Planta最新文献

{"title":"Molecular and metabolic drivers of oil quality and bioenergy potential in Jatropha curcas.","authors":"Daniela de Argollo Marques, Kleber Alves Gomes, Roseli Aparecida Ferrari, Cássia Regina Limonta Carvalho, Walter José Siqueira, Nicolas Carels, Marie-Anne Van Sluys","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05159-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05159-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Combining biochemical, molecular, and multivariate analyses identified candidate signatures and L10P41 as a promising bioenergy ideotype, supporting targeted selection for oil quality and bioenergy performance in Jatropha curcas. Jatropha curcas L. is a promising bioenergy crop, but its genetic improvement requires a deeper understanding of the molecular and metabolic factors underlying variation in oil quality, fatty acid (FA) composition, and phorbol ester (PE) accumulation. We characterized FA composition during seed development and evaluated mature-seed oil content, PE concentration, higher heating value (HHV), and the expression of KASIII, MFP2, and JcBAHD-AT in 12 contrasting elite breeding genotypes. Stage-specific principal component analysis (PCA), complemented by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), revealed developmentally dynamic variation in FA composition and genotype relationships. Comparison with biochemical and expression data indicated associations among lipid composition, candidate-gene expression, PE concentration, and energy performance. The L10P41 genotype combined an oleic acid-enriched profile, relatively high oil content, elevated HHV, and distinct KASIII and MFP2 expression patterns, emerging as a promising bioenergy ideotype. Variation in HHV among genotypes, including relatively high values in some genotypes with comparatively low oil content, indicated that energy performance cannot be inferred from total oil content alone and may also be associated with differences in oil composition. The putative BAHD acyltransferase gene JcBAHD-AT exhibited genotype- and stage-specific expression patterns consistent with a potential role in specialized diterpenoid metabolism; however, its relationship with PE accumulation remains associative and requires functional validation. Genotypes combining high oil content with comparatively low PE concentrations further indicated that these traits can coexist and are not necessarily tightly coupled. Overall, integrating molecular, biochemical, and multivariate analyses revealed candidate signatures associated with oil quality and bioenergy potential, advancing the identification of promising genotypes for targeted selection and precision breeding in J. curcas.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13615127/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Kinase crosstalk coordinates stress adaptation and metabolic homeostasis in plants.","authors":"Teja Manda, Delight Hwarari, Raphael Dzinyela","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05177-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05177-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Crosstalk among MAPKs, CDPKs, SnRKs, and TOR establishes a dynamic regulatory framework that balances energy homeostasis, defense, and development under stress conditions. Continued advances in systems biology and functional genomics will further clarify these complex interactions and accelerate the development of crops with enhanced stress resilience, growth stability, and resource-use efficiency. Plants rely on complex kinase signaling networks to sense, integrate, and respond to rapidly fluctuating environmental stresses. Central to these networks are mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), sucrose non-fermenting-1-related kinases (SnRKs), and the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) complex, which collectively coordinate stress perception, metabolic regulation, and growth adaptation. Although the individual functions of these pathways have been extensively characterized, a unified mechanistic framework describing their interconnected roles across diverse stress conditions remains incomplete. Here, we synthesize recent advances in plant stress signaling to propose an integrated model of kinase crosstalk that highlights key nodes of convergence, reciprocal regulation, and metabolic-hormonal integration. We emphasize the antagonistic interplay between SnRK1 and TOR as a central regulatory hub controlling energy balance and stress adaptation, while MAPK and CDPK cascades intersect with SnRK1-mediated autophagy and TOR-dependent anabolic growth pathways. In addition, hormonal signaling networks involving abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA), and jasmonic acid (JA) provide further layers of regulatory coordination that improve cellular responses to environmental stress. Collectively, these interconnected kinase networks orchestrate survival strategies, metabolic homeostasis, and resilience under adverse conditions. By integrating these signaling modules into a systems-level framework, this review provides mechanistic insights and emerging perspectives for engineering crops with enhanced stress tolerance, growth stability, and energy-use efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Receptor-like kinase-mediated cell wall integrity signaling in plant environmental stress responses.","authors":"Teja Manda, Delight Hwarari, Raphael Dzinyela","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05174-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05174-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) serve as central signaling hubs that integrate extracellular signals with intracellular responses to maintain cell wall integrity and cellular homeostasis. Their structural and functional diversity enables precise perception of developmental, immune, and environmental cues. Recent advances in structural biology, phosphoproteomics, and genome engineering have substantially deepened our understanding of RLK function and regulation. Harnessing this knowledge offers promising opportunities to engineer crops with enhanced resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, contributing to sustainable agriculture under a changing climate. Plants are continually exposed to mechanical, osmotic, and biotic stresses that threaten cell wall integrity and cellular homeostasis. Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) represent one of the largest families of plasma membrane receptors and function as key sensors that connect extracellular cues with intracellular signaling networks. Positioned at the cell wall-plasma membrane interface, RLKs perceive diverse signals, including microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), endogenous peptides, and changes in cell wall architecture. Major RLK subfamilies, including leucine-rich repeat RLKs (LRR-RLKs), lysin motif RLKs (LysM-RLKs), Catharanthus roseus RLK1-like kinases (CrRLKs), and wall-associated kinases (WAKs), have evolved specialized ligand-recognition mechanisms that enable signaling specificity and functional diversity. Following activation, RLKs assemble dynamic receptor complexes that initiate phosphorylation cascades involving mitogen-activated protein kinases, calcium-dependent signaling pathways, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and hormonal regulators. These interconnected networks integrate developmental processes with immune and abiotic stress responses, allowing plants to coordinate growth, defense, and environmental stress adaptation. Recent advances in structural biology, phosphoproteomics, and genome engineering have expanded understanding of RLK-mediated signaling and revealed opportunities for crop improvement. Here, the review synthesizes current knowledge of RLK structural diversity, signal transduction mechanisms, and network integration, highlighting their central role in cell wall integrity surveillance, stress adaptation, and emerging strategies for engineering climate-resilient crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149063308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of the synergistic effect between CiFTIP1 and CiFT in flowering regulation of citrus.","authors":"Yan-Mei Wu, Jian Zhang, Zhuang-Zhuang Li, Peng Wang, Jin-Zhi Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05169-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05169-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Overexpression of CiFTIP1 enhances the long-distance transport of the florigen protein CiFT, leading to early flowering in tomato, with a synergistic effect when co-expressed with CiFT, and provides a potential strategy for regulating flowering time in fruit trees. FTIP1 is a key regulator involved in the long-distance transport of the florigen protein FT. To investigate the role of citrus CiFTIP1 in regulating the transport of CiFT, transgenic tomato plants were employed as experimental materials in this study. Phenotypic analysis revealed that overexpression of CiFTIP1 promoted early flowering in tomato and upregulated the expression of key flowering genes SlLFY and SlAP1, and downregulated SlTFL. By crossing CiFT and CiFTIP1 overexpression lines, the double-overexpression hybrids exhibited a marked synergistic early-flowering effect, flowering earlier than single-overexpression plants. Grafting experiments further confirmed that double-overexpression plants used as rootstocks possessed a stronger capability to induce early flowering in wild-type scions. Notably, higher CiFT fluorescence signal and protein abundance were detected in wild-type scions grafted onto double-overexpression rootstocks, confirming that CiFTIP1 acts as a molecular chaperone to effectively enhance the transport efficiency of CiFT protein. This study clarified the molecular mechanism by which CiFTIP1 synergistically regulated flowering via enhancing the mobility of CiFT protein between rootstocks and scions. It also provided innovative strategies for flowering time regulation, hybrid breeding efficiency improvement, and production cycle management of fruit trees.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149025877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of latitude and extreme temperatures on the expression of cleistogamous flowers and pollen viability in soybean (Glycine max) under field conditions.","authors":"Federico O Robbiati, Leonardo D Amarilla, Carolina Torres, Silvio E Castillo, Tania P Palacios, Mariana P Mazzei, José L Vesprini, Reto Schmucki, Natacha Chacoff, Mariano Devoto, Leonardo Galetto","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05167-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05167-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Developing soybean flowers exposed to higher maximum temperatures during the week preceding full anthesis show a strong association with cleistogamy, but without a latitudinal gradient. Higher mean maximum temperature also had a moderate but significant negative effect on pollen viability. Soybean displays a range of reproductive strategies, including the production of both closed, self-pollinated cleistogamous flowers and open, self- and cross-pollinated chasmogamous flowers, as well as variation in the pollen viability among flowers. The incidence of cleistogamy and pollen viability could be related to stressful environmental conditions. This research examines under field conditions the relationship between latitude and the mean-maximum temperatures (data from National Meteorological Service) to which buds are exposed 1 week before