Search

SUMMARY: Acyl‐acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterases (FAT) hydrolyze acyl‐ACP complexes to release FA in plastids, which ultimately affects FA biosynthesis and profiles. Soybean GmFATA1 and GmFATA2 are homoeologous genes encoding oleoyl‐ACP thioesterases whose role in seed oil accumulation and plant growth has not been defined. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing mutation of Gmfata1 or 2 led to reduced leaf FA content and growth defect at the early seedling stage. In contrast, no homozygous double mutants were obtained. Combined this indicates that GmFATA1 and GmFATA2 display overlapping, but not complete functional redundancy. Combined transcriptomic and lipidomic analysis revealed a large number of genes involved in FA synthesis and FA chain elongation are expressed at reduced level in the Gmfata1 mutant, accompanied by a lower triacylglycerol abundance at the early seedling stage. Further analysis showed that the Gmfata1 or 2 mutants had increased composition of the beneficial FA, oleic acid. The growth defect of Gmfata1 could be at least partially attributed to reduced acetyl‐CoA carboxylase activity, reduced abundance of five unsaturated monogalactosyldiacylglycerol lipids, and altered chloroplast morphology. On the other hand, overexpression of GmFATA in soybean led to significant increases in leaf FA content by 5.7%, vegetative growth, and seed yield by 26.9%, and seed FA content by 23.2%. Thus, overexpression of GmFATA is an effective strategy to enhance soybean oil content and yield. Significance Statement: Our results demonstrated that the positive roles of GmFATA1 and GmFATA2 on soybean growth, seed oil accumulation. We propose that overexpression of GmFATA could be an engineering strategy to enhance soybean oil content and yield. In addition, the Gmfata1/2 mutants with increased content of benefit oil oleic acid could be used as germplasm sources in breeding of soybean oil quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the significance of belowground processes in tropical forest restoration and offers recommendations for further understanding these processes. It emphasizes the role of plant-root interactions, soil microbes, and soil properties in driving essential ecosystem services such as erosion control, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. The article highlights the importance of plant-microbe interactions in forest recovery and proposes management strategies for soil stabilization, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and forest diversity. It also stresses the selection of native mycorrhizal communities and cautions against using non-native soil inoculum. The authors argue that incorporating belowground research into land management strategies can enhance the effectiveness of restoration projects, while also emphasizing the need for collaboration between scientists and restoration practitioners and the consideration of ecological, economic, and social factors in restoration areas. [Extracted from the article]

As global climatic changes increase plant susceptibility to large-scale disturbances such as drought and pathogens, understory responses to these disturbances will become increasingly important to long-term forest dynamics. To better understand understory responses to canopy disturbance, we measured changes in the growth and physiology of the dominant understory shrub, American witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana L.), in response to girdling of canopy oaks in a temperate hardwood forest of the northeastern United States. Changes in the growth and physiology of H. virginiana may be important to the regeneration of northeastern temperate forests, as this common shrub largely shapes the microenvironment for seedlings on the forest floor where it occurs. Canopy disturbance by girdling resulted in significant increases in light and soil nitrogen availability. In response to these environmental changes, basal-area growth of H. virginiana increased by an average 334%. This growth increase corresponded to significant increases in foliar nitrogen, respiration, and leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations. These findings indicate improved environmental conditions and increased growth for this understory shrub following the loss of dominant canopy trees. This study suggests that following large-scale canopy disturbance, H. virginiana and shrubs like it may play an important role in competing for soil N and shading seedlings of regenerating canopy species. Key words: Black Rock Forest, canopy disturbance, foliar chemistry, photosynthesis, respiration. A mesure que les changements climatiques a l'echelle planetaire augmentent la sensibilite des plantes aux perturbations a grande echelle, telles que la secheresse et les agents pathogenes, les reactions du sous-bois face a ces perturbations vont devenir de plus en plus importantes pour la dynamique forestiere a long terme. Dans le but de mieux comprendre les reactions du sous-bois aux perturbations du couvert forestier, nous avons mesure les changements dans la croissance et la physiologie de l'arbuste de sous-bois dominant, l'hamamelis de Virginie (Hamamelis virginiana L.), en reaction a l'annelation des chenes de l'etage dominant dans une foret feuillue temperee du nord-est des Etats-Unis. Les changements dans la croissance et la physiologie de l'hamamelis pourraient avoir des repercussions importantes sur la regeneration des forets temperees du nord-est etant donne l'influence determinante de cet arbuste commun sur le microenvironnement des semis au sol ou il est present. La perturbation du couvert forestier par l'annelation a entraine une augmentation significative de la disponibilite de la lumiere et de l'azote dans le sol. En reaction a ces changements environnementaux, la croissance en surface terriere de l'hamamelis a augmente en moyenne de 334 %. Cette augmentation de croissance correspond a des augmentations significatives de l'azote foliaire, de la respiration et des concentrations de chlorophylle et de carotenoide dans les feuilles. Ces resultats sont un indice de meilleures conditions environnementales et d'une croissance accrue pour cet arbuste de sous-bois a la suite de la perte des arbres de l'etage dominant. Cette etude indique qu'a la suite d'une perturbation a grande echelle du couvert forestier, l'hamamelis et les arbustes semblables pourraient jouer un role important en competitionnant pour l'azote dans le sol et en ombrageant les semis des especes de l'etage dominant qui se regenerent. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: foret de Black Rock, perturbation du couvert forestier, chimie foliaire, photosynthese, respiration., Introduction Temperate hardwood forests play an important role in regulating water and nutrients, sequestering carbon (C), and providing habitat for biodiversity. In the United States (US) and southern Canada, many [...]

In order to obtain chitosan (CS) based composite film materials with satisfactory functional properties, CS based antibacterial and antioxidant composite films (CS / nBC / KA/ CUR) containing nanobacterium cellulose ( nBC), curcumin (CUR) and kojic acid (KA) was prepared by mixed solution casting method. The barrier prop- erties, mechanical properties, optical properties, antibacterial activity, and antioxidant activity of different compo- nent composite films were investigated. The results showed that the components of CS / nBC / KA/ CUR composite film interacted with each other mainly by hydrogen bonding and van der Waals force, and the interior of the film showed a relatively enhanced crystallinity. Compared with the other composite films, the water solubility of CS / nBC / KA/ CUR composite films was decreased significantly. The water vapor transmission rate was increased by nearly 24% compared with CS / nBC composite films. The tensile strength was increased by nearly 3 times, and the elongation at break was increased by about 1. 8% compared with CS / nBC / KA composite films. The antibacterial effect against E. coli was increased by about 12. 2% compared with the other composite films, and the ABTS free radical scaven- ging rate was most greatly increased by 35. 2% compared with CS / nBC composite films. Therefore, CS / nBC / KA/ CUR composite films combined the advantages of each components and showed a certain potential value in the de- velopment of active food packaging materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant vacuoles serve as the primary intracellular compartments for phosphorus (P) storage. The Oryza sativa genome contains three genes that encode SPX (SYG1/ PHO81/ XPR1)‐MFS (Major Facility Superfamily) proteins (OsSPX‐MFS1‐3). The physiological roles of the three transporters under varying P conditions in laboratory and field are not known. To address this knowledge gap, we generated single, double and triple mutants for three OsSPX‐MFS genes. All the mutants except Osspx‐mfs2 display lower vacuolar Pi concentrations and OsSPX‐MFSs overexpression plant display higher Pi accumulation, demonstrating that all OsSPX‐MFSs are vacuolar Pi influx transporters. OsSPX‐MFS3 plays the dominant role based on the phenotypes of single mutants in terms of growth, vacuolar and tissue Pi concentrations. OsSPX‐MFS2 is the weakest and only functions as vacuole Pi sequestration in an Osspx‐mfs1/3 background. The vacuolar Pi sequestration capacity was severely impaired in Osspx‐mfs1/3 and Osspx‐mfs1/2/3, which resulted in increased Pi allocation to aerial organs. High P in the panicle impaired panicle and fertility in Osspx‐mfs1/3 and Osspx‐mfs1/2/3. Osspx‐mfs2 resulted in a more stable yield compared to the wild type under low P in field grown plants. The results suggest that alteration of vacuolar Pi sequestration may be a novel effective strategy to improve rice tolerance to low phosphorus in cropping systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing seed oil content (SOC) is an important breeding goal for soybean breeding. While significant efforts have been made to improve SOC through metabolic pathway engineering, research to increase soybean SOC by reducing lipid degradation and fatty acid (FA) decomposition during seed maturation process is limited. Seed Fatty Acid Reducers (SFAR) are members of the GDSL enzyme family and play a crucial role in lipid metabolism. Among them, a pair of the GmSFAR4 genes are highly expressed in soybean seeds during seed desiccation and germination. In the study, GmSFAR4a/b double mutants were generated using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technique. The seed FA content of GmSFAR4a/b double mutants was significantly increased by about 8% compared to wild type when grown in greenhouse, and about 17% when grown in the field, without any adverse effects on seed vitality and plant growth. Our work enriches the understanding of soybean seed oil metabolism and provides a new approach to increase soybean SOC., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site–for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)