Jalmagna is a popular deepwater rice variety with farmers of India because of its good yield under waterlogged condition. However, the variety is highly susceptible to bacterial blight (BB) disease. The development of resistant cultivars has been the most effective and economical strategy to control the disease under deepwater situation. Three resistance genes (xa5 + xa13 + Xa21) were transferred from Swarna BB pyramid line, using a marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB) breeding strategy, into the BB-susceptible elite deepwater cultivar, Jalmagna. Molecular marker integrated backcross breeding program has been employed to transfer three major BB resistance genes (Xa21, xa13 and xa5) into Jalmagna variety. During backcross generations, markers closely linked to the three genes were used to select plants possessing these resistance genes and markers polymorphic between donor and recurrent parent were used to select plants that have maximum contribution from the recurrent parent genome. A selected BC3F1 plant was selfed to generate homozygous BC3F2 plants with different combinations of BB resistance genes. The three-gene pyramid and two gene pyramid lines exhibited high levels of resistance against the BB pathogen. Under conditions of BB infection, the three-gene pyramided lines exhibited a significant yield advantage over Jalmagna. The selected pyramided lines showed all agro-morphologic traits of Jalmagna without compromising the yield. The three major BB resistance genes pyramided lines exhibited high level of resistance and are expected to provide durable resistance under deep water situation where control through chemicals is less effective. High similarity in agro-morphologic traits and absence of antagonistic effects for yield and other characters were observed in the best pyramided lines.

Rice breeding program needs to focus on development of nutrient dense rice for value addition and helping in reducing malnutrition. Mineral and vitamin deficiency related problems are common in the majority of the population and more specific to developing countries as their staple food is rice. Genes and QTLs are recently known for the nutritional quality of rice. By comprehensive literature survey and public domain database, we provided a critical review on nutritional aspects like grain protein and amino acid content, vitamins and minerals, glycemic index value, phenolic and flavonoid compounds, phytic acid, zinc and iron content along with QTLs linked to these traits. In addition, achievements through transgenic and advanced genomic approaches have been discussed. The information available on genes and/or QTLs involved in enhancement of micronutrient element and amino acids are summarized with graphical representation. Compatible QTLs/genes may be combined together to design a desirable genotype with superior in multiple grain quality traits. The comprehensive review will be helpful to develop nutrient dense rice cultivars by integrating molecular markers and transgenic assisted breeding approaches with classical breeding.

Rice plants show yellowing, stunting, withering, reduced tillering and utimately low productivity in susceptible varieties under low temperature stress. Comparative transcriptome analysis was performed to identify novel transcripts, gain new insights into different gene expression and pathways involved in cold tolerance in rice. Comparative transcriptome analyses of 5 treatments based on chilling stress exposure revealed more down regulated genes in susceptible and higher up regulated genes in tolerant genotypes. A total of 13930 and 10599 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in cold susceptible variety (CSV) and cold tolerant variety (CTV), respectively. A continuous increase in DEGs at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h exposure of cold stress was detected in both the genotypes. Gene ontology (GO) analysis revealed 18 CSV and 28 CTV term significantly involved in molecular function, cellular component and biological process. GO classification showed a significant role of transcription regulation, oxygen, lipid binding, catalytic and hydrolase activity for tolerance response. Absence of photosynthesis related genes, storage products like starch and synthesis of other classes of molecules like fatty acids and terpenes during the stress were noticed in susceptible genotype. However, biological regulations, generation of precursor metabolites, signal transduction, photosynthesis, regulation of cellular process, energy and carbohydrate metabolism were seen in tolerant genotype during the stress. KEGG pathway annotation revealed more number of genes regulating different pathways resulting in more tolerant. During early response phase, 24 and 11 DEGs were enriched in CTV and CSV, respectively in energy metabolism pathways. Among the 1583 DEG transcription factors (TF) genes, 69 WRKY, 46 bZIP, 41 NAC, 40 ERF, 31/14 MYB/MYB-related, 22 bHLH, 17 Nin-like 7 HSF and 4C3H were involved during early response phase. Late response phase showed 30 bHLH, 65 NAC, 30 ERF, 26/20 MYB/MYB-related, 11 C3H, 12 HSF, 86 Nin-like, 41 AP2/ERF, 55 bZIP and 98 WRKY members TF genes. The recovery phase included 18 bHLH, 50 NAC, 31 ERF, 24/13 MYB/MYB-related, 4 C3H, 4 HSF, 14 Nin-like, 31 bZIP and 114 WRKY TF genes. Transcriptome analysis of contrasting genotypes for cold tolerance detected the genes, pathways and transcription factors involved in the stress tolerance.

