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Salinity poses a significant threat to the floral plants. Melatonin has emerged as a potential phytohormone to cope with the adverse effects of salinity on plants due to its multifaceted roles in regulating abiotic stresses. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of melatonin on pansy by modifications in physiological indices under salinity stress. Pansy plants were subjected to salinity stress (0, 50, and 100 mM NaCl) and melatonin (control, 50, and 100 µM). Salinity-induced oxidative stress was apparent through enhanced generation of toxic substances. However, melatonin supplementation improved chlorophyll ‘a’, chlorophyll ‘b’, total chlorophyll, glycine betaine (GB), superoxidase dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalases (CAT), and glutathione-reductase (GR), thus promoting improved growth under salinity. The activation of plant defense system and regulation of signaling molecules is indication of lessening of toxic substances within the plant cells. Current findings revealed that supplementation of melatonin enhanced pansy tolerance against salinity stress.

This comprehensive study investigates the stage-wise infection dynamics of Nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) in fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) larvae across distinct stages of maize crop in Panchmahal and Mahisagar districts of Gujarat, India during the kharif season in 2021. The examination of month-wise mean data reveals a pronounced pattern of NPV prevalence, with the highest infection observed during the cob formation stage (28.74 %), followed by flowering and tasseling (20.23 %), and the vegetative stage (13.93 %). Block specific analyses highlight variations in infection rates, with notable differences between districts and stages. Correlation coefficient analysis indicates a significant and positive relationship between specific crop stages and NPV infection. Regression equations are established, demonstrating a positive increase in natural NPV infection during different crop stages. Weather parameter analysis reveals significant correlations between temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, and NPV infection. The phylogenetic analysis of NPV polyhedrin sequences indicates species-specific clustering within S. frugiperda and a broader genus-specific association. Motif pattern analysis identifies conserved motifs in NPV polyhedrins. Protein structure predictions and Molecular docking studies predicted interactions between polyhedrin and chitinase, suggesting a potential role in the insect's defense against NPV. The bioassay results indicated increased susceptibility of early larvae to NPV, emphasizing the potential for optimizing biocontrol strategies. Overall, this study contributes valuable insights into the ecological and molecular aspects of NPV infection dynamics, offering a significance understanding for developing effective pest management strategies and also underscores its significance in promoting sustainable agriculture.

Soil salinity accelerates osmotic, ionic and oxidative pressure that suppresses plant growth and crop production. The objective of of the present investigation was to analyse protective function of nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) against salt (NaCl) stress in coriander plants. Different morphological, biochemical parameters, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were analysed. Exposure of Coriandrum sativum L. to NaCl reduced length of root and shoot, biomass, relative water content and biochemical attributes. Exogenous use of SNP and NaHS individually or in combined treatment increased all the above-mentioned growth variables and inhibited NaCl incited biochemical alterations and oxidative damages in Coriandrum sativum L. Synergistic treatment (SNP + NaHS) exhibited increase in the morphological parameters, pigment and osmolyte contents. The oxidative stress biomarkers, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide generation were declined by SNP and NaHS as evidenced by reduced peroxidation of lipids. Activities of both glyoxylase as well as antioxidant enzymes were enhanced with presence of SNP and NaHS. Coriander seedlings treated with NaCl + SNP + NaHS exhibited 21 %, 7 %, 31 % and 59 % increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), respectively over NaCl treated plants. Level of methylglyoxal was decreased in Coriandrum sativum with rise in glyoxalase I and II enzymes. Therefore, synergistic supplementation of NO and H2S alleviates salt stress in coriander plants more efficiently than individual treatment and it might be because of crosstalk mechanism that facilitate salt stress resistance in plants.

The fruits of eggplants have different shapes and sizes, which render them ideal for metabolic engineering. They can aid in increasing eggplant chlorogenic acid content, a critical nutrient. Among the phenolic acids found in eggplants, chlorogenic acid is the most important and highly bioactive. This phenolic acid is essential because it promotes good health in humans, and for its production in the fruit flesh, the hydroxyquinone CoA transferase (SmHQT) enzyme is crucial. Therefore, we explored this further by using the agroinfiltration protocol, thereby comparing transgenic and wild type expression via RNA-seq analysis. Given the SmHQT overexpression of 415, the characteristics of the phenylpropanoid pathway are regulated in transgenic eggplants. Furthermore, agroinfiltrated fruit showed around twofold (3.98 g/mg of FW) chlorogenic acid content as compared to the wild type (2.02 g/mg of FW). As a result, the findings shed new light on how to increase eggplant chlorogenic acid content at the molecular level.

