Executive Summary : | The betel vine, a therapeutic herb with dark green cardio leaves, is a valuable revenue crop in India, with a high potential for export and providing employment opportunities throughout the year. However, the crop is infected by various fungal and bacterial diseases, including powdery mildew, foot rot, and leaf rot caused by pathogens like Phytophthora parasitica and Colletotrichum capsici. These diseases can cause 30-100% leaf yield loss and have no effective controlling method. Researchers have focused on the betel vine due to its scientific and economic value, focusing on molecular phylogeny, sex determination, nutritional, and pharmacological activities. However, the genetics of the betel vine is still poorly understood. New developments in bioinformatics technologies and molecular biology have facilitated understanding of the molecular mechanism of foot rot and enhanced plant resistance to disease through plant genetic engineering. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology offers transcriptome sequencing with tremendous coverage and more sequence depth, which can help understand significant variations in metabolic processes, benefiting gene discovery, comparative transcriptomics, and evolutionary genomics. Plants use various defense strategies to protect themselves against pathogen-induced damage, including complex sensing, transducing, and exchanging signals. The phenylpropanoid pathway in plants produces a wide range of metabolites, including lignins, coumarins, and flavonoids, which play a role in structural stability, defense, and survival. The data generated from this study will provide fundamental information in controlling plant growth and disease protection in betel vine. |