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Systems biology of seeds: decoding the secret of biochemical seed factories for nutritional security

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Abstract

Seeds serve as biochemical factories of nutrition, processing, bio-energy and storage related important bio-molecules and act as a delivery system to transmit the genetic information to the next generation. The research pertaining towards delineating the complex system of regulation of genes and pathways related to seed biology and nutrient partitioning is still under infancy. To understand these, it is important to know the genes and pathway(s) involved in the homeostasis of bio-molecules. In recent past with the advent and advancement of modern tools of genomics and genetic engineering, multi-layered ‘omics’ approaches and high-throughput platforms are being used to discern the genes and proteins involved in various metabolic, and signaling pathways and their regulations for understanding the molecular genetics of biosynthesis and homeostasis of bio-molecules. This can be possible by exploring systems biology approaches via the integration of omics data for understanding the intricacy of seed development and nutrient partitioning. These information can be exploited for the improvement of biologically important chemicals for large-scale production of nutrients and nutraceuticals through pathway engineering and biotechnology. This review article thus describes different omics tools and other branches that are merged to build the most attractive area of research towards establishing the seeds as biochemical factories for human health and nutrition.

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Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledged Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISNet), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, New Delhi for the financial assistance. This work was also supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) New Delhi, India, in the form of “Fast Track Scheme for Young Scientist” awarded to MS (Grant no. YSS/2015/001278) and SG (Grant no. YSS/2015/00536). Author RKP is supported by fellowship from CSIR, India. Bioinformatics Centre (Sub-DIC) at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India is also acknowledged for providing computational facilities.

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  1. Anil Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Pathak and Aranyadip Gayen contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, 284003, India

    Anil Kumar

  2. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, 263145, India

    Anil Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Aranyadip Gayen, Supriya Gupta & Manoj Singh

  3. Department of Biotechnology, G. B. Pant Institute of Engineering and Technology, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, 246194, India

    Rajesh Kumar Pathak

  4. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India

    Charu Lata

  5. National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, Punjab, 140306, India

    Himanshu Sharma & Joy Kumar Roy

  6. Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering Laboratory, Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), DRDO, Haldwani, 263139, India

    Sanjay Mohan Gupta

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  1. Anil Kumar
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  2. Rajesh Kumar Pathak
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Correspondence to Anil Kumar.

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Kumar, A., Pathak, R.K., Gayen, A. et al. Systems biology of seeds: decoding the secret of biochemical seed factories for nutritional security. 3 Biotech 8, 460 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-018-1483-9

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