Frontiers in Plant Science最新文献

{"title":"Water use strategies of <i>Populus euphratica</i> across age classes along groundwater depth gradients in the lower Tarim River.","authors":"Guohua Li, Shuai Hao, Mao Ye, Xiaoqing Jiang, Zhongli Feng, Dingxue He","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1964884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1964884","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How water source use and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) are linked across tree age classes under contrasting groundwater conditions remains unclear in desert riparian forests. We assessed water use strategies of young, middle-aged, and mature <i>Populus euphratica</i> in the lower Tarim River during ecological water conveyance (EWC) and non-EWC periods by combining hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes of xylem and potential source waters with a Bayesian mixing model and leaf δ¹³C-derived iWUE. Across the five monitoring sections, mean groundwater depth was significantly lower during EWC than during non-EWC periods, averaging 4.7 and 4.9 m, respectively. At the Kunasite (DW) and Yingsu (F) sections, MixSIAR posterior mean contributions during EWC were 16.0-23.1% for groundwater, 14.4-17.6% for river water, and 6.6-19.0% for individual 40-cm soil layers. During non-EWC periods, posterior mean contributions from individual soil layers ranged from 10.9 to 20.3%, with relatively greater contributions from deeper layers. Associations between water source contributions and iWUE varied among age classes during EWC but were nonsignificant during non-EWC periods. Across sampling periods, mean iWUE was 58.29, 53.08, and 51.37 μmol mol^-1 in young, middle-aged, and mature trees, respectively. The relationship between iWUE and groundwater depth also varied among sampling periods, with no consistent directional pattern. Based primarily on changes in the contributions of shallow and deep soil water along the groundwater depth gradient, we identified 4.5-6.0 m as a preliminary groundwater depth range associated with shifts in water source use by <i>P. euphratica</i>. These results show that water source use and iWUE in <i>P. euphratica</i> vary with hydrological conditions and tree age, providing empirical evidence for assessing its responses to EWC and groundwater variation in desert riparian forests.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1964884"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677497/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149223950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rice-straw extract directly stimulates pre-symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal growth and is associated with greater phosphorus acquisition in Sorghum.","authors":"Ruiqian Li, Qiankun Zeng","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1991797","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1991797","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Improving arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal establishment may strengthen crop phosphorus acquisition and reduce dependence on phosphorus fertilizers. However, efficient symbiosis depends on fungal activation before root colonization, and practical approaches for stimulating this early stage remain limited.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We tested whether aqueous rice-straw extract (RSE) directly activates AMF and improves subsequent symbiosis with sorghum. Spore germination, hyphal growth, root colonization, recoverable extraradical spore density, plant biomass, phosphorus acquisition, and symbiosis-related gene expression were quantified. Phenolic-depleted RSE was included to assess the contribution of phenolic compounds.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>RSE showed a pronounced dose-dependent biphasic effect: low-to-moderate concentrations promoted AMF development, peaking at 0.3% with 74.1% spore germination, 18.48 mm hyphal length, and 27.5 branch points per spore, whereas 1.0% RSE markedly suppressed these responses. After 42 days, RSE increased root colonization from 22.5% to 51.3%, spore abundance from 58.4 to 106.4 per 50 g substrate, and extraradical hyphal length from 1.05 to 2.54 m per g. Shoot phosphorus uptake rose from about 2.3 to 5.9 mg per plant. Removing most phenolics markedly weakened these responses.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>RSE directly stimulated pre-symbiotic AMF development and was associated with greater subsequent colonization and phosphorus acquisition. Reduced activity after partial phenolic depletion suggests that phenolics contributed to the response, although other water-soluble components may also be involved.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1991797"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677821/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Turning canopy temperature into a multidimensional tool: phenotyping diurnal canopy temperature dynamics in spring wheat breeding programs.","authors":"Hamza-Ali Khan, Iván Matus, Dalma Castillo, Josefa Pacheco, Alejandro Del Pozo, Gustavo A Lobos","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1936928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1936928","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Canopy temperature (Tc) measured at 14:00 h is a standard procedure in wheat breeding programs for assessing crop water status and heat stress tolerance. However, a single reading captures only a fraction of the thermal variation that unfolds over a full day.