As an important thermophilous crop, maize is sensitive to low temperature stress. A GPCR-like G protein, ZmCOLD1, has been confirmed that is related to cold tolerance in maize. However, the regulatory mechanism of ZmCOLD1 under cold stress is unclear. In this study, we employed transgenic Arabidopsis plants, maize protoplasts, and Nicotiana benthamiana systems to characterize the structure and activation of ZmCOLD1-10A promoter and its protein interaction. Analysis revealed that the promoter region contains multiple cis-acting elements, including cold-responsive elements (DRE core, MYB, and MYB-like sequences), ABA-responsive elements (ABRE, ABRE3a/ABRE4, and motif IIb), and other special elements. Promoter activity assays demonstrated that the ZmCOLD1-10A promoter is markedly induced under cold stress, dark treatment, and ABA treatment. Functional studies in transgenic Arabidopsis showed that overexpression of ZmCOLD1-10A significantly enhanced cold tolerance, with substantial reduction in electrolyte leakage compared to wild-type plants. Using luciferase reporter assays, we identified that the core interaction site between ZmCOLD1 and ZmCT2 involves the HL domain of ZmCOLD1-10A and the C-terminal of ZmCT2. These findings establish a foundation for further investigation into G proteins and GTG protein-mediated cold stress signaling in maize.

To address the issue of insufficient accuracy and stability in pneumatic peanut planters during high-speed operations (above 8 km/h), this study designs a peanut precision planter based on combined positive and negative pressure, and improves its performance via multi-dimensional optimization. The research uses Shandong u201CSilihongu201D peanuts as the study subject, determining their geometric characteristics and designing the core parameters of the seed-metering disc: diameter of 255 mm, 21 suction holes, and suction hole diameter of 6.2 mm. A comparative simulation using EDEM discrete element method between the arc-shaped and spoke-wing groove seed disturbance structures shows that the spoke-wing groove structure increases the average seed speed by 17.0%, significantly improving the seed filling effect. A coupled Fluent-EDEM gas-solid simulation confirmed the optimal negative pressure to be 6.0 kPa, achieving a single-seed adsorption rate of 98.6%. Orthogonal experiments were performed to optimize the operating parameters, and the optimal combination with corresponding sowing performance indices was obtained. Field tests indicated that the performance of the planter meets the national standards for precision sowing when the operating speed is u226412 km/h.

Maize has a long generation cycle and sensitivity to photoperiod, which limit breeding efficiency. An LED plant factory with suitable light conditions provides a promising approach to overcoming challenges in speed breeding. This study optimized the LED light environment to enhance growth and tassel development in the maize inbred line from the V3 to V9 stages. Six lighting treatments were tested, combining three light intensities (800, 1200, and 1600 μmol m−2 s−1) and two photoperiods (10 h d−1 and 12 h d−1). Treatment with a light intensity of 1600 μmol m−2 s−1 and a photoperiod of 10 h d−1 resulted in the highest shoot fresh weight (396.9 g per plant), shoot dry weight (42.4 g per plant), leaf area (51.3 dm2 per plant), and stomatal length (34.6 μm), as well as improved photosystem performance. Furthermore, this treatment promoted tassel development, with the tassel length at the V9 stage being 45.8% longer than that under the treatment with a light intensity of 800 μmol m−2 s−1 and a photoperiod of 10 h d−1. These findings establish an optimized lighting strategy that significantly enhances the growth and tassel development of maize inbred lines from the V3 to V9 stages, providing a suitable light environment for maize speed breeding in plant factory systems.

The application of high-level data fusion in the detection of agricultural products still presents a significant challenge. In this study, dual-channel feature fusion model (DCFFM) with attention mechanism was proposed to optimize the utilization of both one-dimensional spectral data and two-dimensional image data in the hyperspectral images for achieving high-level data fusion. A comparative analysis of support vector machine (SVM), convolutional neural network (CNN) with DCFFM, demonstrated that DCFFM exhibited superior results, achieving the accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score of 95.13 %, 95.49 %, 94.83 %, 98.97 %, 95.12 % in the visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR), and 94.00 %, 94.43 %, 94.16 %, 98.67 %, 94.27 % in the short-wave infrared (SWIR). This also indicated that Vis-NIR was more suitable for identifying unsound soybeans than SWIR. Furthermore, visualization was employed to demonstrate classification outcomes, thereby illustrating the generalization capacity of DCFFM through model inversion. In summary, this study is to explore a modeling framework that is capable of the comprehensive acquisition of spectra and images in the hyperspectral images, allowing for high-level data fusion, thereby achieving enhanced levels of accuracy.

