Frontiers in Plant Science最新文献

{"title":"Identification and expression pattern analysis of the Hydroxycinnamoyl transferase gene family and function of StHCT6 in the potato.","authors":"Chong Du, Xinyu Ni, Chengjian Sui, Xiaojie Luan, Xinyao Shi, Wenrui Zhao, Ziyi Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1948389","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1948389","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) is a key enzyme in the plant phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway, involved in plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. As one of the world's four major staple crops, potato (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i> L.) is widely cultivated due to its nutritional value and broad applications, highlighting the importance of studying the <i>StHCT</i> gene family and their expression patterns under abiotic stress.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, we identified 25 <i>HCT</i> genes from the Atlantic potato genome and conducted a comprehensive analysis of their phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, syntenic conservation across species, cis-regulatory elements, and expression specificity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Tissue-specific expression profiles revealed higher transcript abundance in roots and stems compared to leaves and flowers. Notably, <i>StHCT</i> genes exhibited differential expression patterns under various stress conditions, with some genes consistently upregulated early during multiple treatments, suggesting their potential as core candidates mediating stress responses. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) was used to silence <i>StHCT6</i>, which may have altered the disease resistance of potato leaves, resulting in more severe oxidative damage following bacterial infection.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Our results indicate that these <i>StHCTs</i> exhibit a high degree of conservation in terms of their genetic structure and evolutionary relationships. Some StHCTs show significant responses in tissue specificity and expression profiles under non-biological stress. After silencing <i>StHCT6</i> in potatoes, the leaves of the silenced plants suffered more severe oxidative damage after pathogen infection. These findings lay the foundation for elucidating the functional roles of <i>StHCT</i> in regulating potato growth and stress adaptation mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1948389"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13701141/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265957","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":"Integrated structural, computational, and genetic analyses link KASII-A^L263F to increased palmitic acid composition and highlight its potential in soybean oil breeding.","authors":"Jiyoung Park, Kihwan Kim, Junseop Shin, Deokmoon Lee, Hyunsung Lee, Hyun Jo, Jong Tae Song, Won-Chan Kim, Jeong-Dong Lee","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1983954","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1983954","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soybean seed oil quality is governed by the relative proportions of five major fatty acids. Most genetic studies of soybean fatty acid mutants have evaluated allelic effects primarily on fatty acid composition, rather than quantifying their corresponding contents. Because fatty acid composition is expressed as relative percentage of total fatty acids, an increase in the proportion of one fatty acid is necessarily accompanied by a relative decrease in others, making it difficult to distinguish compositional shifts from changes in the actual amount accumulated per unit seed mass. In this study, we characterized PE1604, an EMS-induced mutant derived from the Korean soybean cultivar Pungsannamul and evaluated fatty acid phenotypes using both composition and contents. Sequence analysis identified a C to T transition in <i>KASII</i>-<i>A</i> (Glyma.17G047000) that resulted in an L263F amino acid substitution at a leucine residue conserved among KASII-A homologs from 11 species of the family Fabaceae. AlphaFold2 models superposed on the <i>Escherichia coli</i> (<i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>) FabF complex with <i>crypto</i> - 1b-AcpP (C16-AcpP) placed Leu263 within the buried hydrophobic core of KASII-A, distant from the catalytic residues Cys240, H380, and H416 in the active site. FoldX predicted a destabilizing effect of 6.83 kcal/mol for L263F, attributed to van der Waals clashes. Rosetta analysis also indicated a destabilizing energetic change of 11.57 REU. In F₂ populations derived from Pungsannamul × PE1604 and Seonpung × PE1604, palmitic acid composition increased from 12.1% in <i>KASII</i>-<i>A</i> homozygotes to 18.1% in <i>kasII</i>-<i>a</i> homozygotes and 11.7% in <i>KASII</i>-<i>A</i> homozygotes to 17.4% in <i>kasII</i>-<i>a</i> homozygotes, respectively. In addition, analysis of fatty acid content showed that palmitic acid content in <i>kasII</i>-<i>a</i> homozygotes progeny paralleled the difference in palmitic acid content between the parental lines. Seonpung contained approximately 33.5 mg/g seed weight palmitic acid content, and <i>kasII</i>-<i>a</i> homozygotes progeny from the Seonpung × PE1604 cross accumulated 51.9 mg/g seed weight, wherease Pungsannamul conta0ined approximately 23.1 mg/g seed weight and the corresponding progeny from the Pungsannamul × PE1604 cross accumulated 38.2 mg/g seed weight. These results suggest that the L263F amino acid substitution may affect KASII-A through altered local packing and protein stability rather than direct perturbation of the catalytic site.