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study phenotyped 196 spring wheat genotypes at two contrasting Mediterranean sites in Chile, a dryland rainfed site (WS) and a fully irrigated site (FI), during the 2024 growing season. Hourly Tc and canopy-air temperature differential (CTD) were recorded from 09:00 to 18:00 h across four phenological stages, including anthesis, milk stage, early grain filling, and late grain filling. Spatially corrected best linear unbiased estimates (BLUEs) were derived using Spatial Analysis of Field Trials with Splines (SpATS), and the best-fitting diurnal curve per genotype per stage was selected from ten candidate model families by minimizing the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Curve parameters and pairwise rates of change (ROC) extracted from the fitted Tc and CTD profiles were evaluated as predictors of seven agronomic traits, including grain yield, harvest index, thousand-kernel weight, kernels per spike, kernels per square meter, shoot dry weight, and spikelets per square meter. Models were evaluated using in-sample partial least squares (PLS) regression R², nested cross-validated Q², a permutation-based null model, and hold-out-genotype testing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The most predictive single measurement hour shifted across traits, stages, and sites with no consistent pattern, and the conventional 14:00 h reading was the best single hour in about 9% of stage-trait combinations tested. When all features within each predictor category were used jointly in a PLS regression, in-sample R² exceeded the 14:00 h control across most site-stage combinations, and k-means clustering further increased within-cluster R², though these apparent gains may be inflated by predictor number and cluster subsetting. Under stricter, cross-validated evaluation, whole-panel Q² was close to zero for all predictor categories (median -0.023 to -0.009), no cluster consistently outperformed random genotype partitions on held-out genotypes, and representative cluster-level Q² values ranged from -0.31 to 0.76.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These results indicate that in-sample R² substantially overestimated the predictive value of diurnal clustering, and that cross-validated Q², not in-sample R², should be the primary metric for such claims.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1936928"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677352/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The m⁶A regulatory network in plant stress adaptation: from mechanisms to breeding potential.","authors":"Jun Zhang, Sainan Jiang, Jie Yang, Jingjing Zou, Wen Xing, Zeqing Li","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1940258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1940258","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most abundant internal modification of eukaryotic mRNA and is dynamically regulated by three classes of proteins: writers, erasers, and readers. Writers deposit methylation marks, erasers confer reversibility, and readers translate these signals into specific regulatory outcomes, collectively modulating mRNA stability, translation efficiency, splicing, and polyadenylation, thereby influencing plant stress adaptation. Studies across diverse plant species have revealed both conserved principles and species-specific variations in this regulatory network. Technological advances, such as methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and nanopore direct RNA sequencing, have enabled transcriptome-wide m⁶A profiling. However, functional validation of m⁶A modification in most crops remains limited to a few model species and controlled environments, and their practical breeding potential requires systematic evaluation. This review systematically summarizes the functions of m⁶A writers, erasers, and readers in crop stress responses, synthesizes the regulatory patterns at the levels of mRNA stability, translation efficiency, and splicing and discusses m⁶A-based breeding strategies and their current bottlenecks, providing a theoretical reference for stress-resilient crop breeding. CRISPR/dCas13-based targeted modification systems, together with methyltransferase overexpression or demethylase knockout strategies, have demonstrated breeding potential in several crops, although field-level validation remains limited. Future research needs to prioritize how the writer-eraser-reader network achieves stress-specific regulation without causing pleiotropic developmental defects, how m⁶A pattern differs between single and combined stresses, and how natural variation in m⁶A regulatory gene can be exploited for breeding. On this basis, establishing causal links between specific m⁶A sites and agronomic phenotypes, while integrating multi-omics approaches and precision editing technologies, will be essential to translate epitranscriptomic knowledge into crop improvement.