Dezhi Zhi, Liuyan Wang, Xuemei Guan, Wenhui Chen, Ke Chen
{"title":"PlantCCC prioritizes context-specific candidate ligand-receptor communication patterns in plant spatial transcriptomics.","authors":"Dezhi Zhi, Liuyan Wang, Xuemei Guan, Wenhui Chen, Ke Chen","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01758-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01758-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intercellular communication supports plant development and environmental responses, but its analysis in plant tissues is complicated by cell walls, plasmodesmata, and local tissue architecture. Spatial proximity therefore does not necessarily indicate effective communication. Plant ligand-receptor (L-R) resources also contain expanded gene families, homology-derived mappings, and uneven levels of experimental support. We developed PlantCCC, a spatially aware graph-learning framework that uses a plant L-R database as a candidate search space and combines residual spatial expression enhancement, a directed heterogeneous candidate graph, expression-gated spatial weighting, spatially aware multi-head graph attention, and self-supervised contrastive learning to prioritize context-specific candidate edges. In a semi-synthetic benchmark, PlantCCC distinguished TRUE pairs containing an injected interaction component from CONFOUNDER pairs showing tissue co-localization alone, and remained comparatively robust under dropout perturbation. In poplar stem analyses based on a homology-derived Populus candidate L-R set, and in an independent Arabidopsis Visium HD analysis based on Arabidopsis PlantPhoneDB entries, PlantCCC prioritized candidate L-R axes that were consistent with tissue architecture, spatial expression patterns, and prior evidence for the corresponding signaling modules. PlantCCC provides an interpretable computational framework for prioritizing context-specific candidate cell-cell communication patterns in plant spatial transcriptomics.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148906867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Detailed re-analysis of satellitome mapping facilitated by the telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly of bread wheat genome.","authors":"Manuel A Garrido-Ramos, Pilar Prieto","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01745-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01745-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The satellitome of Triticum aestivum cv. Chinese Spring consists of 36 satellite DNA (satDNA) families that were previously molecularly characterized and chromosomally mapped. The recent release of a complete gap-free telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly of the species offers a unique opportunity to refine the physical map and evolutionary interpretation of these sequences. Here, we re-evaluate the organization of the wheat satellitome by analyzing the T2T assembly with RepeatMasker and visualizing the results using the CHRISMAPP script. This research strengthens the notion that more than half of wheat satDNAs are connected to transposable elements (TEs) and enables us to propose a model of satDNA origin and evolution driven by TEs and other random genome sequences. By integrating T2T based physical mapping with previous FISH analyses, we refine the genomic distribution of tandem repeats, identify complex satellite organizations and length variants, and resolve several discrepancies between cytogenetic and genomic analyses. Finally, the detailed mapping of satDNA in centromeric and the subtelomeric regions highlight clear chromosome and subgenome specific patterns, suggesting potential roles of satellites in chromosome architecture. Together these findings provide the most complete and accurate satellitome map available for bread wheat, offering new insights into repeat evolution and genome organization in polyploid species.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13525055/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851325","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}
Sufei Wang, Ram Singh, Gopal Battu, Mohammad Belaffif, Steven J Clough, Matthew Hudson, Randall Nelson
{"title":"Characterization of disomic alien addition lines from an intersubgeneric cross between Glycine max and G. tomentella and phenotypic variation within those lines and their progenies.","authors":"Sufei Wang, Ram Singh, Gopal Battu, Mohammad Belaffif, Steven J Clough, Matthew Hudson, Randall Nelson","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01727-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01727-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Disomic alien addition lines (DAALs, 2n = 42) were obtained from an intersubgeneric cross between Glycine max [L.] Merr. cv. Dwight (2n = 40, G1G1) and Glycine tomentella Hayata (PI 441001, 2n = 78, D3D3CC). These DAALs had two homologous G. tomentella chromosomes. In some progenies of the DAALs the extra G. tomentella chromosomes were eliminated. One objective of this research was to identify differences in gene expression between a DAAL (LG13-7552) and one of its 2n = 40 progenies (LG12-7063). RNA-sequencing documented that many genes critical to fundamental plant growth and related to stress and defense responses were differentially expressed. DNA and RNA-sequencing data showed that the gray