Origin, evolution, breeding, and omics of Apiaceae: a family of vegetables and medicinal plants.

Many of the world's most important vegetables and medicinal crops, including carrot, celery, coriander, fennel, and cumin, belong to the Apiaceae family. In this review, we summarize the complex origins of Apiaceae and the current state of research on the family, including traditional and molecular breeding practices, bioactive compounds, medicinal applications, nanotechnology, and omics research. Numerous molecular markers, regulatory factors, and functional genes have been discovered, studied, and applied to improve vegetable and medicinal crops in Apiaceae. In addition, current trends in Apiaceae application and research are also briefly described, including mining new functional genes and metabolites using omics research, identifying new genetic variants associated with important agronomic traits by population genetics analysis and GWAS, applying genetic transformation, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, and nanotechnology. This review provides a reference for basic and applied research on Apiaceae vegetable and medicinal plants.

Origin, Evolution, Breeding, and Omics of Chayote, an Important Cucurbitaceae Vegetable Crop.

Chayote (Sechium edule), a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, is cultivated throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world and utilized in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries because it is an excellent source of minerals, dietary fibers, protein, vitamins, carotenoids, polysaccharides, phenolic and flavonoid compounds, and other nutrients. Chayote extracts process various medicinal properties, such as anti-cardiovascular, antidiabetic, antiobesity, antiulcer, and anticancer properties. With the rapid advancements of molecular biology and sequencing technology, studies on chayote have been carried out. Research advances, including molecular makers, breeding, genomic research, chemical composition, and pests and diseases, regarding chayote are reviewed in this paper. Future exploration and application trends are briefly described. This review provides a reference for basic and applied research on chayote, an important Cucurbitaceae vegetable crop.

Analysis and review of trichomes in plants.

BACKGROUND: Trichomes play a key role in the development of plants and exist in a wide variety of species. RESULTS: In this paper, it was reviewed that the structure and morphology characteristics of trichomes, alongside the biological functions and classical regulatory mechanisms of trichome development in plants. The environment factors, hormones, transcription factor, non-coding RNA, etc., play important roles in regulating the initialization, branching, growth, and development of trichomes. In addition, it was further investigated the atypical regulation mechanism in a non-model plant, found that regulating the growth and development of tea (Camellia sinensis) trichome is mainly affected by hormones and the novel regulation factors. CONCLUSIONS: This review further displayed the complex and differential regulatory networks in trichome initiation and development, provided a reference for basic and applied research on trichomes in plants.

Analysis of natural allelic variation controlling Arabidopsis thaliana seed germinability in response to cold and dark: identification of three major quantitative trait loci.

Light and temperature are key external factors in the control of Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination and dormancy mechanisms. Perception and response to these stimuli have to ensure that seedling emergence and growth occur at the most advantageous time for correct establishment. Analysis of over 300 Arabidopsis accessions identified 14, from 12 different geographical locations, that were able to germinate to greater than 20% at 6 degrees C in the dark. This natural variation was exploited to identify genetic loci responsible for cold-tolerant, dark germination. A quantitative trait loci approach was used on recombinant inbred line progeny of a cross between Bay-0 and Shahdara. Six distinct quantitative trait loci were identified, three of which were major loci, each responsible for 17-25% of the phenotypic variability in this trait. Parental phenotypes indicated that the majority of the cold-tolerant, dark-germination characteristics are related to light responses. Validation of the three major loci using heterogeneous inbred families confirmed the feasibility of fine mapping and cloning the genes at the quantitative trait loci responsible for cold-tolerant, dark germination.