Southern leaf blight (SLB) is a significant and persistent threat to global maize production. While genomic selection (GS) offers promise for improving complex traits, strategies leveraging functionally informed SNPs with reduced marker sets can enhance model efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and biological interpretability. Here, we established a large association panel comprising 2,108 diverse inbred lines and employed a multi-model genome-wide association study (GWAS) framework. Through this approach, we identified 325 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) and resolved 83 candidate genes. These candidate genes were functionally enriched in plant immune responses and included known disease resistance gene ChSK1 and ZmMM1. Haplotype analysis revealed that favorable alleles of novel candidate genes including ZmCNGC2 and ZmAGC1.8 are predominantly enriched in specific subgroups such as tropical lines but remain underutilized in other modern breeding materials, indicating significant potential for genetic improvement. Leveraging these genetic insights, we developed a compact set of 83 GWAS Tag-SNPs. This compact marker set achieved genomic prediction accuracy comparable to a full genome-wide markers while reducing marker density by 99.7%. In independent validation, the compact SNP set maintained robust predictive ability, which could be further enhanced by incorporating population structure as covariates. Our study provides a comprehensive dissection of the genetic architecture of SLB resistance and offers a cost-effective and biologically interpretable framework for disease resistance breeding in maize.

Peanut meal has become a popular substitute for soybean meal because of its high protein content, arginine levels, palatability, and cost. However, it is prone to contamination by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). This study has, for the first time, developed a series of thermally modified attapulgite (TATP) as adsorbents for AFB1 removal from peanut meal, with TATP-500 showing the highest adsorption capacity. Comprehensive characterization revealed that thermal activation transformed the internal structure of ATP, increasing its pore size. Kinetic and isotherm adsorption studies showed that the AFB1 adsorption exhibited monolayer characteristics. The maximum adsorption capacity of 6.62 mu g/mg was comparable to other reported clay-based adsorbents. With a TATP-500 to peanut meal mass ratio of 1:1000, over 75 % detoxification efficiency was achieved without significantly affecting the nutrition and safety of peanut meal. This innovative application of TATP-500 offers a promising and effective method for detoxifying AFB1 in feedstuffs.

Salinization stress poses a major environmental factor that adversely affects maize (Zea mays L.) growth and development. Thus, identifying and utilizing alkaline tolerance-related genes in maize is crucial for enhancing resistance to alkaline stress. In this study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to analyze alkali tolerance in seedlings, focusing on biomass-related traits at the seedling stage across a panel of 212 maize inbred lines. The analysis found nine single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci significantly associated with alkali tolerance during the seedling stage. Within the confidence intervals of these loci, 57 genes with clear functional annotations were identified, among which eight were predicted to be involved in alkali tolerance based on functional annotation and homology analysis. qRT-PCR expression validation of selected candidate genes revealed that the relative expression level of GRMZM2G028089 was similar between in L99 and M-J244-3 lines. In contrast, the expression levels of GRMZM2G071196, GRMZM2G313162 and GRMZM5G883126 were higher in the L99 line compared to M-J244-3, suggesting their potential positive regulatory roles in the response to alkaline stress. These findings provide important theoretical support for the targeted breeding of alkali-resistant maize varieties.

Aflatoxin contamination is a major food safety concern and has a particularly negative impact on peanuts. Climate conditions are known to influence the natural occurrence of mycotoxins; however, the specific impacts of climate change on the prevalence of aflatoxin remain poorly understood. In this study, we analysed a national-scale dataset comprising 17263 records of peanut aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination in China from 2009 to 2022. Our results revealed that the occurrence of AFB1 contamination in 2017 and 2021 significantly increased compared with that in 2009. The key climatic drivers included nighttime temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. Notably, temperature variations explain 49.46

