Identification of genetic variation for salt tolerance in Brassica napus using genome-wide association mapping.

Soil salinity negatively impacts rapeseed (Brassica napus) crop production. In particular, high soil salinity is known to hinder seedling growth and establishment. Identifying natural genetic variation for high salt tolerance in Brassica napus seedlings is an effective way to breed for improved productivity under salt stress.

Genetic mapping and identification of new major loci for tolerance to low phosphorus stress in rice.

Phosphorus (P) is one of the essential macronutrients for rice. In this study, we used 120 rice backcross recombinant inbred lines (BRILs) derived from a cross Changhui 891 and 02428. To elucidate the genetic control of P deficiency tolerance in rice, we have used high quality SNPs bin markers to identify some important loci underlying phosphorus deficiency.

Differentially evolved drought stress indices determine the genetic variation of at seedling traits by genome-wide association mapping.

Drought seriously curtails growth, physiology and productivity in rapeseed (). Although drought tolerance is a complex trait, efficient phenotyping and genotyping has led to the identification of novel marker-trait associations underlying drought tolerance. A diverse panel of 228 accessions was phenotyped under normal (without stress) and water-stress conditions, simulated by polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) (15% PEG stress) at the seedling stage; stress tolerance index (STI) and stress susceptibility index (SSI) values were acquired.

Genetic analysis for the grain number heterosis of a super-hybrid rice WFYT025 combination using RNA-Seq.

Background: Despite the great contributions of utilizing heterosis to crop productivity worldwide, the molecular mechanism of heterosis remains largely unexplored. Thus, the present research is focused on the grain number heterosis of a widely used late-cropping indica super hybrid rice combination in China using a high-throughput next-generation RNA-seq strategy.

Results: Here, we obtained 872 million clean reads, and at least one read could maps 27,917 transcripts out of 35,679 annotations.

Genome-wide analysis of long non-coding RNAs affecting roots development at an early stage in the rice response to cadmium stress.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to play a vital role in several gene regulatory networks involved in the various biological processes in plants related to stress response. However, systematic analyses of lncRNAs expressed in rice Cadmium (Cd) stress are seldom studied. Thus, we presented the characterization and expression of lncRNAs in rice root development at an early stage in response to Cd stress.

GbSOBIR1 confers Verticillium wilt resistance by phosphorylating the transcriptional factor GbbHLH171 in Gossypium barbadense.

Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are important components of plant innate immunity. Although recent studies have revealed that the RLK suppressor of BIR1-1 (SOBIR1) can interact with multiple receptor-like proteins and is required for resistance against fungal pathogens, how the signal is transduced and triggers immune responses remains enigmatic. In this study, we identified a defence-related RLK from Gossypium barbadense (designated GbSOBIR1) and investigated its functional mechanism.

GhJAZ2 attenuates cotton resistance to biotic stresses via the inhibition of the transcriptional activity of GhbHLH171.

Plants have evolved effective mechanisms to protect themselves against multiple stresses, and employ jasmonates (JAs) as vital defence signals to defend against pathogen infection. The accumulation of JA, induced by signals from biotic and abiotic stresses, results in the degradation of Jasmonate-ZIM-domain (JAZ) proteins, followed by the de-repression of JAZ-repressed transcription factors (such as MYC2) to activate defence responses and developmental processes. Here, we characterized a JAZ family protein, GhJAZ2, from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) which was induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and inoculation of Verticillium dahliae.