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1983954"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13696491/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265961","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":"Integrative multi-omics reveal the impact of different light spectra on lateral branching and growth of medicinal plant <i>Artemisia argyi</i>.","authors":"Ahad Mehmood, Zhao Yipeng, Jiali Song, Zhenchao Yang, Yongjun Wu","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1871654","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1871654","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Light quality is a decisive environmental regulator of growth and secondary metabolism in medicinal plants, yet the spectral requirements of <i>Artemisia argyi</i>, a species prized for bioactive metabolites such as artemisinin, eupatilin, and jaceosidin, remain poorly defined. This study integrated physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses to evaluate the response of <i>A. argyi</i> to 4 weeks of supplemental light-emitting diode (LED) lighting of three spectral compositions: blue-red (BR, 3:1), red-blue (RB, 3:1), and white (control), with three biological replicates per treatment. Physiologically, BR light produced the tallest stems, the largest and densest foliage, and the greatest stem diameter, shoot fresh and dry weight, and number of lateral branches; relative to RB and white light, plant height increased by 109%, 100%, 78%, and 8.6% and leaf number by 51.61%, 58.33%, 37.20%, and 4.2% across weeks 1-4, accompanied by higher antioxidant enzyme activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. RNA sequencing yielded 44.18-50.75 million raw reads per sample with a mapping ratio of 83.47%-87.06% and Q30 > 94%. Pairwise analysis identified 2,025 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; 1,173 upregulated and 852 downregulated) for BR vs. RB, 974 (652 upregulated and 322 downregulated) for BR vs. white, and 601 (141 upregulated and 460 downregulated) for RB vs. white, enriched in light-responsive, photosystem, chlorophyll- and proline-metabolism and circadian pathways. Key regulators included the two-component response regulator-like APRR1 (a CheY-like phosphoacceptor), proline dehydrogenase (ProDH), the chlorophyll b reductase NOL, and terpenoid-backbone (isoprene) genes. Metabolomic profiling detected 174, 129, and 81 differentially accumulated metabolites in BR vs. RB, BR vs. white, and RB vs. white, respectively, with 486 metabolites up- and 459 downregulated in BR vs. RB and pronounced enrichment of amino acid, carbohydrate, lipid, and secondary-metabolite (flavonoid, terpenoid, and alkaloid) biosynthesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that BR supplemental light coordinately enhances growth, lateral branching, and bioactive-compound biosynthesis, offering a practical basis for the precision cultivation of <i>A. argyi</i> and the targeted production of its medicinal compounds.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1871654"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13696284/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265880","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":"Predicting reproductive-phase nutrient replenishment in <i>Cannabis sativa</i> L. via a transpiration-driven mass-balance framework.","authors":"Kit Powell, William L Bauerle","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1955837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1955837","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fixed nutrient recipes often overlook developmental shifts in uptake and the coupling between transpiration and ion delivery. We tested a transpiration-driven mass-balance framework to predict nutrient replenishment during the reproductive phase in two cultivars of <i>Cannabis sativa</i> L. (CJ2, First Light). Plants received a solution prepared from a constant recipe; water use was tracked gravimetrically, leachate was periodically sampled, and organs were harvested for ICP-OES/flow injection analysis and biomass composite partitioning. Water-use efficiency (WUE) peaked at 4.5 g L^-1 in CJ2 and 3.4 g L^-1 in First Light, while solution drawdown of N, P, and K declined from early to late flowering. Leachate chemistry resolved cultivar- and stage-dependent transitions between net nutrient removal (net removal) from solution and net accumulation above input. In First Light, N shifted from 130 mg L^-1 net removal to +109 mg L^-1 enrichment and K from 192 mg L^-1 net removal to +195 mg L^-1 enrichment; in CJ2, N ranged from 90 mg L^-1 net removal to +101 mg L^-1 enrichment and K from 102 mg L^-1 net removal to +195 mg L^-1 enrichment. Phosphorus differences were smaller (First Light: 58 to 13 mg L^-1; CJ2: 42 mg L^-1 removal to +2 mg L^-1 enrichment). Mg net removal was greater in First Light than CJ2 (37 vs. 16 mg L^-1). Significant cultivar main effects were detected for P, K, Ca, and Fe (p ≤ 0.05), whereas significant date x cultivar interactions were detected for Mg and Mn (p ≤ 0.05). Across the four harvest intervals retained for mass-balance comparison, biomass-weighted predictors frequently produced the lowest absolute percent deviation (APD), although performance was element- and cultivar-dependent. Single-organ tissue element concentrations misrepresented whole-plant replenishment estimates: leaf Ca and Mg increased while leaf N declined, flowers and roots accumulated P, and stems and roots diverged in K. Predicted input concentrations derived from organ biomass-weighted tissue elemental content improved the alignment between replenishment estimates and measured net solution removal. Biomass-weighted means excluding floral tissue predicted most element replenishment amounts well and performed most consistently in CJ2, whereas biomass-weighted means including all organs more frequently minimized APD in First Light, with absolute percent deviations<10-13%. Collectively, these results indicate that reproductive-phase nutrition in <i>Cannabis sativa</i> L. is well represented by a flux-based mass-balance replenishment framework informed by organ biomass-weighted nutrient composition.