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1940258"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13678843/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149223958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Light spectrum effects on huperzine A and B accumulation in axenic gametophyte cultures of <i>Huperzia selago</i> (L.) Bernh. ex Schrank et Mart.","authors":"Wojciech J Szypuła, Marta Maciejczyk, Beata Wileńska","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1933008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1933008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Huperzine A (HupA) and huperzine B (HupB) are high-value Lycopodiaceae alkaloids with potent, reversible acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity and NMDA receptor antagonism. Their supply is limited by impractical field cultivation and conservation constraints on wild harvesting. Here, we evaluated axenic gametophyte cultures of <i>Huperzia selago</i> as a controllable and ethically sourced <i>in vitro</i> system and tested LED spectral control as a tool to modulate alkaloid accumulation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Cultures were maintained for 24 weeks under three light treatments (WHITE-L, BLUE-L and RED-BLUE-L) or darkness. HupA and HupB were quantified by HPLC-DAD, while LC-MS/IT-TOF and MS/MS-supported profiling were used for target-alkaloid confirmation and characterization of the multi-component extract composition. Extracts standardized to HupA equivalents were evaluated for AChE inhibition.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>LED spectral control shaped HupA/HupB accumulation patterns. BLUE-L (≈450 nm) was associated with the strongest increase in HupA content, reaching 4.83 ± 0.21 mg·g^-¹ DW at week 12, whereas RED-BLUE-L (660/450 nm) maintained the highest mean HupA content over 24 weeks (3.61 ± 0.61 mg·g^-¹ DW). Darkness promoted relative biomass accumulation, whereas BLUE-L and RED-BLUE-L favored higher HupA/HupB accumulation during the 8-12-week harvest window. These complementary responses suggest a potential two-stage strategy involving biomass accumulation in darkness followed by induction under blue or red-blue light; however, this sequential approach requires future validation. HupB remained a minor but light-responsive metabolite (≤0.74 ± 0.03 mg·g^-¹ DW). Extracts standardized to HupA equivalents (0.5-2.0 µM) inhibited AChE up to approximately 50%, but HupA content alone did not fully explain the observed activity.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>The weak-to-moderate relationship between HupA content and AChE inhibition suggests that optimization of <i>H. selago</i> gametophyte cultures should consider not only HupA accumulation, but also the broader alkaloid profile and extract bioactivity. LED spectral control supports the development of reproducible, ethically sourced systems for obtaining Lycopodiaceae alkaloid-rich biomass under controlled conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1933008"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677926/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149223989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Breeding innovations focused on drought tolerance, and Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake, for sustainable and climate-resilient sugarcane.","authors":"María Francisca Perera, Josefina Racedo, Aline Cestaro Salla Sá, Joao Vitor de Mello Vomero, Thiago Willian Almeida Balsalobre, Marcio Roberto Soares, Monalisa Sampaio Carneiro","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1925822","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1925822","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sugarcane (<i>Saccharum</i> spp.) is a strategic agro-industrial crop with a central role in global sugar production, bioethanol generation, and the development of sustainable bioeconomy systems. Beyond sugar, sugarcane by-products such as bagasse, molasses, and vinasse represent valuable resources for renewable energy, biofuels, biopolymers, and circular production systems. However, climate change threatens sugarcane productivity worldwide through increased temperatures, irregular rainfall patterns, and intensified drought events, directly affecting biomass accumulation, photosynthesis, and crop yield. This review summarizes current advances in climate-resilient sugarcane breeding and sustainable nutrient management strategies, with emphasis on drought tolerance, nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE), and phosphorus-use efficiency (PUE). Drought induces significant physiological, biochemical, and molecular alterations in sugarcane, including reduced growth, impaired photosynthetic activity, osmotic imbalance, and oxidative stress. Advances in breeding programs, omics technologies, molecular markers, and genetic engineering have improved the understanding of drought tolerance mechanisms and enabled the identification of stress-responsive genes, transcription factors, and candidate molecular markers associated with resilience. In parallel, improving NUE and PUE has become essential to reduce fertilizer dependence and mitigate environmental impacts associated with nutrient losses. Integrated management strategies involving enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, precision agriculture, biological Nitrogen fixation, microbial inoculants, residue recycling, and the development of nutrient-efficient genotypes have shown promising results. Although significant progress has been achieved in genomics and biotechnology, the genetic complexity of sugarcane and limited knowledge of nutrient-related pathways still constrain the development of highly efficient cultivars. The integration of advanced breeding technologies with sustainable agronomic practices will be crucial to ensure resilient and environmentally sustainable sugarcane production under future climate scenarios.