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Leguminous crops are usually sensitive to saline stress during germination and plant growth stages. The Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS) pathway is one of the key signaling pathways involved in salt translocation and tolerance in plants however, it is obscure in soybean. The current study describes the potential of calcium application on the mitigation of salinity stress and its impact on seed germination, morphological, physiological and biochemical attributes of soybean. The seeds from previously reported salt-tolerant and salt-susceptible soybean varieties were primed with water, calcium (10 and 20 mM), and stressed under 60, 80 and 100 mM NaCl and evaluated in various combinations. Results show that germination increased by 7% in calcium primed non-stressed seeds under non-stressing, whereas an improvement of 15%-25% was observed in germination under NaCl stress. Likewise, improvement in seedling length (3%-8%), plant height (9%-18%), number of nodes (3%-14%), SOD activity (20%) and Na+/K+ concentration (3%-5% reduction) in calcium primed plants, indicates alleviation of salinity-induced negative effects. In addition, this study also included in silico identification and confirmation of presence of Arabidopsis thaliana SOS genes orthologs in soybean. The research of amino acid sequences of SOS proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtSOSs) within Glycine max genome displayed protein identity (60-80%) thus these identified homologs were called as GmSOS. Further phylogeny and in silico analyses showed that GmSOS orthologs contain similar gene structures, close evolutionary relationship, and same conserved motifs, reinforcing that GmSOSs belong to SOS family and they share many common features with orthologs from other species thus may perform similar functions. This is the first study that reports role of SOSs in salt-stress mitigation in soybean., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Hameed et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Heat stress poses a significant challenge for maize production, especially during the spring when high temperatures disrupt cellular processes, impeding plant growth and development. The B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) associated athanogene (BAG) gene family is known to be relatively conserved across various species. It plays a crucial role as molecular chaperone cofactors that are responsible for programmed cell death and tumorigenesis. Once the plant is under heat stress, the BAG genes act as co-chaperones and modulate the molecular functions of HSP70/HSC70 saving the plant from the damage of high temperature stress. The study was planned to identify and characterize the BAG genes for heat stress responsiveness in maize. Twenty-one (21) BAG genes were identified in the latest maize genome. The evolutionary relationship of Zea mays BAGs (ZmBAGs) with Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum, Theobroma cacao, Sorghum bicolor, Ananas comosus, Physcomitrium patens, Oryza sativa and Populus trichocarpa were represented by the phylogenetic analysis. Differential expressions of BAG gene family in leaf, endosperm, anther, silk, seed and developing embryo depict their contribution to the growth and development. The in-silico gene expression analysis indicated ZmBAG-8 (Zm00001eb170080), and ZmBAG-11 (Zm00001eb237960) showed higher expression under abiotic stresses (cold, heat and salinity). The RT-qPCR further confirmed the expression of ZmBAG-8 and ZmBAG-11 in plant leaf tissue across the contrasting inbred lines and their F 1 hybrid (DR-139, UML-1 and DR-139 × UML-1) when exposed to heat stress. Furthermore, the protein-protein interaction networks of ZmBAG-8 and ZmBAG-11 further elucidated their role in stress tolerance related pathways. This research offers a roadmap to plan functional research and utilize ZmBAG genes to enhance heat tolerance in grasses., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. The plant materials samples and experiments performed in this research were compiled with institutional, national and international guidelines and legislation. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Clinical trial number: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Activity of plant aquaporins (AQPs) is extremely sensitive to environmental variables such as temperature, drought, atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, cell water status and also appears to be closely associated with the expression of plant tolerance to various stresses. The spatial and temporal expression patterns of genes of Tonoplast Intrinsic Proteins (TIPs) in various crops indicate the complex and diverse regulation of these proteins and are important in understanding their key role in plant growth, development and stress responses., Methods and Results: Based on phylogenetic analysis, six distinct HaTIPs were selected for studying their spatial and temporal expression in sunflower (Helianthus annuus). In this study semi quantitative polymerase chain reaction (semi q-PCR) and real time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) analysis were used to study the spatial and temporal expression of HaTIPs in sunflower. The results indicated that all of HaTIPs showed differential expression specific to both the tissues and the accessions. Moreover, the expression of all HaTIPs was higher in cross compared to the parents. Results of semi q-PCR and real time PCR indicated an upregulation of expression of HaTIP-RB7 and HaTIP7 in drought tolerant entries at 12 h of 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment compared to 0 h., Conclusion: Hence these genes can be utilized as potential target in improving water use efficiency and for further genetic manipulation for the development of drought tolerant sunflower. This study may further contribute to our better understanding regarding the precise role of HaTIPs through their spatial and temporal expression analysis and their application in sunflower drought stress responses., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The fibrillin ( FBN ) gene family is widely distributed in all photosynthetic organisms. Members of this gene family are involved in plant growth and development and their response to various biotic and abiotic stress factors. In this study, 16 members of FBN were identified in Glycine max and characterized by using different bioinformatics tools. Phylogenetic analysis classified FBN genes into seven groups. The presence of stress-related cis -elements in the upstream region of GmFBN highlighted their role in tolerance against abiotic stresses. To further decipher the function, physiochemical properties, conserved motifs, chromosomal localization, subcellular localization, and cis -acting regulatory elements were also analyzed. Gene expression analysis based on FPKM values revealed that GmFBNs greatly enhanced soybean drought tolerance and controlled the expression of several genes involved in drought response, except for GmFBN-4 , GmFBN-5 , GmFBN-6 , GmFBN-7 and GmFBN-9 . For high throughput genotyping, an SNP-based CAPS marker was also developed for the GmFBN-15 gene. The CAPS marker differentiated soybean genotypes based on the presence of either the GmFBN-15-G or GmFBN-15-A alleles in the CDS region. Association analysis showed that G. max accessions containing the GmFBN-15-A allele at the respective locus showed higher thousand seed weight compared to accessions containing the GmFBN-15-G allele. This research has provided the basic information to further decipher the function of FBN in soybean.

Reduction in plant height is generally associated with an increase in lodging resistance, drought tolerance and grain yield of wheat worldwide. Historically, a significant increase in grain yield was observed through the introduction of semi-dwarf wheat varieties utilizing the gibberellic acid-insensitive Rht genes ( Rht1 or Rht2 ). The gibberellic acid sensitive (GA-sensitive) reduced height ( Rht ) genes are available that are alternatives to gibberellic acid insensitive (GA-insensitive) Rht genes, having a neutral effect on coleoptile length seedling vigor suggesting their potential in using alone or in combination with GA-insensitive Rht genes to improve grain yield and drought tolerance in wheat. This study was conducted to evaluate parents and F 1 crosses under drought stress. The crossing was done using line × tester mating design, comprising eight lines and five testers having different GA-sensitive and GA-insensitive Rht genes. Parents and F 1 crosses were sown in the field under RCBD with three replications in normal and drought stress. Data were recorded for morpho-physiological traits. The mean comparison showed significant differences among parents and hybrids for most of the studies' traits. The general combining ability showed that line 1 is the good general combiner for days to heading, lodging (%), plant height, peduncle length, internodal length and days to maturity under normal conditions while L5 was the good general cobiner for chlorophyll contents and stomatal conductance both under normal and drought stress. The spcaicfic combing ability estimases showed that the cross L1 × T1 was best for days to heading, lodging (%), plant height and internodal length both under normal and drought stress. F 1 hybrids showed a significant reduction in plant height (18-25%), peduncle length (20-28%) and increased grain yield (15-18%) under drought stress. Expression analysis showed upregulation of Rht13 at the middle part of the peduncle internode under drought stress. From the expression analysis, five crosses were selected, and their segregating population was raised and space-plated. Rht13 genes reduced plant height (-30 to -45%), peduncle length (-30 to -53%), peduncle internode length (-28% to -48%), increased spike length (+20% to +50%), number of grains per spike (+17 to +26%) and grain yield per plant (+29% to +50%) compared to Rht1 gene. These results suggested the possibility of using the GA-sensitive Rht13 gene for the development of high-yielding and drought-tolerant wheat varieties.

Cysteine-rich poly comb-like protein ( CPP ) is a member of cysteine-rich transcription factors that regulates plant growth and development. In the present work, we characterized twelve CPP transcription factors encoding genes in soybean ( Glycine max ). Phylogenetic analyses classified CPP genes into six clades. Sequence logos analyses between G. max and G. soja amino acid residues exhibited high conservation. The presence of growth and stress-related cis -acting elements in the upstream regions of GmCPPs highlight their role in plant development and tolerance against abiotic stress. Ka/Ks levels showed that GmCPPs experienced limited selection pressure with limited functional divergence arising from segmental or whole genome duplication events. By using the PAN-genome of soybean, a single nucleotide polymorphism was identified in GmCPP-6 . To perform high throughput genotyping, a kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) marker was developed. Association analyses indicated that GmCPP-6-T allele of GmCPP-6 (in exon region) was associated with higher thousand seed weight under both water regimes (well-water and water-limited). Taken together, these results provide vital information to further decipher the biological functions of CPP genes in soybean molecular breeding., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Nisar, Tahir, Iqbal, Sajjad, Nadeem, Qanmber, Baig, Khan, Zhao, Geng and Ur Rehman.)

