Selenium (Se) biofortification represents a critical strategy for addressing micronutrient deficiency while enhancing fruit nutritional quality. This study investigated foliar applications of Se and Si nanoparticles (NPs) for peach Se biofortification and quality enhancement. Se NPs (95.2 nm) were synthesized and characterized using SEM, EDS, and FTIR analyses. Six treatments were applied: control (Ck), SeNPs-5, SeNPs-10, SiNPs-10, Se5Si10, and Se10Si10. SeNPs-10 achieved maximum Se biofortification (0.47 mg kg−1), representing 5.4-fold increases over controls, with 85% organic Se accumulation. Combined treatments demonstrated synergistic effects on multiple quality parameters. Se5Si10 led to the highest antioxidant enzyme activities (peroxidase: 2254 U g−1, catalase: 61.7 U g−1) and phenolic compound enhancement (chlorogenic acid: 267 mg kg−1, total phenolics: 12.8 mg GAE g−1). Flavonoid biosynthesis was optimized with Se10Si10 achieving maximum rutin accumulation (53.9 mg kg−1) and ascorbic acid content (60.7 mg/100 g). Physical quality improvements included enhanced firmness (100.9 N cm−2) and sugar accumulation (14.1% soluble solids). Combined treatments reduced oxidative stress markers (MDA: 22.11 μmol g−1) while enhancing protein metabolism. These findings demonstrate that Se-Si nanoparticle combinations showed optimal biofortification with synergistic quality enhancement, establishing effective strategies for nutritionally enriched peach production.

Transcription factors play a key role in plant growth and development. As the largest family of plant-specific transcription factors, the NAC family plays a central role in coordinating plant growth and development and environmental adaptation through its unique molecular design paradigm of “fixed N-terminal structural domain + variable C-terminal regulatory domain”. This review systematically analyses the multidimensional regulatory mechanisms of NAC transcription factors in developmental processes such as cell wall remodelling, root system architecture, leaf senescence and fruit ripening, and reveals their molecular basis for responding to biotic/abiotic stresses through strategies such as hormone signalling integration (ABA, SA, JA, etc.), antioxidant defence activation and metabolic reprogramming. The study found that NAC proteins precisely control plant growth through multiple regulatory mechanisms and have evolved to form both conservative and diverse functional modules, which are of great value for crop improvement. However, research still faces three major challenges: the NAC regulatory network in different crops is still unclear, the coordinated response to multiple stresses has not been solved, and the ecological risks of gene editing have not been assessed. To this end, this paper proposes to build an ‘NAC regulatory map database’ and use synthetic biology and artificial intelligence technology to design smarter, stress-tolerant and high-yielding crops, overcoming the limitations of traditional research.

HaWRKY33 is induced by salicylic acid and participates in the disease resistance signaling pathway of sunflower rust disease; however, the transcriptional regulatory mechanism of this protein against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in sunflowers remains unclear. Given this, we conducted a survey of 426 sunflower accessions at the natural disease nursery in Gannan County and identified a single dominant physiological race, MCG1, using simple sequence repeat methods. Additionally, we performed indoor inoculation tests using this dominant race and obtained disease-resistant varieties, W227 and BC2202-03, as well as susceptible varieties, N241 and Z155. Further, we inoculated the above resistant and susceptible combination materials with MCG1 and conducted transcriptomic analysis and RT-qPCR validation. Through KEGG analysis, we found that HaWRKY33 is involved in the plant–pathogen interaction pathway, suggesting that HaWRKY33 may regulate sunflower defense responses against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum through the plant–pathogen interaction pathway. Finally, yeast two-hybrid screening and AI prediction using AlphaFold 3 revealed strong interactions between ARG-189 and GLU-344 amino acids in the HaWRKY33-AOA251SVV7 proteins, indicating that the HaWRKY33-AOA251SVV7 pattern regulates the sunflower defense response against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in a transcriptional complex form. In summary, these results provide new insights into the disease resistance mechanisms of sunflowers against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and promote the development of molecular breeding for sunflower resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Lycopene-rich guava (Psidium guajava L.) exhibits significant economic potential as a functional food ingredient, making it highly valuable for the pharmaceutical and agro-food industries. However, there is a need to enhance the extraction methods of lycopene to fully exploit its beneficial uses. In this study, we evaluated various ionic liquids to identify the most effective one for extracting lycopene from guava. Among thirteen ionic liquids with varying carbon chains or anions, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride demonstrated the highest productivity. Subsequently, a single-factor experiment was employed to test the impact of several parameters on the efficiency of lycopene extraction using this selected ionic liquid. These parameters included extraction time, ultrasonic power, liquid-solid ratio, concentration of the ionic liquid, as well as material particle size. Moreover, models of artificial neural networks using genetic algorithms (ANN-GA) and response surface methodology (RSM) were employed to comprehensively assess the first four key parameters. The optimized conditions for ionic liquid ultrasound-assisted extraction (IL-UAE) were determined as follows: 33 min of extraction time, 225 W of ultrasonic power, 22 mL/g of liquid-solid ratio, 3.0 mol/L of IL concentration, and extraction cycles of three. Under these conditions, lycopene production reached an impressive yield of 9.35 +/- 0.36 mg/g while offering advantages such as high efficiency, time savings, preservation benefits, and most importantly environmental friendliness.