Drought stress during flowering severely threatens maize productivity by disrupting the synchrony of male and female flowering, while its genetic basis remains poorly understood. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis, we identify an ABI3 transcription factor gene ZmABI45 as a key regulator of drought-induced anthesis-silking interval (ASI). We characterize a 12-bp insertion or deletion (indel) in the promoter of ZmABI45, demonstrating that its deletion allele enhances drought tolerance by escaping transcriptional repression by ZmbHLH80. Overexpression of ZmABI45 significantly shortens ASI and improves grain yield under drought. ZmABI45 activates stress-responsive genes under drought and suppresses growth-related processes under normal conditions. Evolutionary and ecological analyses further indicate that the drought-tolerance haplotype has been selected during modern maize breeding and shows a geographic distribution correlated with low-precipitation areas. Our work highlights how cis-regulatory variation fine-tunes stress adaptation and provides a valuable gene resource for breeding drought-resilient maize.

Maize landraces, shaped by long-term adaptation to diverse environments, represent an invaluable but underexplored resource for modern breeding. Despite their potential, the genetic architecture and breeding value of Chinese maize landraces remain poorly characterized. In this study, we established a global diversity panel comprising 3,187 maize landraces, including 2,042 accessions from China, and integrated genomic data from teosintes and modern inbred lines to trace the evolutionary and breeding history of maize. We delineated Chinese landraces into seven distinct genetic groups, whose spatial distribution closely aligns with major agro-ecological zones in China, revealing a genetic structure profoundly influenced by local adaptation. Notably, TreeMix and fd analyses revealed significant gene flow between the Chinese landrace group CL3, which primarily distributed in the Huang-Huai-Hai plain, and the Sipingtou (SPT) inbred lines. Furthermore, XP-CLR analysis indicated that the selected regions encompass genes associated with abiotic stress response, flowering and photoperiod regulation, and growth processes, highlighting the functional relevance of landrace-derived alleles. Through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we identified numerous candidate genes for key traits, including known flowering regulator ZCN8 and disease resistance gene OPR8. Although modern breeding has efficiently accumulated favorable alleles for desired traits, landraces retain unique favorable alleles, particularly in flowering time and disease resistance, which are largely untapped. This study provides a comprehensive genetic resource and unveils the evolutionary and breeding dynamics of Chinese maize landraces. Our findings underscore the necessity of targeted utilization of landrace diversity to broaden the genetic base and enhance resilience in future maize breeding.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in peanut meal poses a significant risk to human and animal health, as well as to food safety and the feed industry. However, none of the detoxification technologies demonstrate significant potential for industrial applications in terms of efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and safety for detoxifying AFB1 in peanut meals. To address this challenge, this study proposes a novel detoxifier by integrating attapulgite (ATP), a low-cost AFB1 adsorbent, with laccase, an effective enzyme for AFB1 degradation. By optimization of the synthesis conditions, including the initial laccase activity and volume, reaction temperature and time, as well as the pH of the buffer system, the modified ATP-supported laccase (MATP-La) with the highest loading capacity and enzymatic activity has been successfully developed. Stability experiments revealed that the immobilized laccase considerably improved the enzymatic stability compared to free laccase. The detoxification performance of MATP-La was evaluated across a broad range of AFB1 concentrations. Results showed that the synergistic effect between MATP adsorption and laccase-facilitated degradation enabled MATP-La to achieve excellent detoxification efficiency. Specifically, adding only 0.1 % of MATP-La to contaminated peanut meal resulted in over 90 % AFB1 detoxification within 24 h. Additionally, cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated the safety of MATP-La. In summary, this study not only offers a novel and practical approach for detoxifying AFB1 from feeds but also effectively enhances the application potential of these materials.