Rapeseed is an important oil crop in the world. Wood vinegar could increase the yield and abiotic resistance of rapeseed. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of wood vinegar or its valid chemical components on rapeseed. In the present study, wood vinegar and butyrolactone (γ-Butyrolactone, one of the main components of wood vinegar) were applied to rapeseed at the seedling stage, and the molecular mechanisms of wood vinegar that affect rapeseed were studied by combining transcriptome and metabolomic analyses. The results show that applying wood vinegar and butyrolactone increases the biomass of rapeseed by increasing the leaf area and the number of pods per plant, and enhances the tolerance of rapeseed under low temperature by reducing membrane lipid oxidation and improving the content of chlorophyll, proline, soluble sugar, and antioxidant enzymes. Compared to the control, 681 and 700 differentially expressed genes were in the transcriptional group treated with wood vinegar and butyrolactone, respectively, and 76 and 90 differentially expressed metabolites were in the metabolic group. The combination of transcriptome and metabolomic analyses revealed the key gene-metabolic networks related to various pathways. Our research shows that after wood vinegar and butyrolactone treatment, the amino acid biosynthesis pathway of rapeseed may be involved in mediating the increase in rapeseed biomass, the proline metabolism pathway of wood vinegar treatment may be involved in mediating rapeseed’s resistance to low-temperature stress, and the sphingolipid metabolism pathway of butyrolactone treatment may be involved in mediating rapeseed’s resistance to low-temperature stress. It is suggested that the use of wood vinegar or butyrolactone are new approaches to increasing rapeseed yield and low-temperature resistance.

In tea (Camellia sinensis), anthocyanins are important secondary metabolites that are linked to leaf color. Anthocyanin biosynthesis is a complex biological process, in which multiple genes including structural and regulatory genes are involved. Here, we describe the cloning and characterizing of a new R2R3-MYB transcription factor gene, CsRAB, isolated from purple tea variety ‘Hongfei’. Consistent with its predicted role as a transcription factor, the CsRAB protein localized to nuclei when expressed in onion (Allium cepa) epidermal cell. A dual-luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that CsRAB acts as a transcriptional activator in vivo. CsRAB overexpression in Arabidopsis seedlings led to higher expression levels of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes, and consequently, purple stems and higher anthocyanin contents were exhibited in overexpressing lines compared to wild type. The results indicated that CsRAB plays critical roles in positively regulating anthocyanins biosynthesis in tea plants.

S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) is widely involved in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress response. SAM synthetase (SAMS) is the key enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of SAM from methionine and ATP. However, the SAMS gene family has not been identified and their functions have not been characterized in most Cucurbitaceae plants. Here, a total of 30 SAMS genes were identified in nine Cucurbitaceae species and they were categorized into 3 subfamilies. Physicochemical properties and gene structure analysis showed that the SAMS protein members are tightly conserved. Further analysis of the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) of SAMS genes' promoter implied their potential roles in stress tolerance. To further understand the molecular functions of SAMS genes, watermelon SAMSs (ClSAMSs) were chosen to analyze the expression patterns in different tissues and under various abiotic stress and hormone responses. Among the investigated genes, ClSAMS1 expression was observed in all tissues and found to be up-regulated by abiotic stresses including salt, cold and drought treatments as well as exogenous hormone treatments including ETH, SA, MeJA and ABA. Furthermore, knockdown of ClSAMS1 via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) decreased SAM contents in watermelon seedings. The pTRSV2ClSAMS1 plants showed reduced susceptibility to drought, cold and NaCl stress, indicating a positive role of ClSAMS1 in abiotic stresses tolerance. Those results provided candidate SAMS genes to regulate plant resistance against abiotic stresses in Cucurbitaceae plants.

The quality of rice, evaluated using multiple quality-related traits, is the main determinant of its market competitiveness. In this study, two japonica rice varieties with significant differences in quality-related traits were used as parents to construct two populations, BC3F2 and BC3F2:3, with Kongyu131 (KY131) as the recurrent parent. A genetic linkage map was constructed using the BC3F2 population based on 151 pairs of SSR/InDel polymorphic markers selected between the parents. Grain-shape-related traits (grain length GL, grain width GW, and length-to-width ratio LWR), chalkiness-related traits (white-core rate WCR, white-belly rate WBR, white-back rate BR, and chalkiness rate CR), and amylose content (AC) were investigated in the two populations in 2017 and 2018. Except for BR and CR, the traits showed similar characteristics with a normal distribution in both populations. Genetic linkage analysis was conducted for these quality-related traits, and a total of 37 QTLs were detected in the two populations. Further validation was performed on the newly identified QTLs with larger effects, and three grain shape QTLs and four chalkiness QTLs were successfully validated in different environments. One repeatedly validated QTL, qWCR3, was selected for fine mapping and was successfully narrowed down to a 100 kb region in which only two genes, LOC_0s03g45210 and LOC_0s03g45320, exhibited sequence variations between the parents. Furthermore, the variation of LOC_Os03g45210 leads to a frameshift mutation and premature protein termination. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for positional cloning of the qWCR3 gene, thus offering new genetic resources for rice quality improvement.

