GenomeWide Identification and Functional Characterization of ClimateResilient Genes in Major Indian Crops Using Integrative Bioinformatics Approaches

Abstract

Climate change is possessing a major threat to agricultural productivity by increasing the intensity and frequency of abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, heat, flooding and cold. The identification and functional characterisation of the climate-resilient genes that have become essential for the development of stress-tolerant crop varieties are capable of sustaining food security under changing condition of environment. The bioinformatics emerged as a powerful tool that integrated genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, comparative genomics, and computational biology to identify candidate genes associated with stress adaptation. This review highlights the role of major climate-resilient genes, including DREB, NAC, WRKY, HSP, LEA, SOS, and Sub1A, in enhancing tolerance of various abiotic stresses in a major Indian crops such as wheat, maize, rice, chickpea, pearl millet, & sorghum. In this review discusses bioinformatics approaches used for gene discovery, functional annotation, conserved domain analysis, promoter analysis, protein–protein interaction studies, expression profiling, and structural characterisation. Applications of these genes in marker-assisted selection, genetic engineering, CRISPR-Cas genome editing, and climate-smart agriculture are also examined. Furthermore, key challenges such as limited genomic resources, functional validation constraints, multi-omics data integration, and computational limitations are discussed.