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1925822"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13679141/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative mitogenomics of <i>Roscoea alpina</i> and <i>R. purpurea</i> from contrasting elevations reveals mitochondrial genomic differentiation.","authors":"Ya-Li Wang, Jian-Li Zhao","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1967948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1967948","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant mitochondrial genomes are structurally dynamic and contribute to energy metabolism and stress responses. Comparative mitogenomic analyses of closely related species occupying contrasting elevations can provide insights into mitochondrial genomic differentiation across elevational environments. Using PacBio HiFi reads, we assembled and compared the mitochondrial genomes of the higher-altitude species <i>R. alpina</i> and the lower-altitude species <i>R. purpurea</i>. Both mitochondrial genome assemblies yielded graph-like structures, with <i>R. alpina</i> exhibiting a more complex assembly-graph topology, more dispersed repeats, and extensive evidence of dispersed-repeat-mediated recombination. Despite these structural differences, the two species retained broadly similar core gene complements, codon-usage patterns, and predicted RNA-editing profiles. Among genes represented by multiple annotated copies in both species, 12 had higher annotated copy numbers in <i>R. alpina</i>. Most shared protein-coding genes were highly conserved, whereas <i>nad4</i> and <i>rps3</i> each contained two nonsynonymous substitutions between the two species. Genes with higher annotated copy numbers and those showing limited sequence divergence were both annotated into respiratory complex I and mitochondrial translation. These results reveal pronounced differentiation in mitochondrial genome architecture alongside strong conservation of coding characteristics. Both the differences in gene representation and the limited sequence divergence converge on the same functional processes, suggesting a potential link between mitochondrial genomic changes and adaptation to high-altitude environments. We hypothesize that these genomic features may be relevant to the physiological performance of <i>R. alpina</i> in a high-altitude environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1967948"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677838/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lightweight visual detection approach for apple ripeness perception in intelligent orchard harvesting scenarios.","authors":"Mingqing Wu, Jianglei Xiao, Yanjun Chen, Yuxin Xia, Guangjian Ying, Yichuan He, Feng Han","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1956031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1956031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Apple ripeness detection in complex orchard scenarios is plagued by fruit occlusion, overlapping, intense illumination interference, and subtle maturity feature differences among similar fruits. Conventional lightweight detection models also suffer from low accuracy and severe feature loss in field environments. To address these problems, this paper proposes a real-time lightweight method for apple ripeness detection with optimized multi-dimensional network structures, which balances lightweight deployment and feature perception capability for complex orchard backgrounds. Specifically, depthwise convolutions replace standard convolutions at the backbone tail to reduce redundant computation. A parameter-free SimAM attention mechanism is integrated into the C2PSA module to enhance valid feature extraction of apples under complex backgrounds. Additionally, adaptive downsampling (ADown) is adopted in the neck network to replace traditional downsampling structures, preserving fruit texture and color details and mitigating feature degradation. A multi-category orchard dataset containing red, green, and red-green striped apples is constructed, covering variable illumination, fruit occlusion, and dense stacking conditions. Ablation, comparative, and generalization experiments are conducted to verify model performance. The results show that compared with YOLOv11n, the proposed method achieves 8.6%, 9.5%, 8.9%, 10.9%, and 24.4% improvements in precision, recall, F1-score, mAP50, and mAP50-95, respectively. Its parameters and computational complexity are reduced by 12.8% (2.25 M) and 25.4% (4.7 GFLOPs), with an inference speed of 109 FPS. As a zero-cost feature optimization module, SimAM effectively eliminates classification confusion caused by apples with similar color and appearance. The optimized model presents superior illumination robustness, generalization ability, and convergence performance. It achieves a favorable trade-off between detection accuracy, model size, and inference speed, enabling real-time edge deployment in field orchards. This study provides technical support for intelligent ripeness detection and automatic grading of orchard fruits.