Horticultural Plant Journal最新文献

{"title":"Enhancing the efficiency of embryo rescue breeding in seedless grape via direct transformation of abnormal seedlings and secondary embryos","authors":"Xi Chen, Xue Wen, Yanan Zhang, Zifei Zheng, Jinhui Lin, Yan Xu, Guotian Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.007","url":null,"abstract":"Seedlessness is one of the most valuable agronomic traits in grape. Embryo rescue technology, with its advantages of increasing the proportion of seedless progeny and shortening the breeding cycle, has been widely applied in seedless grape breeding. To improve the efficiency of embryo rescue breeding in seedless grape, this study focused on rescuing and reusing abnormal seedlings generated during the process. By analyzing the influence of parental genotypes from 19 cross combinations on the formation of abnormal seedlings and employing both direct transformation and somatic embryogenesis for their rescue, the study investigated the effects of different abnormal seedling types and parental genotypes on rescue efficiency. Additionally, using the secondary embryos differentiated from the hypocotyls of abnormal seedlings in 3 cross combinations as experimental materials, the aim is to establish a somatic embryo regeneration system. The results revealed that the average proportion of abnormal seedlings (46.25 %) across the 19 cross combinations was significantly higher than that of normal seedlings (33.06 %). Among the abnormal seedling types, leaves without roots and cotyledon albinism were the most prevalent. Using the direct transformation method, the polycotyledonous type exhibited the highest rescue efficiency at 53.06 %, while the cross combination “Perlette × Huozhoucuiyu” achieved the highest abnormal seedling rescue rate of 81.11 %. Furthermore, secondary embryos derived from the hypocotyl of abnormal seedlings were capable of developing into normal seedlings, enabling the rescue of some abnormal seedlings. A cyclic somatic embryogenesis system was established for grape hypocotyls in the crosses “Melissa Seedless × Lüzhoubaoshi” and “Zitian Seedless × Melissa Seedless”. This approach not only significantly enhanced the efficiency of embryo rescue but also expanded the potential applications of abnormal seedlings in somatic regeneration research, providing valuable receptor materials for grape genetic transformation systems.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Construction of a living library of Solanum tomentosum introgression lines into the S. melongena genome: A tool to exploit novel genetic diversity for eggplant breeding","authors":"Toppino Laura, Tassone Maria Rosaria, Ribolzi Silvia, Sala Tea, Azzimonti Maria Teresa, Barchi Lorenzo, Gaccione Luciana, Shaaf Salar, Rossini Laura, Rotino Giuseppe Leonardo","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.019","url":null,"abstract":"Plant architecture, fruit shape and colour, as well as functional properties and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses are among the main target traits in eggplant genetic improvement. <ce:italic>Solanum tomentosum</ce:italic> L. is a wild relative of eggplant which is a valuable source of key agronomical traits, including plant architecture, fruit biochemical composition and resistances to pathogens. Following six back–cross cycles using the cultivated eggplant background line ‘67/3’ as recurrent parent, we developed a population of 148 Advanced Backcrossed Lines (ABLs) and Introgression Lines (ILs), each harbouring chromosomal segments from the wild species. Collectively, these introgressed segments cover more than 95 % of the <ce:italic>S. tomentosum</ce:italic> genome. The resulting ILs population was used to localize chromosomal regions involved in the control of traits of agronomical interest such as plant height, fruit peel pigmentation, and resistance to fungal diseases.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Suppression of CsDREB1B-1 promotes canker resistance via down-regulation of CsNCED1-1 expression and ABA biosynthesis in citrus","authors":"Changyu Zou, Shuyang Zhao, Lehuan Zhang, Xin Huang, Jie Fan, Xiuping Zou, Yongrui He, Shanchun Chen, Qin Long","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.005","url":null,"abstract":"Citrus canker, resulting from <ce:italic>Xanthomonas citri</ce:italic> subsp. <ce:italic>citri</ce:italic> (<ce:italic>Xcc</ce:italic>) infection, is a significant problem in the global citrus industry. Stress signaling is regulated by several transcription factors (TFs) in the plant stress response, including dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB) TFs. Previous studies have found that <ce:italic>CsDREB1B-1</ce:italic> responds to <ce:italic>Xcc</ce:italic> infestation in citrus; however, its function remains unidentified. This study showed that following <ce:italic>Xcc</ce:italic> infection, <ce:italic>CsDREB1B-1</ce:italic> expression was significantly increased in the susceptible Wanjincheng orange (<ce:italic>Citrus sinensis</ce:italic> Osbeck) cultivar. While its overexpression resulted in increased susceptibility, RNA interference silenced <ce:italic>CsDREB1B-1</ce:italic> and induced higher resistance to citrus canker. Furthermore, utilizing the yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) experiment, dual-luciferase (LUC) reporter assay, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), CsDREB1B-1 was found to directly control the transcription of <ce:italic>CsNCED1-1,</ce:italic> a gene essential for ABA biosynthesis. Moreover, <ce:italic>CsDREB1B-1</ce:italic> silenced plants displayed a substantial reduction in the abscisic acid (ABA) and a significant increase in salicylic acid (SA) levels, while the overexpression plants showed an opposite trend of change. The results showed that lowering CsDREB1B-1 expression caused less ABA build-up from <ce:italic>CsNCED1-1</ce:italic> downregulation, which then decreased the inhibitory interaction between ABA and SA-mediated defensive responses, which improved resistance to citrus canker. The current work provides genetic resources, as well as mechanistic knowledge, that may help produce citrus canker-resistant varieties.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comprehensive metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal the regulatory network governing capsaicinoid and ascorbic acid biosynthesis in four domesticated Capsicum species","authors":"Yuanye Jiang, Lili Ma, Yunxiang Wang, Jinhua Zuo, Yanyan Zheng, Heshan Du","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.020","url":null,"abstract":"Peppers are among the vegetables with high ascorbic acid content and contain unique natural metabolites called capsaicinoids, which confer the spicy flavor of pepper (<ce:italic>Capsicum annuum</ce:italic>) fruits. The synthetic pathways for capsaicinoids and ascorbic acid have been determined, but the genes involved in these processes have rarely been extensively researched or characterized. In this study, differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified across 16 pepper lines from four cultivated species (<ce:italic>C. annuum</ce:italic>, <ce:italic>C. baccatum</ce:italic>, <ce:italic>C. chinense</ce:italic>, and <ce:italic>C. frutescens</ce:italic>). Of these lines, PI656296 had the highest ascorbic acid content, and PI281435 and PI195301 had the highest capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin contents. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) of transcriptome sequencing (RNA–seq) data identified 21 different gene modules. The blue and turquoise modules were positively correlated with the levels of capsaicinoids and ascorbic acid, respectively. These modules included numerous candidate transcription factors (TFs) related to capsaicinoid and ascorbic acid biosynthesis, including the previously reported TFs WRKY9 and MYB108, as well as TFs from the WRKY, MYB, ERF, and bHLH families. These findings provide important insights into the molecular regulation mechanisms of capsaicinoid and ascorbic acid synthesis in pepper and provide important information for pepper variety selection.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The small-fruit phenotypes were controlled by nine major-effect loci with complementary epistasis in Malus accessions","authors":"Ying Li, Hailong Wang, Xin Huang, Yi Wang, Ting Wu, Zhenhai Han, Bei Wu, Xinzhong Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.05.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.05.011","url":null,"abstract":"During the long history of domestication and improvement of cultivated plants from their wild progenitors, unfavorable alleles of important traits, such as the small-fruit trait of wild apple (<ce:italic>Malus</ce:italic>) species, have undergone gradual negative selection. Utilizing wild species as breeding materials for elite lines requires removing these undesirable alleles, making it urgent to identify these allelic variations. We previously identified 90 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for apple fruit weight via bulked segregant analysis-seq. In this study, we identified 37 genome regions associated with apple fruit weight by genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 253 <ce:italic>Malus</ce:italic> accessions. We then developed 147 GenoBaits markers within the QTL intervals or association regions, of which nine were major-effect markers for small-fruit traits and exhibited complementary epistasis. Nineteen candidate genes were predicted within the nine major-effect loci. Overexpressing three of these genes, <ce:italic>MdPMEI51</ce:italic>, <ce:italic>MdTIP1-1</ce:italic>, and <ce:italic>MdARF9</ce:italic>, inhibited cell proliferation in transgenic apple calli, and allelic variants in their coding sequences enhanced these inhibitory effects. We replaced the nearby linkage marker with <ce:italic>MdTIP1-1</ce:italic> SNP700 A/G (Chr12_16 957 078 T/C, on the antisense strand) and identified seven markers as major-effect markers for the large-fruit trait. We added the joint effects of the nine and seven major-effect markers for the small- and large-fruit phenotypes, respectively, to genomics-assisted prediction (GAP) models as fixed effects. The prediction accuracy of the non-additive GAP model was 0.8436. The frequency of the small-fruit associated alleles of the nine major-effect markers is much higher in wild <ce:italic>Malus</ce:italic> species than in cultivated and semi-cultivated species, indicating that the alleles associated with the small-fruit trait underwent strong negative selection during domestication. These findings shed light on the genetic mechanism underlying the small-fruit trait in apple and could facilitate apple breeding.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ABA-induced PbrMYB8-PbrMYB169 module promotes lignin biosynthesis in corking disorder in pear fruit","authors":"Xiaoke Zhang, Shicheng Zou, Chenjie Yao, Yanfei Shan, Jianfa Cai, Cheng Li, Jun Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.08.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.08.003","url":null,"abstract":"Pear fruit corking disorder is a non-infectious physiological condition that primarily occurs during the late developmental stages of pear and significantly impacts fruit quality and economic value in several major cultivars. As the underlying mechanism remains unclear, effective prevention strategies and genetic improvements continue to present major challenges. In this study, ‘Akizuki’ pear was used as experimental material, and the lignin content in cork-affected tissue was found to be significantly higher than in healthy tissue. Exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatment induced cork formation and promoted lignin biosynthesis, a major structural component, in both pear fruits and calli. Through integrated RNA-seq and expression analyses, we identified the ABA-responsive gene <ce:italic>PbrMYB8</ce:italic>, which was differentially expressed between healthy and diseased tissues and associated with lignin biosynthesis during corking disorder. Stable transformation of <ce:italic>PbrMYB8</ce:italic> into pear calli and <ce:italic>Arabidopsis</ce:italic> confirmed its role in promoting lignin biosynthesis. Notably, PbrMYB8 not only activated lignin biosynthesis genes independently but also interacted with PbrMYB169 to form a protein complex that co-regulated their expression. These findings improve our understanding of lignin biosynthesis in pear fruit corking disorder by identifying a key regulator and its interaction network and provide a theoretical foundation for future strategies aimed at improving pear fruit quality.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144923930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deep learning applications advance plant genomics research","authors":"Wenyuan Fan, Zhongwei Guo, Xiang Wang, Lingkui Zhang, Yuanhang Liu, Chengcheng Cai, Kang Zhang, Feng Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.08.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.08.004","url":null,"abstract":"With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technologies and the accumulation of large-scale multi-omics data, deep learning (DL) has emerged as a powerful tool to solve complex biological problems, with particular promise in plant genomics. This review systematically examines the progress of DL applications in DNA, RNA, and protein sequence analysis, covering key tasks such as gene regulatory element identification, gene function annotation, and protein structure prediction, and highlighting how these DL applications illuminate research of plants, including horticultural plants. We evaluate the advantages of different neural network architectures and their applications in different biology studies, as well as the development of large language models (LLMs) in genomic modelling, such as the plant-specific models PDLLMs and AgroNT. We also briefly introduce the general workflow of the basic DL model for plant genomics study. While DL has significantly improved prediction accuracy in plant genomics, its broader application remains constrained by several challenges, including the limited availability of well-annotated data, computational capacity, innovative model architectures adapted to plant genomes, and model interpretability. Future advances will require interdisciplinary collaborations to develop DL applications for intelligent plant genomic research frameworks with broader applicability.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"131 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of PYL genes as core components of abscisic acid signaling in plant abiotic stress response","authors":"Rongrong Zhang, Shilei Luo, Long Li, Tingting Mu, Peng Wang, Guobin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.06.006","url":null,"abstract":"The PYL gene family, encoding core ABA receptors, plays a pivotal role in abiotic stress adaptation and growth regulation in horticultural crops. By binding ABA via its conserved structural domain, PYL proteins initiate signaling cascades through PP2C phosphatase inhibition, precisely modulating downstream ABA responses. This review systematically examines the functional diversification of PYL members and their stress-responsive expression patterns in horticultural species. PYL participates in physiological processes involved in ABA signal transduction regulation. These include stomatal movement, transcriptional regulation, and metabolic regulation, thereby enhancing tolerance to abiotic stresses encountered in horticultural production, such as drought, salinity, low temperature, and darkness. Furthermore, PYLs also regulate developmental traits such as seed germination and root structure, highlighting their dual role in stress resistance and growth and development. The genetic and regulatory complexity of the PYL family offers valuable targets for molecular breeding in horticulture. Future research should elucidate crop-specific PYL regulatory networks to advance precision breeding strategies for sustainable horticultural systems.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptome analysis of grape root to determine the regulatory network response to melatonin","authors":"Lili Xu, Wenmao Yang, Hongyang Guo, Chengyin Liu, Aoxing Chen, Syed Aftab Ahmad, Xianpu Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.04.018","url":null,"abstract":"A root system, which serves as the cornerstone of a plant, is the organ system that initially perceives alterations in soil nutrient concentrations and water conditions. Plant hormones constitute highly significant determinants of root growth and development. To explore the response patterns of ‘Sapphire’, ‘Black Emperor’ and ‘Autumn Crisp’ grape (<ce:italic>Vitis vinifera</ce:italic> L.) roots to melatonin (MT), grape roots were treated with different concentrations of melatonin respectively. The results revealed that the effects of different MT concentrations were similar to those of different auxin concentrations within the range of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 mg·L<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−1</ce:sup> for IBA and IAA, which promoted root growth at low concentrations but inhibited root growth at high concentrations. Furthermore, compared with the control, 10 μmol·L<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−1</ce:sup> MT significantly promoted root growth and development by interacting with various endogenous hormones and signaling molecules and with phenols and anthocyanins in grape roots. RNA<ce:bold>–</ce:bold>seq analysis revealed that a total of 1,419 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified after MT treatment were enriched in 20 biological processes associated with secondary metabolism, including the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, nitrogen metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, and galactose metabolism. In particular, 11 genes were significantly enriched in the resveratrol metabolic pathway, with 10 being upregulated from 2.93<ce:bold>–</ce:bold> to 9.19<ce:bold>–</ce:bold>fold compared with those in the control. Overall, these results suggested that MT promoted the growth and development of grape roots by regulating the levels of hormones and signaling molecules. Our findings revealed a novel role for MT in root growth and development, suggesting that several transcription-related metabolic pathways could be involved in hormone signaling. This study provided valuable information on root growth and development for the breeding of grape varieties.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling the role of VcCOMT38 as a specific O-methyltransferase for enhancing lignin biosynthesis: Insights from blueberry and cross-species analysis","authors":"Yushan Liu, Ruiyi Fan, Li Chen, Jiabo Pei, Yu Deng, Kun Dong, Liangsheng Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.hpj.2025.02.022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2025.02.022","url":null,"abstract":"Lignin is a significant secondary metabolite produced through the phenylpropanoid pathway. As a vital component of the plant cell wall, lignin affects various fruit characteristics, including size, seed quantity, and firmness. In this study, we conducted comprehensive identification and phylogenetic analysis of 265 Caffeic acid <ce:italic>O</ce:italic>-methyltransferase (COMT) genes across ten different plant species, including <ce:italic>Vaccinium corymbosum</ce:italic> and four other <ce:italic>Vaccinium</ce:italic> species. The results reveal that <ce:italic>VcCOMT38</ce:italic> is a promising structural gene for the biosynthesis of lignin in blueberry. An <ce:italic>in vitro</ce:italic> enzymatic assay of VcCOMT38 demonstrated that it is a special enzyme in the lignin biosynthesis pathway and prefers to use caffeic acid as a substrate over 5-hydroxyferulic acid. Transient overexpression and silencing of <ce:italic>VcCOMT38</ce:italic> in <ce:italic>Vaccinium corymbosum</ce:italic> ‘Northland’ fruits demonstrated that <ce:italic>VcCOMT38</ce:italic> participates in lignin biosynthesis and contributes to both an increased number of immature seeds and enhanced fruit firmness. The heterogeneous overexpression of <ce:italic>VcCOMT38</ce:italic> in <ce:italic>Nicotiana benthamiana</ce:italic> revealed that this gene could increase the lignin content and the syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio, which determines the maximum monomer yield during lignin depolymerization. These results highlight <ce:italic>VcCOMT38</ce:italic> as a crucial gene in lignin biosynthesis and its potential for improving lignin production in industry through genetically modified woody plants.","PeriodicalId":13178,"journal":{"name":"Horticultural Plant Journal","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}