Developing drought-smart, ready-to-grow future crops.

Breeding crop plants with increased yield potential and improved tolerance to stressful environments is critical for global food security. Drought stress (DS) adversely affects agricultural productivity worldwide and is expected to rise in the coming years. Therefore, it is vital to understand the physiological, biochemical, molecular, and ecological mechanisms associated with DS.

Genome-wide investigation of multiplexed CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated editing in rice.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) nucleases like Cas9 and Cas12a are revolutionizing plant basic research and crop breeding. A major advantage of CRISPR over earlier nucleases systems is its capability of multiplexed genome editing. However, it remains unknown about the potential off-target effects when multiple concurrent DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are induced in a crop genome.

Author Correction: Grain Yield, Starch Content and Activities of Key Enzymes of Waxy and Non-waxy Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

Grain Yield, Starch Content and Activities of Key Enzymes of Waxy and Non-waxy Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Waxy wheat has unique end-use properties; however, its production is limited due mainly to its low grain yield compared with non-waxy wheat. In order to increase its grain yield, it is critical to understand the eco-physiological differences in grain filling between the waxy and non-waxy wheat. In this study, two waxy wheat and two non-waxy wheat cultivars were used to investigate the differences in starch-associated enzymes processes, sucrose and starch dynamics, yield components, and the final grain yield.

Comparison of Morphology and Physicochemical Properties of Starch Among 3 Arrowhead Varieties.

Arrowhead (Sagittaria trifolia var. sinensis) is a source of starch worldwide, but arrowhead starch has been rarely studied. In this work, starch was separated from arrowhead corm.

Phenotypic Characters and Molecular Epidemiology of Campylobacter Jejuni in East China.

In this study, we investigated the distribution, phenotypic and molecular typing characters of Campylobacter jejuni in domestic fowl, and livestock populations in East China, to provide some reference for researches on its molecular epidemiology. A total of 1250 samples were collected from different animal sources, and C. jejuni strains were then isolated and tested for antibiotic sensitivity.

Physicochemical Properties of Starch Isolated from Bracken (Pteridium aquilinim) Rhizome.

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) is an important wild plant starch resource worldwide. In this work, starch was separated from bracken rhizome, and the physicochemical properties of this starch were systematically investigated and compared with 2 other common starches, that is, starches from waxy maize and potato. There were significant differences in shape, birefringence patterns, size distribution, and amylose content between bracken and the 2 other starches.

Morphology and Physicochemical Properties of 3 Lilium Bulb Starches.

Lilium (Liliaceae) is an important wild plant and is used as food and traditional medicine worldwide. One Lilium cultivar (Lilium lancifolium) and 2 wild types (Lilium leucanthum and Lilium rosthornii) that are commonly distributed in Western China were investigated to completely utilize Lilium resources. The morphology of the flowers, bulbs, and scales and soluble sugar, total starch and amylose contents was remarkably different among the 3 Lilium species.