Plant Biotechnology Journal最新文献

{"title":"Sunlight-sensitive carbon dots for plant immunity priming and pathogen defence","authors":"Erfeng Kou, Zhongxu Luo, Jingyi Ye, Xu Chen, Dan Lu, Markita P. Landry, Honglu Zhang, Huan Zhang","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70050","url":null,"abstract":"Global food production faces persistent threats from environmental challenges and pathogenic attacks, leading to significant yield losses. Conventional strategies to combat pathogens, such as fungicides and disease-resistant breeding, are limited by environmental contamination and emergence of pathogen resistance. Herein, we engineered sunlight-sensitive and biodegradable carbon dots (CDs) capable of generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), offering a novel and sustainable approach for plant protection. Our study demonstrates that CDs function as dual-purpose materials: priming plant immune responses and serving as broad-spectrum antifungal agents. Foliar application of CDs generated ROS under light, and the ROS could damage the plant cell wall and trigger cell wall-mediated immunity. Immune activation enhanced plant resistance against pathogens without compromising photosynthetic efficiency or yield. Specifically, spray treatment with CDs at 240 mg/L (2 mL per plant) reduced the incidence of grey mould in <i>N. benthamiana</i> and tomato leaves by 44% and 12%, respectively, and late blight in tomato leaves by 31%. Moreover, CDs (480 mg/L, 1 mL) combined with continuous sunlight irradiation (simulated by xenon lamp, 9.4 × 10⁵ lux) showed a broad-spectrum antifungal activity. The inhibition ratios for mycelium growth were 66.5% for <i>P. capsici</i>, 8% for <i>S. sclerotiorum</i> and 100% for <i>B. cinerea</i>, respectively. Mechanistic studies revealed that CDs effectively inhibited mycelium growth by damaging hyphae and spore structures, thereby disrupting the propagation and vitality of pathogens. These findings suggest that CDs offer a promising, eco-friendly strategy for sustainable crop protection, with potential for practical agricultural applications that maintain crop yields and minimize environmental impact.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143631373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Engineering Rubisco condensation in chloroplasts to manipulate plant photosynthesis","authors":"Taiyu Chen, Marta Hojka, Philip Davey, Yaqi Sun, Fei Zhou, Tracy Lawson, Peter J. Nixon, Yongjun Lin, Lu‐Ning Liu","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70047","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryAlthough Rubisco is the most abundant enzyme globally, it is inefficient for carbon fixation because of its low turnover rate and limited ability to distinguish CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> and O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, especially under high O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> conditions. To address these limitations, phytoplankton, including cyanobacteria and algae, have evolved CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>‐concentrating mechanisms (CCM) that involve compartmentalizing Rubisco within specific structures, such as carboxysomes in cyanobacteria or pyrenoids in algae. Engineering plant chloroplasts to establish similar structures for compartmentalizing Rubisco has attracted increasing interest for improving photosynthesis and carbon assimilation in crop plants. Here, we present a method to effectively induce the condensation of endogenous Rubisco within tobacco (<jats:italic>Nicotiana tabacum</jats:italic>) chloroplasts by genetically fusing superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) to the tobacco Rubisco large subunit (RbcL). By leveraging the intrinsic oligomerization feature of sfGFP, we successfully created pyrenoid‐like Rubisco condensates that display dynamic, liquid‐like properties within chloroplasts without affecting Rubisco assembly and catalytic function. The transgenic tobacco plants demonstrated comparable autotrophic growth rates and full life cycles in ambient air relative to the wild‐type plants. Our study offers a promising strategy for modulating endogenous Rubisco assembly and spatial organization in plant chloroplasts via phase separation, which provides the foundation for generating synthetic organelle‐like structures for carbon fixation, such as carboxysomes and pyrenoids, to optimize photosynthetic efficiency.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143627535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi‐omics analysis of the regulatory network in winter buds of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapevine from dormancy to bud break","authors":"Li Chen, Keqin Chen, Jiapeng Jiang, Dan Wang, Kekun Zhang, Yulin Fang","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70014","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryWinter dormancy and bud break are crucial to the viability, adaptability and yield of fruit trees, but not all metabolic activities or regulatory factors involved in maintaining and breaking dormancy are known. Here, winter buds, spanning from natural dormancy to bud break, were collected from ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapevines maintained outdoors or forced indoors. The transcriptomes, proteomes and plant hormone contents were analysed across several bud stages. The winter buds presented three main stages, dormancy, dormancy release and bud development, whether grown in or outdoors. Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">WGCNA</jats:styled-content>) and Gene Ontology (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">GO</jats:styled-content>) analysis of the omics data revealed that the different stages were enriched for different biological processes. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">DEGs</jats:styled-content>) identified seven candidate genes that may affect grape dormancy and bud break. Transient transformation of these seven genes showed that <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\"><jats:italic>VvDOGL4</jats:italic></jats:styled-content>, <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\"><jats:italic>VvAGL65</jats:italic></jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\"><jats:italic>VvMARD</jats:italic></jats:styled-content> could promote maintenance of winter bud dormancy in grapevine. Subcellular localization showed that these three proteins all located to the nucleus, and yeast two‐hybrid screening showed that they may interact with proteins related to plant hormone signal transduction, respiration, energy metabolism and transcription regulation to affect winter bud break in grapevine. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the regulatory dynamics of bud dormancy in a perennial fruit crop and lay a foundation for exploring key genes and regulatory mechanisms that can be manipulated to improve fruit quality and yields as the global climate shifts growing regions.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143618479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of single‐nuclei transcriptome and bulk RNA‐seq to unravel the role of AhWRKY70 in regulating stem cell development in Arachis hypogaea L.","authors":"Xinyang Wang, Runfeng Wang, Xing Huo, Yueni Zhou, Muhammad J. Umer, Zihao Zheng, Weicai Jin, Lu Huang, Haifen Li, Qianxia Yu, Shaoxiong Li, Rajeev K Varshney, Wenyi Wang, Yuan Xiao, Yanbin Hong, Xiaoping Chen, Qing Lu, Hao Liu","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70009","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryPeanut stem is a vital organ to provide mechanical support and energy for aerial tissue development. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying stem development at a single‐cell resolution remain unclear. Herein, single‐nuclei isolation coupled with fluorescent‐activated cell sorting was employed to construct a cell atlas of peanut seedling stems using microdroplets‐based single‐nuclei RNA‐sequencing. This approach yielded 29 308 cells with 53 349 expressed genes underlying the identification of five cell types characterized by known marker genes. Additionally, 2053 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified across different cell types. Furthermore, 3306 core‐DEGs involved in cell development trajectories were used to construct a transcription factor (TF) interaction network, providing insights into specific biological pathways and transcriptional regulation dynamics underlying cell‐type differentiation. Additionally, 1446 DEGs associated with different cell‐cycle profile were identified, revealing that peanut stem elongation and cell expansion are closely linked to auxin‐responsive pathway. This was supported by the examination of endogenous phytohormones and the identification of 10 hormone‐responsive DEGs. Moreover, <jats:italic>AhWRKY70</jats:italic> was localized in the nucleus and is highly enriched in stem cortex and xylem cells and exhibits a tissue‐specific expression pattern that regulates stem growth. Overexpression of <jats:italic>AhWRKY70</jats:italic> in <jats:italic>Arabidopsis</jats:italic> led to accelerated stem growth by modulating the phytohormone signalling pathway, influencing the expression of sixteen auxin and ethylene‐responsive genes as demonstrated by transcriptome sequencing. In conclusion, the single‐cell atlas provides a foundational dataset for understanding gene expression heterogeneity in peanut seedling stems. The elucidation of <jats:italic>AhWRKY70</jats:italic> function expands our understanding of the roles of <jats:italic>WRKY</jats:italic> family members in peanut.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143618423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"MsbZIP55 regulates salinity tolerance by modulating melatonin biosynthesis in alfalfa","authors":"Tingting Wang, JiaQi Yang, JiaMin Cao, Qi Zhang, HuaYue Liu, Peng Li, YiZhi Huang, WenWu Qian, Xiaojing Bi, Hui Wang, Yunwei Zhang","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70035","url":null,"abstract":"SummarySoil salinity is a severe abiotic stress that damages plant growth and development. As an antioxidant and free radical scavenger, melatonin is well known for helping plants survive abiotic conditions, including salinity stress. Here, we report that the salt‐related gene <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic>, encoding a rate‐limiting melatonin biosynthesis enzyme, is located in the chloroplast and contributes to salinity stress tolerance in alfalfa. We found that the <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic> overexpressing alfalfa lines exhibited