Millets constitute a significant proportion of underutilized grasses and are well known for their climate resilience as well as excellent nutritional profiles. Among millets, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and its wild relative green foxtail (S. viridis) are collectively regarded as models for studying broad-spectrum traits, including abiotic stress tolerance, C4 photosynthesis, biofuel, and nutritional traits. Since the genome sequence release, the crop has seen an exponential increase in omics studies to dissect agronomic, nutritional, biofuel, and climate-resilience traits. These studies have provided first-hand information on the structure, organization, evolution, and expression of several genes; however, knowledge of the precise roles of such genes and their products remains elusive. Several open-access databases have also been instituted to enable advanced scientific research on these important crops. In this context, the current review enumerates the contemporary trend of research on understanding the climate resilience and other essential traits in Setaria, the knowledge gap, and how the information could be translated for the crop improvement of related millets, biofuel crops, and cereals. Also, the review provides a roadmap for studying other underutilized crop species using Setaria as a model.
Soil salinity is one of the major threats that pose challenges to global cereal productivity and food security. Cereals have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to circumvent stress at morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Salt stress cues are perceived by the roots, which trigger the underlying signaling pathways that involve phytohormones. Each phytohormone triggers a specific signaling pathway integrated in a complex manner to produce antagonistic, synergistic, and additive responses. Phytohormones induce salt-responsive signaling pathways to modulate various physiological and anatomical mechanisms, including cell wall repair, apoplastic pH regulation, ion homeostasis, root hair formation, chlorophyll content, and leaf morphology. Exogenous applications of phytohormones moderate the adverse effects of salinity and improve growth. Understanding the complex hormonal crosstalk in cereals under salt stress will advance the knowledge about cooperation or antagonistic mechanisms among hormones and their role in developing salttolerant cereals to enhance the productivity of saline agricultural land. In this context, the present review focuses on the mechanisms of hormonal crosstalk that mediate the salt stress response and adaptation in graminaceous crops.
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