Bacterial biocontrol agent/s (BCAs) against plant diseases are eco-friendly and sustainable options for profitable agricultural crop production. Specific beneficial strains of Bacillus subtilis are effective in controlling many fungal diseases including Alternaria blight caused by a notorious pathogen “Alternaria solani”. In the present study, the biocontrol attributes of a newfangled strain of B. subtilis (BS-01) have been investigated and its bioactive compounds were also identified against A. solani. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by BS-01 in organic solvents viz., n-hexane, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate were extracted and their antifungal efficacy has evaluated against A. solani. Also, the preventive and curative biocontrol method to reduce the fungal load of A. solani was estimated by both foliar and seed applications on infected tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants as determined by quantitative PCR assays. Growth chamber bioassay revealed that both foliar and seed application of BS-01 on tomato plants previously or subsequently infected by A. solani significantly reduced the pathogen load on inoculated tomato foliage. Results showed that antifungal bioassays with various concentrations (10-100 mg mL-1) of extracted metabolites produced by BS-01 in ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest inhibition in fungal biomass (extracellular metabolites: 69-98% and intracellular metabolites: 48-85%) followed by n-hexane (extracellular metabolites: 63-88% and intracellular metabolites: 35-62%) and dichloromethane (extracellular metabolites: 41-74% and intracellular metabolites: 42-70%), respectively. The extracted volatile compounds of BS-01 were identified via GC-MS analysis and were found in great proportions in the organic fractions as major potent antifungal constituents including triphenylphosphine oxide; pyrrolo[1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl); pyrrolo[1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(phenylmethyl); n-hexadecanoic acid; n-tridecan-1-ol; octadecane; octadecanoic acid; eicosane and dodecyl acrylate. Separate or mixture of these bioactive VOCs had the potential to mitigate the tomato early blight disease severity in the field that would act as a sustainable plant protection strategy to generate profitable tomato production.

Abstract Background Juniperus procera Hoechst. ex Endl. is a medicinal tree in Saudi Arabia, primarily in the Enemas region, but it is locally threatened due to die-back disease and difficulties regarding seed reproduction (seed dormancy and underdeveloped embryonic anatomy, and germination rate

Among biological methods, green synthesis of the nanomaterials using plant extracts was shown to be an environmentally friendly, economical, and simple approach. In the current study, the biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was achieved using the leaf extract of Hibiscus tiliaceus, in order to prevent the contamination of the tissue culture media and induce callus growth. The nanostructures of the fabricated AgNPs were characterized using UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta size, and zeta potential techniques. Our results indicate that The UV–vis spectrum of AgNPs exhibited an absorption band at 415 nm. The FTIR analysis identified the functional groups which could involve in the reduction of silver ions to AgNPs, this was also confirmed by the (hkl) diffraction peaks in the XRD diffractogram. Moreover, the TEM analysis showed a spherical nanoparticle with a size ranging from 21 and 26 nm. Thereafter, the potential antibacterial and antifungal activity of the biogenic AgNPs was evaluated against Bacillus pumilus and Alternaria alternata which were isolated from the in vitro culture media and identified based on 16S rDNA and ITS rDNA sequences, respectively. The results showed that the AgNPs significantly inhibited the growth of Alternaria alternata and Bacillus pumilus at all applied concentrations (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/L). Compared to the control more fungal radial growth reduction (42.59%,) and bacterial inhibition (98.12%) were registered in the plates containing high doses of AgNPs (40 mg/L). Using Rumex nervosus explants, the biosynthesized AgNPs were tested for their impact to promote callus growth. The obtained results showed a significant effect of AgNPs on callus fresh weight at all applied doses. Moreover, AgNPs treatments showed a polymorphism of 12.5% which was detected by RAPD markers. In summary, the results revealed that AgNPs (40 mg/L) can be effectively added to the in vitro culture media for reducing microbial contamination and improving callus growth while greatly maintaining its genetic stability.

