De novo creation of popcorn-like fragrant foxtail millet.

Popcorn aroma is a valuable flavor quality in cereals, but, despite more than ten thousand years of millet domestication, millet lacks traits that confer this desirable aroma. Here, we developed a popcorn-scented millet, providing an important resource for future breeding.

The miR172/IDS1 signaling module confers salt tolerance through maintaining ROS homeostasis in cereal crops.

Salt stress triggers the overdose accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in crop plants, leading to severe oxidative damage to living tissues. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as master regulators orchestrating the stress responsive regulatory networks as well as salt tolerance. However, the fundamental roles of miRNAs in modulating salt tolerance in cereal crops, especially in salt-triggered ROS scavenging remain largely unknown. Through small RNA sequencing, a salt-responsive miRNA, miR172 was identified in rice. Further, by generating the miR172-overexpression or MIR172 gene loss-of-function mutant lines, the biological significance of miR172 and its downstream signaling pathways related to salt tolerance were defined. We demonstrated that miR172 is a positive regulator of salt tolerance in both rice and wheat. More interestingly, miR172a and miR172b, but not miR172c or miR172d are involved in salt stress response, emphasizing the functional differentiation within miR172 family members. Further evidence uncovers a novel miR172/IDS1 regulatory module that functions as a crucial molecular rheostat in maintaining ROS homeostasis during salt stress, mainly through balancing the expression of a group of ROS-scavenging genes. Our findings establish a direct molecular link between miRNAs and detoxification response in cereal crops for improving salt tolerance.

The Importance of Conserved Serine for C-Terminally Encoded Peptides Function Exertion in Apple.

BACKGROUND: The C-terminally encoded peptide (CEP) family has been shown to play vital roles in plant growth. Although a genome-wide analysis of this family has been performed in Arabidopsis, little is known regarding CEPs in apple (Malus domestica). METHODS: Here, a comprehensive bioinformatics approach was applied to identify MdCEPs in apple, and 12 MdCEP genes were identified and distributed on 6 chromosomes. RESULTS: MdCEP1 peptide had an inhibitory effect on root growth of apple seedlings, indicating that MdCEP1 played a negative role in root development. In addition, the serine and glycine residues remained conserved within the CEP domains, and MdCEP1 lost its function after mutation of these two key amino acids, suggesting that Ser10 and Gly14 residues are crucial for MdCEPs-mediated root growth of apple. Encouragingly, multiple sequence alignment of 273 CEP domains showed that Ser10 residue was evolutionarily conserved in monocot and eudicot plants. MdCEP derivative (Ser to Cys) lost the ability to inhibit the root growth of Nicotiana benthamiana, Setaria italic, Samolous parviflorus, and Raphanus sativus L. and up-regulate the NO3- importer gene NRT2.1. CONCLUSION: Taken together, Ser10 residue is crucial for CEP function exertion in higher land plants, at least in apple.