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High-temperature (HT) stress can induce male sterility in wheat; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study examined proteomic alterations across three developmental stages between normal and HT-induced male-sterile (HT-ms) anthers in wheat. Utilizing tandem mass tags-based proteomics, we identified 2532 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs): 27 in the tetrad stage, 157 in the binuclear stage, and 2348 in the trinuclear stage. Analyses through Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways indicated significant enrichment of these DAPs in seven pathways, namely phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, sphingolipid metabolism, MAPK signaling pathway, starch and sucrose metabolism, response to heat, and response to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our results indicated the downregulation of DAPs associated with phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and starch and sucrose metabolism, which aligns with anther indehiscence and the lack of starch in HT-ms anthers. By contrast, DAPs in the ROS pathway were upregulated, which aligns with excessive ROS accumulation in HT-ms anthers. Additionally, we conducted protein–protein interaction analysis for the DAPs of these pathways, identifying 15 hub DAPs. The abundance of these hub proteins was confirmed through qRT-PCR, assessing mRNA expression levels of the corresponding transcripts. Collectively, these results offer insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying HT-induced male sterility in wheat at the proteomic level, providing a valuable resource for further research in plant sexual reproduction.

Cystathionine beta synthase (CBS) domains containing proteins (CDCPs) plays an important role in plant development through regulation of the thioredoxin system, as well as its ability to respond to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Despite this, no systematic study has examined the wheat CBS gene family and its relation to high temperature-induced male sterility. In this study, 66 CBS family members were identified in the wheat genome, and their gene or protein sequences were used for subsequent analysis. The TaCBS gene family was found to be unevenly distributed on 21 chromosomes, and they were classified into four subgroups according to their gene structure and phylogeny. The results of collinearity analysis showed that there were 25 shared orthologous genes between wheat, rice and Brachypodium distachyon, and one shared orthologous gene between wheat, millet and barley. The cis-regulatory elements of the TaCBS were related to JA, IAA, MYB, etc. GO and KEGG pathway analysis identified these TaCBS genes to be associated with pollination, reproduction, and signaling and cellular processes, respectively. A heatmap of wheat plants based on transcriptome data showed that TaCBS genes were expressed to a higher extent in spikelets relative to other tissues. In addition, 29 putative tae-miRNAs were identified, targeting 41 TaCBS genes. Moreover, qRT-PCR validation of six TaCBS genes indicated their critical role in anther development, as five of them were expressed at lower levels in heat-stressed male sterile anthers than in Normal anthers. Together with anther phenotypes, paraffin sections, starch potassium iodide staining, and qRT-PCR data, we hypothesized that the genes encoding CDCPs has a very important connection with the heat-stressed sterility process in wheat, and these data provide a basis for further insight into their relationship.

Glyphosate (GP)-based herbicides have been widely applied to crops for weed control and pre-harvest desiccation. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of pre-harvest GP application on maize or how it physiologically alters this crop. Here, we applied four GP treatment (Control, GP150, GP200, and GP250) on maize lines of Z58 and PH6WC belonging to different maturity groups at grain-filling stages form DAP30 to DAP45. GP application significantly decreased the grain moisture content at harvest by 22–35% for Z58 and by 15–41% for PH6WC. However, the responses of grain weight to glyphosate vary with inbred lines and application time. A high concentration of glyphosate (GP250) reduced the grain weight of Z58 and low concentrations (GP150 and GP200) did not affect, while the grain weight of PH6WC significantly decreased under glyphosate treatment. In summary, our results revealed that timely and appropriate GP application lowers grain moisture content without causing seed yield and quality loss. GP application adversely affected photosynthesis by promoting maturation and leaf senescence. Meanwhile, it also enhanced non-structural carbohydrate (soluble sugars and starch) remobilization from the vegetative organs to the grains. Hence, GP treatment coordinates plant senescence and assimilate remobilization. RNA sequencing revealed that glyphosate regulated the transcript levels of sugar signaling-related genes and induced assimilate repartitioning in grains. This work indicates the practical significance of GP application for maize seed production and harvest, which highlights the contributions of source-sink communication to maize yield in response to external stress or pre-harvest desiccant application.