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Cyanodermella asteris is a fungal endophyte from Aster tataricus, a perennial plant from the northern part of Asia. Here, we demonstrated an interaction of C. asteris with Arabidopsis thaliana, Chinese cabbage, rapeseed, tomato, maize, or sunflower resulting in different phenotypes such as shorter main roots, massive lateral root growth, higher leaf and root biomass, and increased anthocyanin levels. In a variety of cocultivation assays, it was shown that these altered phenotypes are caused by fungal CO2, volatile organic compounds, and soluble compounds, notably astins. Astins A, C, and G induced plant growth when they were individually included in the medium. In return, A. thaliana stimulates the fungal astin C production during cocultivation. Taken together, our results indicate a bilateral interaction between the fungus and the plant. A stress response in plants is induced by fungal metabolites while plant stress hormones induced astin C production of the fungus. Interestingly, our results not only show unidirectional influence of the fungus on the plant but also vice versa. The plant is able to influence growth and secondary metabolite production in the endophyte, even when both organisms do not live in close contact, suggesting the involvement of volatile compounds. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

Soybean breeding shows that soybean resources are increasingly narrow due to the depletion of ancestral varieties. We collected salt-tolerant wild soybean samples and seeds from 23 areas affected by heavy salt stress. SEM was used for structural evolution, Plant Print identification, salt and alkali resistance physiology, salt resistance gene and tissue culture experiments. We report here the discovery of Chinese wild soybean salt gland is first reported in the world. The salt tolerance of new soybean varieties is greatly improved by breeding wild soybean with salt gland as the male parent. A batch of new soybean varieties resistant to salt were obtained. The experiment revealed that the diversity of salt tolerance function of wild soybean was closely related to stress tolerance physiology, stress tolerance gene and phylogenetic structure evolution. Our results encourage the use of salt-resistant wild soybeans as paternal breeding to avoid undesirable breeding cycles at the expense of soybean ancestral varieties.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a fungus-like protist that can cause malabsorption and diarrhea in sheep, other animals, and humans, threatening the development of animal husbandry and public health. To date, there are no data about the prevalence and genotypes of E. bieneusi in sheep in Shanxi Province, North China. In this study, 492 fecal samples were collected from sheep in three representative counties in northern, central, and southern Shanxi Province. Nested PCR amplification was performed to detect the prevalence and identify the genotypes of E. bieneusi based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA gene. Overall, 168 of 492 examined samples were E. bieneusi-positive, with a prevalence of 34.2% (168/492). Significant differences in the prevalence of E. bieneusi were observed among the three sampled regions (χ2 = 95.859, df = 2, p < 0.001), but the differences in E. bieneusi prevalence were not statistically significant between different genders and age groups (p > 0.05). Sequence analysis showed that four known genotypes (BEB6, COS-I, CHS7, and CHC8) and one novel genotype (named SY-1) were identified. BEB6 was the prevalent genotype found within the three counties. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the five genotypes observed in this study belong to Group 2. The present study reported the presence and genotypes of E. bieneusi infection in sheep in Shanxi Province for the first time, which enriches the knowledge of the genetic diversity of E. bieneusi and provides baseline data for the prevention and control of E. bieneusi infection in animals and humans.

Oyster mushrooms have a high biological efficiency and are easy to cultivate, which is why they are produced all over the world. Cap color is an important commercial trait for oyster mushrooms. Little is known about the genetic mechanism of the cap color trait in oyster mushrooms, which limits molecular breeding for the improvement of cap color-type cultivars. In this study, a 0.8-Mb major quantitative trait locus (QTL) region controlling cap color in the oyster mushroom Pleurotus cornucopiae was mapped on chromosome 7 through bulked-segregant analysis sequencing (BSA-seq) and extreme-phenotype genome-wide association studies (XP-GWAS). Candidate genes were further selected by comparative transcriptome analysis, and a tyrosinase gene (PcTYR) was identified as the highest-confidence candidate gene. Overexpression of PcTYR resulted in a significantly darker cap color, while the cap color of RNA interference (RNAi) strains for this gene was significantly lighter than that of the wild-type (WT) strains, suggesting that PcTYR plays an essential role in cap color formation. This is the first report about fine mapping and functional verification of a gene controlling cap color in oyster mushrooms. This will enhance our understanding of the genetic basis for cap color formation in oyster mushrooms and will facilitate molecular breeding for cap color. IMPORTANCE Oyster mushrooms are widely cultivated and consumed over the world for their easy cultivation and high biological efficiency (mushroom fresh weight/substrate dry weight × 100%). Fruiting bodies with dark caps are more and more popular according to consumer preferences, but dark varieties are rarely seen on the market. Little is known about the genetic mechanism of the cap color trait in oyster mushrooms, which limits molecular breeding for the improvement of cap color-type cultivars. A major QTL of cap color in oyster mushroom P. cornucopiae was fine mapped by using bulked-segregant analysis (BSA) and extreme-phenotype genome-wide association study (XP-GWAS) analysis. A candidate gene PcTYR coding tyrosinase was further identified with the help of comparative transcriptome analysis. qPCR analysis and genetic transformation tests proved that PcTYR played an essential role in cap color formation. This study will contribute to revealing the genetic mechanism of cap color formation in mushrooms, thereby facilitating molecular breeding for cap color trait.