Gasdermin (GSDM) proteins are executioners of pyroptosis in many species. Gasdermin proteins can be cleaved at their linker region between the amino domain (NT) and carboxyl domain (CT) by enzymes. The released GSDM-NTs bind cell membrane and form pores, thereby leading to the release of cellular components and lytic cell death. GSDM-mediated pyroptosis is considered to play important role in immune responses. However, little is known about the GSDM proteins and GSDM-mediated pyroptosis in birds. In the current study, genes encoding chicken gasdermin A (chGSDMA) and chGSDME were cloned. The cleavage of chGSDMA and chGSDME by chicken caspase-1 (chCASP1), chCASP3 and chCASP7 and the cleavage sites were determined. The chGSDMA-NT obtained form chCASP1-mediated cleavage and chGSDME-NT obtained from chCASP3/chCASP7-mediated cleavage could bind and damage cell membrane and lead to cell death of HEK293 cells. chGSDMA-NT also strongly localized to and formed puncta in nucleus. Besides, both chGSDMA-NT and chGSDME-NT showed growth inhibition and bactericidal activity to bacteria. In chickens challenged with Pasteurella multocida and Salmonella typhimurium, the expression of chGSDMA and chGSDME was upregulated and the activation of chCASP3 and the cleavage of chGSDME were observed. The work provides essential information for expanding our knowledge on pyroptosis in birds.

Low temperatures have seriously affected crop growth owing to climate change and frequent extreme weather. Low-temperature disasters easily affect the early-growth stages of planted soybeans in Northeast China. In the present study, the comprehensive evaluation method using low-temperature (4 °C) simulation at soybean germination and seedling stages was used to compare soybean cultivars. The results revealed that low temperatures inhibited the germination ability of soybean seeds and prolonged the average germination time (about 7–13 days under low temperatures). Simultaneously, low-temperature stress at the seedling stage decreased plant height and dry weight, but accumulated proline and soluble sugar. The soluble protein content of most cultivars decreased at low temperatures. Peroxidase activity was significantly decreased in henong70, suinong82, and heinong83, and opposite in the other cultivars. Additionally, MDA content increased in cultivars heinong69, dongnong42, and dongnong55. The final comprehensive evaluation showed that Suinong42 had better low-temperature tolerance, whereas Kendou40 was more sensitive to low temperatures. The grey correlation analysis also showed that dry weight and proline can be used as the target traits for cultivar improvement.

IntroductionDrought stress has gradually become a limiting factor for plant growth. Soybean, a crop with a higher water demand than other plants, is particularly sensitive to water deficits.MethodTo explore the effect of drought stress on soybean protein expression, we used drought-tolerant soybean genotype HeiNong44 (HN44) and sensitive soybean genotype HeiNong65 (HN65) as experimental materials, PEG-6000 as an osmotic regulator, and tandem mass tag (TMT) technology to identify the differential expression of soybean proteins.ResultsWe identified that 48 upregulated and 38 downregulated proteins in HN44 and 55 upregulated and 13 downregulated proteins in HN65.DiscussionKEGG analysis showed that these differentially expressed proteins were involved in carbohydrate metabolism, signal transduction, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and programmed cell death. Drought stress usually caused an increase in the activity of plant antioxidant enzymes, the obstruction of photosynthetic synthesis, and a significant change in the content of plant hormones. We found that HN44 responds to drought stress mainly through sugar decomposition, increased antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid metabolism. HN65 responds to drought stress mainly through ABA synthesis, increased antioxidant enzyme activity and amino acid metabolism. Our study also found that differential proteins in the starch and sucrose metabolic pathway play a key role in supplying energy and regulating osmotic potential.

Soybeans are the main sources of oil and protein for most of the global population. As the population grows, so does the demand for soybeans. However, drought is a major factor that limits soybean production. Regulating soybean response to drought stress using mepiquat chloride (MC) is a feasible method; however, its mechanism is still unclear. This study used PEG-6000 to simulate drought stress and quantitative proteomic techniques to reveal changes in Heinong44 (HN44) and Heinong65 (HN65) subjected to drought following the application of 100 mg/L of MC. The results showed that SOD in HN44 did not change significantly but decreased by 22.61% in HN65 after MC pretreatment, and MDA content decreased by 22.75% and 21.54% in HN44 and HN65, respectively. Furthermore, MC improved the GSH–ASA cycle and simultaneously promoted the Calvin cycle process to enable the plant to maintain a certain carbon assimilation rate under osmotic stress. In addition, MC upregulated some proteins during gluconeogenesis and starch metabolism and increased soluble sugar content by 8.41% in HN44. MC also reduced ribosomal protein abundance, affecting translation and amino acid metabolism. In summary, MC improved GSH–ASA cycle and Calvin cycle under stress to alleviate oxidative damage and maintain crop growth. Our study is the first to report the mechanism of MC regulation in soybean under osmotic stress, providing new insights for the rational application of MC in soybean.

Background: Soybeans are the main sources of oil and protein for most of the global population. As the population grows, so does the demand for soybeans. However, drought is a major factor that limits soybean growth. Methods: The nitrogen content in different parts of the soybean under drought stress and rehydration was investigated using the soybean cultivars, HN44 and HN65, at different growth stages (vegetative growth, parallel period of vegetative growth and reproductive growth and reproductive growth). Result: During the vegetative growth stage, drought decreased the plant’s nitrogen content. After rehydration, all the organs showed different degrees of compensatory effects. During the parallel period of vegetative and reproductive growth, drought decreased the nitrogen content of the leaves. After rehydration, the nitrogen content was partially restored. During the reproductive growth period, drought affected the translocation of nitrogen to the sink. After rehydration, the nitrogen content increased in the pods and decreased in other parts. In summary, rehydration after drought during the vegetative growth period of soybean can lead to nitrogen accumulation, but the reproductive growth phase differs from earlier; therefore, this period should avoid drought stress.

Soybean is an important cash crop in the world, and drought is the main reason for the loss of soybean plants productivity, with drought stress during the most water-sensitive flowering period of soybeans. In this article, drought-tolerant variety Heinong 44 (HN44) and drought-sensitive variety Heinong 65 (HN65) were used as experimental materials. Drought treatment was carried out at the early flowering stage. The method of controlling soil moisture content was used to simulate different degrees of drought, and the physiological changes of these two varieties of soybean under different soil moisture contents were studied. The results showed that with a decrease in soil moisture content, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in soybean leaves increased significantly; the activities of peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbic acid peroxidase (APX) increased first and then decreased; the content of proline, soluble sugar, and soluble protein increased; and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) increased significantly. When the soil moisture content was 15.5%, the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation, osmotic regulatory substances, antioxidant enzyme activity, and T-AOC increased the most, and the decrease in drought-tolerant variety HN44 was significantly less than that of drought-sensitive variety HN65. Our research reveals the response law of soybean crops to physiological characteristics under water deficit and provides theoretical basis and guiding significance for drought-resistant cultivation and breeding of soybean.

Background: As an important source of feed protein, soybean is involved in the processing industry, food industry and other fields. Therefore, in recent years, the demand for soybean has increased and soybean planting areas have also increased. However, frequent droughts have a serious impact on soybean yield. Methods: During the flowering period, the soybean plants were subjected to drought treatments of different degrees (0-7 days without water). The superoxide anion and proline contents in the leaves were determined. Then, fitting curves were drawn between the soil moisture content and the superoxide anion and proline contents. Result: The effects of different soil moisture contents on the superoxide anion and proline contents in soybean leaves and the correlation between these contents were analyzed. According to the fitting curves, with a decrease in the volumetric water content of soil, the superoxide anion and proline contents in soybean leaves increased. The superoxide anion contents in drought-tolerant cultivars were significantly lower than those in drought-sensitive cultivars and the proline contents were significantly higher in drought-tolerant cultivars than those in drought-sensitive cultivars. The superoxide anion content in soybean leaves was positively correlated with the proline content in the soil volumetric water content range of 31.5% to 14.5%.