The present investigation was performed to evaluate the variability of the essential oil composition present in the seed extract of Kala zeera (Bunium persicum Bioss.) obtained from different geographical zones of Northwestern-Himalayan using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrum (GC-MS). The results of the GC-MS analysis revealed significant differences in the essential oil content. Significant variability was observed in the chemical constituents of the essential oils mainly for p-cymene, D-limonene, Gamma-terpinene, Cumic aldehyde and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al. Among these compounds, the highest average percentage across the locations was observed for gamma-terpinene (32.08%) which was followed by cumic aldehyde (25.07%), and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al (15.45%). Principal component analysis (PCA) also grouped the 4 highly significant compounds i.e., p-Cymene, Gamma-Terpinene, Cumic aldehyde, and 1,4-p-Menthadien-7-al into same cluster which are mainly distributed in Shalimar Kalazeera-1, and Atholi Kishtwar zones. The highest value of gamma-terpinene was recorded in Atholi accession (40.66%). However, among climatic zones Zabarwan Srinagar and Shalimar Kalazeera-1 was found to have highly positive significant correlation (0.99). The cophenetic correlation coefficient (c) was found to be 0.8334 during hierarchical clustering for 12 essential oil compounds showing that our results are highly correlated. Network analysis also showed the overlapping pattern and similar interaction between the 12 compounds as shown by hierarchical clustering analysis. From the results, it could be concluded that existence of variability among the various bioactive compounds of B. persicum which are probably to be incorporated to the potential list of drugs and may serve as good genetic source for various modern breeding programs.

Erysiphe cruciferarum, a causative agent of powdery mildew disease, has emerged as a serious threat in Brassica juncea and its closely related species. To date, no resistant cultivars have been identified in Brassica species against powdery mildew. Here, we used histopathological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to elucidate the powdery mildew disease progression and host responses in three Brassica cenospecies, namely B. juncea, Camelina sativa, and Sinapis alba. Based on the results of disease progression, S. alba was found to be extremely resistant to powdery mildew infection, whereas B. juncea and C. sativa were highly vulnerable. In addition, the disease spread rate to uninfected parts was comparatively higher in B. juncea and C. sativa. Histopathological results revealed more pathogen-induced cell death in B. juncea and C. sativa compared to S. alba. We also examined the role of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) in B. juncea, C. sativa, and S. alba after powdery mildew infection. Based on our findings, the enzyme activity of SOD, POD, and CAT was relatively higher in S. alba then that of B. juncea and C. sativa after powdery mildew infection. Furthermore, we evaluated the expression levels of salicylic acid (SA) signature genes, including pathogenesis-related protein viz., PR1, PR2, and PR5 in B. juncea, C. sativa, and S. alba after E. cruciferarum infection. Based on our findings, the expression levels of SA marker genes PR1, PR2, and PR5 increased in all three species after infection. However, the fold change was relatively higher in S. alba than in B. juncea and C. sativa. In future, further studies are required to identify the potential candidates in S. alba that are involved in powdery mildew disease resistance.

Salinity is one of the most limiting constraints of crop production. Nevertheless, highly-tolerant crop plants (e.g. ‘Guar’ Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) can thrive well under salinity conditions. RNA-Seq plays a central role in identifying genes involved in the response mechanisms to salt stress in plant species. High-quality RNA, free of genomic DNA is a critical determinant for success in subsequent downstream experiments to shed light on tolerance mechanisms. In this research, an inspection of two different total RNA isolation protocols was employed for preparing highly pure and intact RNAs with good yield from Guar tissue under both high salinity and control conditions. The extracted RNA appeared in all quality metrics to be of adequate quantity and quality for most downstream applications, including high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and expression analysis. However, the outcomes showed that the most widely used RNA quality measurement, the RNA Integrity Number (RIN), is a poor indicator with a weak correlation to the integrity of RNA from this plant. In contrast to human and animal cells, plants have various ribosomal RNA species. Consequently, whenever the RNA was separated on an agarose gel, several RNA bands did appear, which gives the false impression of being unable to analyze the results of the bioanalyzer integrity. Low RIN number RNA samples were further processed by RNA-sequencing RNA-seq experiments from guar. RNA-seq analysis via Illumina’s paired-end method was carried out to trace back and evaluate the extracted total RNA, resulting in high-quality data for subsequent stress tolerance research.