Genomic selection is a powerful tool for accelerating genetic gain in crop improvement; yet its effectiveness is often constrained by limited phenotypic datasets and suboptimal model generalizability across environments and populations. This study introduces and evaluates three data augmentation strategies—Mixup, CutMix, and the newly-developed haplotype-based HapMix—to address these challenges. Using four crop datasets (Wheat599, Wheat487, Wheat2000, and Maize4500) and four base prediction models (CNN, Cropformer, DEM, and LightGBM), we conducted a multidimensional assessment encompassing phenotypic distribution, population structure, predictive accuracy, genotype feature visualization (t-SNE), and model interpretability (SHAP). Across most traits and models, all augmentation strategies significantly enhanced prediction accuracy, as confirmed by paired t-tests. Among them, HapMix consistently achieved the highest number of statistically significant improvements (up to 15 out of 22 comparisons depending on the model) and delivered the largest correlation gains across key agronomic traits. Mechanistically, exploratory t-SNE visualization indicated that HapMix tends to preserve recognizable core genetic clusters while introducing targeted dispersion, thereby enriching feature diversity without erasing biological structure. SHAP analyses further revealed that augmentation reshapes SNP importance patterns, with HapMix promoting a more distributed, multi-locus contribution pattern that enhances model robustness and interpretability. The relative effectiveness of each augmentation method was modulated by trait complexity and genetic architecture. Collectively, these findings establish HapMix as a superior, biologically informed augmentation strategy for genomic selection, and they provide a practical framework for selecting data augmentation methods to enhance prediction accuracy and generalizability in crop breeding.

As a protein-rich by-product of peanut oil extraction, peanut meal is widely used in animal feed. It is also becoming more widely acknowledged as a viable source of protein for food products. However, it is highly vulnerable to contamination by aflatoxins (AFTs), particularly aflatoxin B1, which has been designated as a class I carcinogen by the World Health Organization. AFTs in peanut meal pose serious hazards to food and feed safety. It may cause large financial losses, which limit its use. Currently, physical, chemical, or biological strategies are employed, each presenting significant practical challenges. Because of their increased effectiveness and less detrimental effects on product quality, integrated approaches have emerged as promising alternatives. There is currently a lack of a thorough analysis and fragmented studies on the mitigation of AFTs in peanut meal. This review offers a comprehensive overview of those technologies for peanut meal. It explores integrated approaches after methodically outlining chemical, biological, and physical techniques. The benefits and drawbacks of different technologies were also evaluated in comparison. Additionally, the mechanisms of single and integrated approaches were also covered. To promote the development of efficient, secure, and commercially feasible technologies, major obstacles and future research avenues were finally discussed. This review enables food science researchers and food safety regulators to quickly understand the research overview, and also offering theoretical foundations and insights for future studies.

Aflatoxin contamination seriously endangers food safety and human health, and efficient detoxification technologies are still lacking. In this study, a customized device that combines micro-nano bubbles with ozone (MNBW-O3) was developed to degrade four major aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) in peanut byproduct. MNBW-O3 exhibited superior degradation performance compared with the other five treatments. The operational parameters were systematically optimized, and the optimal conditions were determined to be an outlet pressure of 0.34 MPa, an O3 flow rate of 2.5 L/min, a treatment time of 120 min, and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 12.5 g/L. Under these conditions, the removal rates of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2 reached 87.76%, 77.93%, 79.91%, and 88.56%, respectively. Moreover, the developed MNBW-O3 system demonstrated excellent stability, retaining high degradation efficiency over 12 consecutive reuse cycles. Reactive oxygen species scavenging experiments indicated that •OH, •O2⁻ and O3 participated in degradation, with •OH as the dominant species. Degradation of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2 yielded 37, 14, 19, and 10 products via 18, 6, 7, and 4 pathways, respectively. The primary initial attack occurred at the terminal furan ring, followed by the lactone ring, cyclopentenone, and methoxy group. Theoretical calculations, nutrient analysis, toxicity prediction and cytotoxicity assays confirmed the reaction spontaneity, peanut meal and product safety. This study provides a green, stable and practical detoxification strategy for feed industrial application.

