Trehalose: A sugar molecule involved in temperature stress management in plants
February 2024
Trehalose (Tre) is a non-reducing disaccharide found in many species, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, yeast, and even plants, where it acts as an osmoprotectant, energy source, or protein/membrane...
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Salt tolerance in rice: Physiological responses and molecular mechanisms
February 2022
Crop yield loss due to soil salinization is an increasing threat to agriculture worldwide. Salt stress drastically affects the growth, development, and grain productivity of rice (Oryza sativa L.),...
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Magnesium deficiency in plants: An urgent problem
April 2016
Although magnesium (Mg) is one of the most important nutrients, involved in many enzyme activities and the structural stabilization of tissues, its importance as a macronutrient ion has been overlooked...
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The impact of high-temperature stress on rice: Challenges and solutions
October 2021
Heat stress (HS) caused by rapidly warming climate has become a serious threat to global food security. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food crop for over half of the world’s population, and its...
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Synergistic and antagonistic interactions between potassium and magnesium in higher plants
April 2021
Magnesium (Mg) affects various critical physiological and biochemical processes in higher plants, and its deficiency impedes plant growth and development. Although potassium (K)-induced Mg deficiency...
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Function, transport, and regulation of amino acids: What is missing in rice?
June 2021
Amino acids are essential plant compounds serving as the building blocks of proteins, the predominant forms of nitrogen (N) distribution, and signaling molecules. Plant amino acids derive from root...
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Development of herbicide resistance genes and their application in rice
February 2022
Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world. Weeds seriously affect the rice yield and grain quality. In recent years, there are tremendous progresses in the research and application of...
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Far-red light: A regulator of plant morphology and photosynthetic capacity
April 2022
Plant photosynthetic capacity directly determines crop yield. Light quality regulates photosynthetic capacity. This review discusses plant responses to far-red light from the phenotypic to the molecular...
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Molecular mechanisms of salinity tolerance in rice
June 2021
Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses which impose constraints to plant growth and production. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important staple food crops and a model monocot plant....
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Mechanisms of autophagy function and regulation in plant growth, development, and response to abiotic stress
December 2023
Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved degradation pathway of lysosomes (in mammals) and vacuoles (in yeasts and plants) from lower yeasts to higher mammals. It wraps unwanted organelles and damaged...
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A simple and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 system permits ultra-multiplex genome editing in plants
Available online 15 February 2024
The development and maturation of the CRISPR/Cas genome editing system provides a valuable tool for plant functional genomics and genetic improvement. Currently available genome-editing tools have a...
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Genetic and environmental control of rice tillering
October 2023
Increasing tiller number is a target of high-yield rice breeding. Identification of tiller-defect mutants and their corresponding genes is helpful for clarifying the molecular mechanism of rice tillering....
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Physiology of medicinal and aromatic plants under drought stress
Available online 14 January 2024
Drought poses a significant challenge, restricting the productivity of medicinal and aromatic plants. The strain induced by drought can impede vital processes like respiration and photosynthesis, affecting...
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Global characterization of OsPIP aquaporins reveals that the H2O2 transporter OsPIP2;6 increases resistance to rice blast
February 2024
Plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) are conserved plant aquaporins that transport small molecules across the plasma membrane to trigger instant stress responses and maintain cellular homeostasis...
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Flowering-time regulation by the circadian clock: From Arabidopsis to crops
February 2024
Precise timing of flowering in plants is critical for their growth and reproductive processes. One factor controlling flowering time is the cycle of light and darkness within a day, known as the photoperiod....
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QTL IciMapping: Integrated software for genetic linkage map construction and quantitative trait locus mapping in biparental populations
June 2015
QTL IciMapping is freely available public software capable of building high-density linkage maps and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in biparental populations. Eight functionalities are integrated...
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History, current status, and prospects of soybean production and research in sub-Saharan Africa
June 2018
Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is a non-native and non-staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with potential to be a commercial crop owing to its wide range of uses as food, feed, and industrial...
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Evolution of wheat architecture, physiology, and metabolism during domestication and further cultivation: Lessons for crop improvement
August 2023
In recent decades, genetic advances in yield improvement in the major cereal crops, including wheat, has stagnated or proceeded at a slower rate than is required to meet future global food demand, particularly...
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Development of an Agrobacterium-mediated CRISPR/Cas9 system in pea (Pisum sativum L.)
February 2023
Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an annual cool-season legume crop. Owing to its role in sustainable agriculture as both a rotation and a cash crop, its global market is expanding and increased production...
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Recent advances in nano-enabled agriculture for improving plant performance
February 2022
Nano-enabled agriculture is an emerging hot topic. To facilitate the development of nano-enabled agriculture, reviews addressing or discussing the applications, knowledge gap, future research needs,...
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Sugarcane transcription factor ScWRKY4 negatively regulates resistance to pathogen infection through the JA signaling pathway
February 2024
WRKY transcription factors, transcriptional regulators unique to plants, play an important role in defense response to pathogen infection. However, the resistance mechanisms of WRKY genes in sugarcane...
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ZmCYP90D1 regulates maize internode development by modulating brassinosteroid-mediated cell division and growth
February 2024
Plant height (PH) is associated with lodging resistance and planting density, which is regulated by a complicated gene network. In this study, we identified a spontaneous dwarfing mutation in maize,...
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Increasing Fusarium verticillioides resistance in maize by genomics-assisted breeding: Methods, progress, and prospects
December 2023
Maize (Zea mays L.) is an indispensable crop worldwide for food, feed, and bioenergy production. Fusarium verticillioides (F. verticillioides) is a widely distributed phytopathogen and incites multiple...
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The regulatory network behind maize seed germination: Effects of temperature, water, phytohormones, and nutrients
August 2021
Seed germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed. It requires suitable conditions and environmental factors. Maize is one of the most important crops worldwide. Germination influences...
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Enemies at peace: Recent progress in Agrobacterium-mediated cereal transformation
Available online 26 January 2024
Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated plant transformation is a versatile tool for plant genetic engineering following its discovery nearly half a century ago. Numerous modifications were made in its application...
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