Ochradenus arabicus is a significant therapeutic plant which grows in desert zones of Saudi Arabia. It has antimicrobial, anticancer, cancer prevention, antidiabetic, allopathic and pabulum properties. The present study evaluated the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) utilizing the leaf concentrate of plant O. arabicus having novel ethnomedicinal potential. The incorporated AgNPs were visualized utilizing UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The antimicrobial impact of AgNPs delivering O. arabicus was considered utilizing distinctive pathogenic microorganisms, for example, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus mutans. From the plate dispersion results, the incorporated silver nanoparticles demonstrated potent antibacterial properties and high antimicrobial action contrasted with the ionic silver. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1961609 .

Water supplies around the world are currently heavily polluted by heavy-metal chemicals, synthetic dyes, and other toxic pollutants released by major factories rather than typical household waste. This pollution necessitates adequate monitoring to protect natural water sources. There are various wastewater treatment methods available, including nanotechnology, i.e., two dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. Rising 2D nanomaterials including graphene, g-C3N4, MoS2, MXene, black phosphorus, and h-BN have exhibited an unparalleled surface-to-volume ratio, promising ultralow usage of material, ultrafast handling time, and ultrahigh treatment performance for cleaning, and monitoring of water. We provide a current overview of tunable 2D nanomaterials and their uses in water management. A brief description of 2D nanomaterials, their types, synthesis strategies and salient features involved in water management is provided. Furthermore, application of 2D nanomaterial in different processes of water treatment such as pollutants adsorption, filtration, disinfection, photocatalysis are discussed in detail. Likewise, the potential of 2D nanomaterials to be used in water quality monitoring gadgets like fluorescent sensors, colorimetric sensors, electrochemical sensors, and field-effect transistors are also explored. The study ends with a look at the current problems, limitations and future prospectus associated with the use of 2D material in water management. The importance of clean and fresh water to upcoming generations will bring new light and innovations to this emerging sector, allowing it to improve the quality and accessibility of water treatment while also ensuring global water supplies in an increasing part of the world.

Secondary plant metabolites and their derivatives play a significant role in human health. Ferruginol is a diterpene phenol that has recently received attention for its pharmacological properties, including antibacterial, antitumor, antimalarial, and cardioprotective effects. Recently, we detected the ferruginol compound in the leaf and seed extracts of Juniperus procera using different analytical approaches. The present work aims at detecting phytochemical compounds in a root extract of J. procera and estimating the amount of ferruginol compound in different parts of Juniperus procera. To screen the phytochemical compounds present in the root extract of J. procera, Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was performed. For ferruginol identification and estimation, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with the ferruginol reference standard and high-resolution direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) (DART-TOF-MS) analysis were used. GC/MS analysis revealed more than 20 bioactive compounds related to secondary plant metabolites in the root extract of J. procera with biological activity. The DART-TOF-MS result showed the typical positive ion spectra of ferruginol, and the HPLC result confirmed that the root extract of J. procera contains the ferruginol compound. In contrast, the root extract of J. procera contained a significant amount of ferruginol compared to that in the leaf and seed extracts. All parts of the J. procera contained the ferruginol compound and proved that ferruginol might be accumulated in the roots, leaves, and seeds of J. procera.

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.)) is a wild medicinal herbal plant that is widely used in folk medicine due to its high content of secondary metabolites (SMs) and silymarin; however, the data regarding the response of milk thistle to salinity are still scarce and scanty. The present study evaluated the effect of salinity on a geographically diverse population of milk thistle and on the role of medium supplementation (MS) with ascorbic acid, thiourea, and moringa leaf extract in improving the SMs and growth-related attributes under salinity stress (SS). For germination, a 120 mM level of salinity was applied in the soil during the seedling stage. After salinity development, predetermined levels of the following compounds were used for MS: thiourea (250 µM), moringa leaf extract (3%), and ascorbic acid (500 µM). The data regarding growth attributes showed that SS impaired plant growth and development and increased SM production, including alkaloids, anthocyanin, and saponins. Moreover, ascorbic acid, followed by moringa leaf extract, was the most effective in improving growth by virtue of increased SMs, especially under salt stress conditions. The present study demonstrated that milk thistle could withstand moderate doses of SS, while MS improved all the growth parameters by increasing the accumulation of SMs.