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1955837"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13711131/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149286472","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":"Water limitation alters pea seed compositional traits and the culturable bacterial fraction recovered from the rhizosphere.","authors":"Joana Machado, Bruno Nogueira-Santos, Marta Nunes da Silva, Gianuario Fortunato, Carla Sancho Santos, Marta W Vasconcelos","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1932989","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1932989","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Drought is one of the major environmental constraints affecting grain legume production, yet its impact on seed compositional traits remains less understood than its effects on yield. This study evaluated the effects of water limitation on plant growth, seed nutritional and biochemical traits in <i>Pisum sativum</i> L. cv. Tom Thumb. Additionally, culturable bacteria were isolated from the pea rhizosphere to assess whether water limitation was associated with differences in the isolates recovered under the two watering regimes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Plants were grown under controlled conditions and subjected to well-watered control conditions (80% field capacity, FC) or water-limited conditions (40% FC) until maturity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Water limitation reduced shoot, pod, seed and total aerial fresh weight, whereas no statistically detectable differences were observed in the corresponding dry weights, pod number, or seed number. Water-limited conditions altered seed phytochemical composition, increasing saponin and flavonoid contents by 95% and 14%, respectively, and decreasing total phenolic content by 11%. ABTS antioxidant activity increased, while DPPH activity showed a marginal decrease. Endpoint-specific comparisons also indicated lower seed nitrogen (N), with a corresponding reduction in N-derived estimated crude protein, and lower zinc (Zn) concentrations, while molybdenum (Mo) showed a marginal decrease. However, none of these nutritional or mineral responses remained supported after false discovery rate adjustment. Culture-dependent analysis of rhizosphere bacteria showed that reduced water availability had limited effects on culturable bacterial abundance, although different bacterial isolates were recovered under the two watering regimes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, water limitation altered pea seed composition and was associated with differences in culturable rhizosphere bacterial isolates, even when dry reproductive biomass was not detectably reduced.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1932989"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13698824/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265913","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":"Comprehensive effects of plastic film mulching and combined application of water and nitrogen on photosynthetic characteristics, yield formation, and water-nitrogen use efficiency of citrus.","authors":"Hongmei Gu, Ping Li, Mengyuan Deng, Yun Zhong, Yuliang Fu, Songlin Wang","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1963480","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1963480","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction: &lt;/strong&gt;Citrus production in western Hubei, a subtropical region of central China, is constrained by seasonal water scarcity and excessive nitrogen application, creating a major challenge in reducing water and nitrogen inputs while maintaining yield stability and improving resource-use efficiency. Moreover, how different mulching materials modulate citrus responses under deficit irrigation and reduced nitrogen application remains unclear. Therefore, a multifactor field experiment integrating mulching type, irrigation, and nitrogen application was conducted to evaluate their combined effects on citrus photosynthetic traits, yield formation, water-use efficiency (WUE), and nitrogen partial factor productivity (NPFP).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;The field experiment was conducted in Zhijiang, Hubei Province, China, in 2023 and 2024 using an L9(3&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;) orthogonal design, incorporating three irrigation levels (W1: 80% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt; - 90% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt;; W2: 70% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt; - 80% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt;; W3: 60% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt; - 70% &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt;, where &lt;i&gt;θf&lt;/i&gt; denotes field capacity, defined as the soil water content retained after gravitational water has drained from fully wetted soil), three nitrogen rates (N1: 80% N0; N2: 70% N0; N3: 60% N0, where N0 = 300 kg·ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;), and three mulching materials (M1: white transparent film; M2: black opaque film; M3: silver-black double-color reflective film).