Reactive oxygen species (ROS) function as pivotal signaling molecules that play a dual role in fruit development and maturation processes, serving as both essential regulators of physiological pathways and potential inducers of oxidative damage. Dynamic changes in ROS during fruit development are precisely orchestrated by a regulatory network consisting of plant hormones, metabolic pathways, transcription factors, functional genes, and epigenetic modifications. ROS signaling participates in gametophyte development, tapetum programmed cell death, pollen-pistil recognition, pollen tube growth, and stress resistance during fruit set initiation. During fruit development, maturation, and ripening, ROS mediate crucial processes including cell expansion, pigment biosynthesis, cell wall remodeling, epigenetic modifications, and hormonal crosstalk. Excessive ROS causes membrane and cell wall damage, accelerating senescence, softening, and flavor deterioration. Appropriate exogenous treatments enhance antioxidant capacity, reduce ROS accumulation, and maintain postharvest fruit quality and shelf life. This review presents novel insights into the dual functions of ROS during fruit development, identifies key unresolved questions and current limitations in the field, and proposes promising future research directions, and offers a theoretical basis for developing effective approaches to improve fruit production and postharvest quality.
Adventitious rooting (AR) is a key step for asexual propagation of blueberry. However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying AR in blueberry remain poorly understood. In this study, transcriptomic analysis was performed across four morphological stages of AR in juvenile blueberry stems. Stage-specific transcriptional alterations were observed during rooting, exemplified by upregulation of WOX11, EXPA4, EXPA8, and PILS1 during primordium initiation; changes in LBD36, MYB93, and LRP1 during proliferation; and specific activation of EXPB15 and CYP735A1 during AR elongation. Further comparative analysis indicated that, relative to the slower rooting of perennial stems, rapid rooting in juvenile stems hinges on transcriptional reprogramming of CKX3 and IPT9, thereby swiftly resetting cytokinin homeostasis to a range permissive for adventitious root initiation. In addition, 26 VcWOX genes exhibited differential expression during AR formation, and a subset displayed hormone-responsive expression patterns. Notably, overexpression of VcWOX4a in blueberry significantly reduced the number of lateral roots, whereas RNAi-mediated knockdown produced the opposite phenotype, underscoring its role in shaping adventitious root system architecture. These findings lay the groundwork for deciphering the morpho-developmental and regulatory architecture of adventitious rooting in juvenile stems of blueberry.
Rural China's accelerating demographic transition is reshaping rural household migration patterns and socioeconomic development trajectories. Based on data from the 2023 China Rural Homestead Survey, a multinomial logit model is constructed to examine the effect of rural household aging on migration intention and the moderating role of farmers’ property rights cognition. The results show that rural household aging significantly strengthens households’ willingness to remain in their village and reduces the willingness of some household members to migrate, whereas its effect on the intention of all household members to migrate together is not significant. Further analysis reveals that the moderating effect of property rights cognition is not significant in the full sample, but heterogeneity analysis indicates marked conditional features. In villages with relatively abundant policy resources and clearer institutional interpretation, farmers’ cognition of collective property rights can alleviate the inhibitory effect of aging on partial migration intention. In contrast, in villages with insufficient policy support, farmers’ cognition of collective property rights strengthens their willingness to remain in their village. These findings provide empirical evidence from China for understanding the interactions among population aging, rural property rights institutions, and household migration intention in economies undergoing structural transformation. They also offer policy implications for jointly advancing the provision of rural elderly care, the construction of land rights institutions, and the orderly migration of rural households.
Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) from the Tobamovirus genus poses a significant threat to global watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production due to limited resistant resources. To identify CGMMV-resistant sources, 40 watermelon accessions, representing four subspecies: Citrullus lanatus, Citrullus amarus, Citrullus colocynthis, and Citrullus mucosospermus, were evaluated for resistance. The plants were inoculated with CGMMV and resistance was evaluated based on virus accumulation and visual symptoms compared with susceptible controls. ZGCL22-P3 showed no symptoms and had undetectable virus levels at 20- and 45-days post-inoculation (dpi), indicating high resistance. Nine accessions, including ZGCL13-P3, PI 388770, PI 386015, PI 220778, PI 195927, PI 537300, PI 386026, PI 386014, and PI 432337, exhibiting segregation in disease rating, resistant, tolerant, or susceptible individuals were observed, and ZGCL13-P3 displayed the lowest disease index among them. The viral accumulation in some asymptomatic ZGCL13-P3 and PI 388770 plants was undetectable at both 20 and 45 dpi, indicating high resistance to CGMMV. The remaining 30 accessions were susceptible to CGMMV. As tolerant individuals were present in all nine accessions, representative resistant and tolerant plants of ZGCL13-P3, along with the susceptible control ‘Hongyihao’, were specifically selected for transcriptome analysis, enabling a direct comparison of molecular responses among accessions. The CGMMV-tolerant ZGCL13-P3 exhibited large-scale transcriptional reprogramming, with enhanced phenylpropanoid enzyme activity, particularly PAL and LAC/PRX involved in reinforcing lignified cell walls, resulting in milder symptoms and lower virus accumulation, whereas susceptible variety was activated by general stress and hormone pathways instead of structural defenses. These findings highlight valuable genetic resources for breeding and provide novel targets for breeding virus‐resistant watermelon cultivars.
Although plastic film mulching enhances tobacco yield and quality, its residues pose a threat to soil health. Herein, a field experiment was designed to investigate the impacts of polyethylene (PE) and poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) residues on soil carbon pools throughout the tobacco growth cycle. Plastic film residues increased soil CO2 and CH4 emissions by 1.09-15.33% and 14.57-122.47%, respectively, with responses varying by polymer type and growth stage. PE residues inhibited the accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions and weakened carbon pool stability, with the degree of inhibition regulated by residue concentration. Conversely, high levels of PBAT residues elevated total SOC but preferentially enriched active carbon pools, evidenced by a declining MAOC/SOC ratio. The rhizosphere microbial functional shifts driven by residual film accumulation are an important potential factor influencing soil carbon pool dynamics. Low-concentration PE residues had no significant impact on microbial functions, severe PE accumulation triggered oxidative stress and forced a selective gene function, shift toward efficient energy pathways, indicating metabolic inefficiency driven by stress. As an exogenous available carbon source, PBAT substantially enriched genes involved in carbon fixation and degradation, thereby stimulating microbial metabolism and accelerating rhizosphere carbon turnover. Enzyme activity measurements and targeted metabolomics analyses provided further evidence substantiating the microbial metabolic reprogramming processes suggested by functional gene profiling. This study elucidated how distinct plastic residues differentially regulate soil carbon cycling via microbial metabolic modulation, providing a scientific basis for the ecological risk assessment of mulch film residues.
Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive soil pollutants, yet their impacts on the soil micro-food web comprising bacteria, fungi, and nematodes under realistic environmental conditions remain inadequately understood. This study integrates a large-scale field survey across the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong, China with a controlled microcosm experiment to assess the ecological consequences of current field MP accumulation and intensified environmental loading (from 0.01% to 1%). Field MP abundance ranged from 200 to 7,500 items kg-1 across the Pearl River Delta. Both field and microcosm results confirmed that MP exposure stimulated bacterial alpha diversity and altered community composition. While fungal and nematode communities exhibited weaker responses, structural equation modeling supported bacteria-driven bottom-up regulation in both field and microcosm systems. Functionally, both field surveys and microcosm studies showed that rising MP levels enhanced the predicted functional potential associated with fermentation and dark hydrogen oxidation. In the field, MP increased network complexity and within-trophic connectivity. Conversely, high MP levels (1%) in microcosms significantly reduced complexity and robustness. Our study identifies bacterial communities as universal MP indicators and reveals a critical divergence: current field levels were associated with some degree of community stimulation, whereas microcosm results warn of network simplification and increased vulnerability. Therefore, MP ecological risk assessments should consider the contrasting effects of long-term field accumulation and short-term high-concentration exposure.
