Root growth angle (RGA) in response to gravity controlled by auxin is a pertinent target trait for obtainment of higher yield in cereals. But molecular basis of this root architecture trait remain obscure in wheat and barley. We selected four cultivars two each for wheat and barley to unveil the molecular genetic mechanism of Deeper Rooting 1-like gene which controls RGA in rice leading to higher yield under drought imposition. Morphological analyses revealed a deeper and vertically oriented root growth in “NARC 2009” variety of wheat than “Galaxy” and two other barley cultivars “Scarlet” and “ISR42-8”. Three new homoeologs designated as TaANDRO1-like , TaBNDRO1-like and TaDNDRO1-like corresponding to A, B and D genomes of wheat could be isolated from “NARC 2009”. Due to frameshift and intronization/exonization events the gene structures of these paralogs exhibit variations in size. DRO1-like genes with five distinct domains prevail in diverse plant phyla from mosses to angiosperms but in lower plants their differentiation from LAZY, NGR and TAC1 (root and shoot angle genes) is enigmatic. Instead of IGT as denominator motif of this family, a new C-terminus motif WxxTD in the V-domain is proposed as family specific motif. The EAR-like motif IVLEM at the C-terminus of the TaADRO1-like and TaDDRO1-like that diverged to KLHTLIPNK in TaBDRO1-like and HvDRO1-like is the hallmark of these proteins. Split-YFP and yeast two hybrid assays complemented the interaction of TaDRO1-like with TOPLESS—a repressor of auxin regulated root promoting genes in plants—through IVLEM/KLHTLIPNK motif. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed abundance of DRO1-like RNA in root tips and spikelets while transcript signals were barely detectable in shoot and leaf tissues. Interestingly, wheat exhibited stronger expression of TaBDRO1-like than barley ( HvDRO1-like ), but TaBDRO1-like was the least expressing among three paralogs. The underlying cause of this expression divergence seems to be the presence of AuxRE motif TGTCTC and core TGTC with a coupling AuxRE-like motif ATTTTCTT proximal to the transcriptional start site in TaBDRO1-like and HvDRO1-like promoters. This is evident from binding of ARF1 to TGTCTC and TGTC motifs of TaBDRO1-like as revealed by yeast one-hybrid assay. Thus, evolution of DRO1-like wheat homoeologs might incorporate the C-terminus mutations as well as gain and loss of AuxREs and other cis- regulatory elements during expression divergence. Since root architecture is an important target trait for wheat crop improvement, therefore DRO1-like genes have potential applications in plant breeding for enhancement of plant productivity by the use of modern genome editing approaches.

Objective: The simple curriculum of Medical science has the complex biochemical theories which are hard to grasp. To address this problem, practical knowledge and change in approach to study is relevant to have a better foundation in clinical years; where this information has to be applied. Methodology: Modifications were made in experimental biochemistry and genetics to focus on more applied knowledge through experiments and problem-based learning. A seven-item questionnaire to check the students’ perspective of biochemistry was distributed among second year students, 89 out of 104 responded. Results: 42 were males and 47 were females. The results were positive between 60% and 70% for all the items. 70% was highest, which was for component, which they still hope for better courses in the future. Conclusion: Numerous strategies have been applied to promote teaching results and increase the effectiveness of teaching to undergraduate clinical students in biochemistry.

The Human Genome Project has revolutionized biology by deciphering a reference human genome sequence along with many other organisms’ complete sequences. The project reflects a great example of integrated inter-disciplinary approach to develop sophisticated technology and brought engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians at one platform with biologists. Further improvements have made from projects ENCODE, to find functional elements of genome; and Human Proteome Project, to map human proteins through the genetic map. Moving one step ahead, the gaps that were present to study evolution of many species are now decreasing due to better understanding of the genome. There has been an open approach to data sharing and open-source software, thereby data is publicly accessible for more breakthroughs from data banks such as GenBank. Physicians approach to practice medicine is changing and becoming more personalized as a result of this project. There has been development in treatments of many diseases for example through genome-wide association studies. Diseases prognosis and risk can be now more accurately predicted through the advancements in HGP. However, we are still in initial stages and in the process of understanding the huge data generated by HGP and its implications. Moreover, the ethical, social and political issues that arise due to this genetic research needs to be addressed alongside.