Researcher Develop Rapid Transformation Method to Improve Finger Millet

Finger millet is a highly nutritious and climate-resilient grain grown mostly in dry areas of India and East Africa. Even though it handles harsh weather exceptionally well, scientists have struggled to genetically improve the crop using traditional plant breeding and modification techniques. To fix this, researchers from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute developed a new method that uses Agrobacterium to safely and rapidly deliver genes or gene-editing tools, such as CRISPR, into cells at the very tip of the plant's shoot. Unlike older methods that require months of growing unstructured clumps of plant tissue before a shoot can sprout, this new approach allows a healthy, modified plant to grow directly from the shoot tip.

The breakthrough cuts the entire process to just 45 to 50 days, successfully modifying roughly 30% of the treated plants. Tests confirmed that the new traits were successfully integrated into the plant's DNA and naturally passed down to the next generation of seeds in accordance with standard inheritance laws. Ultimately, this efficient protocol provides scientists with a powerful and repeatable shortcut to edit the genes of finger millet, paving the way for faster improvements in its yield, pest resistance, and climate resilience.

Read more findings in Transgenic Research.