Molecular Mechanisms of Rare Tree Species Response to Abiotic Stress

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 3653

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: tree genetics and breeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Various abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, natural and synthetic chemical substances, and wounding, have deep influences on trees. Plants have evolved with a complex adaptation system to react dynamically to environmental conditions, allowing them to adapt to abiotic stresses at the molecular, cellular, and entire plant levels. Rare trees mostly have narrow distribution and adapt to special abiotic stress environments, resulting in important genetic variances and genes response. Additionally, some rare trees provide important metabolites under abiotic stress, such as agarwood. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of rare trees in response to abiotic stress has greatly increased with the advances in molecular biology technologies. In this Special Issue, we encourage researchers to submit their work as research papers or review articles in the following areas:

  • Transcriptomics, transcription factors, hormone biosynthesis, and signal transduction in response to abiotic stress in rare trees;
  • Gene and essential metabolic pathways involved in the response to abiotic stress and crosstalk between abiotic stresses’ regulation;
  • Role of ncRNAs and miRNA in rare tree development and stress responses and signaling;
  • Genome, genetic variances, molecular characterization of rare trees (population of rare trees) under abiotic stresses.

Dr. Jinhui Chen
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • molecular mechanisms
  • rare tree species
  • abiotic stress

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6716 KiB  
Article
Effects of Low-Temperature Stress on Physiological Characteristics and Microstructure of Stems and Leaves of Pinus massoniana L.
by Hu Chen, Xingxing Liang and Zhangqi Yang
Plants 2024, 13(16), 2229; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162229 - 11 Aug 2024
Viewed by 877
Abstract
Pinus massoniana L. is one of the most important conifer species in southern China and is the mainstay of the forest ecosystem and timber production, yet low temperatures limit its growth and geographical distribution. This study used 30-day-old seedlings from families of varying [...] Read more.
Pinus massoniana L. is one of the most important conifer species in southern China and is the mainstay of the forest ecosystem and timber production, yet low temperatures limit its growth and geographical distribution. This study used 30-day-old seedlings from families of varying cold-tolerance to examine the morphological traits of needles and stems, chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, protective enzymes, and changes in starch and lignin under different low-temperature stresses in an artificial climate chamber. The results showed that the seedlings of Pinus massoniana exhibited changes in phenotypic morphology and tissue structure under low-temperature stress. Physiological and biochemical indexes such as protective enzymes, osmoregulatory substances, starch, and lignin responded to low-temperature stress. The cold-tolerant family increased soluble sugars, starch grain, and lignin content as well as peroxidase activity, and decreased malondialdehyde content by increasing the levels of actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII), electron transport rate (ETR), and photochemical quenching (qP) to improve the cold tolerance ability. This study provides a reference for the selection and breeding of cold-tolerant genetic resources of Pinus massoniana and the mechanism of cold-tolerance, as well as the analysis of the mechanism of adaptation of Pinus massoniana in different climatic regions of China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms of Rare Tree Species Response to Abiotic Stress)
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13 pages, 2372 KiB  
Article
Identification of Transcription Factors of Santalene Synthase Gene Promoters and SaSSY Cis-Elements through Yeast One-Hybrid Screening in Santalum album L.
by Yunqing Zhou, Xiang Li, Dongli Wang, Zequn Yu, Yunshan Liu, Lipan Hu and Zhan Bian
Plants 2024, 13(13), 1882; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13131882 - 8 Jul 2024
Viewed by 860
Abstract
The main components of sandalwood heartwood essential oil are terpenoids, approximately 80% of which are α-santalol and β-santalol. In the synthesis of the main secondary metabolites of sandalwood heartwood, the key gene, santalene synthase (SaSSY), can produce α-santalene and β-santalene by [...] Read more.