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1956031"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677889/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification of genomic regions for anthracnose resistance in the Andean mapping population of common bean derived from a cross of genotypes Lusaka and Mwezi Moja.","authors":"Mukuni Nkandela, Swivia Hamabwe, Gideon Munduwe, Alvaro Soler-Garzón, Karen Cichy, Travis Parker, Kelvin Kamfwa","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1897486","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1897486","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anthracnose (ANTH), caused by <i>Colletotrichum lindemuthianum</i>, is a major disease of common bean (<i>Phaseolus vulgaris</i> L.) and an important constraint to bean production in Zambia and other countries. The high genetic variability of the pathogen and the occurrence of numerous physiological races complicate the development of varieties with durable resistance. The objectives of this study were to (i) characterize isolates of <i>C. lindemuthianum</i> collected from Zambia into physiological races and (ii) identify genomic regions associated with resistance to anthracnose in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. Four isolates collected from two major bean-producing districts of Zambia were characterized as races 7, 15, 17, and 291 using standard differential cultivars. A population of 110 F_5:6 RILs derived from a cross between Mwezi Moja, a Kenyan variety with purple speckled seed color, and Lusaka, a Zambian landrace with manteca yellow seed color, was evaluated for resistance to the four races and one uncharacterized isolate A23-13. RIL LM145 exhibited high resistance to all four races and the uncharacterized isolate A23-13. Genotyping of the population with the BARCBean12K SNP array followed by composite interval mapping identified four QTL: ANT1.1^LM, ANT2.1^LM, ANT4.1^LM, and ANT10.1^LM. ANT1.1^LM explained 60.5% and 57.7% of the phenotypic for resistance to race 17 and A23-13, respectively; ANT2.1^LM explained 4.2% for A23-13; ANT4.1^LM explained 75.5% for race 291; and ANT10.1^LM explained 18.9% and 25.9% for races 7 and 15, respectively. ANT1.1^LM and ANT4.1^LM co-localized with the known resistance loci <i>Co-1</i> and <i>Co-3</i>, respectively. Pyramiding of major resistance loci identified in this study may contribute to broader resistance to diverse races of <i>C. lindemuthianum</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1897486"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677923/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assembly processes and network structure of rhizosphere fungal communities in healthy and <i>Ralstonia solanacearum</i>-infected tomato plants.","authors":"Caixia Liu, Mengli Zhao, Qingying Gao, Chunju Peng, Liang Wang, Jie Yang","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1956668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1956668","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Bacterial wilt caused by <i>Ralstonia solanacearum</i> is a major constraint to tomato production worldwide. Rhizosphere microbial community is closely linked to plant health. However, how <i>R. solanacearum</i> invasion alters the assembly processes and co-occurrence network in tomato rhizosphere fungal communities remains largely unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Here, we collected rhizosphere soil samples from three major tomato-producing regions in China to investigate how <i>R. solanacearum</i> invasion affects fungal community composition, network topology, and assembly processes in tomato rhizosphere.</p><p><strong>Results and discussion: </strong>In this study, fungal community structure differed significantly between healthy and diseased rhizosphere soils, driven significantly by soil pH (<i>P</i> < 0.05). The density of pathogen <i>R. solanacearum</i> in the diseased rhizosphere soil was significantly higher than that in the healthy tomato rhizosphere (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Genera <i>Trichoderma</i>, <i>Talaromyces</i>, <i>Mortierella</i>, and <i>Penicillium</i> were significantly enriched in healthy soils (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Network analysis revealed diseased soils had simpler and less stable fungal networks, with decreased node and edge numbers, reduced natural connectivity, and a smaller proportion of connectors. The neutral community model and null model revealed that stochastic processes explained 33.10% of the community variation in healthy tomato rhizosphere fungal communities, whereas they explained 47.40% in diseased soils, with a higher migration rate (<i>m</i>) in diseased soils (0.0050) than in healthy soils (0.0027). These results indicate that fungal assembly was governed by deterministic processes in healthy soils, while stochastic processes dominated in diseased soils. The fungal communities in diseased soils exhibited narrower niche breadth, and lower proportions of generalists and specialists than those in healthy soils. Collectively, these findings indicate that <i>R. solanacearum</i> invasion leads to niche contraction, reduced generalists and specialists, and increased migration rates in fungal communities. These changes render species coexistence more dependent on dispersal and drift, shifting community assembly from deterministic to stochastic processes and potentially reducing network stability. This study provides deeper insights into soil fungal community assembly and structure following <i>R. solanacearum</i> infection in tomato.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1956668"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13677881/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149224002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}