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that affect the plant’s growth and development. Recently, the contribution of nanoparticles (NPs) to ameliorating salinity stresses has become the new field of interest for scientists due to their special physiochemical properties in the biological system. This study is designed to examine the effects of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) spherical in shape (size range between 9 and 30 nm) on morphophysiological characteristics and the antioxidant defense system of in vitro raised Maerua oblongifolia under four levels of salt stress (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl). Our findings reveal that the application of AgNPs (0, 10, 20, and 30 mg/L) to M. oblongifolia shoots significantly alleviates the adverse effects of salt stress and ameliorates plant developmental-related parameters and defense systems. High salinity elevates the oxidative damage by over-accumulation of the levels of total soluble sugars, proline, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA). In addition, enhancing the activity of the antioxidant enzymes, total phenolic, and flavonoid content over the control. Interestingly, the application of AgNPs to salinized plants improved the growth traits and photosynthetic pigment production and caused higher enhancement in antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, mitigating the oxidative damage by lowering the accumulation of proline, soluble sugars, H2O2, MDA, and total phenolic and flavonoid contents in salt-stressed plants. In general, AgNPs augmented the growth of M. oblongifolia shoots under saline conditions through different strategies; thus, AgNPs can be used as an appropriate eco-friendly approach that enhances salinity tolerance in plants.

Many viruses have been found associated with apple mosaic disease in different parts of the world. In order to reveal and characterize the viruses and viroids in symptomatic apple plants, next-generation sequencing (RNA seq.) of rRNA-depleted total RNA using Illumina Hiseq2500 was applied to two cultivars, Oregon Spur and Golden Delicious, with symptoms of mosaic and necrosis and one cultivar, Red Fuji, which was asymptomatic. The RNA sequencing detected five viruses, viz., apple necrotic mosaic virus (ApNMV), apple mosaic virus (ApMV), apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) and apple stem pitting virus (ASPV), apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV), and one viroid i.e., apple hammerhead viroid (AHVd). RT-PCR amplification and sequencing also confirmed the presence of all these five viruses and viroids detected in HTS of total RNA. The complete genomes of five viruses and AHVd were reconstructed. The phylogenetic analysis of these viruses and AHVd revealed genetic diversity by forming subclusters with isolates from other countries. Recombination events were observed in all five viruses while single-nucleotide variants were detected only in ApMV and ApNMV. The absence of ApMV and ApNMV in asymptomatic samples from the same cultivars in an RT-PCR assay indicated that these two viruses are associated with mosaic disease of apples in India. This is the first viral genome analysis of symptomatic and asymptomatic apple plants and the first report of genome characterization of viruses associated with apple mosaic disease from India. High-throughput RNA sequencing is a powerful tool to characterize the genome of viruses and viroids in plants previously undetected by conventional methods. This would also help in the indexing and certification of large-scale germplasm.

The threat of heat stress on crop production increased dramatically due to global warming leading to the rise on the demand of heat-tolerant crops and understanding their tolerance. The leguminous forage crop Guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub] is a high-temperature tolerant plant with numerous works on its tolerance at morph-physiological levels but lack on molecular thermotolerance level. In the current study, the differential gene expression and the underlying metabolic pathways induced by heat treatment were investigated. An RNA-Seq study on Guar leaves was carried out to estimate gene abundance and identify genes involved in heat tolerance to better understand the response mechanisms to heat stress. The results uncovered 1551 up- and 1466 downregulated genes, from which 200 and 72 genes with unknown function could be considered as new genes specific to guar. The upregulated unigenes were associated with 158 enzymes and 102 KEGG pathways. Blast2GO, InterProScan, and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes packages were utilized to search the functional annotation, protein analysis, enzymes, and metabolic pathways and revealed hormone signal transduction were enriched during heat stress tolerance. A total of 301 protein families, 551 domains, 15 repeats, and 3 sites were upregulated and matched to those unigenes. A batch of heat-regulated transcription factor transcripts were identified using the PlantTFDB database, which may play roles in heat response in Guar. Interestingly, several heat shock protein families were expressed in response to exposure to stressful conditions for instance small HSP20, heat shock transcription factor family, heat shock protein Hsp90 family, and heat shock protein 70 family. Our results revealed the expressional changes associated with heat tolerance and identified potential key genes in the regulation of this process. These results will provide a good start to dissect the molecular behaviour of plants induced by heat stress and could identify the key genes in stress response for marker-assisted selection in Guar and reveal their roles in stress adaptation in plants.

