Hemibiotrophic Phytophthora infestans Modulates the Expression of SWEET Genes in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).

Sugar Efflux transporters (SWEET) are involved in diverse biological processes of plants. Pathogens have exploited them for nutritional gain and subsequently promote disease progression. Recent studies have implied the involvement of potato SWEET genes in the most devastating late blight disease caused by Phytophthora infestans. Here, we identified and designated 37 putative SWEET genes as StSWEET in potato. We performed detailed in silico analysis, including gene structure, conserved domains, and phylogenetic relationship. Publicly available RNA-seq data was harnessed to retrieve the expression profiles of SWEET genes. The late blight-responsive SWEET genes were identified from the RNA-seq data and then validated using quantitative real-time PCR. The SWEET gene expression was studied along with the biotrophic (SNE1) and necrotrophic (PiNPP1) marker genes of P. infestans. Furthermore, we explored the co-localization of P. infestans resistance loci and SWEET genes. The results indicated that nine transporter genes were responsive to the P. infestans in potato. Among these, six transporters, namely StSWEET10, 12, 18, 27, 29, and 31, showed increased expression after P. infestans inoculation. Interestingly, the observed expression levels aligned with the life cycle of P. infestans, wherein expression of these genes remained upregulated during the biotrophic phase and decreased later on. In contrast, StSWEET13, 14, and 32 didn't show upregulation in inoculated samples suggesting non-targeting by pathogens. This study underscores these transporters as prime P. infestans targets in potato late blight, pivotal in disease progression, and potential candidates for engineering blight-resistant potato genotypes.

Root system architecture for abiotic stress tolerance in potato: Lessons from plants.

The root is an important plant organ, which uptakes nutrients and water from the soil, and provides anchorage for the plant. Abiotic stresses like heat, drought, nutrients, salinity, and cold are the major problems of potato cultivation. Substantial research advances have been achieved in cereals and model plants on root system architecture (RSA), and so root ideotype (e.g., maize) have been developed for efficient nutrient capture to enhance nutrient use efficiency along with genes regulating root architecture in plants. However, limited work is available on potatoes, with a few illustrations on root morphology in drought and nitrogen stress. The role of root architecture in potatoes has been investigated to some extent under heat, drought, and nitrogen stresses. Hence, this mini-review aims to update knowledge and prospects of strengthening RSA research by applying multi-disciplinary physiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to abiotic stress tolerance to potatoes with lessons learned from model plants, cereals, and other plants.

Germplasm, Breeding, and Genomics in Potato Improvement of Biotic and Abiotic Stresses Tolerance.

Potato is one of the most important food crops in the world. Late blight, viruses, soil and tuber-borne diseases, insect-pests mainly aphids, whiteflies, and potato tuber moths are the major biotic stresses affecting potato production. Potato is an irrigated and highly fertilizer-responsive crop, and therefore, heat, drought, and nutrient stresses are the key abiotic stresses. The genus Solanum is a reservoir of genetic diversity, however, a little fraction of total diversity has been utilized in potato breeding. The conventional breeding has contributed significantly to the development of potato varieties. In recent years, a tremendous progress has been achieved in the sequencing technologies from short-reads to long-reads sequence data, genomes of Solanum species (i.e., pan-genomics), bioinformatics and multi-omics platforms such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, ionomics, and phenomics. As such, genome editing has been extensively explored as a next-generation breeding tool. With the available high-throughput genotyping facilities and tetraploid allele calling softwares, genomic selection would be a reality in potato in the near future. This mini-review covers an update on germplasm, breeding, and genomics in potato improvement for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.

Seedling stage low temperature response in tolerant and susceptible rice genotypes suggests role of relative water content and members of OsSNAC gene family.

Low temperature (LT) severely affects rice growth and grain yield. Recently, we reported contrasting genotypes including ARR 09 and Takyer for seedling stage long duration low temperature response. Here we show that susceptible rice genotypes show an increase in lipid peroxide levels and decrease in relative water content (RWC) to a higher extent in comparison to tolerant genotypes in response to 3 h LT. Stress induced NAC family members (OsNAC1, OsNAC2, OsNAC3, and OsNAC5) showed a higher transcript accumulation in tolerant genotypes than in sensitive genotypes after LT treatment suggesting stress tolerance might be due to higher expression of stress-responsive transcription factors. Furthermore, ARR 09 can be used as an important genetic resource to better understand LT tolerance mechanism.

Allele mining across DREB1A and DREB1B in diverse rice genotypes suggest a highly conserved pathway inducible by low temperature.

Low temperature stress is one of the major limiting factors affecting rice productivity in higher altitudes. DREB1A and DREB1B, are two transcription factors that have been reported to play key regulatory role in low temperature tolerance. In order to understand whether natural genetic variation in these two loci leads to cold tolerance or susceptibility, OsDREB1A and OsDREB1B were targeted across several rice genotypes showing differential response to low temperature. Expression data suggests induction of gene expression in shoots in response to low temperature in both tolerant and susceptible genotypes. Upon sequence analysis of 20 rice genotypes, eight nucleotide changes were identified including two in the coding region and six in the 5'UTR. None of the discovered novel variations lie in the conserved region of the genes under study, thereby causing little or no changes in putative function of the corresponding proteins. In silico analysis using a diverse set of 400 O. sativa revealed much lower nucleotide diversity estimates across two DREB loci and one other gene (MYB2) involved in DREB pathway than those observed for other rice genes. None of the changes showed association with seedling stage cold tolerance, suggesting that nucleotide changes in DREB loci are unlikely to contribute to low temperature tolerance. So far, data concerning the physiological role and regulation of DREB1 in different genetic background are very limited; it is to be expected that they will be studied extensively in the near future.