pubescence of LG12-7063 was due to a novel adenine deletion in the T locus. When the DAALs were grown in the field, progeny were identified that possessed characteristics that were absent in both parents. Additional objectives of this research were to document this phenotypic variation and to determine the cause of these changes. All off-type progenies lost their G. tomentella chromosomes and reverted to the normal soybean chromosomal state (2n = 40). Significant variation was observed among the 2n = 40 progenies for the several qualitative and quantitative traits. Field research documented an average reversion frequency within the DAAL rows of 4%. Genotypic data showed that the revertants (2n = 40) differed from the sister DAAL lines by mostly heterozygous polymorphisms throughout the genome.Natural cross-pollination was the most probable cause of observed variation but the reasons for the elevated level of cross pollination and the mechanisms for long distance pollen transfer remain unknown.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13525025/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851330","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":"Full-length floral transcriptome analysis reveals a modified ABCDE model with D-class gene loss and the molecular mechanism of double flower formation in Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis.","authors":"Yujun Ren, Xuewei Chen, Qisi Xu, Ying Miao","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01749-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01749-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ABCDE model serves as the fundamental framework for understanding floral organ development in angiosperms, yet its systematic transcriptome-wide characterization and functional validation remain lacking in Chinese narcissus (Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis), a traditional ornamental flower with high cultural and economic value. In this study, we identified 16 ABCDE model genes from the PacBio full-length floral transcriptome of the single-flower cultivar 'Jinzhanyintai', including nine A-class, two B-class, one C-class, and four E-class homologs. No canonical D-class genes were detected across multiple independent transcriptome datasets, and phylogenetic and expression evidence support that the C-class gene NtAG may undertake a dual C/D functional role in reproductive organ and ovule development. Based on spatiotemporal expression patterns, we constructed a modified ABCDE model for Chinese narcissus floral development, revealing expanded expression domains of B- and C-class genes underlying the formation of the unique paracorolla organ. Comparative analysis between 'Jinzhanyintai' and the double-flower cultivar 'Yulinglong' demonstrated that abnormal upregulation of B-class genes NtAP3 and NtPI in the stamen whorl drives stamen petaloidy and double flower formation. Subcellular localization and heterologous overexpression assays confirmed that NtPI is a nuclear-localized transcriptional regulator with a conserved function in floral organ morphogenesis. This study provides a foundational framework for understanding floral morphogenesis and key key target genes for molecular breeding in Chinese narcissus.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"WRKY transcription factors in potato research: functional genetic manipulation for multi-stress resilience and crop improvement.","authors":"Deyvid Novaes Marques, Fernando Angelo Piotto","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01747-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01747-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a globally important staple crop whose productivity is increasingly threatened by concurrent abiotic and biotic stresses under climate change. Transcription factors of the WRKY family have emerged as central regulatory hubs coordinating stress-responsive multiple networks and specialized metabolism. This article highlights current advances in WRKY research in potato, with a particular focus on functional genetic manipulation approaches aimed at enhancing multi-stress resilience. By integrating targeted literature analysis and bibliometric mapping, we highlight key WRKY isoforms implicated in tolerance to heat, drought, cold, heavy metals, and pathogens, while underscoring the predominance of transient or heterologous functional assays. Although evidence consistently demonstrates the strong regulatory potential of WRKY transcription factors, stable and heritable genetic manipulation in potato warrants further investigation. We also highlight critical gaps and emerging opportunities for translating WRKY-mediated regulation into environmentally smart crop improvement strategies, further emphasizing the need for gene characterization and relevant genome approaches to support resilient potato breeding.