ABSTRACT
Finger millet is gradually consolidating its position not only as a nutrient-rich millet but also as a repository of a variety of alleles from the crop itself and other cereals, which can benefit from it because of the synteny in their genome. Genomic resources of finger millet, available in various forms, mainly depended on the syntenic genome of other crops for identification of alleles, QTLs, markers, and annotation. Almost all researchers used comparative genomic studies to identify new alleles, ESTs, QTLs, genes for blast resistance, calcium transport and accumulation, amino acids and proteins, and to some extent, carbon metabolism. The benefit of marker-aided selection is yet to be realized in finger millet. Also, abiotic stress and soil nutrient stress tolerance received inadequate attention. With more focused attention on the crop in the last two decades and the increased use of high-throughput technologies, a good amount of information is now available to improve the crop through genomics-assisted breeding. Whole genome sequencing information, now made available by two groups, is an excellent stride toward realizing the benefits of the rapid progress of genomic tools. More work on identifying the second progenitor will help develop a well-annotated genome. Development of robust tissue culture and genetic transformation techniques should also be considered to realize the benefit of genome editing in modifying or creating new alleles.