Freezing stress is the main factor affecting the normal growth and distribution of plants. The safe overwintering of a perennial deciduous plant is a crucial link to ensuring its survival and yield. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of its gene regulation metabolites as related to its freeze-tolerance. In order to enhance our comprehension of freeze-tolerance metabolites and gene expression in dormant apple trees, we examined the metabolic and transcriptomic differences between ‘Ralls’ and ‘Fuji’, two apple varieties with varying degrees of resistance to freezing. The results of the freezing treatment showed that ‘Ralls’ had stronger freeze-tolerance than ‘Fuji’. We identified 302, 334, and 267 up-regulated differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) and 408, 387, and 497 down-regulated DAMs between ‘Ralls’ and ‘Fuji’ under −10, −15, and −20 °C treatment, respectively. A total of 359 shared metabolites were obtained in the upward trend modules, of which 62 metabolites were associated with 89 pathways. The number of up-regulated genes accounted for 50.2%, 45.6%, and 43.2% of the total number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), respectively, at −10, −15, and −20 °C. Through combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis, we identified 12 pathways that included 16 DAMs and 65 DEGs. Meanwhile, we found that 20 DEGs were identified in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and its related pathways, involving the metabolism of p-Coumaroyl-CoA, 7, 4′-Dihydroxyflavone, and scolymoside. These discoveries advance our comprehension of the molecular mechanism underlying apple freeze-tolerance and provide genetic material for breeding apple cultivars with enhanced freeze-tolerance.

The mechanical strength of the stalk affects the lodging resistance and digestibility of the stalk in maize. The molecular mechanisms regulating the brittleness of stalks in maize remain undefined. In this study, we constructed the maize brittle stalk mutant (bk5) by crossing the W22:Mu line with the Zheng 58 line. The brittle phenotype of the mutant bk5 existed in all of the plant organs after the five-leaf stage. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, the sclerenchyma cells of bk5 stalks had a looser cell arrangement and thinner cell wall. Determination of cell wall composition showed that obvious differences in cellulose content, lignin content, starch content, and total soluble sugar were found between bk5 and WT stalks. Furthermore, we identified 226 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), with 164 genes significantly upregulated and 62 genes significantly downregulated in RNA-seq analysis. Some pathways related to cellulose and lignin synthesis, such as endocytosis and glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored biosynthesis, were identified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) and gene ontology (GO) analysis. In bulked-segregant sequence analysis (BSA-seq), we detected 2,931,692 high-quality Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and identified five overlapped regions (11.2 Mb) containing 17 candidate genes with missense mutations or premature termination codons using the SNP-index methods. Some genes were involved in the cellulose synthesis-related genes such as ENTH/ANTH/VHS superfamily protein gene (endocytosis-related gene) and the lignin synthesis-related genes such as the cytochrome p450 gene. Some of these candidate genes identified from BSA-seq also existed with differential expression in RNA-seq analysis. These findings increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the brittle stalk phenotype in maize.

: Somatic hybridization is an important way to create new germplasm. Somatic hybrids produced plenty of genetic variation during protoplast regeneration. In this study, to analyze the chromosome composition and variation of potato and eggplant somatic hybrids, rDNAs and telomeric repeats were used as probes for FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization), combined with GISH (Genomic in situ hybridization). The results showed that rearranged chromosomes and dicentric chromosomes existed in somatic hybrids, and the parts of the rearranged chromosomes was derived from the end-to-end fusion of potato and eggplant chromosomes 2. One centromere of the rearranged dicentric chromosomes was derived from potato and the other was from eggplant. Eggplant 5S rDNA sites were lost in somatic hybrids to homogenize the rDNA of somatic hybrids. The results of this study indicated that the chromosomes were unstable during the somatic hybridization of potato and eggplant, which can easily cause dicentric and chromosomal rearrangements in somatic hybrids. The chromosomes of somatic hybrids tended to be stable through various ways such as chromosome rearrangement, dicentric and rDNA homogenization.

