Neglected and Underutilized Legume Crops: Improvement and Future Prospects

Sustainable agricultural productivity is hampered by over-dependency on major staple crops, neglect and underutilization of others, climate change, as well as land deterioration. Challenges posed by these limiting factors are undoubtedly contributing to global food insecurity, increased rural poverty, and malnutrition in the less developed countries. Miscellaneous neglected and underutilized grain legumes (MNUGLs) are crops primarily characterized by inherent features and capabilities to withstand the effects of abiotic stress and climate change, significantly replenish the soil, as well as boost food and protein security. This chapter provides insight into the benefits of MNUGLs as food and nutritional security climate smart crops, capable of growing on marginal lands. Exploring and improving MNUGLs depend on a number of factors among which are concerted research efforts, cultivation and production, as well as utilization awareness across global populace geared toward reawakening the interest on the abandoned legumes. The emergence of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR/cas9) technology combined with marker-assisted selection (MAS) offers great opportunities to improve MNUGLs for sustainable utilization. Advances in improvement of MNUGLs using omic technologies and the prospects for their genetic modification were highlighted and discussed

Bioprospecting of microbial strains for biofuel production: metabolic engineering, applications, and challenges

The issues of global warming, coupled with fossil fuel depletion, have undoubtedly led to renewed interest in other sources of commercial fuels. The search for renewable fuels has motivated research into the biological degradation of lignocellulosic biomass feedstock to produce biofuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel, and biohydrogen. The model strain for biofuel production needs the capability to utilize a high amount of substrate, transportation of sugar through fast and deregulated pathways, ability to tolerate inhibitory compounds and end products, and increased metabolic fluxes to produce an improved fermentation product. Engineering microbes might be a great approach to produce biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass by exploiting metabolic pathways economically. Metabolic engineering is an advanced technology for the construction of highly effective microbial cell factories and a key component for the next-generation bioeconomy. It has been extensively used to redirect the biosynthetic pathway to produce desired products in several native or engineered hosts. A wide range of novel compounds has been manufactured through engineering metabolic pathways or endogenous metabolism optimizations by metabolic engineers. This review is focused on the potential utilization of engineered strains to produce biofuel and gives prospects for improvement in metabolic engineering for new strain development using advanced technologies.Instituto de BiotecnologíaFil: Adegboye, Mobolaji Felicia. North-West University. Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Food Security and Safety Niche Area; SudáfricaFil: Ojuederie, Omena Bernard. North-West University. Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Food Security and Safety Niche Area; SudáfricaFil: Ojuederie, Omena Bernard. Kings University. Faculty of Science. Department of Biological Sciences; NigeriaFil: Talia, Paola Mónica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO); ArgentinaFil: Talia, Paola Mónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Babalola, Olubukola Oluranti. North-West University. Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Food Security and Safety Niche Area; Sudáfric

Microbial and Plant-Assisted Bioremediation of Heavy Metal Polluted Environments: A Review

Environmental pollution from hazardous waste materials, organic pollutants and heavy metals, has adversely affected the natural ecosystem to the detriment of man. These pollutants arise from anthropogenic sources as well as natural disasters such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. Toxic metals could accumulate in agricultural soils and get into the food chain, thereby becoming a major threat to food security. Conventional and physical methods are expensive and not effective in areas with low metal toxicity. Bioremediation is therefore an eco-friendly and efficient method of reclaiming environments contaminated with heavy metals by making use of the inherent biological mechanisms of microorganisms and plants to eradicate hazardous contaminants. This review discusses the toxic effects of heavy metal pollution and the mechanisms used by microbes and plants for environmental remediation. It also emphasized the importance of modern biotechnological techniques and approaches in improving the ability of microbial enzymes to effectively degrade heavy metals at a faster rate, highlighting recent advances in microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation for the removal of heavy metals from the environment as well as future prospects and limitations. However, strict adherence to biosafety regulations must be followed in the use of biotechnological methods to ensure safety of the environment

Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterial Mitigation of Drought Stress in Crop Plants: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture

Abiotic stresses arising from climate change negates crop growth and yield, leading to food insecurity. Drought causes oxidative stress on plants, arising from excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to inadequate CO2, which disrupts the photosynthetic machinery of plants. The use of conventional methods for the development of drought-tolerant crops is time-consuming, and the full adoption of modern biotechnology for crop enhancement is still regarded with prudence. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) could be used as an inexpensive and environmentally friendly approach for enhancing crop growth under environmental stress. The various direct and indirect mechanisms used for plant growth enhancement by PGPR were discussed. Synthesis of 1-aminocyclopropane−1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase enhances plant nutrient uptake by breaking down plant ACC, thereby preventing ethylene accumulation, and enable plants to tolerate water stress. The exopolysaccharides produced also improves the ability of the soil to withhold water. PGPR enhances osmolyte production, which is effective in reducing the detrimental effects of ROS. Multifaceted PGPRs are potential candidates for biofertilizer production to lessen the detrimental effects of drought stress on crops cultivated in arid regions. This review proffered ways of augmenting their efficacy as bio-inoculants under field conditions and highlighted future prospects for sustainable agricultural productivity

Biochemical and Histopathological Studies of Key Tissues in Healthy Male Wistar Rats Fed on African Yam Bean Seed and Tuber Meals

Food insecurity and malnutrition are currently major issues affecting most developing countries, especially on the African continent. To mitigate this effect, focus is being given to orphan or underutilized crops with immense potentials to boost food and nutrition security in Africa, such as the African yam bean (AYB) Sphenostylis stenocarpa. The effect of AYB seed and tuber meals on the tissues of the kidney, liver, and testis of healthy male Wistar rats were investigated in this study. Four accessions of AYB were used for this study, TSs 107, TSs 140, AYB 45, and AYB 57. Thirty rats were randomly assigned into five groups (n = 6). Group I was fed on standard pelletized rat chow (control), Group II fed on 50% seed meal, Group III fed on 100% seed meal, Group IV fed on 50% tuber meal, and Group-V fed on 100% tuber meal. At the end of the treatments, the animals were sacrificed after 72 h under light ether anesthesia, and biochemical and histopathological analyses were conducted on the tissues. Phytate concentration was higher in the seeds (TSs140 (550 mg 100g−1), AYB45 (460 mg 100g−1), and AYB57 (485 mg 100g−1)) compared to the tubers (TSs140 (14.8 mg 100g−1), AYB 45 (275 mg 100g−1), and AYB57 (240 mg 100g−1)). The consumption of 100% unprocessed AYB seeds caused liver and kidney damage in rats due to increased levels of aspartate aminotransferase (5.04 ± 1.62 U L−I), alanine aminotransferase (8.46 ± 2.43 U L−I), and lipid peroxidation (0.27 ± 0.02-unit mg−1protein). AYB tubers were innocuous to Wistar rats investigated. Good processing of AYB seeds is required for safe consumption by humans and livestock. This study has shown that tubers of AYB are safe for human consumption and should be utilized in meals as it contains fewer antinutrients and had no significant effect on the tissues examined in Wistar rats

Assessment of the genetic diversity of African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa Hochst ex. A Rich. Harms) accessions using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers

The genetic diversity of 40 African yam bean (AYB) accessions was assessed using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Seeds of 40 accessions of AYB obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) Ibadan, Nigeria, were grown in a greenhouse and young leaves from two weeks old plants collected for DNA extraction. The four primer combinations used generated a total of 1730 amplification fragments across the AYB accessions used in this study of which 1647 were polymorphic (95.20%). The number of amplified polymorphic AFLP bands per primer pair varied from 360 to 520 with an average percentage polymorphism of 95.6%. E-AGC/M-CAG produced the highest number of polymorphic bands (520). Polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.9447 to 0.9626. The highest level of polymorphism (100%) was recorded for two primer combinations (E-AAC/M-CAG and E-ACT/M-CAG). The results of cluster analysis using UPGMA tree, grouped the 40 accessions of AYB into two major clusters with an overall similarity of 67.5%. The level of similarity between the accessions spanned 0.66 to 0.91. TSs 138 and TSs 139 were the most closely related accessions with high level of similarity index (0.91). Comparable results were obtained using Factorial Coordinate Analysis (FCO).  The results from the present study confirm the robustness and the suitability of the AFLP as a molecular tool for the assessment of genetic diversity in AYB accessions.Keywords: Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), cluster analysis, genetic diversity, Sphenostylis stenocarpa, polymorphismAfrican Journal of Biotechnology< Vol 13(18), 1850-185

