Fluoride pollution is gradually becoming an environmental concern around the globe. Previous studies have shown the toxic effects of fluoride on rice (Oryza sativa) growth. Our study derived a roadmap for the cultivation of two indica rice varieties (Khitish, which is more resistant to long-term fluoride stress, and MTU1010, which is more susceptible to fluoride stress) in fluoride-marginalized lands. The different response to fluoride stress between the two varieties may be explained by differential reprogramming of protective metabolites and sulfur assimilation.

This article belongs to the Collection Functional Genomics for Developing Climate Resilient Crops.

Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important food crop globally. With a constant need to enhance rice traits in a changing climate, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated Protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) offers cutting-edge and precise genome-editing tool to modify rice genome to provide resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses. This review focuses on the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in rice breeding to create rice varieties that have enhanced tolerance to stresses, herbicide resistance, and higher productivity.

This article belongs to the Collection Functional Genomics for Developing Climate Resilient Crops.

We investigated the effects of various synthetic compounds on wheat (Triticum aestivum) cvs GW-11 and GW-496 under terminal heat stress. Compounds like salicylic acid (100 ppm) and putrescine (4 mM) significantly improved physiological traits, including canopy temperature depression and chlorophyll content. Notably, salicylic acid application led to a 19.5-% increase in grain yield, attributed to enhanced grains per spike and 1000-grain weight. The findings suggest that foliar application of these compounds can effectively mitigate heat stress and enhance wheat productivity.

Variable adaptability to complete submergence was observed among Lotus and Trifolium species, while Melilotus albus and Trifolium michelianum did not survive. Lotus species demonstrated superior recovery growth from submergence compared to Trifolium species, particularly Lotus tenuis, making it suitable for flood-prone areas. The better performance of Lotus species after submergence was due to their ability to maintain higher stomatal conductance, increased chlorophyll concentration in young leaves, and quicker recovery of PSII efficiency.

Remote sensing of action of stressors on plants is an important step of their protection. We showed that action of salinization stimulated spatial heterogeneity in the photochemical reflectance index, which was calculated on basis of the leaf reflectance at 530 and 575 nm, and in reflectance at 530 nm in pea (Pisum sativum) leaves. It means that measurements of the spatial heterogeneity of these parameters can be used as indicator of the action of salinization in the plant remote sensing.

Our study unravels that unilateral high intensity blue light (HBL) triggered backlit lodging of etiolated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) hypocotyls. Unilateral HBL stimulates the change of turgor pressure of hypocotyl lit-side guard cells in cotton seedlings to absorb water from backlit side cells, which resulted in the backlit side cells shrinking and backlit lodging. Abscisic acid signaling can inhibit both HBL-induced stomatal opening and backlit lodging, indicated that the backlit lodging phenomenon attributed to HBL-induced stomatal opening.

Plants often experience variations in light intensity, referred to as light stress, which affects their plant growth and development and, thus, diminishes their productivity and yield. We conclude that application of plant hormone, brassinosteroid, regulates a complex mechanism to improve light stress tolerance in one month old tomato plants.

Extreme temperatures, as a result of global warming, cause significant reduction in agricultural yields. We introduced a chaperone from Artemia urmiana that helps other proteins to function properly in extreme environments into Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results indicated that the transgneic Arabidopsis plants were more tolerant to heat stress than the wild-type.

Previous research from our lab showed that hypergravity, simulated with centrifuges, enhances wheat seedling vigor and root phenotype. Present study revealed that hypergravity (10g for 12 h) significantly boosts wheat’s resilience to induced drought and salt stress. The benefits, seen in increased growth and abiotic stress tolerance, were consistent across different wheat varieties. The study further links these improvements to changes in plant hormones and stress-related genes, providing new evidence that hypergravity can effectively enhance stress resilience in wheat.

Rising atmospheric drying is causing losses in crop productivity worldwide, by triggering excessive plant water losses. Water-saving varieties are effective in limiting yield losses under atmospheric drying, but the genetic regions controlling this behavior are unknown. We screened hundreds of soybean (Glycine max) plants for their water losses in response to atmospheric drying and identified genetic regions controlling their responses. These findings open the way to breed for climate-smart, water-saving legumes that are better-yielding under current and future drought conditions.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be a key regulator of flower senescence, affecting various physiological and biochemical processes. Research has indicated that NO can prolong the vase life and postpone senescence in cut flowers by adjusting senescence-related genes and interacting with other molecules and pathways. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of nitric oxide in influencing various biochemical, physiological, and molecular factors; with the ultimate goal of delaying tepal senescence in isolated flowers of Lilium tigrinum.

NHX1 is closely related to K uptake and accumulation in plants. AtNHX1-overexpressing tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) exhibited significantly higher leaf K content than the wild-type tobacco variety K326. The AtNHX1-overexpressing tobacco has significantly improved root morphology and physiology compared to the wild-type variety K326. AtNHX1-overexpressing tobacco showed higher V_max levels in roots than the wild-type variety K326. Overexpression of AtNHX1 is able to increase leaf potassium content by boosting the ability of enriching potassium in tobacco roots.

Leaf mesophyll cells are often approximated by capsules and spheres to discuss structure-function relationships. These assumptions allow an easy assessments based on widely available 2D datasets of foliar tissue. However, this is a rough approximation of often irregularly shaped spongy mesophyll cells. We suggest to use more rare 3D assessments to provide corrections and functions to be used in 2D assessments, rather than scaling 2D analysis to 3D structures based on the assumption of ideal shapes.