higher endogenous melatonin levels and increased tolerance to salt stress by promoting antioxidant systems and improving ion homeostasis. Furthermore, through a combination of transcriptome sequencing, dual‐luciferase assays and transgenic analysis, we identified that the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor, MsbZIP55, is associated with salt response and <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic> expression. EMSA analysis and ChIP‐qPCR uncovered that MsbZIP55 can recognize and directly bind to the <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic> promoter <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>in vivo</jats:italic>. MsbZIP55 acts as a negative regulator of <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic> expression, thereby reducing melatonin biosynthesis. Morphological analysis revealed that overexpressing <jats:italic>MsbZIP55</jats:italic> conferred salt sensitivity to transgenic alfalfa through a higher Na<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>/K<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> ratio and lower antioxidant activities, which could be alleviated by applying exogenous melatonin. Silencing of <jats:italic>MsbZIP55</jats:italic> by RNA interference in alfalfa resulted in higher expression of <jats:italic>MsSNAT1</jats:italic> and promoted salt tolerance by enhancing the antioxidant system enzyme activities and ion homeostasis. Our findings indicate that the MsbZIP55‐MsSNAT1 module plays a crucial role in regulating melatonin biosynthesis in alfalfa while facilitating protection against salinity stress. These results shed light on the regulatory mechanism of melatonin biosynthesis related to the salinity stress response in alfalfa.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143618424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"RPT: An integrated root phenotyping toolbox for segmenting and quantifying root system architecture","authors":"Jiawei Shi, Shangyuan Xie, Weikun Li, Xin Wang, Jianglin Wang, Yunyu Chen, Yongyue Chang, Qiaojun Lou, Wanneng Yang","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70040","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryThe dissection of genetic architecture for rice root system is largely dependent on phenotyping techniques, and high‐throughput root phenotyping poses a great challenge. In this study, we established a cost‐effective root phenotyping platform capable of analysing 1680 root samples within 2 h. To efficiently process a large number of root images, we developed the root phenotyping toolbox (RPT) with an enhanced SegFormer algorithm and used it for root segmentation and root phenotypic traits. Based on this root phenotyping platform and RPT, we screened 18 candidate (quantitative trait loci) QTL regions from 219 rice recombinant inbred lines under drought stress and validated the drought‐resistant functions of gene <jats:italic>OsIAA8</jats:italic> identified from these QTL regions. This study confirmed that RPT exhibited a great application potential for processing images with various sources and for mining stress‐resistance genes of rice cultivars. Our developed root phenotyping platform and RPT software significantly improved high‐throughput root phenotyping efficiency, allowing for large‐scale root trait analysis, which will promote the genetic architecture improvement of drought‐resistant cultivars and crop breeding research in the future.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143607961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Immunity gene silencing increases transient protein expression in Nicotiana benthamiana","authors":"Isobel L. Dodds, Emma C. Watts, Mariana Schuster, Pierre Buscaill, Yasin Tumas, Nicholas J. Holton, Shijian Song, Johannes Stuttmann, Matthieu H. A. J. Joosten, Tolga Bozkurt, Renier A. L. van der Hoorn","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70005","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;The infiltration of &lt;i&gt;Nicotiana benthamiana&lt;/i&gt; with &lt;i&gt;Agrobacterium tumefaciens&lt;/i&gt; (agroinfiltration) has become a routine expression platform for plant science and molecular pharming, yet this platform remains to be further optimized. We recently showed that &lt;i&gt;N. benthamiana&lt;/i&gt; silenced for the &lt;i&gt;cold shock protein&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;CSP&lt;/i&gt;) &lt;i&gt;receptor&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;CORE&lt;/i&gt;) enables 8-fold more GFP production in older, 6–8-week-old plants, which are normally not used because of low transient expression efficiencies (Dodds &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;). Here, we investigated whether we can also increase transient protein expression levels in routinely used younger, 5-week-old juvenile plants, by silencing immunity-related genes.