The main components of sandalwood heartwood essential oil are terpenoids, approximately 80% of which are α-santalol and β-santalol. In the synthesis of the main secondary metabolites of sandalwood heartwood, the key gene, santalene synthase (SaSSY), can produce α-santalene and β-santalene by catalyzed (E, E)-FPP. Furthermore, santalene is catalyzed by the cytochrome monooxygenase SaCYP736A167 to form sandalwood essential oil, which then produces a fragrance. However, the upstream regulatory mechanism of the key gene santalene synthase remains unclear. In this study, SaSSY (Sal3G10690) promoter transcription factors and SaSSY cis-elements were screened. The results showed that the titer of the sandalwood cDNA library was 1.75 × 107 CFU/mL, 80% of the inserted fragments identified by PCR were over 750 bp in length, and the positivity rate of the library was greater than 90%. The promoter region of the SaSSY gene was shown to have the structural basis for potential regulatory factor binding. After sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we successfully obtained 51 positive clones and identified four potential SaSSY transcriptional regulators. Sal6G03620 was annotated as the transcription factor MYB36-like, and Sal8G07920 was annotated as the small heat shock protein HSP20 in sandalwood. Sal1G00910 was annotated as a hypothetical protein of sandalwood. Sal4G10880 was annotated as a homeobox-leucine zipper protein (ATHB-15) in sandalwood. In this study, a cDNA library of sandalwood was successfully constructed using a yeast one-hybrid technique, and the transcription factors that might interact with SaSSY gene promoters were screened. This study provides a foundation for exploring the molecular regulatory mechanism involved in the formation of sandalwood heartwood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms of Rare Tree Species Response to Abiotic Stress)
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17 pages, 3029 KiB  
Article
Wound-Induced Temporal Reprogramming of Gene Expression during Agarwood Formation in Aquilaria sinensis
by Jieru Xu, Ruyue Du, Yue Wang and Jinhui Chen
Plants 2023, 12(16), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12162901 - 9 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1387
Abstract
Agarwood is a resinous heartwood of Aquilaria sinensis that is formed in response to mechanical wounding. However, the transcriptional response of A. sinensis to mechanical wounding during the agarwood formation process is still unclear. Here, three five-year-old A. sinensis trees were mechanically damaged [...] Read more.
Agarwood is a resinous heartwood of Aquilaria sinensis that is formed in response to mechanical wounding. However, the transcriptional response of A. sinensis to mechanical wounding during the agarwood formation process is still unclear. Here, three five-year-old A. sinensis trees were mechanically damaged by a chisel, and time-series transcriptomic analysis of xylem tissues in the treated area (TA) was performed at 15 (TA1), 70 (TA2) and 180 days after treatment (TA3). Samples from untreated areas at the corresponding time points (UA1, UA2, UA3, respectively) were collected as controls. A total of 1862 (TA1 vs. UA1), 961 (TA2 vs. UA2), 1370 (TA3 vs. UA3), 3305 (TA2 vs. TA1), 2625 (TA3 vs. TA1), 2899 (TA3 vs. TA2), 782 (UA2 vs. UA1), 4443 (UA3 vs. UA1) and 4031 (UA3 vs. UA2) genes were differentially expressed (DEGs). Functional enrichment analysis showed that DEGs were significantly enriched for secondary metabolic processes, signal transduction and transcriptional regulation processes. Most of the genes involved in lignin biosynthesis were more abundant in the TA groups, which included phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, 4-coumarate CoA ligase, cinnamate 4-hydroxylase, caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase and cinnamoyl-CoA reductase. DEGs involved in sesquiterpene biosynthesis were also identified. Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, phosphomevalonate kinase and terpene synthase genes were significantly increased in the TA groups, promoting sesquiterpene biosynthesis in the wounded xylem tissues. The TF-gene transcriptomic networks suggested that MYB DNA-binding, NAM, WRKY, HLH and AP2 TFs co-expressed with genes related to lignin and sesquiterpene synthesis, indicating their critical regulatory roles in the biosynthesis of these compounds. Overall, our study reveals a dynamic transcriptional response of A. sinensis to mechanical wounding, provides a resource for identifying candidate genes for molecular breeding of agarwood quality, and sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of agarwood formation in A. sinensis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Mechanisms of Rare Tree Species Response to Abiotic Stress)
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