Background: High yielding rice varieties are usually low in grain iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content. These two micronutrients are involved in many enzymatic activities, lack of which cause many disorders in human body. Bio-fortification is a cheaper and easier way to improve the content of these nutrients in rice grain.Results: A population panel was prepared representing all the phenotypic classes for grain Fe-Zn content from 485 germplasm lines. The panel was studied for genetic diversity, population structure and association mapping of grain Fe-Zn content in the milled rice. The population showed linkage disequilibrium showing deviation of Hardy-Weinberg’s expectation for Fe-Zn content in rice. Population structure at K = 3 categorized the panel population into distinct sub-populations corroborating with their grain Fe-Zn content. STRUCTURE analysis revealed a common primary ancestor for each sub-population. Novel quantitative trait loci (QTLs) namelyqFe3.3andqFe7.3for grain Fe andqZn2.2,qZn8.3andqZn12.3for Zn content were detected using association mapping. Four QTLs, namelyqFe3.3,qFe7.3,qFe8.1andqFe12.2for grain Fe content were detected to be co-localized withqZn3.1,qZn7,qZn8.3andqZn12.3QTLs controlling grain Zn content, respectively. Additionally, some Fe-Zn controlling QTLs were co-localized with the yield component QTLs,qTBGW,OsSPL14andqPN. The QTLsqFe1.1,qFe3.1,qFe5.1, qFe7.1, qFe8.1, qZn6, qZn7 and gRMm9–1for grain Fe-Zn content reported in earlier studies were validated in this study.Conclusion: Novel QTLs,qFe3.3andqFe7.3for grain Fe andqZn2.2,qZn8.3andqZn12.3for Zn content were detected for these two traits. Four Fe-Zn controlling QTLs and few yield component QTLs were detected to be co-localized. The QTLs,qFe1.1,qFe3.1,qFe5.1, qFe7.1, qFe8.1, qFe3.3, qFe7.3, qZn6, qZn7, qZn2.2, qZn8.3andqZn12.3will be useful for biofortification of the micronutrients. Simultaneous enhancement of Fe-Zn content may be possible with yield component traits in rice.

Rice exhibits enormous genetic diversity, population structure and molecular marker-traits associated with abiotic stress tolerance to high temperature stress. A set of breeding lines and landraces representing 240 germplasm lines were studied. Based on spikelet fertility percent under high temperature, tolerant genotypes were broadly classified into four classes. Genetic diversity indicated a moderate level of genetic base of the population for the trait studied. Wright’s F statistic estimates showed a deviation of Hardy-Weinberg expectation in the population. The analysis of molecular variance revealed 25 percent variation between population, 61 percent among individuals and 14 percent within individuals in the set. The STRUCTURE analysis categorized the entire population into three sub-populations and suggested that most of the landraces in each sub-population had a common primary ancestor with few admix individuals. The composition of materials in the panel showed the presence of many QTLs representing the entire genome for the expression of tolerance. The strongly associated marker RM547 tagged with spikelet fertility under stress and the markers like RM228, RM205, RM247, RM242, INDEL3 and RM314 indirectly controlling the high temperature stress tolerance were detected through both mixed linear model and general linear model TASSEL analysis. These markers can be deployed as a resource for marker-assisted breeding program of high temperature stress tolerance.

Bacterial blight (BB) disease and submergence due to flash flood are the two major constraints for achieving higher yield from rainfed lowland rice. Marker-assisted backcross breeding was followed to develop submergence tolerant and durable BB resistant variety in the background of popular cultivar ‘Swarna’. Four BB resistance genesviz., Xa4,xa5,xa13,Xa21andSub1QTL for submergence tolerance were incorporated into the mega variety. Foreground selection for the five target genes was performed using closely linked markers and tracked in each backcross generations. Background selection in plants carrying the target genes was performed by using 100 simple sequence repeat markers. Amongst backcross derivatives, the plant carrying five target genes and maximum recurrent parent genome content was selected in each generation and hybridized with recipient parent. Eighteen BC₃F₂plants were obtained by selfing the selected BC₃F₁line. Amongst the pyramided lines, 3 lines were homozygous for all the target genes. Bioassay of the 18 pyramided lines containing BB resistance genes was conducted against differentXoostrains conferred very high levels of resistance to the predominant isolates. The pyramided lines also exhibited submergence tolerance for 14 days. The pyramided lines were similar to the recurrent parent in 14 morpho-quality traits.