Genetic engineering of millets: current status and future prospects
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Methods for Performing Crosses in Setaria viridis, a New Model System for the Grasses
Published on: October 1, 2013
S Antony Ceasar1, S Ignacimuthu
1Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai 600034, Tamilnadu, India.
Abstract:
This review summarizes progress on the genetic transformation of millets and discusses the future prospects for the development of improved varieties. Only a limited number of studies have been carried out on genetic improvement of millets despite their nutritional importance in supplying minerals, calories and protein. Most genetic transformation studies of millets have been restricted to pearl millet and bahiagrass and most studies have been limited to the assessment of reporter and marker gene expression. Biolistic-mediated gene delivery has been frequently used for the transformation of millets but Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is still lagging. Improved transformation of millets, allied to relevant gene targets which may offer, for example, improved nutritional quality, resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, and resistance to fungal infection will play important roles in millet improvement.
Related Concept Videos
Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
What is Genetic Engineering?
Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...
Synthetic Biology
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
Bioreactor Controls-III
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