&lt;/p&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;We selected 21 immunity-related genes encoding proteins that act at different levels in the plant immune system (Table S1). Besides &lt;i&gt;CORE&lt;/i&gt;, we silenced receptor-encoding genes &lt;i&gt;WAK1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Wall-associated Protein Kinase&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;CERK1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Chitin Elicitor Receptor Kinase-1&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;BAK1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;BRI1-associated Receptor Kinase-1&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;SOBIR1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Suppressor of BIR1-1&lt;/i&gt;) and &lt;i&gt;RE02&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Receptor of SCPs&lt;/i&gt;). We also tested silencing of immune signaling components such as &lt;i&gt;F-box protein ACIF1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Avr/Cf-induced F-box-1&lt;/i&gt;); lipase-like proteins &lt;i&gt;EDS1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Enhanced Disease Susceptibility-1&lt;/i&gt;) and &lt;i&gt;SAG101&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Senescence-associated Gene-101&lt;/i&gt;); &lt;i&gt;CDPK&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Calcium-dependent Protein Kinase&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;MPK3/6&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;MAP protein kinases-3 and -6&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;Nod-like helper receptors NRC2/3/4&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;NLR Required for Cf Signaling&lt;/i&gt;) and chaperone &lt;i&gt;CRT3a&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Calreticulin-3a&lt;/i&gt;). We also included genes required for stress hormone signaling, including &lt;i&gt;PAL&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;ICS&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Isochorismate Synthase&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;NPR1&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Nonexpressor of PR genes-1&lt;/i&gt;), &lt;i&gt;EIN2&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Ethylene-insensitive-2&lt;/i&gt;) and &lt;i&gt;WRKY&lt;/i&gt; transcription factors. Finally, we included genes encoding &lt;i&gt;AHA2&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Arabidopsis H&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;-&lt;i&gt;ATPase 2&lt;/i&gt;) and &lt;i&gt;RBOHB&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homolog B&lt;/i&gt;). Genes encoding phytoene desaturase (&lt;i&gt;PDS&lt;/i&gt;) and &lt;i&gt;ß-glucuronidase&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;GUS&lt;/i&gt;) were included as positive and negative controls for silencing, respectively. We resynthesized the silencing fragments as published previously (Table S1) and selected novel fragments targeting &lt;i&gt;ACIF1, CDPK, CORE, ICS&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;AHA2&lt;/i&gt; (Dodds &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;, Tables S2 and S3).&lt;/p&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;Tobacco Rattle Virus (TRV) vectors, each carrying a fragment of these 21 immunity genes and the controls were agroinfiltrated into 2-week-old seedlings and plants were tested for transient expression three weeks later. Transcript levels of the targeted genes were downregulated with novel silencing fragments (Figure S1). At that stage, no strong phenotypes were observed in TRV-inoculated plants, except for photobleaching in &lt;i&gt;TRV::PDS&lt;/i&gt; plants, dwarfed &lt;i&gt;TRV::","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143618997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bi‐functional transcription factor SlbHLH95 regulates fruits flavonoid metabolism and grey mould resistance in tomato","authors":"Dan Su, Mengbo Wu, Hsihua Wang, Peng Shu, Haiyan Song, Heng Deng, Shizhe Yu, Pedro Garcia‐Caparros, Mondher Bouzayen, Yang Zhang, Mingchun Liu","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70033","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryFlavonoids are polyphenolic secondary metabolites in tomato fruit with important roles in nutritional quality. Dissecting the transcriptional regulatory network modulating flavonoid metabolism is the first step to improve the nutritional quality of tomato fruits through molecular breeding technology. In this study, we identified a transcription factor SlbHLH95 as a key regulator in flavonoid metabolism through analysis of the MicroTom Metabolic Network (MMN) data set. Functional analyses revealed that knockout of <jats:italic>SlbHLH95</jats:italic> increased the accumulation of naringenin, while the levels of rutin and nictoflorin decreased. Conversely, overexpression of <jats:italic>SlbHLH95</jats:italic> resulted in an opposite pattern of accumulation of flavonoids. Transactivation assays showed that SlbHLH95 positively activated the expression of <jats:italic>SlF3H</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>SlFLS</jats:italic>, two key enzyme‐encoding genes in the flavonoid pathway, while repressing the expression of <jats:italic>SlCHS1</jats:italic>. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) demonstrated that SlbHLH95 could directly bind to the promoters of <jats:italic>SlF3H</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>SlFLS</jats:italic>, although it could not bind to the promoter of <jats:italic>SlCHS1</jats:italic>. Furthermore, SlbHLH95 interacted with the transcription factor SlMYB12 and coordinately regulated the expression of <jats:italic>SlF3H</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>SlFLS</jats:italic>. Beyond its role in flavonoid metabolism, SlbHLH95 positively regulated the grey mould resistance in tomato fruits by repressing <jats:italic>SlBG10</jats:italic>. Overall, our findings revealed the important role of bi‐functional SlbHLH95 in flavonoid metabolism and grey mould resistance in tomato fruits by acting as both a transcriptional activator and a repressor. This study provides new insights into strategies for improving fruit quality and enhancing fruit disease resistance through targeted genetic modulation.