Excessive soil salinity poses a significant threat to plant growth and agricultural production. However, the dynamic transcriptional processes underlying plant salt stress response, particularly the transition from transient to steady-state responses and the involvement of rhythmic regulation, remain poorly understood. Here we conducted phenotypic and transcriptomic analyses of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) under salt stress, generating a high-resolution temporal expression profile. Our results identified distinct stress perception and homeostasis responsive phases of gene regulation and revealed a substantial disruption of rhythmic gene expression under stress. A large proportion of rhythmically expressed genes (REGs) lost rhythmicity, with significant alterations in expression phase, period and amplitude. Furthermore, we found that salt stress induced notable shifts in homoeolog expression bias (HEB), suggesting a role for subgenome regulation in environmental plasticity. Collectively, our findings distinguish short-term from long-term adaptive changes and underscore the interplay between stress-induced and rhythmic-regulated transcription. This work provides valuable insights into the temporal and regulatory complexity of salt stress in cotton.

Hempseed oil, a high-quality edible oil, has garnered increasing attention. In this study, fatty acid, phenols, tocopherols, phytosterols, squalene, and antioxidant activity of hempseed oils were detected by gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the effects of the region and processing method on the nutrition and quality of hempseed oil, identified the optimal cultivation region and key marker for distinguishing between different processing methods. The results demonstrated that hempseed oils were rich in tocopherols (84.35±15.65 mg/100 g) and possessed a desirable fatty acid composition (ω-6: ω-3 =1: 3.59) that meets human nutritional needs. Furthermore, hempseed oil exhibited strong antioxidant activity, with γ-tocopherols and phenols identified as the primary antioxidants. More importantly, the nutritional components of hempseed oil were influenced by region and processing method. Specifically, hempseed oil from Bama exhibited significantly higher contents of squalene (13.88 mg/100 g) and total phytosterols (342.23 mg/100 g) than the ones from other regions (squalene: 11.04 mg/100 g; phytosterols: 247.53 mg/100 g). Meanwhile, squalene content increased significantly by 16.47% in shelled hempseed oil compared to unshelled oil. Moreover, OPLS-DA analysis identified total phenol content as a marker distinguishing shelled from unshelled hempseed oils (shelled: 11.80 mg/100 g, unshelled: 3.51 mg/100 g).

Maize breeding has greatly improved yield through single-cross hybrids, but the underlying gene regulatory changes remain unclear. This study analysed transcriptomes of landmark maize hybrids and their parents across developmental stages and planting densities. Compared with their parents, hybrids showed a trade-off in the expression of photosynthesis-related genes and stress-responsive genes. This expression rebalancing suggested a strategy that prioritises photosynthetic efficiency and growth vigour over stress defence mechanisms. Allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis identified 19.9% of heterozygous loci exhibiting significant allelic imbalance, with notable enrichment in photosynthesis and stress response pathways. Importantly, the suppressed expression of deleterious alleles in hybrids not only correlated with phenotypic performance but also exhibited progressive enhancement through decades of breeding, indicating this regulatory mechanism has been selected during improvement. Consistent with this finding, breeding selection preferentially acted on cis-regulatory regions, with stronger correlation between cis-regulatory complementation of deleterious variants and hybrid release year compared to coding regions. Transcriptomic plasticity across environments was evaluated using the concept of entropy. Results showed that hybrids had lower transcriptomic entropy than their parental lines, and this reduction in entropy was significantly associated with heterosis. These findings highlight the critical role of allelic expression optimization in maize hybrid breeding and provide insights into the transcriptomic dynamics that underlie heterosis.

To improve the bioavailability and bioactivity of phytosterols (PS), soy peptide-based nanogels (SPNs) were prepared by ultrasonic method using peptides with different degrees of hydrolysis (DH) as carriers. The DH was optimized to enhance PS delivery and in vitro cholesterol-lowering activity of SPNs. The results showed that SPNs with moderate DH (MSPN, DH 15.96%) achieved the highest encapsulation efficiency (EE, 80.17%) and intestinal release efficiency (IRE, 57.59%), with an average particle size of 273.95 nm, a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.245, and a zeta potential of -37.58 mV, indicating favorable stability. Moderate hydrolysis promoted the exposure of hydrophobic groups, increased surface hydrophobicity, and enhanced the conformational flexibility of the peptide chains, which facilitated the interactions between PS and peptides. As the dominant intermolecular forces in MSPN, hydrogen bonds (34%) and hydrophobic interactions (28%) promoted the formation of a stable gel network and ordered secondary structures with increased β-sheet and α-helix contents, thus improving EE of PS. Furthermore, MSPN exhibited a high cholesterol micellar solubility inhibition rate (73.22%) and bile acid binding capacity (66.13%), which was attributed to synergistic effects of cholesterol-lowering amino acids and bioactive peptides released during gastrointestinal digestion. Subsequently, the key bioactive peptide SSPDIFNPQ was identified from MSPN digests; it bound specifically to the active site of cholesterol esterase and inhibited its activity by 61.76% at 40 mg/mL. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the rational design of multifunctional peptide-based delivery systems that simultaneously achieve enhanced delivery efficiency and intrinsic bioactivity.

