Establishing Physalis as a Solanaceae model system enables genetic reevaluation of the inflated calyx syndrome.

The highly diverse Solanaceae family contains several widely studied models and crop species. Fully exploring, appreciating, and exploiting this diversity requires additional model systems. Particularly promising are orphan fruit crops in the genus Physalis, which occupy a key evolutionary position in the Solanaceae and capture understudied variation in traits such as inflorescence complexity, fruit ripening and metabolites, disease and insect resistance, self-compatibility, and most notable, the striking inflated calyx syndrome (ICS), an evolutionary novelty found across angiosperms where sepals grow exceptionally large to encapsulate fruits in a protective husk.

Coexpression of Fungal Cell Wall-Modifying Enzymes Reveals Their Additive Impact on Arabidopsis Resistance to the Fungal Pathogen, .

The plant cell wall (CW) is an outer cell skeleton that plays an important role in plant growth and protection against both biotic and abiotic stresses. Signals and molecules produced during host-pathogen interactions have been proven to be involved in plant stress responses initiating signal pathways. Based on our previous research findings, the present study explored the possibility of additively or synergistically increasing plant stress resistance by stacking beneficial genes.

Post-Synthetic Reduction of Pectin Methylesterification Causes Morphological Abnormalities and Alterations to Stress Response in .

Pectin is a critical component of the plant cell wall, supporting wall biomechanics and contributing to cell wall signaling in response to stress. The plant cell carefully regulates pectin methylesterification with endogenous pectin methylesterases (PMEs) and their inhibitors (PMEIs) to promote growth and protect against pathogens. We expressed pectin methylesterase (AnPME) in plants to determine the impacts of methylesterification status on pectin function.

Application of CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing in Tomato.

CRISPR-/Cas9-mediated gene editing has been demonstrated in a number of food crops including tomato. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is both an important food crop and a model plant species that has been used extensively for studying gene function, especially as it relates to fruit biology. This duality in purpose combined with readily available resources (mutant populations, genome sequences, transformation methodology) makes tomato an ideal candidate for gene editing.

Rapid improvement of domestication traits in an orphan crop by genome editing.

Genome editing holds great promise for increasing crop productivity, and there is particular interest in advancing breeding in orphan crops, which are often burdened by undesirable characteristics resembling wild relatives. We developed genomic resources and efficient transformation in the orphan Solanaceae crop 'groundcherry' (Physalis pruinosa) and used clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein-9 nuclease (Cas9) (CRISPR-Cas9) to mutate orthologues of tomato domestication and improvement genes that control plant architecture, flower production and fruit size, thereby improving these major productivity traits. Thus, translating knowledge from model crops enables rapid creation of targeted allelic diversity and novel breeding germplasm in distantly related orphan crops.

Cell wall features transferred from common into durum wheat to improve Fusarium Head Blight resistance.

Durum wheat is naturally more susceptible to Fusarium graminerum infection in comparison to common wheat. The improvement of durum wheat resistance against F. graminearum is a challenge due to the lack of resistance sources in its gene pool.

Comprehensive transcriptome analyses correlated with untargeted metabolome reveal differentially expressed pathways in response to cell wall alterations.

This research provides new insights into plant response to cell wall perturbations through correlation of transcriptome and metabolome datasets obtained from transgenic plants expressing cell wall-modifying enzymes. Plants respond to changes in their cell walls in order to protect themselves from pathogens and other stresses. Cell wall modifications in Arabidopsis thaliana have profound effects on gene expression and defense response, but the cell signaling mechanisms underlying these responses are not well understood.

Post-Synthetic Defucosylation of AGP by Aspergillus nidulans α-1,2-Fucosidase Expressed in Arabidopsis Apoplast Induces Compensatory Upregulation of α-1,2-Fucosyltransferases.

Cell walls are essential components of plant cells which perform a variety of important functions for the different cell types, tissues and organs of a plant. Besides mechanical function providing cell shape, cell walls participate in intercellular communication, defense during plant-microbe interactions, and plant growth. The plant cell wall consists predominantly of polysaccharides with the addition of structural glycoproteins, phenolic esters, minerals, lignin, and associated enzymes.

Decreased Polysaccharide Feruloylation Compromises Plant Cell Wall Integrity and Increases Susceptibility to Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens.

The complexity of cell wall composition and structure determines the strength, flexibility, and function of the primary cell wall in plants. However, the contribution of the various components to cell wall integrity (CWI) and function remains unclear. Modifications of cell wall composition can induce plant responses known as CWI control.

Cell wall traits as potential resources to improve resistance of durum wheat against Fusarium graminearum.

Background: Fusarium graminearum, one of the causal agents of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB, scab), leads to severe losses in grain yield and quality due to the production of mycotoxins which are harmful to human and livestock. Different traits for FHB resistance in wheat were identified for common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) while the sources of FHB resistance in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp.