Research Publications (Food Safety)

SUMMARY Seed vigor has major impact on the rate and uniformity of seedling growth, crop yield, and quality. However, the epigenetic regulatory mechanism of crop seed vigor remains unclear. In this study, a (jumonji C) JmjC gene of the histone lysine demethylase OsJMJ718 was cloned in rice, and its roles in seed germination and its epigenetic regulation mechanism were investigated. OsJMJ718 was located in the nucleus and was engaged in H3K9 methylation.

Significance Statement The intensity and complexity of environmental stress conditions impacting plants and crops on our planet is increasing due to global warming, climate change, and industrial/urban/agricultural pollution.

SUMMARY Horticultural plants contribute immensely to the quality of human's life. The rapid development of omics studies on horticultural plants has resulted in large volumes of valuable growth‐ and development‐related data. Genes that are essential for growth and development are highly conserved in evolution. Cross‐species data mining reduces the impact of species heterogeneity and has been extensively used for conserved gene identification.

The Plant Journal, EarlyView. Genetic variation is an important determinant of gene transcription, which in turn contributes to functional and phenotypic diversity. Identification of the genetic variants controlling gene expression and alternative splicing in crops responding to cadmium (Cd), an important issue for food safety and human health, is of great value to improve our understanding of Cd accumulation-related genes.

The Plant Journal, EarlyView. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a leading source of dietary cadmium (Cd), a non-essential heavy metal that poses a serious threat to human health. There are significant variations in grain-Cd levels in natural rice populations, which make the breeding of low-Cd rice a cost-effective way to mitigate grain-Cd accumulation.

The Plant Journal, Volume 108, Issue 4, Page 894-895, November 2021. Nowadays, mining takes place all around the world to extract a whole range of useful materials. However, mining can cause environmental problems, for example by the release of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Most organisms, including plants, only tolerate low concentrations of heavy metals.

To cope with the presence of unfavorable compounds, plants are capable to biotransform xenobiotics, translocate both parent compounds and metabolites, perform compartmentation and segregation at cellular or tissue level. Such a scenario also applies to mycotoxins, fungal secondary metabolites with a preeminent role in plant infection. In this work, we aimed to describe the effect of the interplay between Zea mays and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) at the tissue and organ level.

The role of ethylene in plant development is mostly inferred from its exogenous application. The usage of the mutants affecting ethylene biosynthesis proffers a better alternative to decipher its role. In tomato, 1‐aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid synthase2 (ACS2) is a key enzyme regulating ripening‐specific ethylene biosynthesis.

Grass cell walls have hydroxycinnamic acids attached to arabinosyl residues of arabinoxylan (AX) and certain BAHD acyltransferases are involved in their addition. In this study, we characterized one of these BAHD genes in the cell wall of the model grass Setaria viridis. RNAi silenced lines of S. viridis (SvBAHD05) presented a decrease of up to 42% of ester‐linked p‐coumarate (pCA) and 50% of pCA‐arabinofuranosyl, across three generations.

Ethylene is the key regulator of sex determination in monoecious species of the family Cucurbitaceae. This hormone determines which individual floral meristems develop as female or male flowers and the female flowering transition. The sex determination genes discovered so far code for ethylene biosynthesis enzymes, but little is known about the importance of ethylene signaling components.

Fruit crops are subject to precocious fruit abscission, during which the phytohormone ethylene (ET) acts as a major positive regulator. However, the molecular basis of ET‐induced fruit abscission remains poorly understood. Here, we show that two ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 3‐like (EIL) homologs in litchi, LcEIL2 and LcEIL3, play a role in ET‐activated fruitlet abscission. LcEIL2/3 were significantly upregulated in the fruit abscission zone (AZ) during the ET‐induced fruitlet abscission in litchi.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient required for plant development and production. The mechanisms regulating phosphate (Pi) uptake are well established, but the function of chloroplast Pi homeostasis are poorly understood in rice. PHT2;1 is one of the transporters/translocators mediating Pi import into chloroplasts. In this study, to gain insight into the role of OsPHT2;1‐mediated stroma Pi, we analyzed OsPHT2;1 function in Pi utilization and photoprotection.