As urgent public health challenges, food safety and environmental monitoring have drawn growing attention. Point-of-care testing (POCT) represents a cost-effective, rapid, accurate, and convenient means of quantitative detection. The unique fluorescent phenomenon induced by aggregation-induced emission (AIE) holds substantial promise for enhancing POCT capabilities in detecting food and environmental contaminants. This work reviewed recent advancements and challenges in developing the AIE-enhanced POCT method. Firstly, the principles and advantages of the AIE-powered POCT method were discussed. Subsequently, the applications of the AIE-enhanced POCT method in detecting environmental and food contamination were summarized. Finally, the potential commercialization and challenges associated with AIE-powered POCT methods are discussed. This review refreshes the perspective to develop portable, cost-effective sensing solutions and encourages collaborative efforts to advance sensing technology.

The antioxidant capacity and mechanism of a binary mixture of natural antioxidants β-carotene, γ-oryzanol, and β-sitosterol were evaluated using purified walnut oil as a substrate. Synergistic effects were identified using Rancimat method, while free radical generation was examined by ESR. Dynamic changes in antioxidants and oxidation products were analyzed by GC-MS and HPLC. Results indicated that interaction effects were influenced by different ratios and concentrations. Notably, β-carotene and γ-oryzanol exhibited a significant synergism during oxidation. Specifically, γ-oryzanol not only scavenges lipid radicals but also has the potential to regenerate β-carotene, thereby restoring its antioxidant function. In addition, γ-oryzanol produces oxidation products with antioxidant activity that further contribute to radical inhibition. Daily storage tests also confirmed that the synergistic antioxidant binaries effectively extended edible oil shelf life.

The fertility of pollen and ovules directly influences seed set and overall yield in rice, however, the molecular regulatory mechanisms governing rice pollen and ovule development remain poorly understood. In this study, we discovered that functional knockout mutants of the rice chromatin remodeling factor OsCHR732 exhibited significantly reduced pollen viability, accompanied by abnormal ovule development. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and β-glucuronidase (GUS) staining revealed that OsCHR732 was highly expressed in young panicles, ovaries, and anthers during the mid-to-late developmental stages. RNA-Seq analysis of young spikelets demonstrated that several genes involved in MAPK signaling and plant hormone signal transduction pathways were significantly down-regulated in the oschr732 mutant. ATAC (Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin)-Seq analysis revealed a decrease in chromatin accessibility at the promoter regions of several genes in the mutant. Integrated ATAC-Seq and transcriptomic analysis further demonstrated that six key genes involved in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ETH) signal transduction were significantly downregulated, including MAP1, WRKY53, ABI5, ABIL1, JAZ11, and ETR2, which expression pattern were similar to that of OsCHR732. These findings provide a critical foundation for further elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which OsCHR732 regulates pollen and ovule fertility in rice.

There is a large number of atherosclerosis (AS) patients worldwide, and high-phytosterol rapeseed oil (HPRO) might possess significant potential to ameliorate this disease. This study examined the anti-atherosclerotic impact of HPRO and the potential mechanism by which β-sitosterol alleviates AS through reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) and monocyte-macrophages. The findings indicated that HPRO reduced the severity of AS lesions and reduced ROS levels in mice, and β-sitosterol decreased oxidative damage and inflammation in HAEC by regulating the KLF4/Nrf2/HO-1/ROS and MAPK/PPARγ pathways. β-sitosterol impedes matrix penetration by obstructing the NADPH oxidase/ROS signaling pathway during the differentiation of monocytes into macrophages, and lowers inflammation through the TLR4/MyD88/TRAF6/TNF-α pathway. Taken together, the β-sitosterol might protect against endothelial and monocyte-macrophage oxidative stress and inflammatory injury, thus establishing a theoretical foundation for the adoption and increased use of HPRO in the prevention of AS.

