rich pseudo-cereal crop. Despite its obvious potential as a functional food, buckwheat has not been fully harnessed due to its low yield, self-incompatibility, increased seed cracking, limited seed set, lodging, and frost susceptibility. The inadequate availability of genomics resources in buckwheat is one of the major reasons for this. In the present study, genome-wide association mapping (GWAS) was conducted to identify loci associated with various morphological and yield-related traits in buckwheat. High throughput genotyping by sequencing led to the identification of 34,978 single nucleotide polymorphisms that were distributed across eight chromosomes. Population structure analysis grouped the genotypes into three sub-populations. The genotypes were also characterized for various qualitative and quantitative traits at two diverse locations, the analysis of which revealed a significant difference in the mean values. The association analysis revealed a total of 71 significant marker-trait associations across eight chromosomes. The candidate genes were identified near 100 Kb of quantitative trait loci (QTLs), providing insights into several metabolic and biosynthetic pathways. The integration of phenology and GWAS in the present study is useful to uncover the consistent genomic regions, related markers associated with various yield-related traits, and potential candidate genes having implications for being utilized in molecular breeding for the improvement of economically important traits in buckwheat. Moreover, the identified QTLs will assist in tracking the desirable alleles of target genes within the buckwheat breeding populations/germplasm.

Utilizing the underutilized plant resources for development of life style foods: Putting nutrigenomics to use.

Sufficient amount of minerals, vitamins, and proteins in human diet play indispensable role in maintaining the active metabolism for better human health. All the essential nutrients that are requisite for an individual's survival are acquired from plants as well as animals. Micronutrients and macronutrients directly influence the metabolic pathways and their deficiencies play a substantial role in development of manifold disorders. In addition to environmental factors, quality and quantity of foods are key factors in maintaining the human health. Transition from healthy to diseased state is concurrent with the pattern of gene expression that is largely influenced by nutrition and environment. A combined approach to study the influence of nutrition on expression of numerous genes can be well explored through nutrigenomic studies. Nutrigenomics includes studies wherein applied genomics is used to investigate nutritional science to understand the compartmentalization of genes that influence the cause of diet-related complications. This review describes the role of underutilized crops as frontline foods to circumvent the health complications through the nutrigenomic studies. Further dynamics of nutrigenomic tools to study the impact of nutrition on the changing pattern of genome stability and gene expression for developing precise safety measures against wide range of health ailments linked to metabolic networks. Additionally, this review provides detailed information on nutrigenomic studies undertaken to unravel the potential of underutilized crops to augment the human health and to carry the agronomic/genomic approaches to enhance nutritional profile of underutilized crops to overcome diet-related disorders.