Improvement of a Traditional Orphan Food Crop, Portulaca oleracea L. (Purslane) Using Genomics for Sustainable Food Security and Climate-Resilient Agriculture

Ajay Kumar,Pardeep Singh,Sajana Sreedharan,Nirala Ramchiary,Enoch G Achigan-Dako

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.711820

Abstract

Purslane (Portulaca oleraceaL.) is a popular orphan crop used for its nutritional properties in various parts of the world. It is considered one of the richest terrestrial sources of omega-3 and omega-6-fatty acids (ω-3 and 6-FAs) suggesting its importance for human health. This ethnomedicinal plant is also an important part of traditional healing systems among the indigenous people. Many studies have indicated its tolerance against multiple stresses and found that it easily grows in a range of environmental gradients. It has also been considered one of the important biosaline crops for the future. Despite its huge nutritional, economic, and medicinal importance, it remains neglected to date. Most of the studies on purslane were focused on its ethnomedicinal, phytochemical, pharmacological, and stress-tolerance properties. Only a few studies have attempted genetic dissection of the traits governing these traits. Purslane being an important traditional food crop across the globe can be valorized for a sustainable food security in the future. Therefore, this review is an attempt to highlight the distribution, domestication, and cultivation of purslane and its importance as an important stress-tolerant food and a biosaline crop. Furthermore, identification of genes and their functions governing important traits and its potential for improvement using genomics tools for smart and biosaline agriculture has been discussed.

Highlights

The Portulaca L. is the only genus in the family Portulacaceae as per APG III classification of angiosperms (The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, 2009; Ocampo and Columbus, 2012) and comprises more than 100 species which are widely distributed and adapted to a range of environmental conditions (Nyffeler and Eggli, 2010)
Purslane, being an important traditional crop with multiple health benefits and inherent stress-tolerant mechanism has tremendous potential to be adopted for cultivation during this time of global climate change, salinity, drought, and urbanization-related problems
The climate-smart crops should be able to grow and adapt in stressful environments such as drought, high temperature, and submergence machinery, and these properties are inherently present in purslane

Summary

Introduction

The Portulaca L. is the only genus in the family Portulacaceae as per APG III classification of angiosperms (The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, 2009; Ocampo and Columbus, 2012) and comprises more than 100 species which are widely distributed and adapted to a range of environmental conditions (Nyffeler and Eggli, 2010). Despite its multiple benefits, such as its nutritional and phytochemical richness, purslane still remains a neglected food crop of the indigenous communities, and studies on the genetic regulation of important traits and their improvement strategies is limited.

Results

Conclusion