Phytocystatins and their Potential Application in the Development of Drought Tolerance Plants in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phetole Mangena

: Plant cystatins, also called phytocystatins constitute a family of specific cysteine protease inhibitors found in several monocots and dicots. In soybean, phytocystatins regulate several endogenous processes contributing immensely to this crop’s tolerance to abiotic stress factors. Soybeans offer numerous nutritional, pharmaceutical and industrial benefits; however, their growth and yields is hampered by drought, which causes more than 10% yield losses recorded every harvest period worldwide. This review analyses the role of papain-like cysteine proteases and their inhibitors in soybean plant growth and development under drought stress. It also describes their localisation, regulation, target organs and tissues, and the overall impact of cystatins on generating drought tolerance soybean plants. These proteins have many functions that remain poorly characterized, particularly under abiotic stress. Although much information is available on the utilisation of proteases for industrial applications, very few reports have focused on the impact of proteases on plant stress responses. The exploitation of cystatins in plant engineering, as competitive proteases inhibitors is one of the means that will guarantee the continued utilisation of soybeans as an important oilseed crop.

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1595
Author(s):  
Khussboo Rahman ◽  
Naznin Ahmed ◽  
Md. Rakib Hossain Raihan ◽  
Farzana Nowroz ◽  
Faria Jannat ◽  
...  

Jute (Corchorus spp.) belongs to the Malvaceae family, and there are two species of jute, C. capsularis and C. olitorious. It is the second-largest natural bast fiber in the world according to production, which has diverse uses not only as a fiber but also as multiple industrial materials. Because of climate change, plants experience various stressors such as salt, drought, heat, cold, metal/metalloid toxicity, and flooding. Although jute is particularly adapted to grow in hot and humid climates, it is grown under a wide variety of climatic conditions and is relatively tolerant to some environmental adversities. However, abiotic stress often restricts its growth, yield, and quality significantly. Abiotic stress negatively affects the metabolic activities, growth, physiology, and fiber yield of jute. One of the major consequences of abiotic stress on the jute plant is the generation of reactive oxygen species, which lead to oxidative stress that damages its cellular organelles and biomolecules. However, jute’s responses to abiotic stress mainly depend on the plant’s age and type and duration of stress. Therefore, understanding the abiotic stress responses and the tolerance mechanism would help plant biologists and agronomists in developing climate-smart jute varieties and suitable cultivation packages for adverse environmental conditions. In this review, we summarized the best possible recent literature on the plant abiotic stress factors and their influence on jute plants. We described the possible approaches for stress tolerance mechanisms based on the available literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Prabhu Inbaraj

Crop plants are continuously exposed to various abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, ultraviolet radiation, low and high temperatures, flooding, metal toxicities, nutrient deficiencies which act as limiting factors that hampers plant growth and low agricultural productivity. Climate change and intensive agricultural practices has further aggravated the impact of abiotic stresses leading to a substantial crop loss worldwide. Crop plants have to get acclimatized to various environmental abiotic stress factors. Though genetic engineering is applied to improve plants tolerance to abiotic stresses, these are long-term strategies, and many countries have not accepted them worldwide. Therefore, use of microbes can be an economical and ecofriendly tool to avoid the shortcomings of other strategies. The microbial community in close proximity to the plant roots is so diverse in nature and can play an important role in mitigating the abiotic stresses. Plant-associated microorganisms, such as endophytes, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), are well-documented for their role in promoting crop productivity and providing stress tolerance. This mini review highlights and discusses the current knowledge on the role of various microbes and it's tolerance mechanisms which helps the crop plants to mitigate and tolerate varied abiotic stresses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siva K. Chamarthi ◽  
Avjinder S. Kaler ◽  
Hussein Abdel-Haleem ◽  
Felix B. Fritschi ◽  
Jason D. Gillman ◽  
...  

