Translational research in agricultural biology—enhancing crop resistivity against environmental stress alongside nutritional quality

“Plants Are Smarter Than We Thought” was the headline news recently in a leading journal (Science News, March 6, 2014; http://news.sciencemag.org/signal -noise/ 2014/03/plants-are-smarter-we-thought), highlighting an article published elsewhere (Meyer et al., 2014), which presented evidence that plants are able to make smart decisions in response to predation and environment. Plants are well known to have evolved a fascinating adaptability to environment likely because of their sessile nature. Among a long list of complex and unique processes that plants have evolved include the oxygen evolving process of photosynthesis (Ort and Yocum, 1996; Demmig-Adams et al., 2006), which is the life force of animal/mammalian kingdoms, carried out by the semi-autonomous organelle, the chloroplast (Wise and Hoober, 2007); totipotency such that any cell from any plant part can divide, differentiate and yield a fully functional plant (Chupeau et al., 2013); the ability of and restoring structural (Meyer et al., 2014) and metabolic memory (Mattoo et al., 2007; Mattoo and Handa, 2008); the differentiated chromoplasts (from chloroplasts) that store important nutrients for animal and human health (Egea et al., 2010); long distance signaling up and down the whole plant (Ruiz-Medrano et al., 2001; Köhler and Mueller-Roeber, 2004); and recognition and communication via the emission of select class of volatiles (Holopainen and Blande, 2012; Das et al., 2013). Although the phenomenology is well described, the molecular and biochemical mechanisms involved in these processes are better known of some than other of these complex processes. The application of chemistry (and physics) principles has considerably added to the progress made in our understanding of plant life thus far. Life on earth became possible some 3.5 billion years ago because “chemistry begat biology” (Aberlin, 2014). However, little is known or understood of what led to the transition from chemistry to biology (Quoted from Jack Szostak, Harvard Medical School, February 2012, as appeared in The Scientist 03-2014). Nonetheless, the past two centuries witnessed a close merger between chemistry (and physics) and biology, producing a distinct platform for biochemistry (Neuberg, 1903 in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Neubergı) to bear on our understanding of the functions of a living cell and its complex nature. Because of its very nature, this discipline unearthed common and distinct alphabets and trends of biochemical processes that led to a concept of “unity in diversity,” exemplifying common principles that underlie the uniformity of life in diverse kingdoms. Kluyver’s studies on microorganisms led to the discovery that ecological microbiology has a biochemical basis (Kluyver, 1924 in Florkin, 1960). The discovery that all the diverse organisms harbor same macromolecules and genetic code led to the knowledge that all organisms, from microorganisms to human beings, are built from similar molecular components with some variations (Berg et al., 2002). The past century was a witness to advances in diverse disciplines including genetics, and microand macro-elements of biological chemistry. Thus, major discoveries were made on biochemical pathways (by Krebs, encompassing 1932, 1937, and 1957), cofactors (for instance, coenzyme A, by Fritz A. Lippman), enzymes (byWilhelm Kuhne, as early as 1878), proteins (by Sumner), nucleic acids—DNA (by Watson and Crick) and RNA world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ RNA_biology), cell membrane function and signaling pathways (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ biochemistry). These advances and discoveries brought together pieces of the puzzle(s) and laid the foundation formodern day molecular biology, biotechnology and epigenetic regulation. Progress in the identification and quantification of low abundant molecules led to Metabolome, which delves into the plasticity and/or homeostasis of primary and secondary metabolites, while small RNAs (including snoRNAs and miRNAs) brought to the fore the regulation by non-coding RNAs. Now and again, chemistry is having a bearing on the tremendous progress made in life sciences and our understanding of the biological processes. The application of the innovative recombinant DNA technology enabled transfer of genes across kingdoms, creating the modern day biotechnological intervention to revolutionize research, and changing for good the paradigms in