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;(1) Irrigation amount (W) and nitrogen rate (N) were the primary factors influencing the measured variables, whereas mulching material (M) had a comparatively smaller effect. The main effects of all three factors were significant for most variables (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05). Interaction analyses indicated significant W × M and N × M effects on most variables, whereas W × N effects were comparatively limited. (2) As water and nitrogen supply decreased, Pn, Tr, Gs, and CE declined concurrently. Compared with T1 (W1N1M1), Pn decreased by 1.02%-24.36% under the other treatments. Ci declined in parallel with Pn under W1 and W2 but increased under W3. Fruit number and single-fruit weight responded differently to irrigation, nitrogen application, and mulching, The two variables reached their highest values under T1 and T5, respectively, and were significantly higher than their corresponding values under all W3 treatments (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05). (3) Using the criterion that yield, WUE, and NPFP each reached at least 90% of its respective maximum, the model-estimated suitable water and nitrogen ranges within the experimental domain were M1 (W = 687-800 mm, N = 180-208 kg·ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;), M2 (W = 706-740 mm, N = 219-237 kg·ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;), and M3 (W = 776-800 mm, N = 205-226 kg·ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;). (4) Path analysis and PLS-PM yielded positive path coefficients from irrigation, nitrogen application, and mulching material to photosynthetic traits (&lt;i&gt;β&lt;/i&gt; = 0.87, 0.33, and 0.05, respectively), from photosynthetic traits to growth indica","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1963480"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13700014/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265941","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":"Environmental, genetic and physiological factors governing potato endodormancy: from tuber development to endodormancy break.","authors":"Fabian Villamil-Bolaños, Sofia Kourmpetli, Edwin van der Vossen, Gemma Chope, Katherine Cools, Ron van der Hulst, Ernst-Jan Eggers, M Carmen Alamar","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1858517","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1858517","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Potato tuber dormancy and sprouting are complex traits with major implications for storage, quality, and postharvest management. Historically, these traits were controlled using chlorpropham (CIPC); however, following its ban in 2019 in the European Union, research aimed at understanding and managing dormancy and sprouting has increased substantially. Integrating findings across studies remains challenging due to the complexity of these traits, gaps in current knowledge, and differences in phenotyping approaches. In this review, we critically examine the challenges associated with evaluating dormancy and dormancy break progression and the current state of the knowledge across key developmental stages, from tuber formation, dormancy maintenance, to dormancy break. During tuber formation, we explore environmental signals that influence tuber induction and may contribute to dormancy extension, the reallocation of sugars from leaves to stolons, and the crosstalk amongst regulatory compounds. For dormancy maintenance, we analyse mechanisms of cell cycle arrest and highlight the roles of plant growth regulators in maintaining quiescence. Dormancy break is discussed in relation to sugar metabolism, symplastic reconnection, cell cycle reactivation, reactive oxygen species dynamics, and the influence of gibberellins and cytokinins. We also provide an overview of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with dormancy and sprouting identified across multiple studies. By structuring this synthesis around developmental stages rather than individual processes, we identify critical research gaps to support future research aimed at improving dormancy control in potatoes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1858517"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13697010/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265885","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":"Advanced soilless cultivation of medicinal plants: integrating dynamic LED lighting, elicitation, and smart technologies for sustainable biomass and phytochemical production.","authors":"Amit Kumar, Kanika, Shashi Rani, Ashish Rambhau Warghat","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1970412","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1970412","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Countries with limited water and land resources confront a significant problem due to the growing demand for medicinal plants. These plants are used worldwide to extract and isolate therapeutically important bioactive molecules, known as secondary metabolites. Many medicinal plant species are currently facing significant conservation challenges due to excessive, unregulated harvesting, driven by rapidly growing demand for plant-derived