Examining regional linkages between agricultural water pollution mitigation and economic growth is essential for informing coordinated governance of cross-border water resources. However, existing research often overlooks interregional linkages in agricultural grey water footprint efficiency (AGWFE), failing to account for spatial spillover effects and thereby constraining cross-regional policy coordination. This study employs the agricultural grey water footprint model, social network analysis, and quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression to explore the spatial association network and drivers of AGWFE across China from 2010 to 2019. Furthermore, we propose an innovative framework for water environmental management zoning. The findings reveal that: (1) China's AGWFE exhibited a steady upward trend, characterized by a distinct spatial pattern where efficiency decreases from the eastern coastal to the western regions. (2) The AGWFE spatial network demonstrates strong spatial reachability and a robust hierarchical structure, yet remains relatively sparse in terms of overall network density. Major grain-producing provinces and economically developed regions emerge as the primary hubs of the AGWFE network. (3) Disparities in technological level and spatial adjacency are positively associated with the AGWFE spatial correlation network, while disparities in economic development level and farmers’ per capita income correlate negatively with this network. (4) The network is partitioned into four functional sectors: agent, main beneficiary, net spillover, and two-way spillover. By incorporating agricultural water pollution levels, a dual-dimensional framework is developed to classify China into eight distinct management zones. This zoning provides a roadmap for targeted interventions to promote coordinated regional development and greener production–consumption synergy across China.
Protoplasts serve as a versatile platform for genetic transformation and somatic hybridization. Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is an important root vegetable crop, and its taproot is derived mainly from the hypocotyl and main root. However, an efficient protoplast isolation and transient transformation system for radish, particularly for hypocotyl tissues, has not been well established. In this study, we developed an optimized, tissue-specific protocol for protoplast isolation and transformation from radish cotyledon and hypocotyl. Adding 0.4% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to the enzyme solution significantly improved protoplast yield and viability while reducing intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Under optimized conditions, cotyledon-derived protoplasts (CDPs) achieved a yield of 3.28 × 106 protoplasts g-1 fresh weight (FW) with 95.4% viability and 76.62% transformation efficiency, whereas hypocotyl-derived protoplasts (HDPs) reached 1.48 × 106 protoplasts g-1 FW with 94.3% viability and 69.33% transformation efficiency. The protocol was effective across radish genotypes and several Brassicaceae root crops. Furthermore, the resulting protoplasts supported subcellular localization and gene function assays, and rapid assessment of the editing efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9 vectors carrying different Cas9 promoters and single-guide RNAs. Overall, this system would provide a practical tool for gene function analysis and precision breeding in radish and related root vegetable crops.
China has a long history of rice cultivation and a rich rice-farming culture. As the world’s largest producer and consumer of rice, continuously advancing rice research and production is vital to ensuring food security. In this review, we systematically summarize the progress in rice research and production over the past decade (2015–2025) and highlight emerging challenges in China. This review synthesizes national and regional characteristics of rice production, consumption, trade, along with advances in the conservation and utilization of rice germplasm resources, the molecular mechanisms of domestication and genomics. It provides an in-depth elaboration of the molecular and genetic basis governing rice agronomic traits, including yield components, grain quality, hybrid fertility, nutrient-use efficiency, and abiotic/biotic resistance. This is followed by a comprehensive overview of rice cultivar improvement adapted to the major ecological zones. This work further highlights the transformative shift in rice cultivation management from traditional labor-intensive farming to simplified, smart, and unmanned cultivation systems. Future directions for rice breeding are discussed, with a focus on the integration of molecular design, multi-omics, and artificial intelligence technologies to build high-efficiency breeding systems that are conducive to sustainable and resilient rice production in China.
