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Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 8962

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Guanfu Fu

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Guest Editor

Research and Development Center of Rice Cropping Technology, China National Rice Research Institute (CNRRI), Hangzhou, 310006, China
Interests: rice-abiotic interaction; abiotic stress; plant hormone; sugar metabolism; photosynthesis; respiration; energy metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jun Zhang

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Guest Editor

Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: theory and technology of high-quality rice cultivation; farming system and agro-ecology; high-yielding and greenhouse gas emission mitigation; climate adaptation of rice cropping systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. She Tang

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Guest Editor

College of Agronomy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: physiology and ecology of crop cultivation; climate change and rice quality formation; adaptive rice cultivation approach
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to their sessile nature, plants are inevitably exposed to multiple adverse environmental stresses, which frequently occur nowadays with the onset of global warming. These stresses negatively impact plant growth and development by accumulating reactive oxygen species (ROS), inducing programmed cell death (PCD), impairing assimilate production and allocation, disturbing the source–flow–sink balance, thus leading to a low yield and poor quality. This could adversely affect food security all over the world. Therefore, plants have formed complex response pathways, from gene expressions to plant physiological processes and even architecture through primary and secondary metabolism. To reveal the underlying mechanisms of these plants, we are organizing a Special Issue for IJMS to share knowledge about plant responses to abiotic stresses, including drought, heat, cold, salt, heavy metal, high-light and low-light stresses.

We are particularly interested in, but not limited to, the following topics:

assimilate production and allocation in plants;
the source–flow–sink relationship;
sugars and phytohormones signaling in plants;
strategies such as breeding highly resistant cultivars and implementing cultivation techniques and chemicals to alleviate abiotic stress damages to obtain good-quality and high production yields.

Authors all over the world are invited to submit original research and review articles on topics related to plant defense mechanisms against abiotic stresses.

Dr. Guanfu Fu
Dr. Jun Zhang
Dr. She Tang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

abiotic stress
assimilate production and allocation
sugar and phytohormone signaling
source-sink relationship
yield and quality

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3839 KiB

Open AccessArticle

LoSWEET14, a Sugar Transporter in Lily, Is Regulated by Transcription Factor LoABF2 to Participate in the ABA Signaling Pathway and Enhance Tolerance to Multiple Abiotic Stresses in Tobacco

by Zhen Zeng, Tong Lyu and Yingmin Lyu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(23), 15093; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232315093 - 1 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1482

Abstract

Sugar transport and distribution plays an important role in lily bulb development and resistance to abiotic stresses. In this study, a member of the Sugar Will Eventually be Exported Transporters (SWEET) gene family, LoSWEET14, from Oriental hybrid lily ‘Sorbonne’ was identified. LoSWEET14 encodes a protein of 278 amino acids and is capable of transporting sucrose and some types of hexoses. The transcript level of the LoSWEET14 gene was significantly increased under various stress conditions including drought, cold, salt stresses, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Overexpression of LoSWEET14 in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) showed that the transgenic lines had larger leaves, accumulated more soluble sugars, and were more resistant to drought, cold, and salt stresses, while becoming more sensitive to ABA compared with wild-type lines. Promoter analysis revealed that multiple stress-related cis-acting elements were found in the promoter of LoSWEET14. According to the distribution of cis-acting elements, different lengths of 5′-deletion fragments were constructed and the LoSWEET14-pro3(-540 bp) was found to be able to drive GUS gene expression in response to abiotic stresses and ABA treatment. Furthermore, a yeast one hybrid (Y1H) assay proved that the AREB/ABF (ABRE-binding protein/ABRE-binding factor) from lilies (LoABF2) could bind to the promoter of LoSWEET14. These findings indicated that LoSWEET14 is induced by LoABF2 to participate in the ABA signaling pathway to promote soluble sugar accumulation in response to multiple abiotic stresses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress)

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16 pages, 2633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological Adaptation Mechanisms to Drought and Rewatering in Water-Saving and Drought-Resistant Rice

by Lele Wang, Xuenan Zhang, Yehong She, Chao Hu, Quan Wang, Liquan Wu, Cuicui You, Jian Ke and Haibing He

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(22), 14043; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232214043 - 14 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1697

Abstract

Water-saving and drought-resistant rice (WDR) has high a yield potential in drought. However, the photosynthetic adaptation mechanisms of WDR to drought and rehydration have yet to be conclusively determined. Hanyou 73 (HY73, WDR) and Huanghuazhan (HHZ, drought-sensitive cultivar) rice cultivars were subjected to drought stress and rewatering when the soil water potential was −180 KPa in the booting stage. The leaf physiological characteristics were dynamically determined at 0 KPa, −30 KPa, −70 KPa, −180 KPa, the first, the fifth, and the tenth day after rewatering. It was found that the maximum net photosynthetic rate (A_max) and light saturation point were decreased under drought conditions in both cultivars. The change in dark respiration rate (R_d) in HY73 was not significant, but was markedly different in HHZ. After rewatering, the photosynthetic parameters of HY73 completely returned to the initial state, while the indices in HHZ did not recover. The antioxidant enzyme activities and osmoregulatory substance levels increased with worsening drought conditions and decreased with rewatering duration. HY73 had higher peroxidase (POD) activity as well as proline levels, and lower catalase (CAT) activity, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, and soluble protein (SP) content during all of the assessment periods compared with HHZ. In addition, A_max was markedly negatively correlated with superoxide dismutase (SOD), POD, CAT, and SP in HY73 (p < 0.001), while in HHZ, it was negatively correlated with SOD, CAT, APX, MDA, Pro, and SP, and positively correlated with R_d (p < 0.001). These results suggest that WDR has a more simplified adaptation mechanism to protect photosynthetic apparatus from damage in drought and rehydration compared with drought-sensitive cultivars. The high POD activity and great SP content would be considered as important physiological bases to maintain high photosynthetic production potential in WDR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress)