sampling, with cleistogamy and pollen viability. The number of cleistogamous flowers (n = 50 flowers per site) and pollen viability (n = 5 flowers of each type per site, staining pollen with lactophenol to estimate the percentage of non-viable pollen) were measured across a broad latitudinal range (21 sites) and considering mean-maximum temperatures during the week before sampling flowers in full anthesis. The regression models were applied to interpret the response variables disentangling the effects of both factors. The proportion of cleistogamous flowers was high across sites (63.1 to 98%). The model with mean-maximum temperature as fixed factor showed a significant association with the occurrence of cleistogamy and with pollen viability. This trend suggests that higher temperatures (i.e., high mean daily temperatures) one week before anthesis are associated with changes in reproductive soybean traits throughout the latitudinal gradient. Given the observed increase in the frequency and intensity of maximum temperatures during the flowering season associated with climate change, our research implies an impact on the pollination and fertilization of soybean with possible implications for crop production.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149017745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DELLA proteins enhance cadmium tolerance by coordinating redox protection and cadmium partitioning in Arabidopsis.","authors":"Qi Ding, Runhao Yao, Yajing Cai, Yuqiang Zeng, Sisi Zhao, Yue Chen, Ting Zheng","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05168-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05168-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cadmium (Cd) toxicity requires plants to coordinate growth restraint with cellular protection, but the upstream regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we identify the gibberellin (GA)-DELLA module as a positive regulator of Cd tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Cd exposure reduced endogenous GA levels, shifted GA metabolic gene expression toward a low-GA state, and increased DELLA protein abundance; exogenous GA₃ attenuated this increase. Genetic and pharmacological analyses showed that elevated DELLA activity improved growth under Cd stress, whereas loss of DELLA function increased sensitivity. Mechanistically, DELLA activity strengthened redox protection and restricted root-to-shoot Cd translocation, as indicated by lower reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation, higher antioxidant capacity, better maintenance of photosynthetic performance, and enhanced expression of genes associated with Cd chelation and vacuolar sequestration. These results support a model in which a Cd-induced low-GA state promotes DELLA-dependent protection by coordinating oxidative defense with Cd retention in roots.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149012517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial Expression of Concern: sll1722, an unassigned open reading frame of Synechocystis PCC 6803, codes for L-myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase.","authors":"Anirban Chatterjee, Manoj Majee, Shilpi Ghosh, Arun Lahiri Majumder","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05170-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05170-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149008594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Floral dynamics in the protandrous flowers of Bauhinia variegata (Fabaceae): phase-specific morphology, scent, and nectar production.","authors":"Andrews Vinicius Santos da Silva, Vidal de Freitas Mansano, Dalton Guimarães Veloso, Ana Claudia Fernandes Amaral, Jefferson Diocesano da Cruz, Fabrício de Oliveira Silva, Walter Sotto Mayor Fernandes Neto, Jefferson Rocha de Andrade Silva, Pedro Joaquim Bergamo, Leandro Freitas, Juliana Villela Paulino","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05146-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05146-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>Protandry in Bauhinia variegata is expressed through coordinated changes in floral morphology, scent composition, secretory activity, and nectar presentation, whereas petal reflectance remains stable; molecular docking further indicates that key phase-associated volatiles are structurally compatible with a bee odourant-binding protein, supporting mechanistic plausibility of olfactory detectability without demonstrating behavioral attraction. Bauhinia variegata exhibits protandrous flowers in which floral morphology, scent production, and nectar presentation change through anthesis. Here, we examined anthesis, stigma receptivity, petal reflectance, volatile organic compound (VOC) composition across floral organs and phases, secretory structures, nectar dynamics, and the structural compatibility of selected phase-discriminant VOCs with a honeybee odourant-binding protein. Flowers exhibited prolonged anthesis, opening at night and remaining functional for 2-3 days. Pollen release predominated during the 1st day (staminate phase), whereas maximal stigma receptivity occurred on the 2nd day (pistillate phase), accompanied by elongation and curvature of the style. Petal reflectance remained stable across phases. Floral scent was spatially heterogeneous among organs and temporally dynamic across anthesis, with terpene-rich bouquets dominated by α-pinene and β-pinene and with phase- or organ-informative compounds including nonanal, limonene, trans-caryophyllene, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one. Cavitated secretory trichomes and sepals showed evidence of terpene-associated secretion. Nectar volume and total sugar content peaked during the pistillate phase, coinciding with strongest stigma receptivity. Molecular docking with AmelOBP14 showed that key phase-associated VOCs are structurally compatible with a bee odourant-binding protein, providing complementary mechanistic support for their potential olfactory detectability. Together, these results show that protandry in B. variegata is expressed through coordinated changes in morphology, scent, secretory activity, and nectar presentation, indicating a complex signalling strategy; however behavioural responses of floral visitors remain to be tested.