Assessment of genetic diversity in Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp) accessions using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphic markers

Abstract Background Assessment of genetic diversity of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp (cowpea) accessions using informative molecular markers is imperative for their genetic improvement and conservation. Use of efficacious molecular markers to obtain the required knowledge of the genetic diversity within the local and regional germplasm collections can enhance the overall effectiveness of cowpea improvement programs, hence, the comparative assessment of Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and Start codon targeted (SCoT) markers in genetic diversity of V. unguiculata accessions from different regions in Nigeria. Comparative analysis of the genetic diversity of eighteen accessions from different locations in Nigeria was investigated using ISSR and SCoT markers. DNA extraction was done using Zymogen Kit according to its manufacturer’s instructions followed by amplifications with ISSR and SCoT and agarose gel electrophoresis. The reproducible bands were scored for analyses of dendrograms, principal component analysis, genetic diversity, allele frequency, polymorphic information content, and population structure. Results Both ISSR and SCoT markers resolved the accessions into five major clusters based on dendrogram and principal component analyses. Alleles of 32 and 52 were obtained with ISSR and SCoT, respectively. Numbers of alleles, gene diversity and polymorphic information content detected with ISSR were 9.4000, 0.7358 and 0.7192, while SCoT yielded 11.1667, 0.8158 and 0.8009, respectively. Polymorphic loci were 70 and 80 in ISSR and SCoT, respectively. Both markers produced high polymorphism (94.44–100%). The ranges of effective number of alleles (Ne) were 1.2887 ± 0.1797–1.7831 ± 0.2944 and 1.7416 ± 0.0776–1.9181 ± 0.2426 in ISSR and SCoT, respectively. The Nei’s genetic diversity (H) ranged from 0.2112 ± 0.0600–0.4335 ± 0.1371 and 0.4111 ± 0.0226–0.4778 ± 0.1168 in ISSR and SCoT, respectively. Shannon’s information index (I) from ISSR and SCoT were 0.3583 ± 0.0639–0.6237 ± 0.1759 and 0.5911 ± 0.0233–0.6706 ± 0.1604. Total gene diversity (Ht), gene diversity within population (Hs), coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst) and level of gene flow (Nm) revealed by ISSR were 0.4498, 0.3203, 0.2878 and 1.2371 respectively, while SCoT had 0.4808, 0.4522, 0.0594 and 7.9245. Conclusions Both markers showed highest genetic diversity in accessions from Ebonyi. Our study demonstrated that SCoT markers were more efficient than ISSR for genetic diversity studies in V. unguiculata and can be integrated in the exploration of their genetic diversity for improvement and germplasm utilization

Additional file 2: Table S2. of Assessment of genetic diversity in Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp) accessions using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphic markers

Allelic scores, count and frequencies obtained from Vigna unguiculata accessions using Start codon targeted (SCoT) markers. (DOC 73 kb

The functionality of plant-microbe interactions in disease suppression

The plant microbiome can enhance disease suppression by providing life-supporting functions to their host, including stress resilience, health, and growth. However, our understanding of the core mechanisms of microbiome assembly and activity is still emerging. This article explores the role of plant-associated microbes in enhancing host resistance against pathogen infection through disease suppression. We discuss the factors that influence the community assembly and functioning of the plant microbiome, along with an overview of the mechanisms of disease suppression by the plant microbiota. Additionally, we highlight plant characteristics and mechanisms that recruit and stimulate microbial allies for disease suppression. By uncovering the power of plant-microbe interactions, we can create sustainable disease management strategies in agriculture and beyond