Plant Gene最新文献

Recent developments in targeted genome editing accelerated genetic research and opened new potentials to improve crops for better yields and quality. Given the significance of cereal crops as a primary source of food for the global population, the utilization of contemporary genome editing techniques like CRISPR/Cas9 is timely and crucial. CRISPR/Cas technology has enabled targeted genomic modifications, revolutionizing genetic research and exploration. Application of gene editing through CRISPR/Cas9 in enhancing sorghum is particularly vital given the current ecological, environmental, and agricultural challenges exacerbated by climate change. As sorghum is one of the main staple foods of our region and known to be a resilient crop with high potential to overcome the above challenges, application of genome editing technology will enhance investigation of gene functionality. CRISPR/Cas9 enables the improvement of desirable sorghum traits, including nutritional value, yield, resistance to pests and diseases, and tolerance to various abiotic stresses. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas9 has the potential to perform intricate editing and reshape the existing elite sorghum varieties, and introduce new genetic variations. However, current research primarily focuses on improving the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 system in successfully editing endogenous sorghum genes, making it a feasible and successful undertaking in sorghum improvement. Recent advancements and developments in CRISPR/Cas9 techniques have further empowered researchers to modify additional genes in sorghum with greater efficiency. Successful application and advancement of CRISPR techniques in sorghum will not only aid in gene discovery, the creation of novel traits that regulate gene expression, and functional genomics, but also in facilitating site-specific integration events. The purpose of this review is, therefore, to elucidate the current advances in sorghum genome editing and highlight its potential in addressing food security issues. It also assesses the efficiency of CRISPR-mediated improvement and its long-term effects on crop improvement and host resistance against parasites, including tissue-specific activity and the ability to induce resistance. This review ends by emphasizing the challenges and opportunities of CRISPR technology in combating parasitic plants, and proposing directions for future research to safeguard global agricultural productivity.

Energy cane has been identified as an ideal crop for the sustainable production of biofuels due to its large amounts of lignocellulosic biomass. However, biochemical and molecular characteristics of energy cane have not yet been reported. The current study investigates polymorphism of simple sequence repeats in expressed sequence tags (Est-SSR loci) of energy cane clones PRBIO 172 and PRBIO 130 and of sugarcane varieties CTC 9001, CTC 9003, and RB935744, which permits a direct association between genes for specific proteins and enzymes and traits of agronomic interest. Genetic identity was observed in SSRs associated with loci EstA-68 and EstB-130 of the three sugarcane varieties and two energy cane clones. The basic contribution of our study was the identification of the polymorphic Est-SRR loci as targets to assess molecular and biochemical divergences of enzymes between sugarcane and energy cane, as well as between the two energy cane clones.

Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) is one of the multipurpose trees with significant promise as a high-value crop of industrial importance, having nutritional, therapeutic, and prophylactic properties. Genetic diversity is a cornerstone of any crop improvement program and plays a key role in the selection of promising parental lines for hybrid breeding. Morphological and molecular markers have been proven to be potential tools for the evaluation of genetic diversity, crop genetic improvement, and conservation of plant genetic resources. In the current study, morphological descriptors, RAPD, and SCoT markers were used to determine genetic diversity among 28 M. oleifera accessions. Significant morphological variations were noted for several economic traits across the accessions studied. Four primary clusters were visible on the dendrogram based on phenotypic markers, indicating clustering of accession from a shared geographical habitat. No correlation was estimated between morphological traits, indicating an environmental influence. Three RAPD and seven SCoT primer sets produced 37 and 46 markers, with 53.2 and 71.3% polymorphisms, respectively. Based on genotypic data and the UPGMA approach, all 28 accessions were separated into two major clusters in the phylogenetic tree, irrespective of any geographical areas. The clustering pattern indicates widespread plant species and rapid gene flow through cross-pollination in Moringa populations. Three subpopulations of the involved accessions were identified by population structure analysis; however, there was only a weak link with the location of plant cultivation. The expected heterozygosity for the three subpopulations varied from 0.23 to 0.32, as per R-based structural analysis. AMOVA's attribution of 86% and 19% of all variations to within- and between-populations, respectively, indicates that there has been gene flow across geographic regions. The PCA showed a wide distribution of genotypes in the scatterplot, also suggesting huge genetic variation among the M. oleifera population. The study revealed a significant level of genetic diversity among M. oleifera accessions, which can be harnessed to conserve plant genetic resources and develop high-yielding, nutrient-dense Moringa cultivars.

Durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.) is a famous tropical fruit in Malaysia and well-known for its sweet and creamy taste and unique strong aroma. Despite the differences, durian fruit undergo similar fruit developmental stages upon maturity. However, not much information related to metabolic changes at molecular level are available for fruit development in durian. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify and analyze fruit development transcriptomic changes on six commercial durian varieties (D24, D99, D160, D168, D197, and D200). The transcriptome analysis via RNA-seq assays generated 67 to 234 million raw reads, which are assembled into 49,601 genes with protein coding genes as the largest gene biotype, with a total of 35,832 genes (72.2%). All genes were annotated against Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). GO analysis revealed genes were highly linked to biological process, cellular components and molecular function, with the highest representation in cell wall, while the most common pathways identified by KEGG were carotenoid biosynthesis, fatty acid biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and galactose metabolism. Important changes were found in abscisic acid and lignin accumulation, which associated with post-harvest response and concurrent colour change. Moreover, significant increase in butyric acid, palmitoyl-CoA and different forms of sugars were associated with buttery smell, creamy texture, and sweetness respectively. Thus, mass sequence data and expression profiling provide an insight into molecular mechanisms for durian fruit developmental process. This study aims to enhance comprehension of durian fruit development stages, including physiological, genetic, and molecular processes, to inform breeding, crop enhancement, and post-harvest strategies to meet consumer and agro-biotechnology demands.

Abiotic stress, notably drought, impacts wheat production globally, but more so in central and South Asia, North Africa (CWANA), and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The current study attempts to identify significant markers linked to drought and heat tolerance and assess genomic prediction. A genome-wide association study was conducted using the 10 K wheat SNP markers for grain yield and related traits of 246 spring bread wheat genotypes from ICARDA. Traits including grain yield (GY), days to heading (DHE), days to maturity (DMA), plant height (PLH), and thousand kernel weight (TKW), were evaluated across six different locations, spanning two years 2015–2016 and 2016–2017, as per variance analysis. Grain yield and related-traits showed a considerable variation among genotypes. Moreover, GWAS using a mixed linear model (MLM), revealed 65 marker-trait associations (MTAs) across the six environments on 16 chromosomes. With an average r² value of 0.26, Genome D has the highest linkage, followed by Genomes B and A with r² values of 0.22 and 0.21, respectively. GY had the highest MTA rating (35), followed by TKW (9) and 3 for each of the other agronomic traits (DHE, DMA, PLH) at Merchouch station. The marker “CAP8_c1393_327” was the most significant associated marker correlated with grain yield located on chromosome 3 A across Sid El Aidi station. Additionally, the SNP markers “wsnp_Ra_c26091_35652620” displayed extremely significant and stable MTA for TKW on chromosome 5B at Merchouch station. The markers and candidate genes reported throughout this study have the potential to be used in marker-assisted selection to enhance wheat genotypes in terms of yield and resistance to drought limitations.

Methylketone synthase 2 (MKS2) has been widely found in the plant kingdom and identified as a single-hotdog-fold acyl-lipid thioesterase (ALT) which mainly hydrolyzes the thioester bond in 3-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (3-ketoacyl-ACP) intermediates of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway into free 3-keto fatty acids. Our previous study identified SmMKS2–2 as one of two functional ALTs in eggplant Solanum melongena. To gain mechanistic insights into catalysis by this enzyme, we herein combined biochemical and in silico structural analyses on SmMKS2–2. While SmMKS2–2 is capable of producing a wide range of 3-ketoacids from corresponding 3-ketoacyl-ACP substrates, SmMKS2–2-D77E mutant variant drops its thioesterase activity to the undetectable level. Consistently, the structural modelling of the D77E mutant displays that the orientation of the side chain carboxylate group of the replacing amino acid has been shifted compared to that of the native residue, resulting in smaller surface area of binding pocket that would dismiss nucleophilic catalysis of the mutant protein. Together, these data suggested that D77 is critical and specific for SmMKS2–2 to hydrolyze the thioester bond of acyl-ACP.

Apoptotic Chromatin Condensation Inducer in the Nucleus (ACIN1) is a scaffold protein that was first described as a complex component responsible for triggering apoptosis in human cells. In plants, ACIN1 participates in silencing of Flowering Locus C (FLC), involved in vernalization in Arabidopsis thaliana. Contrary to what has been observed for humans, there are no reports on ACIN1 linked to programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. Actually, the function of ACIN1 in plants is still poorly understood. In the present study, a genome-wide analysis of the ACIN1 gene family in plants identified 27 ACIN1 orthologs from 19 species belonging to 12 plant families. The phylogenetic relationships, physicochemical properties, gene structure, conserved motifs, promoter cis-elements, chromosomal localization, syntenic regions, and protein network were investigated. Altogether, these analyzes revealed highly conserved domains in the structure of the ACIN1 proteins, as well as putative metacaspase cleavage sites, which suggest that they play a conserved function probably associated with the programmed cell death in plants. For instance, differential expression pattern and modulation of ACIN1 were noticed after inoculation of cowpea with Cowpea severe mosaic virus (CPSMV). Therefore, this study was conducted to provide, for the first time, information on the evolutionary, structural, and functional characteristics of the ACIN1 gene family as an initial effort towards understanding the role of these proteins in studied plant development and stress responses.