The main function of histone protein is to provide support to the structure of chromosomes. It helps in binding a long thread of DNA into a more condensed shape to fit into the nucleus. From histone variants, histone H3 ( HH3 ) plays a crucial role in plant growth and development. Characterization of histones has not been reported in Glycine max till now. The objective of this study was to characterize the HH3 gene family for molecular breeding of G. max . In this study, 17 HH3 members in G. max were identified by performing local BLASTp using HH3 members from Arabidopsis as a query. Phylogenetic analysis classified HH3 genes in seven clades. Sequence logo analysis among Arabidopsis thaliana , Oryza sativa , and Glycine max showed a higher level of similarity in amino acids. Furthermore, conserveness of G. max HH3 genes was also confirmed by Gene Structure Display. Ten paralogous gene pairs were identified in GmHH3 genes in the Glycine max genome by conducting collinearity analysis. G. max HH3 genes have experienced strong purifying selection pressure, with limited functional divergence originating from the segmental and whole-genome duplication, as evidenced by the Ka/Ks ratio. The KASP marker was developed for GmHH3-3 gene. Genotyping was performed on 46 G. max genotypes. This differentiation was based upon the presence of either GmHH3-3-C or GmHH3-3-T allele in the CDS region. The results showed that G. max accessions containing the GmHH3-3-T allele at respective locus showed higher thousand seed weight than that of those accessions that contain the GmHH3-3-C allele. This research provides the basic information to further decipher the function of HH3 in soybean., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Fatima, Tahir, Ikram, Khan, Sajjad, Qanmber, Darwish, Geng, Xiangkuo and Ur Rehman.)

Plant species surviving in the arid regions have developed novel leaf features to harvest atmospheric water. Before the collected water evaporates, it is absorbed and transported for storage within the tissues and move toward the root zone through the unique chemistry of leaf structures. Deep insights into such features reveal that similarities can be found in the wheat plant. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the leaf rolling dynamics among wheat genotypes and their relationships with moisture harvesting and its movement on the leaf surface. For this purpose, genotypes were characterized for leaf rolling at three distinct growth stages (tillering, booting, and spike emergence). The contact angle of leaf surface dynamics (adaxial and abaxial), water budget, and morphophysiological traits of genotypes were measured. The results indicate that leaf rolling varies from inward to twisting type among genotypes and positively affected the water use efficiency and soil moisture difference at all growth stages under normal and drought conditions. Results of wetting property (hydrophilic < 90°) of the leaf surface were positively associated with the atmospheric water collection (4-7 ml). The lower values of contact angle hysteresis (12-19°) also support this mechanism. Thus, genotypes with leaf rolling dynamics (inward rolled and twisted) and surface wettability is an efficient fog harvesting system in wheat for interception and utilization of fog water in drought-prone areas. These results can be exploited to develop self-irrigated and drought-tolerant crops., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Vascular plant one-zinc-finger (VOZ) transcription factors regulate plant growth and development under drought conditions. Six VOZ transcription factors encoding genes exist in soybean genome (both in Glycine max and Glycine soja). Herein, GmVOZs and GsVOZs were identified through in silico analysis and characterized with different bioinformatics tools and expression analysis. Phylogenetic analysis classified VOZ genes in four groups. Sequence logos analysis among G. max and G. soja amino acid residues revealed higher conservation. Presence of stress related cis-elements in the upstream regions of GmVOZs and GsVOZs highlights their role in tolerance against abiotic stresses. The collinearity analysis identified 14 paralogous/orthologous gene pairs within and between G. max and G. soja. The Ka/Ks values showed that soybean VOZ genes underwent selection pressure with limited functional deviation arising from whole genome and segmental duplication. The GmVOZs and GsVOZs were found to express in roots and leaves at seedling stage. The qRT-PCR revealed that GmVOZs and GsVOZs transcripts can be regulated by abiotic stresses such as polyethylene glycol (PEG). The findings of this study will provide a reference to decipher physiological and molecular functions of VOZ genes in soybean., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.