Frontiers in Plant Science最新文献

{"title":"Explainable fine-grained feature enhancement framework for strawberry diagnostic decision making.","authors":"Hye-Young Wang, Seoung-Ho Choi","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1941698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1941698","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As the number of smart agricultural automation systems increases, accurate disease diagnosis is essential to maximize production efficiency. However, early-stage symptoms of strawberry diseases (e.g., Tipburn, Phytophthora blight, and Fusarium wilt) often manifest as low-contrast micro-symptoms that are visually similar to the inherent complex texture of strawberry leaves, leading to high technical difficulties in achieving an accurate diagnosis. Furthermore, providing an explanation for the diagnosis remains challenging, which hinders trust in field applications. We present EN-FDEA, a deep learning framework that integrates an EfficientNetV2 backbone with a Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) and a Fine-grained Discriminative Enhancement (FDEA) module combining depthwise separable convolution, parallel feature amplification, and channel recalibration, and we evaluate it together with a provenance audit of the corpus on which it is trained. Parsing the acquisition metadata embedded in every file name showed that the 1,000 abnormal images of each disease originate from only 33-73 individual plants, and that normal and abnormal images share no greenhouse; under the image-level cross-validation used in the original design, 91.9-99.8% of abnormal plants appear in both the training and the test partition of a fold. All results reported here are therefore obtained under plant-disjoint cross-validation with five random seeds, with a site-disjoint arm as the strictest comparison. Removing plant leakage lowers balanced accuracy by up to 0.082 and removing site overlap by up to 0.173. Under the leakage-free protocol, EN-FDEA performs comparably to, and not reliably better than, its EfficientNetV2 backbone (mean paired balanced-accuracy differences of -0.013 to +0.012 across datasets and conditions); the only Holm-corrected significant advantage is Phytophthora blight under overexposure (+0.012, p = 0.047). Forensic analysis further shows that the elevated performance previously observed under synthetic overexposure is a property of the transform: a logistic-regression classifier using only global exposure statistics reaches balanced accuracies of 0.81-0.92, and models trained on original images transfer poorly to synthetic overexposure while transferring well to genuinely over-illuminated frames selected from the corpus itself. We report explanation faithfulness, calibration, and measured deployment cost, and we state where the corpus structure, rather than the model, bounds what can be concluded. Code, split definitions, and per-image predictions are released so that every number can be regenerated.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1941698"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13690960/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149244023","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":"Genomic differentiation and conservation relevance of isolated marginal <i>Primula farinosa</i> populations in Central-Eastern Europe.","authors":"Nayna Babar, Levente Laczkó, Judit Cservenka, Szilárd Póliska, Nozim Shodiev, András Mészáros, Attila Molnár V, Gábor Sramkó","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1944724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1944724","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Quaternary climatic oscillations produced heterogeneous range dynamics in European cold-adapted plants. <i>Primula farinosa</i> L. has been discussed in the context of the interglacial expansion model for moisture-demanding cold-adapted species. However, it remains unclear whether isolated low-elevation populations in Central European calcareous fens and wet meadows represent long-term relicts or recently established populations.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used RADseq-derived SNPs from four sampling localities in the Balaton Region of Hungary and one low-elevation comparative locality at Lipce in the Julian Alps, Slovenia, to assess population-genomic structure, differentiation, allelic diversity and demographic history. Population structure was analyzed using SNP-based maximum-likelihood tree inference, PCA, model-based ancestry clustering and pairwise F_ST estimates. We further quantified rarefied allelic richness and private allelic variation and performed exploratory population-specific historical effective population-size trajectories from folded site-frequency spectra.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Population structure analyses revealed pronounced differentiation between Lipce and the Hungarian samples. Within Hungary, the two neighbouring localities of Lesencetomaj and Tapolca were nearly indistinguishable, whereas Köveskál and Nemeshany populations showed stronger differentiation and reduced allelic diversity. Rarefied allelic richness was highest in Lipce and Lesence and lowest in Nemeshany, with Köveskál only slightly richer. Collectively, the Balaton Region carried a distinct allelic pattern and comparable rarified richness at the broader regional scale. Demographic reconstructions suggested population-specific effective population-size changes over recent to Late-Glacial timescales, although older intervals were weakly resolved and exact timing was uncertain.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Low-elevation <i>Primula farinosa</i> populations in Hungary and Slovenia are strongly differentiated, and this isolation is unlikely to be explained solely by recent anthropogenic wetland fragmentation. The higher rarefied allelic richness of Lipce and Lesence suggests that these populations retain less-eroded genetic variation, whereas the depauperate allelic profiles of Köveskál and especially Nemeshany are consistent with recent founder effects, bottlenecks, strong drift or long-term small effective population size. These findings indicate that the Balaton Region populations represent a conservation-relevant and regionally differentiated component of <i>P. farinosa</i> genomic diversity. Although the exact timing and historical origin of their isolation remain unresolved, the observed genomic pattern is compatible with, but does not demonstrate, long-term regional persistence, including a possible Late Glacial refugial scenario.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1944724"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13690800/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149244104","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":"Correction: Relay maize after tobacco enhances rapeseed growth and nutrition by reshaping soil microbial communities in an annual triple cropping system.","authors":"Yuxin Yang, Yongcong Xia, Yuanyuan Li, Wenwu Li, Jiajie Luo, Cunwu Guo, He Zhang, Bingbing Jiang, Shusheng Zhu, Junying Li, Yixiang Liu, Cuiying Wang","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1935580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1935580","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1827060.].</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1935580"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13691551/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265963","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":"Correction: The genetic architecture of trait covariation in <i>Populus euphratica</i>, a desert tree.","authors":"Kaiyan Lu, Xueshun Wang, Huiying Gong, Dengcheng Yang, Meixia Ye, Qing Fang, Xiao-Yu Zhang, Rongling Wu","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.2014733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.2014733","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1149879.].</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"2014733"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13689682/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265937","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":"Integrating cortical microtubules into plant gravity signaling: dynamics, tubulin phosphorylation, and growth regulation.","authors":"Md Sifatul Islam, Sarah E Wyatt","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1970801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1970801","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant gravity responses depend on coordinated signaling and growth-control mechanisms that convert directional and mechanical stimuli into differential cell expansion. Cortical microtubules are central to the conversion: they pattern cellulose synthase trajectories, set cell-wall anisotropy, and are remodeled in altered-gravity and tubulin-mutant systems. Yet the cytoskeletal regulatory pathway remains only loosely connected to the canonical, auxin-centered picture of how plants perceive and respond to gravity. Physiological, genetic, and phosphoproteomic evidence linking microtubules to gravitropism and gravity resistance, obtained under gravistimulation by reorientation at 1 g, hypergravity, and real or simulated microgravity, is organized into an explicit, layered framework. Three regulatory layers are proposed to act on cortical microtubule organization on distinct time scales: a slow transcriptional layer that adjusts the tubulin and regulator pool, an intermediate regulator-mediated layer of nucleation and severing, and a fast post-translational layer that modifies tubulin directly. Within the framework, phosphorylation of α-tubulin at threonine 349 (Thr349) by PROPYZAMIDE-HYPERSENSITIVE 1 (PHS1) is the best-characterized candidate for a molecular link between stress signaling and control of microtubule polymerization. Whole-seedling spaceflight phosphoproteomic data show reduced Thr349 phosphorylation across four α-tubulin isoforms (TUA1, TUA3, TUA4, and TUA6) and highlight Thr349 phosphorylation as a candidate post-translational regulator of cortical microtubule responses under spaceflight conditions. Future studies should test whether PHS1 controls Thr349 phosphorylation during gravity responses and identify the activating signal and opposing phosphatase. Resolving links with γ-tubulin-dependent nucleation, katanin-mediated severing, auxin transport, and cell-wall remodeling will explain how cortical microtubules shape gravity-directed growth.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1970801"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13689839/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265900","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":"Cultivar-specific coordination of root plasticity and root antioxidant defense underlies drought adaptation in alfalfa.","authors":"Shuo Li, Guofeng Yang","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1941938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1941938","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i> L.) is a high-value perennial forage crop whose productivity is severely limited by drought. Although root plasticity and antioxidant defense each contribute to drought tolerance, whether these two dimensions are coordinated or trade off across cultivars remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A glasshouse experiment used three alfalfa cultivars (Zhaodong, ZD; Aohan, AH; Golden-empress, GE) and four soil water levels (well water - 75%-80% of water-holding capacity, WHC, mild drought - 60%-65% WHC, moderate - 45%-50% WHC, severe drought - 30%-35% WHC) in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with eight replications per treatment combination. The eight replications were divided into two groups (four for root morphology and four for physiology/biochemistry) to avoid destructive-sampling interference between measurement categories.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>ZD and AH reached peak shoot biomass under mild drought, whereas GE exhibited optimal growth under well-watered conditions. In all three cultivars, root biomass, total root length, root surface area and root volume were highest under severe drought, indicating drought-induced root plasticity that potentially enhances soil exploration. MDA, O₂ ^-, H₂O₂ increased with drought severity, whereas catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and ascorbic acid showed cultivar-specific modulation. H₂O₂ was negatively correlated with ascorbic acid (r = -0.90) and glutathione reductase (r = -0.75).