科学技术是产业发展的支撑,解决产业发展面临的问题始终是马铃薯科研的宗旨.推翻清朝帝制后中国始有系统的马铃薯科学研究,迄今仅百余年历史,而每个阶段均有其突出的目标和彰显的成就.20世纪30年代起步的品种筛选和杂交育种奠定了50年代首次品种更新的基础,单产显著提高.新中国成立后,"六五"到"九五"的全国马铃薯科研攻关,系统开展了育种、种植区划、种质资源评价和良种繁育研究,支撑了产业的快速发展,使中国成为最大的马铃薯生产国.新世纪以来的应用研究和应用基础研究为马铃薯产业的提质增效提供了有力支撑.尤其是处于学科前沿的马铃薯性状遗传调控研究,增强了技术创新和科技竞争的潜力,将进一步提升马铃薯在保障国家粮食安全和满足健康生活需求方面的战略地位.

Overcoming short-day-dependent tuberization to adapt to long-day conditions is critical for the widespread geographical success of potato. The genetic pathways of photoperiodic tuberization are similar to those of photoperiodic flowering. DNA methylation plays an important role in photoperiodic flowering. However, little is known about how DNA methylation affects photoperiodic tuberization in potato. Here, we verified the effect of a DNA methylation inhibitor on photoperiodic tuberization and compared the DNA methylation levels and differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in the photoperiodic tuberization process between photoperiod-sensitive and photoperiod-insensitive genotypes, aiming to dissect the role of DNA methylation in the photoperiodic tuberization of potato. We found that a DNA methylation inhibitor could promote tuber initiation in strict short-day genotypes. Whole-genome DNA methylation sequencing showed that the photoperiod-sensitive and photoperiod-insensitive genotypes had distinct DNA methylation modes in which few differentially methylated genes were shared. Transcriptome analysis confirmed that the DNA methylation inhibitor regulated the expression of the key genes involved in the photoperiod and GA pathways to promote tuber initiation in the photoperiod-sensitive genotype. Comparison of the DNA methylation levels and transcriptome levels identified 52 candidate genes regulated by DNA methylation that were predicted to be involved in photoperiodic tuberization. Our findings provide a new perspective for understanding the relationship between photoperiod-dependent and GA-regulated tuberization. Uncovering the epigenomic signatures of these pathways will greatly enhance potato breeding for adaptation to a wide range of environments.

SUMMARYPhytohormones and their interactions play critical roles in Solanum tuberosum (potato) tuberization. The stimulatory role of jasmonic acid (JA) in tuber development is well established because of its significant promotion of tuber initiation and tuber bulking. However, the dynamics and potential function of JA signalling in potato tuberization remain largely unknown. The present study investigated the role of the JAZ1 subtype, a suppressor of JA signalling, in potato tuberization. Using 35S:StJAZ1‐like‐GUS as a reporter, we showed that JA signalling was attenuated from the bud end to the stem end shortly after tuber initiation. Overexpression of StJAZ1‐like suppressed tuber initiation by restricting the competence for tuber formation in stolon tips, as demonstrated by grafting an untransformed potato cultivar to the stock of StJAZ1‐like‐overexpressing transgenic potato plants (StJAZ1‐like ox). In addition, transcriptional profiling analysis revealed that StJAZ1‐like modulates the expression of genes associated with transcriptional regulators, cell cycle, cytoskeleton and phytohormones. Furthermore, we showed that StJAZ1‐like is destabilised upon treatment with abcisic acid (ABA), and the attenuated tuberization phenotype in StJAZ1‐like ox plants can be partially rescued by ABA treatment. Altogether, these results revealed that StJAZ1‐like‐mediated JA signalling plays an essential role in potato tuberization.

马铃薯是全球最大的非谷类粮食作物,在全球经济和粮食安全中发挥重要作用.块茎是马铃薯的经济器官和繁殖器官,存储了大量淀粉,其发育过程受糖信号调控.糖信号调控马铃薯块茎形态建成及库源关系.本文概述了植物糖信号途径,糖信号调控马铃薯块茎形态建成、淀粉积累及其与光周期、植物激素等信号途径的关系等方面的研究进展,并在此基础上提出了糖信号调控马铃薯块茎发育的模式,旨在为进一步阐明糖信号调控马铃薯块茎发育的机制提供借鉴.