Osmotic stress has an important impact on the growth of soybean. In this study, Heinong44 (HN44) and Heinong65 (HN65) were used as the research objects and cultured in sand culture, four different stress levels were set to explore the response mechanisms of antioxidant enzymes, osmotic adjustment, membrane lipid system and agronomic traits of soybean seedlings under osmotic stress. The results showed that: (1) With the extension of osmotic stress intensity and treatment time, the antioxidant activity in soybean leaves increased first and then decreased. The antioxidant activity and osmotic adjustment substance content of HN44 were higher than HN65, and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was lower than HN65; (2) Membrane lipid peroxidation gradually increased and reached its peak on the 7th day of severe drought treatment; (3) With the aggravation of drought and the extension of drought time, the relative water content of soybean gradually decreased, and the increase of plant height slowed down, while the change of HN65 was more obvious than that of HN44; (4) Correlation analysis showed that when osmotic stress was severe, there was a significantly positive correlation between the activities of different antioxidant enzymes, and there was a significantly positive correlation between soluble sugar and soluble protein content, and there was a significantly positive correlation between soluble sugar and MDA content; (5) Through the fitting analysis of antioxidants system, the experimental results showed that superoxide dismutase would lead to the cascade reaction of antioxidant enzyme system.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.982415.].

Abstract Soybean is the most important oil crop globally; however, droughts are expected to seriously affect the growth and development of soybean in the context of climate change. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used to simulate drought to explore the regulation of proline metabolism in soybean leaves under different degrees of drought stress at the seedling stage. The results showed that the activities of ornithine aminotransferase and Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase increased while the activities of proline dehydrogenase decreased with an increase in drought stress. During the same number of treatment days, the higher the degree of drought stress, the greater the increase or decrease in enzyme activity. The content of leaf proline increased gradually with an extension in stress time at PEG concentrations of 5% and 10%, first increased and then decreased at PEG concentrations of 15% and 20%, and the peak value appeared on the 7th and 9th day, respectively.

Soybean is highly sensitive to drought stress during its flowering period. Heinong84 (HN84) and Hefeng46 (HF46) were planted in clay loam, silty loam, and sandy clay. We studied the effects of drought stress on the content of membrane lipid peroxides in flowering soybean leaves, the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and the activity of key enzymes of nitrogen metabolism under different soil conditions. Our results showed that soybean had clear physiological responses to drought stress. With increasing drought stress, the malondialdehyde, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase levels in soybean leaves increased continuously. Superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, glutamine synthase, and glutamate synthase levels increased with drought stress, reaching a maximum under moderate drought stress and then decreased; nitrate reductase activity decreased continuously. Under the condition of sufficient water, the performance of soybean in the three soils is almost the same, but there are differences under drought stress; particularly, soybean grown in clay loam shows the strongest drought resistance. In summary, the physiological state of soybean is easily affected by drought stress, which varies greatly among different cultivars and in different soil types.

Soybean is an important legume food crop, and its seeds are rich in nutrients, providing humans and animals with edible oil and protein feed. However, soybean is sensitive to water requirements, and drought is an important factor limiting soybean yield and quality. This study used Heinong 84 (drought resistant variety) and Hefeng 46 (intermediate variety) as tested varieties planted in chernozem, albic, and black soils. The effects of drought stress on the activities of key enzymes in carbon metabolism and photosynthetic characteristics of soybean were studied during the flowering stage, most sensitive to water. (1) The activities of SS-1, 6PGDH, and G6PDH enzymes in soybean leaves first increased and then decreased under drought stress. The enzyme activity was the highest under moderate drought stress and weakest in the blank group. (2) Drought stress increased Phi2, PhiNO, and Fm in soybean leaves and reached the highest value under severe drought; with the increase in drought stress, PhiNPQ and Fv/Fm of soybean leaves gradually decreased, reaching the lowest under severe drought. (3) With the increase in drought stress, F0 and Fs of soybean leaves showed a single peak curve, and the maximum was at moderate drought. (4) Correlation analysis showed that F0 was greatly affected by varieties and soil types; Fs, F0, and Fm soil varieties had a great influence, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were affected differently under drought stress with different drought degrees. (5) Drought stress changed the agronomic traits and yield of soybean. With the increase of drought degree, plant height, node number of main stem, effective pod number, 100-seed weight and total yield decreased continuously. (6) Drought stress affected the dry matter accumulation of soybean. With the increase of drought degree, the dry matter accumulation gradually decreased. Among them, the leaf was most seriously affected by drought, and SD decreased by about 55% compared with CK. Under the condition of black soil, the dry matter accumulation of soybean was least affected by drought.