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings highlight cultivar-specific strategies for balancing morphological plasticity and biochemical defense. ZD showed the most balanced coordination of root expansion and antioxidant responses, with lower oxidative damage and stable biomass, making it a candidate for breeding programs targeting both drought resilience and yield stability under variable or moderate water availability, whereas GE is better suited to irrigated systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1941938"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13686840/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265973","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":"CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of <i>SlALS1</i> enhances fruit sweetness in tomato.","authors":"So Hee Yang, Soon-Ki Han, Yeonjong Koo","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1927332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1927332","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fruit sweetness is a primary determinant of consumer preference and market value in tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>), yet increasing sugar content without negatively affecting plant performance remains a major challenge in breeding programs. In this study, we targeted <i>Acetolactate synthase 1</i> (<i>SlALS1</i>), a key enzyme in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) biosynthesis, to investigate whether modulation of primary metabolism could enhance fruit sugar accumulation. Tomato contains two ALS homologs, <i>SlALS1</i> and <i>SlALS2</i>. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing, we generated <i>SlALS1</i> knock-out lines in the Micro-Tom background. Loss of <i>SlALS1</i> function led to a significant reduction in the levels of valine, leucine, and isoleucine in fruit tissues, confirming disruption of the BCAA biosynthetic pathway. Notably, soluble sugar content was markedly increased in the mutant lines, with glucose and fructose levels elevated by approximately 1.3-fold compared with wild-type fruits, resulting in a significantly higher Brix index. Metabolic profiling indicates that reduced BCAA biosynthesis may influence carbon allocation toward soluble sugar accumulation in fruit tissues, revealing an association between amino acid metabolism and carbohydrate accumulation during fruit development. Our findings demonstrate that precise editing of a central metabolic enzyme can enhance tomato fruit sweetness and suggest that <i>SlALS1</i> may represent a promising target for genome editing aimed at improving fruit quality traits. However, further evaluation of agronomic traits, including plant growth and fruit yield, will be necessary to assess its potential for practical breeding applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1927332"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13687265/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265930","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 effects of pseudophosphorylation on <i>Vitis riparia</i> dehydrin structure and function.","authors":"Marijke R Murray, Kelly F Boddington, Steffen P Graether","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1946970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1946970","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plants undergo a wide range of deleterious effects as a result of exposure to abiotic stress, such as cold, salinity, and drought conditions. Some of these effects include protein denaturation and aggregation, membrane leakage and phase transitions, and DNA damage. One protective measure includes the expression of dehydrins, which are members of the group 2 LEA protein family. Several studies have shown that the S-segment, a serine-rich tract found in many dehydrins, can be phosphorylated <i>in vivo</i>. The main functional role of this phosphorylation appears to recruit the dehydrin to the nucleus, though this is not an absolute requirement. Here, we investigate whether pseudophosphorylation (i.e. the substitution of serine residues with glutamate) had any effect on the protection of proteins, membranes and DNA using VrDHN1 as a model YSK₂ dehydrin. The changes resulted in improved protection of lactate dehydrogenase from freeze-thaw damage and caused an increase in α-helicity after binding to SDS micelles. Pseudophosphorylation was found to reduce DNA binding but had no effect on the protection of DNA from ROS damage. In addition to a possible role in nuclear localization, phosphorylation may result in a tuning of dehydrin function toward improved protective ability.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1946970"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13686823/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265886","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":"A two-stage method for defect detection and mechanical damage assessment in mechanically harvested tobacco leaves.","authors":"Erdeng Ma, Hezheng Wang, Siwei Zhang, Wanxin Li, Jiahui Liu, Dong Zhao, Jian Zhao","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1956974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1956974","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Defects on mechanically harvested tobacco leaves may originate from diseases and pests or from harvesting operations, with distinct implications for crop quality. Dense small defects are easily missed, whereas local detection boxes cannot describe whole-leaf structural damage. We developed a two-stage vision method for non-destructive defect screening and assessment of harvest-related mechanical damage. Stage I used Tobacco Leaf Defect YOLO11n (TLD-YOLO11n), a task-adapted detector with high-resolution feature fusion, to identify four disease and pest categories and mechanical damage. Stage II used reference-midrib and leaf-morphology features to distinguish midrib breakage from lamina loss, while a relative lamina loss index provided an operational measure of tissue-loss severity. TLD-YOLO11n achieved mAP_0.5 and mAP_0.5:0.95 values of 84.5% and 64.1%, exceeding YOLO11n by 4.0 and 3.9 percentage points, respectively. Under controlled single-leaf imaging conditions, all 50 images with mechanical damage were passed to stage II, whereas none of the 156 disease- or pest-affected images were incorrectly passed. Damage type was correctly determined for 47 of the 50 mechanical-damage test images, yielding a joint accuracy of 94.0%. F1-scores for lamina loss and midrib breakage were 91.4% and 95.4%, respectively. The framework provides an approach for distinguishing harvest-related damage from other visual defects and quantifying loss of structural integrity in mechanically harvested tobacco leaves.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1956974"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13687358/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265898","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":"Editorial: Biosynthetic pathways and metabolic engineering of bioactive natural products from medicinal plants.","authors":"Lihang Xie","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.2003419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.2003419","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"2003419"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13687251/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265882","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}