Chloroplasts play a great role for sustained wellbeing of life on the planet. They have the power and raw materials that can be used as sophisticated biological factories. They are rich in energy as they have lots of pigment-protein complexes capable of collecting sunlight, in sugar produced by photosynthesis and in minerals imported from the plant cell. Chloroplast genome transformation offers multiple advantages over nuclear genome which among others, include: integration of the transgene via homologus recombination that enables to eliminate gene silencing and position effect, higher level of transgene expression resulting into higher accumulations of foreign proteins, and significant reduction in environmental dispersion of the transgene due to maternal inheritance which helps to minimize the major critic of plant genetic engineering. Chloroplast genetic engineering has made fruit full progresses in the development of plants resistance to various stresses, phytoremediation of toxic metals, and production of vaccine antigens, biopharmaceuticals, biofuels, biomaterials and industrial enzymes. Although successful results have been achieved, there are still difficulties impeding full potential exploitation and expansion of chloroplast transformation technology to economical plants. These include, lack of species specific regulatory sequences, problem of selection and shoot regeneration, and massive expression of foreign genes resulting in phenotypic alterations of transplastomic plants. The aim of this review is to critically recapitulate the latest development of chloroplast transformation with special focus on the different traits of economic interest.

Tef [Eragrostis tef ((Zucc.) Trotter)] is a remarkable indigenous crop, highly adaptive and resilient to erratic and extreme climatic and soil conditions. It is a major staple food in Ethiopia and is usually cultivated for household consumption and the generation of income. However, nowadays, the crop particularly, the landraces are exposed to genetic erosion owing to biotic and abiotic factors. Thus, detecting the current status and production bottlenecks of the crop is key to enhance its production and conservation. The main objectives of this study were to assess the extent of on-farm diversity, genetic erosion and current production challenges of Tef landraces in Arsi Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia. The study was conducted in the Arsi zone, Southeast Ethiopia using 400 selected farmers. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using Minitab version 19. The respondent farmers included the different sex groups, age groups, educational status, marital status, and religious outlooks. S: A total of 26 Tef landraces have been identified to be cultivated over the last 2 to 3 decades and/or still in production in the study areas. The respondents indicated differences in the landraces with regard to morphological features which along with the naming's could suggest their genetic distinctiveness. Patterns of on-farm diversity in the landraces showed a varied abundance in the area where eleven landraces showed a relatively higher estimate (D = 0.75 in Sergegna to D = 0.58 in Bulga). With the exception of Aruso Tef (D = 0.47), all the remaining landraces showed minimal or no (D = 0.00) genetic abundance. The extent of the Sorenson similarity index revealed a higher similarity (0.69 in Enkelo Wabe vs Arsi Robe to 0.77 in Shirka vs Arsi Robe) and the areas revealed a higher landrace richness (R) and evenness index (E). However, patterns of temporal genetic diversity and extent of genetic erosion revealed that only 10 are grown currently (combined genetic erosion of 61.54 %). In general, biotic and abiotic factors are challenging the current production of the crop in the area. Hence, researchers and all stakeholders should pay attention to conserving and breeding this important food crop. Understanding the extents of on-farm diversity and possible production challenges of the crop could facilitate and enhance its breeding, conservation and utilizations and hence, contribute to the food security of the country.

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NAC (NAM, no apical meristem, ATAF and CUC) is one of the largest gene families of the plant-specific transcription factors (TF). NAC TFs have immense involvement in plant growth and developmental processes and have particular importance in enhancing plant resistance to multiple abiotic stresses. NAC members have unique structural makeup and a range of biological activities. Despite their enormous roles in plants, comprehensive study on identification, characterization and expression profiling of NACs under abiotic stress is lacking in Lowland bamboo [Oxytenanthera abyssinica (A.Rich) Munro]. Thus, this study aimed to identify NAC members, characterize their protein properties, construct their phylogenetic relationships and more importantly, establish their expression profiling under abiotic stress. From this abiotic stress-induced transcriptome, 220 lowland bamboo TFs with intact and complete NAC DNA binding domains (PF01849) were identified. Following their identification, analysis of functional annotation, protein characterization, phylogenetic relationships and expression profiling were conducted. The analysis presented up-regulation of 142 unigenes in response to abiotic stress, the association of 26 unigenes directly to stress response and the involvement of 92 unigenes in genetic information processing and 29 in environmental information processing according to KEGG analysis. These results suggest the most likely involvement of NACs in lowland bamboo stress response and adaptation. As a species best survived in a moisture-stressed environment, this study has provided valuable information that could shed light on further functional analysis research efforts aiming to exploit NACs in developing stress-resilient bamboo and related plants.

Background: Ethiopian highland bamboo [ Oldeania alpina (K. Schum) Stapleton] (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Arundinarieae) is one of the economically and environmentally important plants in Ethiopia. Despite its wide presence in the country, nothing is known about genetic diversity and population structure of the species. Methods: The study relied on 150 DNA samples representing 15 O.alpina populations collected across major O.alpina harboring forests of Ethiopia. Following total genomic DNA isolation SSR primer screening was conducted using PCR, gel electrophoreses, gel doc imaging, allele scoring, and statistical analysis. Accordingly nine SSR primers from Chinese Phyllostachys edulis and seven from Ethiopian Oxytenanthera abyssinica were found informative and used to investigate the extent of genetic diversity and structure of O.alpina populations. Results: The study revealed the presence of moderate genetic diversity (Ho = 0.262; I = 0.639) within populations and very low genetic differentiation among populations (Fst = 0.019). Cluster (UPGMA), PCoA, and STRUCTURE analysis did not group the populations into clearly defined genetically distinct clusters according to their geographic origins, more likely due to the reproductive biology of the species since vegetative propagation is the main means of reproduction associated with 50–100 years of flowering and low viability of seeds. Conclusions: Despite limitations connected with employing only 15 SSR markers, the study suggested the presence of moderate genetic diversity within populations and highly mixed population structure resulting in very low genetic differentiation among O. alpina populations. This information could serve as a basis for designing suitable conservation strategies and conducting further research using more SSRs and other sequences-based informative markers.