African swine fever (ASF), caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), is a highly contagious and often fatal disease that poses a serious threat to the global pig industry. The emergence of genotype I/II recombinant ASFV strains has further complicated vaccine development and disease control. This study reveals that ASFV-GZΔI177LΔCD2vΔMGF, an effective candidate vaccine strain against genotype II ASFV, fails to provide protection against lethal challenge from the genotype I/II recombinant strain ASFV-HN. Although a five-gene-deleted strain based on ASFV-HN with I177L deletion (ASFV-HNΔI177LΔCD2vΔMGF) exhibits significantly reduced pathogenicity in pigs and was observed to delay mortality in pigs upon lethal challenge, it did not effectively protect against lethal challenge from either the parental strain or genotype II virulent strains. These findings reveal the unique virulence characteristics of genotype I/II recombinant ASFV strains and highlight the limitations of current vaccine strategies. They also emphasize the need to develop new approaches to address the risks posed by recombinant ASFV strains and to account for the importance of viral genotype and recombination events.
Long-term desert reclamation in oasis agroecosystems profoundly alters soil conditions and microbial processes; however, its impacts on the microbial drivers of nitrous oxide (N2O) production remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of different durations of desert reclamation (0, 24, and 54 years since conversion from native desert to irrigated cropland) on N2O production and its pathways by combining a dual-isotope (15N-18O) labeling technique with molecular approaches. Continuous reclamation decreased soil bulk density and pH, but increased soil moisture, ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) and soil organic matter (SOM). Microbial biomass and enzyme activities (ammonia monooxygenase (AMO); hydroxylamine reductase (HyR); nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrite reductase (NiR)) were enhanced, accompanied by higher potential nitrification and denitrification rates (PNR and PDR). Gene abundances of amoA-AOA, amoA-AOB, nirK and nirS increased with reclamation age, with amoA-AOA and nirK remaining dominant within their respective guilds. Cumulative N2O production increasing from 5.1 μg kg-1 in unreclaimed soil (Till0) to 73.0 μg kg-1 after 54 years of reclamation (Till54). Pathway partitioning further showed a shift from nitrifier nitrification (NN; 41.31-61.48% in Till0) to greater contributions of nitrifier denitrification (ND; up to 53.10%), heterotrophic denitrification (HD; 28.72-32.38%), and nitrification-coupled denitrification (NCD; up to 30.21%) in reclaimed soils. Partial least squares path modeling revealed that soil properties and nitrifier gene abundance exerted the strongest direct and total effects on N2O production, with NH4+-N, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), soil moisture content, and AMO activity being the strongest predictors. Together, these results indicate that reclamation age links to N2O production pathways through a soil-development cascade: reduced compaction and pH, greater moisture and SOM accumulation, increased mineral N and microbial biomass, and expansion of amoA- and nir-bearing functional guilds. This cascade shifts N2O production from NH4+-driven nitrifier nitrification in native desert soil toward denitrification-dominated and coupled pathways in reclaimed oasis agroecosystems.
Subsoils (>20 cm) store the majority of terrestrial soil carbon, yet they are increasingly vulnerable to global change. Climate warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected to increase root-derived labile C inputs to deeper soil layers, yet their potential to stimulate priming and destabilize native soil carbon remains uncertain. Here, we quantified depth-dependent priming and net C balance using a 14C-glucose incubation across two contrasting soils (Cambisol and Phaeozem) at three depths (0–20 cm topsoil, 20–40 cm upper subsoil, and 40–60 cm lower subsoil). Following glucose addition (72 μg C g−1 soil), the Cambisol consistently exhibited stronger positive priming and greater net C accrual than the Phaeozem across all soil depths. Glucose addition induced a strong positive priming effect in upper soil layers, averaging 16 μg C g−1 in the topsoil and 11 μg C g−1 in the upper subsoil, but consistently suppressed native SOC mineralization in the lower subsoil, resulting in a negative PE (−7 μg C g−1). We therefore propose that lower nutrient availability (dissolved inorganic nitrogen) and stronger mineral protection in the lower subsoils constrained microbial activity, thereby protecting native SOC, resulting in negative priming. Glucose addition resulted in positive net C gain across all soils, with significantly greater net C gain in the lower subsoil (37 µg C g−1) than in the topsoil (23 µg C g−1) and upper subsoil (23 µg C g−1), likely associated with the relatively low SOC content of deeper soils. Overall, our study highlights the distinct role of subsoils in regulating net soil C gain through reduced native SOC loss and greater retention of added labile C. These findings contribute to the development of depth-explicit approaches for improving soil carbon management and evaluating climate mitigation potential.
