Underutilized Cereals and Millets: Biotic Stress Resilience, Nutritional Quality, and Phytochemical Advances

Millets and other underutilized cereals such as tef, fonio and finger, foxtail, pearl and proso millet are climate-resilient staples that are naturally rich in minerals, essential amino acids, dietary fiber and health-promoting phytochemicals. Unlike corn, rice and wheat, they sustain yield on marginal soils and carry a nutritional profile linked to lower risk of diet-related disease. Yet research remains skewed towards abiotic stress tolerance in a handful of species, leaving two high-value areas underexplored: how these crops resist pests and pathogens, and the genetic and biochemical basis of their superior grain quality. Recent genome assemblies and pan-genomes for several millets now make it possible to dissect disease resistance and nutritional traits at species level, and to translate them into breeding programs.This Research Topic focuses on two underexplored dimensions of underutilized cereals: biotic stress resistance and grain nutritional and phytochemical quality. We aim to bring together species-level studies on the mechanisms, genetics and breeding of resistance to fungal, bacterial, viral and insect pests, alongside work characterizing and enhancing minerals, vitamins, amino acids, dietary fiber and bioactive phytochemicals (polyphenols, flavonoids). By centering named species — tef, fonio, finger, foxtail, pearl and proso millet, among others — rather than generic stress physiology, the Topic seeks to build a resource that moves these crops from the margins into mainstream breeding and food-systems research.We welcome original research, reviews and methods papers spanning physiology, genetics, genomics, molecular biology, biotechnology and food/nutritional science. Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:• Mechanisms and genetics of resistance to fungal, bacterial, viral and insect pests, and host–pathogen interactions• Genetic and biochemical basis of grain nutritional quality: mineral accumulation, biofortification and homeostasis• Bioactive phytochemicals (polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity) and their health-related properties, as well as their nutritional value and advantages as gluten-free cereals. • Genomic, pan-genomic and molecular-breeding tools for quality and disease-resistance traits in specific millet species• Post-harvest quality, processing and bioavailability of nutrients in underutilized cerealsPurely agronomic or abiotic-stress-only studies without a biotic-stress or nutritional-quality focus fall outside this Topic.Please note: Topic Editors Dr. John Cushman and Dr. Ayalew Osena currently hold patents related to the contents of this Research Topic. Topic editors: Ayalew Ligaba Osena, Zipora Tietel, John Chandler Cushman Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83592/underutilized-cereals-and-millets-biotic-stress-resilience-nutritional-quality-and-phytochemical-advances