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15 pages, 5331 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Relationships among “STAY-GREEN” Trait, Post-Anthesis Assimilate Remobilization, and Grain Yield in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

by Yuguang Zang, Yijia Yao, Zheshu Xu, Baoqing Wang, Yiqi Mao, Weilu Wang, Weiyang Zhang, Hao Zhang, Lijun Liu, Zhiqin Wang, Guohua Liang, Jianchang Yang, Yong Zhou and Junfei Gu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(22), 13668; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232213668 - 8 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1409

Abstract

The mobilization and translocation of carbohydrates and mineral nutrients from vegetative plant parts to grains are pivotal for grain filling, often involving a whole plant senescence process. Loss of greenness is a hallmark of leaf senescence. However, the relationship between crop yield and senescence has been controversial for many years. Here, in this study, the overexpression and RNA interference lines of gene of OsNYC3 (Non-Yellow Coloring 3), a chlorophyll catabolism gene, were investigated. Furthermore, exogenous phytohormones were applied, and a treatment of alternate wetting and moderate drying (AWMD) was introduced to regulate the processes of leaf senescence. The results indicated that the delayed senescence of the “STAY-GREEN” trait of rice is undesirable for the process of grain filling, and it would cause a lower ratio of grain filling and lower grain weight of inferior grains, because of unused assimilates in the stems and leaves. Through the overexpression of OsNYC3, application of exogenous chemicals of abscisic acid (ABA), and water management of AWMD, leaf photosynthesis was less influenced, a high ratio of carbohydrate assimilates was partitioned to grains other than leaves and stems as labeled by ¹³C, grain filling was improved, especially for inferior spikelets, and activities of starch-synthesizing enzymes were enhanced. However, application of ethephon not only accelerated leaf senescence, but also caused seed abortion and grain weight reduction. Thus, plant senescence needs to be finely adjusted in order to make a contribution to crop productivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress)

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20 pages, 7624 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Insights into the Jasmonate Signaling in Basal Land Plant Revealed by the Multi-Omics Analysis of an Antarctic Moss Pohlia nutans Treated with OPDA

by Shenghao Liu, Tingting Li, Pengying Zhang, Linlin Zhao, Dan Yi, Zhaohui Zhang and Bailin Cong

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(21), 13507; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113507 - 4 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1734

Abstract

12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) is a biosynthetic precursor of jasmonic acid and triggers multiple biological processes from plant development to stress responses. However, the OPDA signaling and relevant regulatory networks were largely unknown in basal land plants. Using an integrated multi-omics technique, we investigated the global features in metabolites and transcriptional profiles of an Antarctic moss (Pohlia nutans) in response to OPDA treatment. We detected 676 metabolites based on the widely targeted metabolomics approach. A total of 82 significantly changed metabolites were observed, including fatty acids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acids and derivatives, and alkaloids. In addition, the transcriptome sequencing was conducted to uncover the global transcriptional profiles. The representative differentially expressed genes were summarized into functions including Ca²⁺ signaling, abscisic acid signaling, jasmonate signaling, lipid and fatty acid biosynthesis, transcription factors, antioxidant enzymes, and detoxification proteins. The integrated multi-omics analysis revealed that the pathways of jasmonate and ABA signaling, lipid and fatty acid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis might dominate the molecular responses to OPDA. Taken together, these observations provide insights into the molecular evolution of jasmonate signaling and the adaptation mechanisms of Antarctic moss to terrestrial habitats. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress)

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21 pages, 1982 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gene Expression in the Developing Seed of Wild and Domesticated Rice

by Sharmin Hasan, Agnelo Furtado and Robert Henry

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(21), 13351; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113351 - 1 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2109

Abstract

The composition and nutritional properties of rice are the product of the expression of genes in the developing seed. RNA-Seq was used to investigate the level of gene expression at different stages of seed development in domesticated rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica var. Nipponbare) and two Australian wild taxa from the primary gene pool of rice (Oryza meridionalis and Oryza rufipogon type taxa). Transcriptome profiling of all coding sequences in the genome revealed that genes were significantly differentially expressed at different stages of seed development in both wild and domesticated rice. Differentially expressed genes were associated with metabolism, transcriptional regulation, nucleic acid processing, and signal transduction with the highest number of being linked to protein synthesis and starch/sucrose metabolism. The level of gene expression associated with domestication traits, starch and sucrose metabolism, and seed storage proteins were highest at the early stage (5 days post anthesis (DPA)) to the middle stage (15 DPA) and declined late in seed development in both wild and domesticated rice. However, in contrast, black hull colour (Bh4) gene was significantly expressed throughout seed development. A substantial number of novel transcripts (38) corresponding to domestication genes, starch and sucrose metabolism, and seed storage proteins were identified. The patterns of gene expression revealed in this study define the timing of metabolic processes associated with seed development and may be used to explain differences in rice grain quality and nutritional value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assimilate Production and Allocation in Plants under Abiotic Stress)

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