therapies. Soilless farming techniques like hydroponics, aeroponics, and vertical farming offer a sustainable alternative for generating high-quality planting material on a large scale in a considerably shorter period and with less space. Soilless farming revolutionises agriculture and food production, making it particularly well-suited for urban agriculture by reducing maintenance requirements and maximizing crop yields. Soilless farming of numerous medicinal herbs, fruit crops, and vegetables has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly for its ability to produce large amounts of biomass, high yields, and a wide range of pharmacologically active metabolites. These high-tech systems have significant promise for increased crop yields, cleaner produce, season-independent cultivation, and reduced environmental impact, particularly in water use and disease, compared to traditional soil-based systems. This review article rigorously evaluates recent advancements in soilless agriculture, including LED spectral regulation, nano-elicitation, microbial biostimulants and precursor-feeding strategies, reusable substrates, computational technologies, and CRISPR/Cas-based editing, with respect to their efficacy in generating high-quality plant biomass, improving automation, and optimizing shoot architecture. Implementing soilless farming to produce and synthesize bioactive molecules is expected to be crucial in enhancing sustainability and human well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1970412"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13701102/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265917","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":"Coordination of photosynthetic performance and leaf N:P stoichiometry under fluctuating coastal environmental conditions in <i>Bolboschoenoplectus mariqueter</i>.","authors":"Jiayuan Wang, Lianjiang Lyu, Xuexin Shao, Tonggui Wu, Fang Zhou, Long Zhang, Wenwen Yuan","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1911028","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.1911028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The population of <i>Bolboschoenoplectus mariqueter</i> has substantially declined because of habitat modification and competition. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the photosynthetic and stoichiometric traits of <i>B. mariqueter</i> and their environmental regulation in a natural tidal-flat population to facilitate successful conservation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Light- and CO₂-response characteristics, diurnal and seasonal dynamics of leaf gas exchange, daily carbon assimilation and transpiration, chlorophyll characteristics, and leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry in a natural were investigated in a × <i>B. mariqueter</i> population in Hangzhou Bay, China. Random forest, variation partitioning, and redundancy analyses were used to evaluate the relationships among photosynthetic performance, leaf nutrient stoichiometry, and microenvironmental factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), and water-use efficiency (WUE) varied substantially among months. Pn and Tr showed generally coordinated diurnal dynamics, whereas daily carbon assimilation and transpiration followed partially divergent seasonal trajectories after July. Leaf N and P concentrations and N:P ratios exhibited pronounced and asynchronous seasonal variations. The random forest model explained 65%, 69%, and 42% of the variations in Pn, Tr, and WUE, respectively. Leaf P and N:P were the main predictors of Pn; N, P, and N:P, of Tr; and N and P, of WUE. Variation partitioning showed substantial shared explanatory variation among photosynthetic-pigment traits, leaf nutrient stoichiometry, and microenvironmental factors, whereas redundancy analysis (RDA) identified leaf N, P, N:P, leaf temperature (LT), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and chlorophyll a/b (Chl a/b) as key explanatory variables.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These results indicate that photosynthetic performance and leaf nutrient stoichiometry in <i>B. mariqueter</i> are linked within an integrated environmental-physiological framework rather than through a simple direct relationship between leaf nutrient concentrations and carbon assimilation. Thus, P availability may play an important role in seasonal nutrient regulation. This multidimensional coordination of carbon acquisition, water use, and nutrient status may contribute to the adaptation of <i>B. mariqueter</i> to the dynamic coastal tidal-flat environment and provide a physiological basis for its conservation and restoration.</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"1911028"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13696488/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265894","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: Genetic enhancement of root, tuber and cereal crops via pangenomics, multi-omics integration and AI-driven prediction.","authors":"Simbo Diakite, Prince E Norman, Lansana Kamara, Necla Pehlivan, Meisam Zargar","doi":"10.3389/fpls.2026.2016675","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fpls.2026.2016675","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1793924.].</p>","PeriodicalId":12632,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Plant Science","volume":"17 ","pages":"2016675"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13699728/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149265919","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}