Rapidly rising population and climate changes are two critical issues that require immediate action to achieve sustainable development goals. The rising population is posing increased demand for food, thereby pushing for an acceleration in agricultural production. Furthermore, increased anthropogenic activities have resulted in environmental pollution such as water pollution and soil degradation as well as alterations in the composition and concentration of environmental gases. These changes are affecting not only biodiversity loss but also affecting the physio-biochemical processes of crop plants, resulting in a stress-induced decline in crop yield. To overcome such problems and ensure the supply of food material, consistent efforts are being made to develop strategies and techniques to increase crop yield and to enhance tolerance toward climate-induced stress. Plant breeding evolved after domestication and initially remained dependent on phenotype-based selection for crop improvement. But it has grown through cytological and biochemical methods, and the newer contemporary methods are based on DNA-marker-based strategies that help in the selection of agronomically useful traits. These are now supported by high-end molecular biology tools like PCR, high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping, data from crop morpho-physiology, statistical tools, bioinformatics, and machine learning. After establishing its worth in animal breeding, genomic selection (GS), an improved variant of marker-assisted selection (MAS), has made its way into crop-breeding programs as a powerful selection tool. To develop novel breeding programs as well as innovative marker-based models for genetic evaluation, GS makes use of molecular genetic markers. GS can amend complex traits like yield as well as shorten the breeding period, making it advantageous over pedigree breeding and marker-assisted selection (MAS). It reduces the time and resources that are required for plant breeding while allowing for an increased genetic gain of complex attributes. It has been taken to new heights by integrating innovative and advanced technologies such as speed breeding, machine learning, and environmental/weather data to further harness the GS potential, an approach known as integrated genomic selection (IGS). This review highlights the IGS strategies, procedures, integrated approaches, and associated emerging issues, with a special emphasis on cereal crops. In this domain, efforts have been taken to highlight the potential of this cutting-edge innovation to develop climate-smart crops that can endure abiotic stresses with the motive of keeping production and quality at par with the global food demand.

Tenofovir (TNF) is an antiretroviral drug that has being used as a topical microbicide to prevent human immunodeficiency virus transmission (HIV). Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) is a lectin protein that can bind to the HIV envelope glycoprotein and inhibit viral entry. The combination of TNF and CV-N may have synergistic effects and enhance the efficacy of microbicide. The aim of this study was to develop and optimize composite hydrogel formulations containing 1%TNF and 0.0005% CV-N using Box Behnken Design. A three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design was employed to investigate the effects of the concentrations of PEG₂₀₀₀, sodium carboxyl methylcellulose (NaCMC), and calcium chloride on the release of Tenofovir, flux, and mucoadhesion. The mucoadhesion was evaluated by measuring the percent mucin adsorption while flux and release kinetics were evaluated using the Franz cell diffusion method. The optimal hydrogel formulation was found to contain 4% NaCMC, 2% PEG2000 and 1% CaCl₂. The hydrogel had a pH of 4.5 ​± ​0.017, a viscosity of 275600 ​± ​0.65 ​cP, flux 9806 μg/cm²/h for TNF with a drug release of 119, 205.6 μg/cm². The TNF gel exhibited a pseudoplastic rheological behavior with 96.3% muco-adhesion. The study successfully developed an optimized TNF/CV-N mucoadhesive hydrogel, highlighting its potential as an on-demand multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) for HIV. The formulation was optimized to ensure good drug release, flux and mucoadhesion. The optimized hydrogel offers a convenient, effective method for preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), addressing critical challenges in drug delivery and user adherence while advancing public health strategies for STIs.

The Ton-B dependent outer membrane (OM) transporters are responsible for active iron (Fe) import in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 ( S . 6803 or WT) under Fe depletion. However, the mechanism of Fe acquisition under Fe supplemented conditions remains uncharacterised. In the present study, functional role of OMP Slr1908 in S . 6803 was addressed by insertional mutagenesis. The Δslr1908 cells exhibited slower growth in the first week in comparison to the WT and displayed an absorption and 77K fluorescence spectrum typical of Fe deficiency. Indeed, the mutant had ∼ 80% less Fe as confirmed by atomic absorption spectroscopy and ⁵⁵ Fe-radiotracer uptake. The iron deficiency was paralleled with low Mn content. The mutant had low SOD content as well as activity, less cytochromes, less chlorophyll content, less F _v / F _m , lower ETRII and high oxidative stress in comparison to the WT at the end of first week. Interestingly, the mutant showed transcriptional upregulation of iron stress induced protein isiA and isiB signifying intracellular Fe deficiency. Upregulation of OMP Slr0042 was also observed at RNA and protein level. The results indicate that Slr1908 is a major Fe uptake OMP in S . 6803 the deletion of which leads to initial slow growth that gets partially offset by induction of other Fe importing OMPs.