Journal of Integrative Plant Biology

Hybrid rice (Oryza sativa) generally outperforms its inbred parents in yield and stress tolerance, a phenomenon termed heterosis, but the underlying mechanism is not completely understood. Here, we combined transcriptome, proteome, physiological, and heterosis analyses to examine the salt response of super hybrid rice Chaoyou1000 (CY1000). In addition to surpassing the mean values for its two parents (mid-parent heterosis), CY1000 exhibited a higher reactive oxygen species scavenging ability than both its parents (over-parent heterosis or heterobeltiosis)...

Soil salinity has a major impact on rice seed germination, severely limiting rice production. Herein, a rice germination defective mutant under salt stress (gdss) was identified by using chemical mutagenesis. The GDSS gene was detected via MutMap and shown to encode potassium transporter OsHAK9. Phenotypic analysis of complementation and mutant lines demonstrated that OsHAK9 was an essential regulator responsible for seed germination under salt stress. OsHAK9 is highly expressed in germinating seed embryos...

The evolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), characterized by a peak in diversity toward the tropics, has captured significant attention in evolutionary biology and ecology. However, the inverse LDG (i-LDG) mechanism, wherein species richness increases toward the poles, remains inadequately explored. Cycads are among one of the oldest lineages of extant seed plants and have undergone extensive diversification in the tropics. Intriguingly, the extant cycad abundance exhibits an i-LDG pattern, and the underlying causes for this phenomenon remain largely elusive...

The recretohalophyte Limonium bicolor thrives in high-salinity environments because salt glands on the above-ground parts of the plant help to expel excess salt. Here, we characterize a nucleus-localized C3HC4 (RING-HC)-type zinc finger protein of L. bicolor named RING ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 1 (LbRZF1). LbRZF1 was expressed in salt glands and in response to NaCl treatment. LbRZF1 showed no E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. The phenotypes of overexpression and knockout lines for LbRZF1 indicated that LbRZF1 positively regulated salt gland development and salt tolerance in L...

Panicle exsertion is one of the crucial agronomic traits in rice (Oryza sativa). Shortening of panicle exsertion often leads to panicle enclosure and severely reduces seed production. Gibberellin (GA) plays important roles in regulating panicle exsertion. However, the underlying mechanism and the relative regulatory network remain elusive. Here, we characterized the oswrky78 mutant showing severe panicle enclosure, and found that the defect of oswrky78 is caused by decreased bioactive GA contents. Biochemical analysis demonstrates that OsWRKY78 can directly activate GA biosynthesis and indirectly suppress GA metabolism...

Brassica napus, commonly known as rapeseed or canola, is a major oil crop contributing over 13% to the stable supply of edible vegetable oil worldwide. Identification and understanding the gene functions in the B. napus genome is crucial for genomic breeding. A group of genes controlling agronomic traits have been successfully cloned through functional genomics studies in B. napus. In this review, we present an overview of the progress made in the functional genomics of B. napus, including the availability of germplasm resources, omics databases and cloned functional genes...

ChinaMu is the largest sequence-indexed Mutator (Mu) transposon insertional library in maize (Zea mays). In this study, we made significant improvements to the size and quality of the ChinaMu library. We developed a new Mu-tag isolation method Mu-Tn5-seq (MuT-seq). Compared to the previous method used by ChinaMu, MuT-seq recovered 1/3 more germinal insertions, while requiring only about 1/14 of the sequencing volume and 1/5 of the experimental time. Using MuT-seq, we identified 113,879 germinal insertions from 3,168 Mu-active F1 families...

The basis of modern pharmacology is the human ability to exploit the production of specialized metabolites from medical plants, for example, terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenolic acids. However, in most cases, the availability of these valuable compounds is limited by cellular or organelle barriers or spatio-temporal accumulation patterns within different plant tissues. Transcription factors (TFs) regulate biosynthesis of these specialized metabolites by tightly controlling the expression of biosynthetic genes...

Auxin regulates flower and fruit abscission, but how developmental signals mediate auxin transport in abscission remains unclear. Here, we reveal the role of the transcription factor BEL1-LIKE HOMEODOMAIN11 (SlBEL11) in regulating auxin transport during abscission in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). SlBEL11 is highly expressed in the fruit abscission zone, and its expression increases during fruit development. Knockdown of SlBEL11 expression by RNA interference (RNAi) caused premature fruit drop at the breaker (Br) and 3 d post-breaker (Br+3) stages of fruit development...