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular cartography of root nodule organogenesis: insights into the role of transcription factors.","authors":"Parinita Majumdar, Maitrayee DasGupta","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01754-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01754-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nodule organogenesis is a complex developmental process which is induced post-embryonically following rhizobia infection and relies on coordinated action of a suite of transcription factors at multiple stages starting from its initiation, de novo meristem establishment and differentiation. The rewiring of nitrate-responsive NIN-LIKE PROTEIN (NLP) homolog, NODULE INCEPTION (NIN) transcription factor through genetic adaptations in the common ancestor of the nitrogen-fixing clade is crucial to the origin of nodulation trait. Moreover, nodule formation emerged through the co-option of evolutionary ancient root/lateral root developmental pathways mediated by conserved transcriptional regulators such as NF-Y, LBD16, SHR/SCR, WOX5, PLT and KNOX. Importantly, NIN has acquired functions to integrate signals from rhizobia infection and divert the existing developmental pathways towards nodule organogenesis, thereby acts as a master regulator of root nodule symbiosis. Nodule specific innovations in the existing developmental pathway genes through mechanisms like genetic adaptations in their cis-regulatory region, paralog retention, changes in spatio-temporal gene expression pattern and functional changes to the protein are crucial for imparting developmental novelty during nodule organogenesis. Here, we provide a consolidated idea on transcription factor-mediated genetic modules regulating distinct stages of nodule organogenesis with an emphasis on their nodule specific innovations. This knowledge gain is particularly important to engineer nitrogen-fixing nodules into non-nodulation crop plants which will eventually minimize the reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and thereby favors a sustainable agricultural system.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"GASA/snakin proteins in plants: structural conservation, phylogenomic expansion, and functional diversity.","authors":"Abdullah, Parviz Heidari","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01752-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01752-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant GASA/Snakin proteins (GASA: Gibberellic Acid-Stimulated Arabidopsis) constitute a family of secreted cysteine-rich peptides. The family is defined by 12 highly conserved cysteine residues forming up to six disulfide bonds within a thermostable helical scaffold. Phylogenetically restricted to vascular plants, the family ranges from 10 members in rice to approximately 40 in polyploid species such as peanut (Arachis hypogaea), with paralogous expansion driven by whole-genome, segmental, and tandem duplication events, while the 12-cysteine spacing pattern is maintained under purifying selection across surveyed lineages. Phylogenetic analyses predominantly resolve three conserved subfamilies across monocots and eudicots, generally associated with GA-responsive growth regulation (Subfamily I), antimicrobial defense (Subfamily II), and abiotic stress adaptation (Subfamily III). GASA/Snakin proteins integrate inputs from at least six phytohormone pathways-gibberellin (GA), abscisic acid (ABA), brassinosteroid (BR), salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and auxin-through combinatorial cis-regulatory elements and direct protein-protein interactions; GA, ABA, and BR integration is most robustly validated experimentally, whereas JA and auxin connections remain primarily inferential. Their redox output (antioxidant protection versus oxidative sensitization) is subfamily-specific and modulated by metal-binding capacity and cellular context. Given the rapid accumulation of genome-wide characterizations across more than 35 species between 2020 and 2026, this review synthesizes evolutionary, structural, regulatory, and functional dimensions of the GASA/Snakin family into a unified redox-hormone hub model, identifies critical knowledge gaps including the absence of any identified receptor and the limited availability of experimental three-dimensional structures, and outlines a research roadmap toward translational deployment in sustainable agriculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular regulation of plant endoreduplication: core mechanisms and their upstream control.","authors":"Takashi Ishida","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01744-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01744-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Endoreduplication, or the endocycle, is a widespread developmental program in plants, in which cells repeatedly replicate their nuclear genome without cell division, leading to endopolyploidy. Unlike endomitosis or chemically induced polyploidization, this process arises from an intrinsic reconfiguration of the cell cycle machinery that uncouples G1/S progression from M-phase entry. A useful conceptual framework for this regulation is the \"endocycle oscillator\", a periodic control logic that supports repeated rounds of DNA replication while bypassing mitosis. Studies in animal systems, particularly Drosophila, have helped define this logic, whereas how far comparable principles apply in plants remains less clear. This review integrates current understanding of the plant endocycle, progressing from the operational logic of endocycle control to regulatory networks characterized in angiosperms. It specifically addresses how current findings in plants can be organized in terms of repeated S-phase entry and mitotic suppression. Available evidence points to important roles for licensing-related pathways in repeated genome duplication and for cyclin-CDKB complexes in the control of mitotic entry. Diverse upstream signals, such as light, phytohormones, and DNA damage responses, converge on this core machinery to modulate ploidy levels during organogenesis and stress adaptation. In this context, endoreduplication is increasingly recognized as a flexible mechanism that supports developmental plasticity. Identifying feedback loops that generate periodicity within the plant endocycle oscillator and advancing from static ploidy assessments to dynamic, system-level analyses will be essential for clarifying how plants deploy this cell cycle variant.