Plant Science最新文献

Cotton is a significant cash crop and serves as a crucial raw material for the textile industry. The leaf, which is the site of photosynthesis in cotton plants, directly influences their growth and yield. Pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins are characterized by tandem 30-40 amino acid motifs. These proteins play a pivotal role in post-transcriptional regulation of organelle gene expression. In this study, we identified GhCTEF2 as a PLS-type PPR protein and determined its subcellular localization within chloroplasts, highlighting its essential involvement in chloroplast development. Virus-induced gene silencing assays revealed that knockdown of the GhCTEF2 gene resulted in macular phenotypes on cotton leaves and significantly reduced photosynthetic efficiency. Additionally, GhCTEF2-silenced plants exhibited incomplete chloroplasts with reduced thylakoids and grana structures. Furthermore, our findings showed that the downregulation of GhCTEF2 reduced the transcription levels of PEP-dependent genes and significantly decreased the content of the chloroplast LHCⅡ-T complex protein. Further studies showed that GhCTEF2 may interact with other editing factors to regulate the RNA editing process of ndhB, accD, and rps18. These findings offer valuable insights into future breeding strategies aimed at enhancing photosynthesis in cotton.

Key roles for nitric oxide in signalling processes and plant physiological processes are now well established. In particular, the identification and functional characterisation of proteins regulated by S-nitrosation, a NO-dependent post-translational modification, provided remarkable insights into the subtle mechanisms by which NO mediates its effects. Nevertheless, and despite the considerable progress in understanding NO signalling, the question of how plant cells produce NO is not yet fully resolved. Interestingly, there is now compelling evidence that algae constitute promising biological models to investigate NO production and functions in plants. This article reviews recent highlights of research on NO production in algae and provides an overview of S-nitrosation in these organisms at the proteome level.

The SlRAF-like B gene family is crucial for the regulation of seed dormancy and response to osmotic stress. In this research, a bioinformatics approach was employed to identify a total of 18 members belonging to the SlRAF-like B gene family within the tomato genome. Phylogenetic analysis has categorized the identified SlRAF-like B genes into four distinct groups, revealing significant differences in conserved motifs and gene structure among the proteins within each cluster. Promoter sequence analysis revealed abundant stress, hormone, and light response elements, suggesting the involvement of SlRAF-like B genes in cold stress responses. RT-qPCR analysis showed that most SlRAF-like B genes are induced by cold stress. A knockout mutant of the SlRAF7 gene, belonging to the SlRAF-like B3 group, was generated and tested under normal and cold stress, demonstrating that SlRAF7 positively regulates cold resistance in tomato plants. Further analysis of antioxidant enzyme activities, expression of related genes, and key cold response genes (ICE1, CBFs, and COR genes) in different genotypes suggests that SlRAF7 may enhance cold resistance by modulating the antioxidant enzyme pathway and the CBF signaling pathway. This study provides initial insights into the physiological and molecular mechanisms that underlie cold stress tolerance in tomato, with a particular focus on the role of the SlRAF7 gene.

The ambient temperature exerts a significant influence on the growth and development of plants, which are sessile organisms. Exposure to extreme temperatures, both low and high, has a detrimental impact on plant growth and development, crop yields, and even geographical distribution. Jasmonates constitute a class of lipid hormones that regulate plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Recent studies have revealed that jasmonate biosynthesis and signaling pathways are integral to plant responses to both high and low temperatures. Exogenous application of jasmonate improves cold and heat tolerance in plants and reduces cold injury in fruits and vegetables during cold storage. Jasmonate interacts with low and high temperature key response factors and engages in crosstalk with primary and secondary metabolic pathways, including hormones, under conditions of temperature stress. This review presents a comprehensive summary of the jasmonate synthesis and signal transduction pathway, as well as an overview of the functions and mechanisms of jasmonate in response to temperature stress.

Blanching is the process of removing the testa or seed coat (skin) from peanuts, and a genotype's capacity to release its testa is referred to as its blanchability. The genotype, seed quality, harvest date, level of maturity, as well as the length of time and temperature of the post-harvest storage period, are said to have an impact on the peanut's blanchability. This characteristic is of enormous economic significance in the production of food items made from peanuts. Major research on this economically significant characteristic in breeding programmes has not, however, been done. Blanchability is a highly heritable and genetically regulated trait, thus breeding and selection should be effective. Blanchability reports to be fixed in the early generations due to its relatively simple genetic control, hence choice of parents which have good blanchability is of utmost importance in a breeding programme. As blanching percentage possess high genetic control with very low genotype × environment (G×E) interactions, effective selection for improved blanchability can be conducted in early generations. In peanut, it makes a great target for marker-assisted selection (MAS) but possess few factors that makes it difficult breeding target. These factors, include the high cost of labor to measure blanchability and the relatively large seed size in particular, prevent testing in early generations. In this review, we emphasize genetic research on this characteristic, its relationship to other traits, factors influencing it, methods of measurement, its industrial significance, as well as initiatives and difficulties related to its improvement.