Halorhodospira (Hlr.) halochloris is a triply extremophilic phototrophic purple sulfur bacterium, as it is thermophilic, alkaliphilic, and extremely halophilic. The light-harvesting-reaction center (LH1-RC) core complex of this bacterium displays an LH1-Qy transition at 1,016 nm, which is the lowest-energy wavelength absorption among all known phototrophs. Here we report the cryo-EM structure of the LH1-RC at 2.42 Å resolution. The LH1 complex forms a tricyclic ring structure composed of 16 αβγ-polypeptides and one αβ-heterodimer around the RC...

The high-affinity potassium transporters (HKTs), selectively permeable to either Na+ alone or Na+ /K+ , play pivotal roles in maintaining plant Na+ /K+ homeostasis. Although their involvement in salt tolerance is widely reported, the molecular underpinnings of Oryza sativa HKTs remain elusive. In this study, we elucidate the structures of OsHKT1;1 and OsHKT2;1, representing two distinct classes of rice HKTs. The dimeric assembled OsHKTs can be structurally divided into four domains. At the dimer interface, a half-helix or a loop in the third domain is coordinated by the C-terminal region of the opposite subunit...

Achieving high yield and good quality in crops is essential for human food security and health. However, there is usually disharmony between yield and quality. Seed storage protein (SSP) and starch, the predominant components in cereal grains, determine yield and quality, and their coupled synthesis causes a yield-quality trade-off. Therefore, dissection of the underlying regulatory mechanism facilitates simultaneous improvement of yield and quality. Here, we summarize current findings about the synergistic molecular machinery underpinning SSP and starch synthesis in the leading staple cereal crops, including maize, rice and wheat...

Starch is a major storage carbohydrate in plants and is critical in crop yield and quality. Starch synthesis is intricately regulated by internal metabolic processes and external environmental cues; however, the precise molecular mechanisms governing this process remain largely unknown. In this study, we revealed that high red to far-red (high R:FR) light significantly induces the synthesis of leaf starch and the expression of synthesis-related genes, whereas low R:FR light suppress these processes. Arabidopsis phytochrome B (phyB), the primary R and FR photoreceptor, was identified as a critical positive regulator in this process...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The structural and functional diversity of plant metabolites is largely created via chemical modification of a basic backbone. However, metabolite modifications in plants have still not been thoroughly investigated by metabolomics approaches. In this study, a widely targeted metabolite modificomics (WTMM) strategy was developed based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-linear ion trap (UHPLC-Q-Trap) and UHPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap (UHPLC-QE-Orbitrap), which greatly improved the detection sensitivity and the efficiency of identification of modified metabolites...

Nypa fruticans (Wurmb), a mangrove palm species with origins dating back to the Late Cretaceous period, is a unique species for investigating long-term adaptation strategies to intertidal environments and the early evolution of palms. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome sequence and assembly for N. fruticans. We integrated the genomes of N. fruticans and other palm family members for a comparative genomic analysis, which confirmed that the common ancestor of all palms experienced a whole-genome duplication event around 89 million years ago, shaping the distinctive characteristics observed in this clade...

Drought is a major threat to alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) production. The discovery of important alfalfa genes regulating drought response will facilitate breeding for drought-resistant alfalfa cultivars. Here, we report a genome-wide association study of drought resistance in alfalfa. We identified and functionally characterized an MYB-like transcription factor gene (MsMYBH), which increases the drought resistance in alfalfa. Compared with the wild-types, the biomass and forage quality were enhanced in MsMYBH overexpressed plants...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Fruit functions in seed protection and dispersal and belongs to many dry and fleshy types, yet their evolutionary pattern remains unclear in part due to uncertainties in the phylogenetic relationships among several orders and families. Thus we used nuclear genes of 502 angiosperm species representing 231 families to reconstruct a well supported phylogeny, with resolved relationships for orders and families with previously uncertain placements. Using this phylogeny as a framework, molecular dating supports a Triassic origin of the crown angiosperms, followed by the emergence of most orders in the Jurassic and Cretaceous and their rise to ecological dominance during the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution...