Plant Cell Reports最新文献

{"title":"JsSAMDC promotes polyamine synthesis and flowering genes to synergistically regulate female flower bud differentiation.","authors":"Jinyan Chen, Wenwen Li, Chunxiang Li, Yuanqi Huang, Jian Peng, Dong Huang, Mengmeng Liu, Xuejun Pan, Wen' E Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03592-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03592-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>The JsSAMDCs promotes the expression of polyamine synthesis genes and regulates the expression of flowering genes which in turn promotes the differentiation of female flower buds in Juglans sigillata Dode. Juglans sigillata is a typical dioecious plant, and its low female-to-male ratio has been a significant factor limiting J. sigillata yield. As a key rate-limiting enzyme in polyamine synthesis, the role of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC) in flower bud differentiation is unknown. In this study, we identified seven JsSAMDC genes in the J. sigillata genome. Transcriptome and metabolome data showed that JsSAMDC1 exhibited significant co-expression connectivity, and had a significant positive correlation with the flowering genes CO and SOC1. Concomitantly, higher levels of spermine (Spm) were detected in female flower buds. Exogenous Spm significantly increased the expression levels of these flowering genes and Spm content in female flower buds. JsSAMDC1 encodes a hydrophilic protein dominated by irregular coils in its secondary structure, lacking both a transmembrane region and a signal peptide. The protein localizes to the nucleus, cytoplasm, and plasma membrane. Spatiotemporal expression analysis revealed predominant expression of JsSAMDC1 during the physiological differentiation of female flower buds. Transient silencing of JsSAMDC1 resulted in reduced expression of polyamine biosynthesis and flowering-related genes, decreased content of putrescine (Put) and spermidine (Spd) in flower buds, and promoted Spm accumulation. Overall, JsSAMDC1 and polyamine biosynthesis genes synergistically elevate Spm levels in female flower buds and, together with the flowering genes CO and SOC1, promote female flower bud differentiation in J. sigillata. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the relationship between polyamines and female flower bud differentiation in J. sigillata.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"204"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144966055","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":"NtLYK5 negatively regulates drought resistance in tobacco through H₂O₂-mediated leaf stomatal opening and closing.","authors":"Yonglu Xue, Qiwei Yu, Gang Chen, Zhenbao Luo, Kai Pi, Baolin Xie, Kaiping Wu, Chenhao Shi, Renxiang Liu","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03587-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03587-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>WGCNA mined the unknown gene NtLYK5, and VIGS and RNA-seq analyses suggested that NtLYK5 mediates the negative regulation of hydrogen peroxide production for drought resistance. Drought during the seedling stage of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), a water-sensitive and economically important crop, has serious adverse effects on transplant survival and tobacco plant growth. In this study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from the F7 generation of the cross \"NC82 × Bina No. 1.\" Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), BLAST alignment, bioinformatics analysis, and qRT-PCR, we identified a key candidate gene NtLYK5, which is highly associated with drought resistance but previously had an unknown function. Virus-induced gene silencing to suppress NtLYK5 expression in tobacco enhanced drought resistance, reduced hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) levels, and increased catalase (CAT) activity. Further transcriptomic analysis of drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive lines revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with NtLYK5-induced drought resistance, which were significantly enriched in the MAPK signaling pathway. Under drought stress, H₂O₂ acts as a signaling molecule affecting the expression of DEGs such as ANP1, which induces H₂O₂ production and cell death, thereby preventing the stomata from closing properly. These results suggest that NtLYK5 is a key gene that negatively regulates drought tolerance in tobacco seedlings by modulating H₂O₂-induced stomatal movement.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"203"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144966070","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":"Elicitation with CaCl_₂ and SNP enhance antioxidant defense and regulate transcriptional changes in drought-stressed saffron.","authors":"Suman Gusain, Rakesh Kumar, Rohit Joshi","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03590-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03590-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>Calcium chloride and sodium nitroprusside mitigate PEG-induced drought in saffron by enhancing antioxidant defense, osmolyte levels, and stress-responsive genes expression, promoting resilience and adaptive growth. While calcium ions (Ca²⁺) and nitric oxide (NO), are key signalling mediators, which enhance plant's ability to survive abiotic stress, their definitive role in enhancement of drought tolerance in saffron is not fully studied yet. We aim to examine the effect of different concentration of calcium chloride (CaCl_₂) (25, 50, 75 mM) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) (25, 50, 100 µM) on saffron cultured on MS media containing 10% polyethylene glycol (PEG) for 30 days. Results showed plants exposed to drought produced ROS (H₂O₂) that caused oxidative damage to the cells such as membrane damage. Moreover, drought has reduced biomass accumulation, relative water content, and photosynthetic pigment. Elicitor treatment significantly alleviated these effects, with 50 mM CaCl_₂ improving relative water content by 84% and 25 µM SNP enhancing biomass by 72% over drought-stressed plants. Both elicitors restored chlorophyll and carotenoid levels, reduced electrolyte leakage, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD), increased proline and phenolic contents, and improved total antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, expression of drought-responsive genes (DREB1,2, AREB1, SnRK2, NAC1, MYB37, bZIP23, DHN1) was upregulated under elicitor treatment. These findings highlight that CaCl_₂ and SNP have potential to support plant growth and development and to minimize the detrimental effect of drought stress on saffron.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"202"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144966000","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":"SlATG8f coordinates ethylene signaling and chloroplast turnover to drive tomato fruit ripening.","authors":"Liu Song, Wen Xu, Xingxue Zha, Qunmei Cheng, Xiushuang Wu, Cen Wen, Zhuo He","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03578-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03578-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>qRT-PCR and yeast two-hybrid assays revealed that SlATG8f interacts with ethylene signaling to regulate fruit ripening via chloroplast autophagy and other biological pathways. Tomato fruit ripening is a highly coordinated process influenced by both internal and external signals, with ethylene recognized as a central regulator. However, the role of autophagy in ripening remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that ethylene signaling induces the expression of multiple SlATG8 genes, linking hormonal regulation with autophagic activity. Functional redundancy, compensation, or feedback regulation may exist among ATG8 family members. In particular, SlATG8f appears to mediate the degradation of negative regulators in the ethylene pathway via autophagy, thereby promoting ripening. We show that SlATG8f is essential for ethylene-induced fruit softening and must be maintained at optimal levels to ensure a proper ripening response. Moreover, SlATG8f contributes to sugar and acid accumulation, enhancing fruit quality. Using split-ubiquitin yeast two-hybrid screening, we identified 74 potential SlATG8F-interacting proteins, many of which are associated with chlorophyll degradation, energy metabolism, stress responses, and hormone signaling. These findings suggest that SlATG8F plays a broader role in integrating developmental and environmental cues through selective autophagy. Our study provides the first direct evidence that autophagy, particularly mediated by SlATG8f, fine-tunes tomato fruit ripening. This work offers new insights into the crosstalk between ethylene signaling and autophagy and highlights SlATG8f as a potential molecular hub for improving fruit quality and shelf life.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"200"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144966133","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":"The role of PagC3H3 in lignin biosynthesis and insect resistance in Populus alba × Populus glandulosa.","authors":"Erqin Fan, Caixia Liu, Yaru Liu, Pengyue Fu, Yuhang Liu, Chuanping Yang, Junhui Wang, Guanzheng Qu","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03588-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03588-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>PagC3H3, encoding a p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase, catalyzes a critical step in lignin biosynthesis and confers enhanced insect resistance in poplar. Its overexpression increases lignin deposition, enhancing physical barrier formation against arthropod herbivory (e.g., reduced gypsy moth larval consumption). This provides a genetic engineering strategy for improving wood properties and biotic stress resilience. Lignin, a complex phenolic polymer crucial for structural integrity and biotic stress resistance in poplar, critically influences wood processing efficiency and ecological resilience. Targeted genetic manipulation of key enzymes like p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) remains underexplored in commercial hybrids. In this study, we investigated the role of PagC3H3 in lignin biosynthesis in the hybrid poplar Populus alba × Populus glandulosa (clone 84K). Through the overexpression and suppression of PagC3H3 in poplar 84K, we observed that elevated PagC3H3 expression significantly increases lignin content and enhances resistance to insect pests by enhancing physical barrier formation against arthropod herbivory, whereas RNAi-suppression lines exhibited reduced lignin and compromised growth. RNA-seq results showed that the expression of genes related to secondary cell wall components changed significantly, and 985 differentially expressed genes were co-regulated in the two transgenic lines, involving key transcription factors and structural genes for lignin synthesis and cell wall development. The results revealed the key role of PagC3H3 in regulating lignin synthesis and cell wall development, and provided a new strategy for improving the wood properties and insect resistance of trees. This study not only improves the understanding of the molecular mechanism of lignin synthesis, but also provides a theoretical basis for the genetic improvement of poplar.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"201"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144966064","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":"Comprehensive analysis of bHLH genes in wheat and functional characterization of TabHLH319 in salt tolerance.","authors":"Zhao Xin, Huiming Huang, Tongtong Li, Longxuan Liu, Xingchen Du, Guangwei Li, Kunpu Zhang, Daowen Wang, Yuxin Yang","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03570-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03570-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>We identified 479 putative TabHLH genes in Zhou8425B and systematically analyzed their functions. TabHLH319 was revealed as a key salt tolerance gene significantly associated with yield-related traits. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors represent one of the largest gene families in plants, playing vital roles in development and stress responses. Here, we bioinformatically identified 479 bHLH genes in the high-quality genome of the wheat core parent Zhou8425B and classified them into 13 subfamilies. We investigated their gene structures and computed their physicochemical properties and phylogenetic relationships. RNA-seq data from 12 tissues revealed diverse and tissue-specific expression patterns, several bHLH genes were identified as responsive to various environmental stresses, among which TabHLH319 was implicated in salt tolerance. Sequence comparison between Zhou8425B and Chinese Spring (CS) revealed a nonsynonymous SNP in the exon of TabHLH319. Moreover, a 57-bp insertion in the promoter region specific to Zhou8425B. A molecular marker targeting the InDel was developed and used to genotype a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from Zhou8425B × CS. Dual-luciferase assays demonstrated that this 57-bp insertion significantly enhanced promoter activity under salt stress, explaining the elevated expression of TabHLH319^Zhou8425B observed by RT-qPCR in leaf, root, and stem tissues. Under salt stress, RILs carrying the TabHLH319^Zhou8425B exhibited greater salt tolerance, accompanied by higher POD, SOD, and CAT enzyme activities, increased proline content, and lower H₂O₂ and MDA levels. Further analysis showed that TabHLH319^Zhou8425B was significantly associated with enhanced yield-related traits, such as thousand kernel weight, kernel length, and kernel width. This study comprehensively characterizes the bHLH genes in Zhou8425B and highlights TabHLH319 as a key gebidopsis bHLH family. Grouping data ne for salt tolerance and wheat molecular breeding.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"199"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144837378","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":"Genome-wide analysis of the MGT gene family in apple and functional identification of MdMGT6 under saline-alkali stress.","authors":"Juanli Li, Zhongxing Zhang, Xulin Xian, Donghai Zhang, Wenbing Zhao, Yanxiu Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03589-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03589-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>MdMGT6 has a positive regulatory effect on A. thaliana, tobacco and apple calli under saline-alkali stress. As a major apple (Malus domestica) producing area, soil salinization is one of the important factors affecting apple yield in Northwest China. MGT (Magnesium transporter protein) family genes play a key role in plant growth and development and abiotic stress response. In this study, a total of 12 genes were identified by genome-wide identification of apple. Construct a phylogenetic tree among different species and divide all members into six subgroups. There are multiple stress-related regulatory elements in the MdMGTS promoter region, suggesting that it may be involved in abiotic stress. The qRT-PCR results showed that MdMGT6 was significantly highly expressed under saline-alkali stress. Despite this discovery, the mechanism of how MdMGT6 responds to saline-alkali stress has not been explored. To investigate this question, the MdMGT6 (MD10G1056700) gene were successfully cloned from Malus domestica and genetically transformed it in Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco and apple calli. The resistance to saline-alkali stress was identified by a series of physiological and biochemical experiments. The results showed that compared with the wild type, the chlorophyll, Proline (Pro) content and antioxidant enzyme activity of the transgenic plants were significantly increased under saline-alkali stress, while the Malondialdehyde (MAD) and Relative conductivity (REC) content were decreased. In addition, saline-alkali stress related genes were significantly higher in the overexpression lines than in the WT lines. These results indicate that MdMGT6 can respond to saline-alkali stress and play a positive regulation role.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"198"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144837379","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":"How drought and ploidy level shape gene expression and DNA methylation in Phragmites australis.","authors":"Kristina Kuprina, Kerstin Haldan, Stepan Saenko, Mohamed Safwaan Gulam, Jürgen Kreyling, Martin Schnittler, Manuela Bog","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03585-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03585-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>Key drought-response genes regulate saccharopine, mevalonate, water-stress pathways, and cell wall remodeling. Ploidy level influences gene expression under drought and non-stress conditions. Octoploids overall exhibit lower methylation than tetraploids. Drought stress significantly affects plant physiology and growth, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying drought responses remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate how tetraploid and octoploid Phragmites australis (common reed), a key species in wetland ecosystems and paludiculture, respond to drought at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels. Using RNA-seq, we identify changes in gene expression after 20 and 30 days of drought and assess methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) over 50 days of drought. Transcriptomic analysis reveals that key drought-response genes are shared between ploidy levels, including those involved in the saccharopine pathway, water deprivation response, cell wall remodeling, and the mevalonate pathway. Drought suppresses photosynthetic genes, with PsbP downregulated by up to 32-fold. Ploidy level influences gene expression under both drought and non-stress conditions, highlighting distinct adaptive strategies. In control samples, gene expression differed between ploidy levels, with octoploids upregulating genes related to translation and metabolism, while tetraploids activate genes involved in cell wall modification and transmembrane transport. Prolonged drought increases DNA methylation variability, though no significant correlation was detected between methylation levels and drought duration. Methylation differences are more pronounced between ploidy levels, with octoploids exhibiting lower overall methylation. These findings highlight the complex interactions between gene expression, epigenetic modifications, and polyploidy in drought response and provide a theoretical framework for future selection, hybridization, and conservation initiatives.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"197"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12343755/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144822333","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":"Toward a monocot SynBio toolkit: assessing regulatory element performance and eudicot compatibility.","authors":"David B May, Alexander C Pfotenhauer, Bryn L Concha, Li Li, Samantha M Jones, Stacee A Harbison, Lana H Martin, Lindsey A Clark, Alessandro Occhialini, C Neal Stewart, Scott C Lenaghan","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03583-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03583-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>Synthetic biology, monocots, transgene expression, genetic regulatory elements, protoplasts, fluorometry. Given the preeminent status of monocotyledonous species in global agriculture, efforts toward enhancing their yield, resilience, and quality with synthetic biology (SynBio) approaches are warranted. We therefore sought to assemble and characterize a toolkit of genetic regulatory elements to address the relative paucity of components appropriate for genetic engineering in cereals and grasses. Here, we present an 80-member combinatorial parts library consisting of 17 promoter, 17 5' untranslated region (UTR), 18 promoter-5'UTR fusion, and 28 3'UTR sequences derived from viral, microbial, and plant sources. Evaluation of the effects of 77 combinations of these elements on GFP reporter expression in Zea mays protoplasts revealed a 74.5-fold dynamic range of expression levels. Novel combinations of the CaMV 35S promoter and viral 5'UTR sequences generated reporter expression levels that approximated the strong CsVMV viral promoter-5'UTR fusion. Newly identified 3'UTR sequences from plant small heat shock protein (HSP) species regulated impressive enhancements of reporter expression that exceeded the widely used 35S, ocs, and nos terminators. To assess cross-clade compatibility of the regulatory element combinations, reporter cassettes were also transiently assayed in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves using agroinfiltration. A total of 34 regulatory element combinations exhibited interspecific activity, 14 of which displayed similar impacts on reporter gene expression across the two species. This toolkit will enable tunable transgene expression in monocots suitable for myriad SynBio applications including genome editing, manipulation of metabolic pathways, and genetic circuit construction.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"196"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144800012","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":"Reduced stomatal density improves water-use efficiency in grapevine under climate scenarios of decreased water availability.","authors":"Umar Shahbaz, Pierre Videau, Emma Coulonnier, Carla Papon, David Navarro-Payá, Alvaro Vidal Valenzuela, José Tomás Matus, Mickael Malnoy, Olivier Zekri, Fabio Fiorani, Michele Faralli, Lorenza Dalla Costa","doi":"10.1007/s00299-025-03577-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00299-025-03577-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Key message: </strong>The grapevine VviEPFL9-2 paralog is specifically expressed during leaf expansion and its knockout provide a phenotype with superior adaptation to environmental stresses via reduced stomatal density. In Arabidopsis stomatal initiation relies on the transcription factor SPEECHLESS, which is positively regulated by AtEPFL9, a peptide of the epidermal patterning factor family. In grapevine, two EPFL9 paralogs exist but despite a structural similarity, their specific function remains unclear. In this study, we investigated their distinct functional roles and the extent to which reduced stomatal density (SD) may be beneficial for grapevine in terms of water use. We combined expression analysis of the two paralogs in untreated and ABA-treated leaves with the functional characterization of the two genes using grapevine epfl9-1 and epfl9-2 mutants. A physiological analysis of epfl9-2 mutants under different environmental conditions was also performed. We showed that VviEPFL9-1 is exclusively expressed in leaf primordia, whereas VviEPFL9-2 plays a predominant role in fine-tuning SD during the leaf expansion. An epfl9-2 mutant line with 84% lower SD than wild type, exhibited a significant improvement in intrinsic water-use efficiency under both well-watered and water-stressed conditions, with little trade-off in photosynthesis. When the reduction in SD was close to 60%, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance were comparable to WT. Our results provide compelling evidence that VviEPFL9-2 knockout determines a significant reduction in stomatal density without a major impact on photosynthesis which may help optimize the adverse impacts of climate change on viticulture.</p>","PeriodicalId":20204,"journal":{"name":"Plant Cell Reports","volume":"44 9","pages":"195"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12331838/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144800011","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}