ABSTRACT In this study, a novel core‐shell structured cocoamidopropyl betaine‐functionalized magnetic metal‐organic framework (CAB‐MMOF) was designed and synthesized through post synthesis modification method. The simultaneously effective adsorption of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and zearalenone (ZEN) was realized by CAB‐MMOF. The favorable adsorption of AFB1 and ZEN on CAB‐MMOF was predominantly attributed to π‐π, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bond, and hydrophobic interaction. A rapid and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of AFB1 and ZEN in corn and wheat was developed by CAB‐MMOF‐based magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detector. The developed MSPE method, characterized by lower solvent consumption and adsorbent dosage, only required approximately 6 min for sample pretreatment. Under optimal conditions, the limits of detection for AFB1 and ZEN were 0.045–0.05 ng mL−1 and 4.84–4.97 ng mL−1, respectively. Furthermore, the method demonstrated satisfactory recoveries from 90.4% to 113.2%. It exhibited excellent stability and recyclability after 10 cycles of treatment, demonstrating its excellent performance in practical applications. The simultaneously effective adsorption of polar and weak polar mycotoxins is realized by this CAB‐MMOF, providing a new direction for developing multiple‐mycotoxins adsorbents.

C2H2-type zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) play important roles in the gene transcriptional regulation in the response of plants to multiple stressful environments. In this work, the responses of the soybean ZFP family member GmZAT10-1 gene and its promoter to salt stress, and the changes in the seedling growth phenotype, as well as the related physiological parameters in overexpressing (OE)- or CRISPR/Cas9 (KO)-GmZAT10-1 hairy-root composite soybean seedlings and transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana under salt stress were investigated. The results showed that both GmZAT10-1 and its promoter exhibited enhanced induction to salt stress, and the GmZAT10-1 protein displayed the transcriptional activation activity and was located in the cell nucleus. Transient expression of GmZAT10-1 in tobacco leaves and yeast one-hybrid assay (Y1H) revealed that GmZAT10-1 can bind to the promoter of GmCLC-c1 to enhance the expression of the target genes. Compared with the empty vector-transformed (Ev) hairy-root composite soybean plants, the salt-stressed OE-GmZAT10-1 and KO-GmZAT10-1 plants presented mitigated salt injury, greater plant height, fresh weight per plant, leaf relative water content (RWC) and chlorophyll content, and lower relative electrolytic leakage (REL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the roots and leaves, among which the accumulation of Cl- and NO3- increased significantly in the roots of OE-GmZAT10-1, which obviously reduced the transport and accumulation of Cl- to the stems and leaves, and thus resulting in a marked decrease in Cl-/NO3- ratio in the roots, stems and leaves. By introducing the GmZAT10-1 gene into A. thaliana wild-type (WT) and atzat10 mutant, the seed germination rates and root lengths of WT-GmZAT10-1 and atzat10-GmZAT10-1 under salt stress were obviously restored, and the leaf chlorophyll content and RWC were significantly increased, whereas the REL values and MDA contents were significantly decreased. Additionally, significant accumulation of Cl- and Na+ was observed in the roots, which resulted in a significant decrease in Cl-/NO3-and Na+/K+ ratios in the shoots. Taken together, these findings indicate that the transcription factor GmZAT10-1 may confer salt tolerance in soybeans by upregulating the expression of the GmCLC-c1 gene through binding to its promoter, regulating the uptake of Cl- by the roots and reducing its translocation to the above-ground parts, including the stems and leaves of the plants, thereby maintaining a relatively low Cl-/NO3- ratio.