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13589757/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149008667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nitric oxide and hydrogen gas synergistically promote adventitious rooting in cucumber: insights from transcriptomic and physiological analyses.","authors":"Yuzheng Deng, Jiayi Jiao, Jiayu Li, Yuanyuan Kong, Weibiao Liao","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05158-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05158-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>NO and H₂ synergistically promote cucumber adventitious rooting by regulating hormone, photosynthesis and antioxidant pathways. Adventitious root formation is essential for plant propagation and is modulated by nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen gas (H₂). This study used transcriptome sequencing to investigate cucumber explants treated with sodium nitroprusside (SNP, an NO donor) and hydrogen-rich water (HRW, an H₂ donor). In total, 2716 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified under SNP treatment and 1443 under HRW treatment, with 570 genes co-regulated by both signals. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed significant enrichment in pathways involved in phytohormone signaling, photosynthesis-antenna proteins, and glutathione metabolism. Functional characterization of the 570 common genes showed enrichment of protein kinases, cytochrome P450, and transcription factor families (AP2/ERF, MYB, bHLH, NAC), and protein-protein interaction network analysis identified five hub genes (CsAUX1, CsCYCD3-3, CsGSTU8, CsXTH3, CsERFC3). Physiological assays verified that SNP and HRW coordinately regulated phytohormone homeostasis: they decreased zeatin content while increasing brassinosteroids and ethylene levels. Additionally, both treatments improved photosynthetic parameters and enhanced glutathione antioxidant activity. Time-course qPCR revealed that HRW induced faster gene expression changes (peaks at 12-24 h) than SNP (peaks at 24-48 h), and NO scavenger (cPTIO) experiments confirmed that SNP effects are strictly NO-dependent while HRW acts through both NO-dependent and NO-independent pathways. Oxidative stress markers (MDA, H₂O₂, O₂^-) were reduced, and antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT, APX, GR, GPX, GSTs) were elevated, indicating enhanced redox buffering capacity rather than oxidative stress. Cis-regulatory analysis further detected transcription factor binding sites related to light, hormone, and stress responses. Collectively, these findings systematically reveal a synergistic molecular network by which NO and H₂ promote adventitious rooting. This study enhances our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying adventitious root development and offers a theoretical foundation for optimizing propagation techniques in horticultural crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149002563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A chromosome-scale genome of Capsicum pubescens provides insights into candidate terpene-associated gene clusters and pan variation of terpene synthases.","authors":"Xu Lu, Yupeng Li, Wanting Wang, Zheng Ye, Lin Li, Huizhen Fu, Muhammad Ahsan Altaf, Shanhan Cheng, Zhiwei Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00425-026-05153-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00425-026-05153-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Main conclusion: </strong>A chromosome-scale genome of Capsicum pubescens and comparative pan-TPS analysis support structural characterization and gene-level prioritization of a chromosome-9 terpene-associated candidate locus in this accession. Capsicum pubescens is one of the five domesticated Capsicum species, mainly cultivated in mid- to high-elevation regions of the Americas. Despite its distinctive morphology and fruit traits, genomic resources for C. pubescens remain less developed than those for the widely cultivated C. annuum. Here, we assembled a chromosome-scale reference genome for accession HNUCP0001, spanning 3.70 Gb with a scaffold N50 of 278.01 Mb. Comparative genomics revealed 679 significantly expanded gene families enriched in sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis. Genome-wide biosynthetic gene-cluster mining identified multiple terpene-associated candidate loci, which were subsequently prioritized using genome-derived structural criteria and Capsicum pubescens-specific expression evidence. Subsequently, we curated the terpene synthase (TPS) repertoire and, across 16 Capsicum genomes, resolved 36 TPS orthogroups with pronounced presence/absence variation, highlighting dynamic lineage-specific diversification. Together, these analyses establish HNUCP0001 as an accession-specific genomic resource and provide a comparative framework for prioritizing terpene-associated TPS genes and candidate BGCs in Capsicum. These candidate loci, together with accession-level transcriptomic and metabolomic evidence, offer testable hypotheses for future functional studies of specialized terpenoid metabolism in C. pubescens.</p>","PeriodicalId":20177,"journal":{"name":"Planta","volume":"264 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148990800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}