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Background. Millets are considered
climate-resilient crops because they require minimal inputs, grow in
poor soils, and tolerate abiotic stresses such as drought and high
temperature. As global water availability becomes more unpredictable,
drought is emerging as a major factor reducing agricultural
productivity. Understanding how millet plants respond biochemically to
drought conditions provides valuable insight for developing
stress-resilient varieties. Drought affects plants at multiple levels
physiological, biochemical, and molecular. Drought stress is a major
abiotic factor limiting crop productivity worldwide. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is renowned for
drought and salinity resilience. This study involves in -silico
physiochemical characterization of drought-responsive proteins and
their molecular phylogeny to understand evolutionary relationships with
other cereal species.
Results. Proteins associated
with drought stress exhibited diverse molecular characteristics.
Genotypes possessing proteins with: lower instability index (<40),
higher aliphatic index, and negative GRAVY values were predicted to
exhibit greater structural stability and hydrophilicity traits commonly
associated with stress resilience. Some of the highly expressed
proteins involved in stress tolerance in Eleusine coracana retrieved
from UNIPROT (UniProt Consortium ,2025) in FASTA format are
>ACL97372.1 truncated calmodulin, partial [Eleusine coracana], >ADB43602.1
prolamin, partial [Eleusine coracana],
>ADC44447.1 monodehydroascorbate reductase, partial [Eleusine coracana],>AEF58885.1
NADH dehydrogenase subunit F, partial (chloroplast) [Eleusine coracana],>AEH04409.1
hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase, partial [Eleusine coracana],etc. Their
physicochemical properties like stability, charge, hydrophobicity, and
solubility help to determine their function adaptive for survival under
stress. These proteins represent key components of stress signaling,
antioxidant defense, mitochondrial energy metabolism, and nutrient
transport, which collectively contribute to drought resilience. These
proteins subcellular organization and gene ontology justifies their
role in stress tolerance. Molecular phylogeny reveals both conserved
and uniquely expanded gene families, reflecting evolutionary adaptation.
Conclusion. This in silico
investigation identifies and characterizes a suite of highly expressed
climate-resilience proteins in E.
coracana. Molecular phylogeny reveals both conserved and
uniquely expanded gene families, reflecting evolutionary adaptation.
These results lay the groundwork for targeted functional genomics to
harness stress tolerance for finger millet improvement and
translational breeding. Our findings are vital for breeding and
selecting drought tolerant varieties of finger millet. Further, genomic
and molecular investigations need to be undertaken to gain a
deeper insight into the detailed mechanisms of drought tolerance in
finger millet.