Heterosis is a cornerstone of modern agriculture and has been extensively exploited to enhance maize productivity. Here, we generated a comprehensive genomic and phenotypic resource to dissect the genetic basis of grain yield heterosis in maize. Whole-genome sequencing of 572 maize inbred lines (ILs) representing seven major subgroups revealed extensive genome-wide diversity and resolved clear population structure. Genetic differentiation analyses identified 7,331 and 7,361 highly differentiated genomic regions, corresponding to 2,036 and 2,087 candidate genes underlying the two major heterotic patterns, CN-SS×SPT and US-SS×NSS, respectively. To further dissect the genetic basis of grain yield heterosis, we generated 91 hybrids from 14 representative ILs using a diallel crossing design and evaluated their performance across two environments. Dominance-effect analysis using an h test identified 1,663 and 375 loci with significant positive dominance effects, of which 116 overlapping loci were defined as high-confidence significant positive dominance blocks (SPDBs). Both differentiated regions and SPDBs harbored genes associated with yield formation and stress responses, as well as some peptides. Notably, many high-confidence SPDBs partially co-localized with highly differentiated genomic regions, indicating that some genomic regions contributing to heterotic group divergence also underlie heterosis, and highlighting the complementary insights provided by population differentiation and dominance-effect analyses. Correlation analyses further showed that grain yield heterosis is primarily driven by the cumulative effects of genome-wide significant positive dominance loci variants (SPDLVs), rather than by overall genomic variation. Peptidogenomic analyses further identified nine peptides located within reported selective sweep regions that were significantly enriched in SPDBs (P<0.05). Collectively, this study elucidates the genomic architecture underlying maize grain yield heterosis and provides valuable insights for heterosis-informed breeding strategies.
Increasing soybean production to achieve self-sufficiency has become a pressing challenge for China, Europe, and many other countries and regions in the world. In China, although intercropping and other cropping system adjustments offer pathways to expand soybean planting areas, improving per-unit yield remains a critical constraint. Therefore, improving its productivity is crucial for realizing the sustainable intensification benefits of soybean-based intercropping. Microbial inoculation has been proposed to enhance soybean performance, but quantitative evidence on its effectiveness and key drivers in intercropping systems remains limited. Here, a meta-analysis of 154 observations from 48 publications evaluated the effects of microbial inoculation on intercropped soybean morphology, physiology, and yield in China. Subgroup analyses and random forest modeling were applied to identify environmental and management factors shaping soybean responses. Inoculation improved soybean performance in intercropping systems, increasing yield by 13.36%, whole-plant biomass by 37.83%, nodule number by 91.50%, nodule weight by 72.33%, N uptake by 61.90%, and N content by 43.35%. Remarkably, co-inoculation outperformed single inoculation, with Rhizobium-AMF combinations generating the largest gains in biomass, nitrogen traits, and nodule number. Trait-network analysis showed that co-inoculation produced a highly integrated and synchronized growth network, while that of the single inoculation markedly decoupled with fewer interactions. Seed inoculation was more effective than soil inoculation for enhancing soybean nodulation and plant N content. The benefits of inoculation on shoot biomass and plant N content in intercropped soybeans are particularly evident when nitrogen fertilizer is not applied. Initial soil fertility negatively influenced the response ratio of nodule weight, while climatic factors had minor effects. Overall, this meta-analysis highlights the central role of microbial inoculation, particularly co-inoculation, and seed inoculation in enhancing soybean growth and yield in intercropping, offering a theoretical basis for optimizing intercropping regimes.