Drought is one of the major abiotic stress factors limiting soybean growth and yield, and it frequently occur globally. Therefore, exploring resistant varieties from soybean germplasm is important under climate change. To screen drought resistant spring soybean varieties at seedling stage, pot experiment was used to detect the Survival percentage after drought stress of 60 soybean varieties at seedling stage, twice drought rehydration treatments on seedlings, to evaluate the drought tolerance of spring soybean. The results showed that at the seedling stage, seven varieties were considered drought tolerant, 17 varieties were considered drought sensitive, and 36 varieties were considered to be moderately drought tolerant. Based on this experiment, number 44 (heinong37), 48 (heinong44), 49 (heinong45), 52 (heinong48) is considered the best drought resistant, and number 3 (dongnong48), 4 (dongnong52), 27 (suinong25), 60 (heinong65) is the most sensitive. These varieties provide a reference for further study on drought tolerance and stress resistance gene screening of soybean at the molecular level. The selected soybean varieties can be planted in areas with suitable climates and frequent drought to meet the local soybean demand. In other regions, although cannot be directly grown, they can still be used as parents of selected varieties or as materials for gene screening and extraction, to assist crop breeding at the molecular level in response to increasingly severe drought stress problems under the current climate trends.

Soybean is an important crop grown worldwide, and drought stress seriously affects the yield and quality of soybean. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying soybean resistance to drought stress. In this study, RNA-seq technology and ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry were used to analyze the transcriptome and metabolome changes in soybean leaves at the seedling stage under drought stress. The results showed that there were 4790 and 3483 DEGs (differentially expressed genes) and 156 and 124 DAMs (differentially expressed metabolites), respectively, in the HN65CK vs. HN65S0 and HN44CK vs. HN44S0 comparison groups. Comprehensive analysis of transcriptomic and metabolomic data reveals metabolic regulation of seedling soybean in response to drought stress. Some candidate genes such as LOC100802571, LOC100814585, LOC100777350 and LOC100787920, LOC100800547, and LOC100785313 showed different expression trends between the two cultivars, which may cause differences in drought resistance. Secondly, a large number of flavonoids were identified, and the expression of Monohydroxy-trimethoxyflavone-O-(6″-malonyl)glucoside was upregulated between the two varieties. Finally, several key candidate genes and metabolites involved in isoflavone biosynthesis and the TCA cycle were identified, suggesting that these metabolic pathways play important roles in soybean response to drought. Our study deepens the understanding of soybean drought resistance mechanisms and provides references for soybean drought resistance breeding.

Soybeans are an important economic crop. As the most widely used growth regulator globally, the molecular mechanism of mepiquat chloride (DPC) in soybean remains unknown. In this study, RNA sequencing technology combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry were used to analyze the changes in the leaf transcriptome and metabolomics of soybean leaves at the seedling stage under DPC stress. The results showed that differentially expressed genes related to photosynthesis and cell wall synthesis were significantly downregulated at the transcriptional level. In addition, the syntheses of gibberellin, zeatin, brassinolide, and other plant hormones were inhibited in the signal transduction pathway of plant hormones, thereby inhibiting plant growth. In contrast, at the metabolic level, the expression levels of flavonoid differential metabolites were significantly increased, and the proportions of flavonoids in the two varieties were 61.5 and 66%, respectively. The combined analysis of transcriptome and metabolomics showed that the differential expressed genes and metabolites were mainly enriched in the isoflavonoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. Principally, DPC inhibited plant growth but improved drought resistance. Our study is the first to report the molecular mechanism of DPC regulation in soybean, providing useful insights into the rational application of DPC in soybean.

Melatonin has been regarded as a promising substance that enhances the abiotic stress tolerance of plants. However, few studies have devoted attention to the role of melatonin in improving salt tolerance in sugar beets. Here, the effects of different application methods (foliar application (100 μM), root application (100 μM), and combined foliar and root application) of melatonin on the morphological and physiological traits of sugar beets exposed to salt stress were investigated. The results showed that melatonin improved the growth of sugar beet seedlings, root yield and sugar content, synthesis of chlorophyll, photosystem II (PS II) activity, and gas exchange parameters under salt stress conditions. Moreover, melatonin enhanced the capacity of osmotic adjustment by increasing the accumulation of osmolytes (betaine, proline, and soluble sugar). At the same time, melatonin increased the H+-pump activities in the roots, thus promoting Na+ efflux and K+ influx, which maintained K+/Na+ homeostasis and mitigated Na+ toxicity. In addition, melatonin strengthened the antioxidant defense system by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, modulating the ASA-GSH cycle, and mediating the phenylalanine pathway, which removed superoxide anions (O2•−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and maintained cell membrane integrity. These positive effects were more pronounced when melatonin was applied by combined foliar and root application. To summarize, this study clarifies the potential roles of melatonin in mitigating salt stress in sugar beets by improving photosynthesis, water status, ion homeostasis, and the antioxidant defense system.