KPNA7 is an essential nuclear protein for early embryogenesis and normal fertility. The aim of our study was to determine the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the KPNA7 gene and the reproductive traits in France Large White pigs. Six new SNPs were identified by sequencing. Sows with CT genotype of rs81308652 had a significantly higher total number born than sows with CC and TT genotype in first parity. Litters from sows with TT genotype of rs81308652 had a significantly lower number of weak births than litters from sows with CC and CT genotype in multi parity. Individuals with GG genotype of rs327848277 showed higher litter weight at birth (LWB) and number of healthy births than individuals with genotype GT and TT in first parity, and individuals with genotype GG had lower LWB compared to other genotypes in multi parity. However, we obtained no statistically significant results for association between the SNPs in other four loci and reproductive traits in both primiparous and multiparous pigs. In conclusion, our results show that there are significant association of identified SNPs located in KPNA7 gene with pig reproductive traits, and provided a theoretical basis for genetic improvement of pig reproductive traits.

马铃薯在南美已有上万年的栽培驯化历史,然其在大陆间的传播仅发生在近代数百年间,海路是唯一可能的途径,但马铃薯引入中国的时间和途径却无定论.本文根据航海史料及最早发现大陆间特异物种的时间推测,马铃薯引进中国的时间可能为明永乐二十一年(1423年)郑和的第6次航海返回之时.根据典籍方志所载分析,马铃薯最初200年主要种植于北京,逐步成为皇宫珍肴.清朝时期于相互毗邻的乌蒙山区、武陵山区和秦巴山区广为栽培,是我国马铃薯最早的集中产区.

Salt stress triggers the overdose accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in crop plants, leading to severe oxidative damage to living tissues. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as master regulators orchestrating the stress responsive regulatory networks as well as salt tolerance. However, the fundamental roles of miRNAs in modulating salt tolerance in cereal crops, especially in salt-triggered ROS scavenging remain largely unknown. Through small RNA sequencing, a salt-responsive miRNA, miR172 was identified in rice. Further, by generating the miR172-overexpression or MIR172 gene loss-of-function mutant lines, the biological significance of miR172 and its downstream signaling pathways related to salt tolerance were defined. We demonstrated that miR172 is a positive regulator of salt tolerance in both rice and wheat. More interestingly, miR172a and miR172b, but not miR172c or miR172d are involved in salt stress response, emphasizing the functional differentiation within miR172 family members. Further evidence uncovers a novel miR172/IDS1 regulatory module that functions as a crucial molecular rheostat in maintaining ROS homeostasis during salt stress, mainly through balancing the expression of a group of ROS-scavenging genes. Our findings establish a direct molecular link between miRNAs and detoxification response in cereal crops for improving salt tolerance.

马铃薯明末清初仅在民间零散种植,对寒苦瘠薄之地的适应,使之在清中后期成为西南及其毗邻地区平民救灾度荒之粮,为清政府在西南实施和巩固"改土归流"的民族治理制度提供了大量移民安生立命的粮食保障.其高产特性使发展马铃薯成为抗战时期保障民食军需的重要措施.1950年以来,在国民经济发展计划中马铃薯种植面积、总产和产值持续增长,马铃薯对主粮作物产值贡献的比例平均为其所占面积比例的2倍以上.马铃薯产业在保障国家粮食安全、农业增效以及满足需求侧对食品多元化和健康需求方面,将进一步发挥其独特的生物学优势,彰显其重要的战略地位.

因病毒引起的种薯退化是马铃薯生产面临的主要问题之一,生产脱毒种薯是解决这一问题的主要途径,而试管薯是脱毒种薯生产的首要环节.然而,不同基因型马铃薯的试管薯形成能力差异较大,阻碍了试管薯的应用.比较了4个杂交组合后代共222个基因型材料(Solanum tuberosum L.)在短日照(8 h光照/16 h黑暗)诱导条件下的试管薯形成情况.结果显示,4个组合在结薯方式、结薯时间、结薯率及单薯重等方面均存在显著差异,表明马铃薯试管薯形成受亲本遗传基础影响十分明显.进一步比较各个组合内不同基因型的试管薯形成情况,发现组合内差异大于组合间差异,差异程度也因组合而异.此外,基于SSR分子标记与试管薯形成性状的相关性分析,发现4个组合中与结薯时间、结薯率及单薯重相关的遗传位点差异明显.同一性状在不同组合中仅存在个别共有位点,同一组合中不同性状之间的遗传相关性则因组合而异.结果从群体层面上结合表型和遗传位点,进一步证实了遗传基础对马铃薯试管薯形成的决定性影响,为马铃薯新品种培育提供了理论基础.