Gut microbiota-derived metabolites play essential roles in modulating immune system and the infections of multiple human and murine enteric viruses, but their roles in the pathogenesis of swine enteric coronaviruses (SECoVs) remain largely unresolved. In this study, we used alphacoronavirus porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) as a model to clarify the interactions between gut microbiota-derived metabolites and SECoVs from the perspective of regulating host innate immunity. We observed that PEDV infection of piglets pronouncedly increased both the abundance of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria and the production of their metabolites SCFAs. Notably, butyrate, a four-carbon SCFA, markedly promoted PEDV replication by acting on porcine small intestinal epithelial cells at the late phase of viral infection. This impact mediated by butyrate depended on its direct suppression of virus-activated interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) expressions, without inhibiting type I interferon (IFN) production. Mechanistic studies revealed that butyrate significantly inhibited histone deacetylases (HDACs) activity and class IIa HDACs expressions during PEDV infection. Utilizing pharmacological and genetic approaches, we further identified that butyrate dampened virus-induced antiviral ISG responses mainly by inhibiting class IIa HDACs, thus augmenting PEDV replication. Altogether, our findings shed light on how PEDV exploits gut microbiota-derived metabolite butyrate to escape from host innate antiviral immunity for swiftly establishing viral infection in the intestine, implying that gut microbiota-derived metabolites like butyrate might represent promising targets against SECoVs infection.
Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) is one of the most destructive viral diseases affecting rice production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where increasing demand and persistent yield gaps continue to compromise food security. RYMV shows significant genetic and phylogeographic diversity across SSA, driven by mutation, recombination, selection, and restricted regional spread, enabling adaptation to host resistance. The main resistance genes, RYMV1, RYMV2, and RYMV3, primarily derived from Oryza glaberrima, differ in their molecular mechanisms and the selective pressures they impose on viral populations. Resistance breakdown linked to RYMV1 primarily stems from mutations in the viral VPg protein, whereas resistance mediated by RYMV2 and RYMV3 is overcome through changes in the P2a polyprotein and coat protein (CP), respectively. An evolution-informed framework combining viral phylogeography, resistance-breaking pathways, and breeding deployment strategies is proposed to explain regional variation in resistance durability and enhance long-term resistance management. Currently, using marker-assisted pyramiding of complementary resistance genes is the most promising and scalable strategy for achieving durable resistance, while genomic selection provides opportunities to improve both quantitative and background resistance. Sustainable management of RYMV will require region-specific deployment of resistant varieties, continuous surveillance of viral populations, integration of quantitative resistance, and better seed system management to reduce selection pressure and virus spread. Emerging technologies such as genome editing and artificial intelligence-assisted breeding may further expand the resistance toolbox but require careful integration.
Salt tolerance during germination is a complex trait involving coordinated regulation of multiple developmental processes, yet its shared genetic architecture remains largely unknown. Here, we integrated genome-wide association study (GWAS) and multi-trait GWAS (MTAG) to dissect the pleiotropic basis of salt tolerance in 355 upland cotton accessions by using 2.52 million high-quality SNPs. A total of 517 and 534 significantly associated SNPs were identified by GWAS and MTAG, respectively, revealing 79 salt-tolerance-related QTLs. A major locus, qRST-D08-8, was refined to a 73.8 kb interval containing 12 candidate genes, among which GhWRKY21-D08 (Ghir_D08G020650) was supported by expression profiling and functional assays. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) indicated that GhWRKY21-D08 enhances salt tolerance in cotton by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS). Notably, a cis-regulatory SNP (-718 C/A) in the promoter region significantly altered transcriptional activity, linking regulatory variation to phenotypic divergence. Population genetic analyses suggest that the favorable haplotype (Hap1) has undergone recent positive selection during breeding without compromising yield-related traits. These findings highlight the role of cis-regulatory variation in shaping adaptive traits and provide a valuable target for molecular breeding of salt-tolerant cotton.