As an antioxidant, procyanidin B1(PB1) can improve the development of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos, PB1 reduces the level of oxidative stress (OS) during the in vitro development of SCNT embryos by decreasing the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increasing the level of glutathione (GSH) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Metabolite hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) produces OS. Catalase (CAT) can degrade hydrogen peroxide so that it produces less toxic water (H2O) and oxygen (O2) in order to reduce the harm caused by H2O2. Therefore, we tested the CAT level in the in vitro development of SCNT embryos, it was found that PB1 can increase the expression of CAT, indicating that PB1 can offset the harm caused by oxidative stress by increasing the level of CAT. Moreover, if H2O2 accumulates excessively, it produces radical-(HO-) through Fe2+/3+ and damage to DNA. The damage caused to the DNA is mainly repaired by the protein encoded by the DNA damage repair gene. Therefore, we tested the expression of the DNA damage repair gene, OGG1. It was found that PB1 can increase the expression of OGG1 and increase the expression of protein. Through the above test, we proved that PB1 can improve the repairability of DNA damage. DNA damage can lead to cell apoptosis, therefore, we also tested the level of apoptosis of blastocysts, and we found that PB1 reduced the level of apoptosis. In summary, our results show that PB1 reduces the accumulation of H2O2 by decreasing the level of OS during the in vitro development of SCNT embryos and improves the repairability of DNA damage to reduce cell apoptosis. Our results have important significance for the improvement of the development of SCNT embryos in vitro and provide important reference significance for diseases that can be treated using SCNT technology.

Abiotic stress is the main factor that severely limits crop growth and yield. NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2 and CUC2) transcription factors play an important role in dealing with various abiotic stresses. Here, we discovered the ZmSNAC13 gene in drought-tolerant maize lines by RNA-seq analysis and verified its function in Arabidopsis thaliana. First, its gene structure showed that ZmSNAC13 had a typical NAC domain and a highly variable C-terminal. There were multiple cis-acting elements related to stress in its promoter region. Overexpression of ZmSNAC13 resulted in enhanced tolerances to drought and salt stresses in Arabidopsis, characterized by a reduction in the water loss rate, a sustained effective photosynthesis rate, and increased cell membrane stability in leaves under drought conditions. Transcriptome analysis showed that a large number of differentially expressed genes regulated by overexpression of ZmSNAC13 were identified, and the main drought tolerance regulatory pathways involved were the ABA pathway and MAPK cascade signaling pathway. Overexpression of ZmSNAC13 promoted the expression of genes, such as PYL9 and DREB3, thereby enhancing tolerance to adverse environments. Adaptability, while restraining genes expression such as WRKY53 and MPK3, facilitates regulation of senescence in Arabidopsis and improves plant responses to adversity. Therefore, ZmSNAC13 is promising gene of interest for use in transgenic breeding to improve abiotic stress tolerance in crops.

Melatonin (MT) plays important roles in plant disease response, but the mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we show that MT functions in stomatal immunity in Panax notoginseng and Arabidopsis thaliana. Biochemical analyses showed that MT-induced stomatal closure plays a prominent role in preventing invasion of bacteria Pseudomonas syringe pv. tomato (Pst) DC3000 via activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and NADPH oxidase-mediated reactive oxygen species production in P. notoginseng. The first putative phytomelatonin receptor 1 (PMTR1) is a plasma membrane protein required for perceiving MT signaling in stomatal closure and activation of MAPK. Biochemical and genetic tests found PMTR1 is essential for flg22- and MT-induced MAPK activation in a heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein Gα subunit GPA1-independent manner. GPA1 functions in the same genetic pathways of FLS2/BAK1 (Flagellin Sensing 2/Brassinosteroid Insensitive 1-associated kinase 1)- as well as PMTR1-mediated flg22 and MT signaling in stomatal closure. The stomata in pmtr1 are insensitive to MT and flg22, but the application of MT induces stomatal closure and reduces the bacterial growth in fls2 and bak1 plants, indicating that PMTR1 might be a downstream signaling component in FLS2- and BAK1-mediated stomatal immunity. In summary, our results (i) demonstrate that phytomelatonin functions in the priming of stomatal immunity and (ii) provide insights into the phytomelatonin signaling transduction pathway.

Plant elicitors enhance plant defense against pathogen attacks by inducing systemic acquired resistance (SAR) with no or low direct fungicidal activity. Here we report the synthesis of a novel plant elicitor candidate LY5-24-2 [3,4-dichloro-N-(3-chloro-5-(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-2-yl)isothiazole-5-carboxamide] and evaluation of its SAR inducing activity. Bioassays indicated that LY5-24-2 did not show significant anti-fungal activity but provided long-lasting resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) through promoting the accumulation of lignin, cellulose and pectin by 60.1%, 82.4% and 305.6%, respectively, at a concentration of 100 µM. LY5-24-2 also facilitated the closure of leaf stomata and increased the intracellular free Ca2+ by 47.8%, induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and inhibited the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11) and catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6) by 38.9% and 34.0%, respectively, as compared with the control at a concentration of 100 µM. LY5-24-2 induced SAR in plants and was dependent on the NPR1-mediated SA pathway by up-regulating expression of 2273 genes in A. thaliana. Meanwhile, LY5-24-2 also improved cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) defense against Pseudoperonospora cubensis (P. cubensis) through promoting ROS accumulation and inhibiting activity of APX and CAT by 30.7% and 23.1%, respectively. Its expression of SA signaling genes CsNPR1, CsPR4 and CsPR5 was enhanced by 10.8, 5.8 and 6.6 times, respectively. These results demonstrated that LY5-24-2 is a novel elicitor candidate for plant protection via inducing SAR.