The seminar on “Post-Transcriptional Regulation and Translational Control – From Model Plants to Crops” addresses a rapidly emerging area in plant molecular biology that has profound implications for climate-resilient agriculture. Understanding the regulation of gene expression at post-transcriptional and translational levels, including mRNA stability, RNA modifications such as m6A, RNA-binding proteins, and stress granule dynamics, is essential for developing crops that can withstand heat, drought, and other abiotic stresses. Despite significant progress in transcriptional regulation studies, RNA-level regulation remains underexplored in crops, particularly in rice and other cereals. This Indo-French seminar will bridge this knowledge gap by bringing together leading experts from both countries, along with early-career researchers, to share recent discoveries and discuss strategies for translating knowledge from model plants to crops.

It will enable knowledge exchange on RNA stability, modifications, non-coding RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, and translational reprogramming under stress, alongside multi-omics integration. Hands-on workshops on MeRIP-seq, Ribo-seq, long-read sequencing, and RNA bioinformatics will be conducted. The proposed training will build critical capacity for future research collaborations. The lecture course specifically targets PhD students and postdoctoral fellows from India and other countries, with the fundamental objective of strengthening scientific understanding and raising awareness about the fate of RNA under changing climatic conditions.