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.),...
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...
PlantGaussian: Exploring 3D Gaussian splatting for cross-time, cross-scene, and realistic 3D plant visualization and beyond
April 2025
Observing plants across time and diverse scenes is critical in uncovering plant growth patterns. Classic methods often struggle to observe or measure plants against complex backgrounds and at different...
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...
RNAi technologies for insect control in crop protection
August 2025
RNA interference (RNAi) has been used for agricultural insect pest control based on silencing of targeted insect genes. However, the effectiveness of RNAi and its applications in insect pest control...
High-throughput phenotyping: Breaking through the bottleneck in future crop breeding
June 2021
With the rapid development of genetic analysis techniques and crop population size, phenotyping has become the bottleneck restricting crop breeding. Breaking through this bottleneck will require phenomics,...
Beyond dwarfism: Green Revolution gene Rht-D1b orchestrates tiller angle and canopy architecture in wheat
April 2026
The Green Revolution genes Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b encode truncated DELLA proteins that confer gibberellin (GA)-insensitive semi-dwarfism in wheat. Their roles in reducing plant height and enhancing lodging...
CRISPR/Cas genome editing in nonregenerative cotton using sexual hybridization
June 2026
Sexual transfer of the CRISPR/Cas genome-editing system to targeted cotton cultivars could bypass their recalcitrance to regeneration from tissue culture. We used sexual hybridization to transmit a...
Rice fructokinases orchestrate carbon partitioning to regulate photosynthesis and sugar metabolism
June 2026
Fructokinases (FRKs) are key regulators in carbohydrate metabolism and plant development. However, their specific functions in crop photosynthesis and sugar metabolism remain unclear. In this study,...
OsMAP4K6 positively regulates salt tolerance via activating OsMKK6 in rice
June 2026
High-salt stress severely inhibits plant growth and development, leading to a significant reduction in rice yield. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the functions of plant...
OsIAA8-OsARF12 module regulates deep rooting in rice by modulating expression of auxin transport genes
April 2026
Deep rooting is an important factor affecting rice drought avoidance. However, few genes that control this trait have been identified in rice. In the present work, we cloned a gene, OsIAA8, associated...
Gene-edited staple crops: Global research and development and industrial prospects
Available online 18 May 2026
Gene-editing methods have significantly advanced genetic improvement and variety development in major food crops and have potential to make further major contributions to food security and human health....
Advances in the study of auxin early response genes: Aux/IAA, GH3, and SAUR
August 2024
Auxin plays a crucial role in all aspects of plant growth and development. Auxin can induce the rapid and efficient expression of some genes, which are named auxin early response genes (AERGs), mainly...
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...
OsARF9 integrates auxin-BR-ABA signaling to regulate plant architecture and seed germination in rice
June 2026
Optimizing rice (Oryza sativa L.) plant architecture and seed germination is critical for improving agronomic performance. Here, we investigated the role of OsARF9, a class B auxin response factor,...
Single-nucleus RNA sequencing reveals transcriptional response of wheat roots and leaves to salt stress
Available online 28 April 2026
Deeper understanding of the mechanism by which wheat responds to salt stress (SS) remains a major challenge due to the scarcity of available single-cell/nucleus transcriptomics resources. Here, in order...
JAZ proteins: Key regulators of plant growth and stress response
December 2024
The jasmonate ZIM-domain (JAZ) family of proteins serves as co-receptors and transcriptional repressors of jasmonic acid (JA) in plants. Their functional diversity and multiple roles make them important...
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...
Interplay of light and nitrogen for plant growth and development
June 2025
Light and nitrogen (N) are two critically environmental factors essential for plant survival, as they constitute the fundamental molecular framework of plant cells and significantly influence patterns...
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...
Plant aquaporins: Their roles beyond water transport
June 2024
Compared to other organisms, plants have evolved a greater number of aquaporins with diverse substrates and functions to adapt to ever-changing environmental and internal stimuli for growth and development....
Physiology of medicinal and aromatic plants under drought stress
April 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...
Origin, evolution, and molecular function of DELLA proteins in plants
April 2022
Gibberellic acid (GA), a ubiquitous phytohormone, has various effects on regulators of plant growth and development. GAs promote growth by overcoming growth restraint mediated by DELLA proteins (DELLAs)....
Pixel size and spatial scale in phenomics and enviromics modeling for precision breeding
Available online 24 June 2026
Knowing how much information a single pixel can provide is not just a technical issue; it shapes what we learn, and what we will learn, from the field. This article examines how pixel size governs the...
Controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer combination strategies regulate carbon and nitrogen metabolic processes to improve soft wheat quality
Available online 22 April 2026
The objective of this study was to identify the suitable blended controlled-release nitrogen (N) fertilizer strategies (BCRNFs) for soft wheat production and to elucidate its underlying physiological...