Drought remains one of the most serious environmental stresses because of the continuous reduction in soil moisture, which requires the improvement of crops with features such as drought tolerance. Guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub], a forage and industrial crop, is a nonthirsty plant. However, the information on the transcriptome changes that occur under drought stress in guar is very limited; therefore, a gene expression analysis is necessary in this context. Here, we studied the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to drought stress and their metabolic pathways. RNA-Seq via an expectation-maximization algorithm was used to estimate gene abundance. Subsequently, an Empirical Analysis of Digital Gene Expression Data in the R Bioconductor package was used to identify DEGs. Blast2GO, InterProScan, and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were used to explore functional annotation, protein analysis, enzymes, and metabolic pathways. Transcription factors were identified using the PlantTFDB database. Our study identified 499 upregulated and 191 downregulated genes in response to drought stress. Of those, 32 upregulated and six downregulated genes were deemed as novel genes exclusive to guar. An aggregate of 137 protein families, 306 domains, 12 repeats, and two sites were upregulated. The proton-dependent oligopeptide transporter family and transferase, aquaporin transporter, calcium/calmodulin-dependent/calcium-dependent protein kinase, aspartic peptidase A1 family, UDP-glucuronosyl/UDP-glucosyltransferase, and major intrinsic protein were the most upregulated protein families. The upregulated unigenes were associated with 88 enzymes and 77 KEGG pathways. Finally, the MYB-related, MYB, and ERF transcription factor families were upregulated. These data may be useful for understanding the plant molecular response to drought stress.

Abrus precatorius is considered to be a valuable source of natural products for the development of drugs against various diseases. Herein, the genome size and phytochemical compounds in the leaves and callus of A. precatorius were evaluated. The endangered A. precatorius was collected from the Al-Baha mountains, Saudi Arabia and identified based on the phylogenetic analysis of a DNA sequence amplified by ITS1 and ITS4 primers. The callus was induced by the culture of stem explants onto Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with various combinations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4D) and 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP). The callus with the highest fresh weight (2.03 g) was obtained in the medium containing 0.5µM BA and 5 µM 2,4-D after 8 weeks of culture; thus, the callus of this combination was selected for the genome estimation and phytochemical compound extraction. The genetic stability of the leaves from the donor as well as in the regenerated callus was analyzed by flow cytometry with optimized tomato (2C = 1.96 pg) as an external reference standard. The 2C DNA content was estimated to 1.810 pg ± 0.008 and 1.813 pg ± 0.004 for the leaves and callus, respectively. Then, the total phenol and total flavonoid contents in the methanol extract of the callus and leaves were measured using a spectrophotometer and the High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC ) methods. The results showed that the methanolic extract of the leaves was higher in total phenols and total flavonoids than the callus extract. Finally, the extracts of callus and leaves were analyzed for phytochemical compound through the Gas chromatography and Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). A total of 22 and 28 compounds were detected in the callus and leaves, respectively. The comparative analysis showed that 12 compounds of the secondary metabolites were present in both extracts.

Salinity stress has become a significant concern to global food security. Revealing the mechanisms that enable plants to survive under salinity has immense significance. Sorghum has increasingly attracted researchers interested in understanding the survival and adaptation strategies to high salinity. However, systematic analysis of the DEGs (differentially expressed genes) and their relative expression has not been reported in sorghum under salt stress. The de novo transcriptomic analysis of sorghum under different salinity levels from 60 to 120 mM NaCl was generated using Illumina HiSeq. Approximately 323.49 million high-quality reads, with an average contig length of 1145 bp, were assembled de novo. On average, 62% of unigenes were functionally annotated to known proteins. These DEGs were mainly involved in several important metabolic processes, such as carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, cell wall biogenesis, photosynthesis, and hormone signaling. SSG 59-3 alleviated the adverse effects of salinity by suppressing oxidative stress (H2O2) and stimulating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD, APX, CAT, APX, POX, GR, GSH, ASC, proline, and GB), as well as protecting cell membrane integrity (MDA and electrolyte leakage). Significant up-regulation of transcripts encoding the NAC, MYB, and WRYK families, NHX transporters, the aquaporin protein family, photosynthetic genes, antioxidants, and compatible osmolyte proteins were observed. The tolerant line (SSG 59-3) engaged highly efficient machinery in response to elevated salinity, especially during the transport and influx of K+ ions, signal transduction, and osmotic homeostasis. Our data provide insights into the evolution of the NAC TFs gene family and further support the hypothesis that these genes are essential for plant responses to salinity. The findings may provide a molecular foundation for further exploring the potential functions of NAC TFs in developing salt-resistant sorghum lines.

Zincoxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are among the most produced and used nanomaterials worldwide, and in recent times these nanoparticles have also been incorporate in plant science and agricultural research. The present study was planned to synthesize ZnO NPs biologically using Ochradenus arabicus leaves and examine their effect on the morphology and physiology properties of Maerua oblongifolia cultured in vitro. ZnO NPs were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and transmission electron microscopy, which demonstrated hexagonal shape nanoparticles of size ranging from 10 to 50 nm. Thus, the study uncovered an efficient, eco-friendly and simple technique for biosynthesis of multifunctional ZnO NPs using Ochradenus arabicus following growth of Maerua oblongifolia shoots in different concentrations of ZnO NPs (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 mg L−1) in Murashige and Skoog medium. Remarkable increases in plant biomass, photosynthetic pigments, and total protein were recorded up to a concentration of 5 mg L−1; at the same time, the results demonstrated a significant reduction in lipid peroxidation levels with respect to control. Interestingly, the levels of proline and the antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities were increased significantly in response to all ZnO NP treatments. These findings indicate that bioengineered ZnO NPs play a major role in accumulation of biomass and stimulating the activities of antioxidant enzymes in plant tissues. Thus, green-synthesized ZnO NPs might be of agricultural and medicinal benefit owing to their impacts on plants in vitro.

Genome size is one of the fundamental cytogenetic features of a species, which is critical for the design and initiation of any genome sequencing projects and can provide essential insights in studying taxonomy, cytogenetics, phylogenesis, and evolutionary studies. However, this key cytogenetic information is almost lacking in the endemic species Reseda pentagyna and the locally rare species Reseda lutea in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, genome size was analyzed by propidium iodide PI flow cytometry and compared to k-mer analysis methods. The standard method for genome size measures (flow cytometry) estimated the genome size of R. lutea and R. pentagyna with nuclei isolation MB01 buffer were found to be 1.91 ± 0.02 and 2.09 ± 0.03 pg/2 °C, respectively, which corresponded approximately to a haploid genome size of 934 and 1.022 Mbp, respectively. For validation, K-mer analysis was performed on both species’ Illumina paired-end sequencing data from both species. Five k-mer analysis approaches were examined for biocomputational estimation of genome size: A general formula and four well-known programs (CovEST, Kmergenie, FindGSE, and GenomeScope). The parameter preferences had a significant impact on GenomeScope and Kmergenie estimates. While the general formula estimations did not differ considerably, with an average genome size of 867.7 and 896. Mbp. The differences across flow cytometry and biocomputational predictions may be due to the high repeat content, particularly long repetitive regions in both genomes, 71% and 57%, which interfered with k-mer analysis. GenomeScope allowed quantification of high heterozygosity levels (1.04 and 1.37%) of R. lutea and R. pentagyna genomes, respectively. Based on our observations, R. lutea may have a tetraploid genome or higher. Our results revealed fundamental cytogenetic information for R. lutea and R. pentagyna, which should be used in future taxonomic studies and whole-genome sequencing.

Ziziphus spina-christi (sidr) is a shrub, sometimes a tree, native to a vast area of Africa stretching from Mauritania to West Africa. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is an exotic medicinal plant for many diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity within and among 34 accessions of Z. spina-christi collected from different regions of Saudi Arabia. The amplification of genomic DNA with 11 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers yielded 105 scorable loci, of which 93.4% were found to be polymorphic. The observed number of alleles (na), effective number of alleles (ne), Nei's gene diversity (h) and genetic diversity estimated by Shannon's information index (I) were 1.93, 1.44, 0.26 and 0.41, respectively. The total genetic diversity, Ht (0.266 ± 0.0289) was close to the average intrapopulation genetic diversity, Hs (0.2199 ± 0.0216). A high level of gene flow (Nm = 2.37) between populations, reflecting high genetic differentiation (Gst = 0.1739). The analysis of molecular variance showed that the maximum value of genetic variation was found within populations (90%), whereas a low value of genetic variance was observed among populations. The analysis using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages clustered the population from Farasan Island as an out-group due to its geographical origin. The obtained results demonstrate that the ISSR markers may be used for evaluation of the genetic diversity due to their efficiency in revealing polymorphism even in closely related germplasm and may help in Ziziphus genome analysis.