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intersection rotational invariance regression based plant disease detection.","authors":"J Senthil, N K Karthikeyan, R Senthilkumar","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01751-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01751-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emerged Technologies include imparted potentiality to generate adequate food to converge ultimatum of society. However, aspects like, climate change, plant disease, refuse at pollinators as well as others are demanding to farmers. The presence of diseases pulls up the maturation of their corresponding species. Plant disease recognition using image processing and machine learning (ML) with data collected from Internet of Thing (IoT) sensors has been receiving greater amount of interest in recent years, however timely disease detection remains a demanding issues. Despite early disease detection though reduces the risk of destruction to plants nevertheless the noise present in the sensor networks (i.e. Internet of Things) while collecting internet scrapped images compromise overall precision and accuracy. To address on this research gap, i.e., addressing noise with timely disease detection, in this work ML based plant disease detection method called, Intersection Histogram and Rotational Invariant Principal Component Regression (IH-RIPCR) is introduced. IH-RIPCR technique is dividing as pre-processing and feature extraction. First with the raw plant dataset obtained as input from Corn or Maize Leaf Disease Dataset, pre-processing is done employing Intersection Histogram based Contrast Enhancement model. Second with the obtained pre-processed contrast enhanced images is subjected as input to ML-based Rotational Invariance Principal Component Regression feature extraction model to extract relevant features pertaining to corn or maize leaf images for disease detection in an accurate and precise manner. Experiments are conducted with corn or maize plant leaf dataset with different existing methods to verify hypothesis potentiality of IH-RIPCR technique. Significance of technique is evaluated based on numerous parameters in terms of PSNR, processing time, precision, recall and accuracy respectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148840736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tao Sun, Yue Liu, Jingying Dong, Ruiqi Zhao, Haiyan Li, Bo Lei, Kun Cao, Yingjie Yu
{"title":"Exogenous ABA regulates stress tolerance of Leymus chinensis via modulation of PYL‑mediated signaling and antioxidant enzymes.","authors":"Tao Sun, Yue Liu, Jingying Dong, Ruiqi Zhao, Haiyan Li, Bo Lei, Kun Cao, Yingjie Yu","doi":"10.1007/s11103-026-01753-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11103-026-01753-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As an important species for ecological restoration and high-quality forage in northern China, Leymus chinensis has drawn considerable research interest regarding its stress tolerance regulatory mechanisms. Exogenous abscisic acid (ABA), a key stress-signaling hormone, can effectively pre-activate the antioxidant defense system in L. chinensis. To elucidate the ABA response mechanism, this study combined physiological assessments-including antioxidant enzyme activities-with transcriptome sequencing of ABA-treated plants. The results demonstrated that ABA treatment enhanced the activities of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase in leaves while reducing malondialdehyde content. Transcriptomic analysis further revealed that ABA induced extensive gene expression reprogramming, with significant enrichment in pathways such as plant hormone signal transduction. Subsequently, 21 PYL gene family members (LcPYLs) were identified for the first time in the L. chinensis genome. Systematic characterization indicated that these genes possess conserved structures, contain promoter regions enriched in stress-responsive elements such as ABRE, and are phylogenetically closer to PYLs in rice. Expression profiling confirmed that multiple LcPYLs were significantly upregulated under both exogenous ABA and low-temperature stress. Collectively, this study reveals that exogenous ABA may improve stress tolerance in L. chinensis, which is potentially associated with the activation of the antioxidant system and PYL-mediated signaling. These findings provide valuable genetic resources and a theoretical reference for future molecular breeding of stress-resilient L. chinensis varieties.</p>","PeriodicalId":20064,"journal":{"name":"Plant Molecular Biology","volume":"116 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148819188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}