Macronutrients including Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) are essential for plant growth and development. N and P are key constituents of cellular macromolecules, such as protein and nucleic acids. K is required in several fundamental processes, such as photosynthesis, movement of photosynthates to storage organs, protein synthesis, osmoregulation and stomata opening. Soil in most of the agricultural lands worldwide are deficient in these major macronutrients causing the low bioavailability of the macronutrients for plants. This necessitates the application of tons of expensive chemical fertilizers for crop production. Unfortunately, most traditional crops are not efficient enough in uptake of nutrient even from applied fertilizers, that leads to bioaccumulation of these chemicals in soil and water bodies, which poses a serious environmental and human health hazard. Regulation of root system architecture (RSA) is one of the most promising approaches to enhance nutrient uptake and nutrient-use efficiency (NUE) in crop plants. We are interested in developing crop plants with better RSA, improved nutrient uptake and NUE. We aim to functionally characterize the key genes and pathways which regulates RSA and utilize them for genetic engineering in rice and chickpea. These genes include phytohormone (JA, ABA, Auxin) biosynthesis and signaling genes, nutrient transporter/ion channels, genes involved in lipid signaling and membrane lipid remolding such as phospholipases, components of Ca2+ signaling like CDPKs etc. We employ various methods, such as bioinformatics, molecular biology, plant physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, and genetic approaches, including transgenic and CRISPR-Cas9 based genome editing.