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143599835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"VqERF1B-VqERF062-VqNSTS2 transcriptional cascade enhances stilbene biosynthesis and resistance to powdery mildew in grapevine","authors":"Chaohui Yan, Wandi Liu, Ruimin Li, Guotian Liu, Yuejin Wang","doi":"10.1111/pbi.70041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70041","url":null,"abstract":"Grapes, as one of the world's oldest economic crops, are severely affected by grape powdery mildew, causing significant economic losses. As a phytoalexin against powdery mildew, stilbenes and their key synthetic gene, <i>stilbene synthase</i> (<i>STS</i>), are highly sought after by researchers. In our previous research, a new gene, <i>VqNSTS2</i>, was identified from <i>Vitis quinquangularis</i> accession 'Danfeng-2' through transcriptomic analysis. However, the function and molecular mechanism of <i>VqNSTS2</i> gene remain unknown. Here, by characterization and transient overexpression of <i>VqNSTS2</i>, we demonstrated that its expression product, stilbenes, can be detected in the model plant tobacco, which does not inherently contain <i>STSs</i>. After artificially inoculating transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing <i>VqNSTS2</i> with <i>Erysiphe necator</i>, it was found that <i>VqNSTS2</i> actively moved to the pathogen's haustorium after responding to the pathogen, recognized and enveloped the haustorium, blocking the pathogen's infection and invasion and exhibited disease resistance. Furthermore, <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated stable overexpression of <i>VqNSTS2</i> promoted stilbene accumulation and enhanced resistance of the <i>V. vinifera</i> susceptible cultivar 'Thompson Seedless' to <i>E. necator</i>. Additionally, through screening and identification, a transcription factor, VqERF062, was found to directly bind to the DRE and RAA motifs on ProVqNSTS2, positively regulating <i>VqNSTS2</i> expression. Moreover, VqERF062 directly interacted with VqERF1B to promote the transcription of <i>VqNSTS2</i> in addition to forming a homodimer with itself. Taken together, our findings reveal that the VqERF1B-VqERF062- module is required for grape resistance to <i>E. necator</i> and providing insights into the regulatory mechanism of stilbenes biosynthesis.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"192 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143582641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expression of a modified Avr3a gene under the control of a synthetic pathogen-inducible promoter leads to Phytophthora infestans resistance in potato","authors":"Friedrich Kauder, Gabor Gyetvai, Klaus Schmidt, Daniel Stirnweis, Tobias Haehre, Kai Prenzler, Anja Maeser, Christine Klapprodt, Florian Tiller, Jens Lübeck, Dietmar J. Stahl","doi":"10.1111/pbi.14615","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14615","url":null,"abstract":"Late blight resistance of potato was improved by the co-expression of the potato resistance gene <i>R3a</i> and the pathogen-inducible avirulence gene <i>Avr3a</i> of <i>Phytopthora infestans</i>. The synthetic pathogen-inducible promoter 2xS-4xD-NpCABE_core, which is composed of the <i>cis</i>-acting elements S and D and the core promoter of the <i>NpCABE</i> gene, was developed for potato. By analysis of 20 core promoters from Solanacea species synthetic promoters of the 2xS-2xD-type were generated which differ in their background activity, strength and promoter inducibility. These data showed that the core promoter plays an important role for the architecture of a synthetic promoter and influences the specificity and strength beside the <i>cis</i>-acting element. The 2xS-2xD-NpCABE_core promoter was further improved by increasing the number of the <i>cis</i>-acting elements resulting in the 2xS-4xD-NpCABE_core promoter. Modified <i>Avr3a</i> alleles, which triggered less cell death than the <i>Avr3a</i>^KI allele, were expressed with the optimized synthetic promoter in transgenic potatoes with an <i>R3a</i> gene. The transgenic lines showed less late blight symptoms and up to 60% reduction of sporangia in detached leaf assays. The absence of a negative plant phenotype in the greenhouse demonstrated that the balanced co-expression of a modified <i>Avr3a</i> gene under the control of an optimized synthetic promoter is a promising strategy to increase late blight resistance of potatoes. This concept might be as well applied to other crops since the co-expression of the <i>R3a</i> and <i>Avr3a</i>^<i>KI</i> gene induced cell death in leaves of corn, wheat and soybean in a transient assay.","PeriodicalId":221,"journal":{"name":"Plant Biotechnology Journal","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143582642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}