Drought causes significant soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield losses each year in rain-fed production systems of many regions. Genetic improvement of soybean for drought tolerance is a cost-effective approach to stabilize yield under rain-fed management. The objectives of this study were to confirm previously reported soybean loci and to identify novel loci associated with canopy wilting (CW) using a panel of 200 diverse maturity group (MG) IV accessions. These 200 accessions along with six checks were planted at six site-years using an augmented incomplete block design with three replications under irrigated and rain-fed treatments. Association mapping, using 34,680 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), identified 188 significant SNPs associated with CW that likely tagged 152 loci. This includes 87 SNPs coincident with previous studies that likely tagged 68 loci and 101 novel SNPs that likely tagged 84 loci. We also determined the ability of genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) from previous research studies to predict CW in different genotypes and environments. A positive relationship (P ≤ 0.05;0.37 ≤ r ≤ 0.5) was found between observed CW and GEBVs. In the vicinity of 188 significant SNPs, 183 candidate genes were identified for both coincident SNPs and novel SNPs. Among these 183 candidate genes, 57 SNPs were present within genes coding for proteins with biological functions involved in plant stress responses. These genes may be directly or indirectly associated with transpiration or water conservation. The confirmed genomic regions may be an important resource for pyramiding favorable alleles and, as candidates for genomic selection, enhancing soybean drought tolerance.


Forests ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nawrot-Chorabik ◽  
Małgorzata Sułkowska ◽  
Małgorzata Osmenda ◽  
Vasyl Mohytych ◽  
Ewa Surówka ◽  
...  

Fraxinus excelsior L. is threatened by a variety of environmental factors causing a decline of the species. The most important biotic factors negatively affecting the condition of the F. excelsior population are fungi such as the pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Abiotic factors with potentially harmful effect to the F. excelsior population are the accumulation of heavy metals and salinity in soils. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of selected biotic and abiotic stress factors to determine which of them pose a threat to European ash. The study was conducted using in vitro techniques based on callus and seedlings regenerated via indirect organogenesis. Tissue cultures exclude the influence of other factors, including the environmental impact on ash extinction. The results confirmed very strong pathogenic potential of H. fraxineus in which after 14 days the callus tissue cells died as the tissue failed to activate its defense mechanisms. Experiments showed the high toxicity of cadmium in concentration of 0.027 mmol/L. Salinity caused the activity of oxidation enzymes to vary among seedlings and calluses in the control suggesting the enzymes play a role in controlling the morphogenetic development of tissue cultures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Steliana Carianopol ◽  
Aaron Lorheed Chan ◽  
Shaowei Dong ◽  
Nicholas J. Provart ◽  
Shelley Lumba ◽  
...  

AbstractYeast Snf1 (Sucrose non-fermenting1), mammalian AMPK (5′ AMP-activated protein kinase) and plant SnRK1 (Snf1-Related Kinase1) are conserved heterotrimeric kinase complexes that re-establish energy homeostasis following stress. The hormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a crucial role in plant stress response. Activation of SnRK1 or ABA signaling results in overlapping transcriptional changes, suggesting these stress pathways share common targets. To investigate how SnRK1 and ABA interact during stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana, we screened the SnRK1 complex by yeast two-hybrid against a library of proteins encoded by 258 ABA-regulated genes. Here, we identify 125 SnRK1- interacting proteins (SnIPs). Network analysis indicates that a subset of SnIPs form signaling modules in response to abiotic stress. Functional studies show the involvement of SnRK1 and select SnIPs in abiotic stress responses. This targeted study uncovers the largest set of SnRK1 interactors, which can be used to further characterize SnRK1 role in plant survival under stress.


Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Gui ◽  
Xiaotong Ji ◽  
Yanlan Mei ◽  
Zhicheng Quan

Purpose Community governance plays an important role in the prevention and control of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China. Community workers, the main executors in community governance, experience a huge amount of stress, which affects their physical and mental health. Thus, it is crucial to pay more attention to the stressors and stress responses of community workers and propose strategies to alleviate such responses. This paper aims to analyze the work stress of community workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Design/methodology/approach Based on a questionnaire survey of 602 community workers during COVID-19 in China, the four main stressors and 14 stress factors of community workers were identified and six factors at three levels of stress responses were defined. A stress analysis model is proposed that tests the mediating role of psychological capital and the moderating role of organizational climate. Findings The results show that stressors influence stress responses through the moderating role of psychological capital, organizational climate plays a negative mediator role between stressors and psychological capital and the main stressors for community workers are work, safety and performance stress. Originality/value This paper contributes to existing research because it offers suggestions for reducing the impact of stress on the community workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, it can promote the control and prevention of the COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Nguyen Chuong ◽  
Xuan Lan Thi Hoang ◽  
Duong Hoang Trong Nghia ◽  
Thai Ngoc Trang Dai ◽  
Van-Anh Le Thi ◽  
...  

: Plants, as sessile organisms, are susceptible to a myriad of stress factors, especially abiotic stresses. Over the course of evolution, they have developed multiple mechanisms to sense and transduce environmental stimuli for appropriate responses. Among those, phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, regulated by protein kinases and protein phosphatases, respectively, are considered as crucial signal transduction mechanisms. Regarding the latter group, protein phosphatases type 2C (PP2Cs) represent the largest division of PPs. In addition, discovery of regulatory functions of PP2Cs in abscisic acid (ABA)-signaling pathway, the major signal transduction pathway in abiotic stress responses, indicates significant importance of PP2C members in plant adaptation to adverse environmental factors. In this review, current understanding of the roles of PP2Cs in different phytohormone-dependent pathways related to abiotic stress is summarized, highlighting the crosstalk between the ABA-signaling pathway with other hormonal pathways via certain ABA-related PP2Cs. We also updated progress of in planta characterization studies of PP2Cs under abiotic stress conditions, providing knowledge of PP2C manipulation in developing abiotic stress-tolerant crops.


Plants ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Hinojosa ◽  
Juan González ◽  
Felipe Barrios-Masias ◽  
Francisco Fuentes ◽  
Kevin Murphy

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a genetically diverse Andean crop that has earned special attention worldwide due to its nutritional and health benefits and its ability to adapt to contrasting environments, including nutrient-poor and saline soils and drought stressed marginal agroecosystems. Drought and salinity are the abiotic stresses most studied in quinoa; however, studies of other important stress factors, such as heat, cold, heavy metals, and UV-B light irradiance, are severely limited. In the last few decades, the incidence of abiotic stress has been accentuated by the increase in unpredictable weather patterns. Furthermore, stresses habitually occur as combinations of two or more. The goals of this review are to: (1) provide an in-depth description of the existing knowledge of quinoa’s tolerance to different abiotic stressors; (2) summarize quinoa’s physiological responses to these stressors; and (3) describe novel advances in molecular tools that can aid our understanding of the mechanisms underlying quinoa’s abiotic stress tolerance.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tehseen Ahmad Meraj ◽  
Jingye Fu ◽  
Muhammad Ali Raza ◽  
Chenying Zhu ◽  
Qinqin Shen ◽  
...  

Plants are adapted to sense numerous stress stimuli and mount efficient defense responses by directing intricate signaling pathways. They respond to undesirable circumstances to produce stress-inducible phytochemicals that play indispensable roles in plant immunity. Extensive studies have been made to elucidate the underpinnings of defensive molecular mechanisms in various plant species. Transcriptional factors (TFs) are involved in plant defense regulations through acting as mediators by perceiving stress signals and directing downstream defense gene expression. The cross interactions of TFs and stress signaling crosstalk are decisive in determining accumulation of defense metabolites. Here, we collected the major TFs that are efficient in stress responses through regulating secondary metabolism for the direct cessation of stress factors. We focused on six major TF families including AP2/ERF, WRKY, bHLH, bZIP, MYB, and NAC. This review is the compilation of studies where researches were conducted to explore the roles of TFs in stress responses and the contribution of secondary metabolites in combating stress influences. Modulation of these TFs at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels can facilitate molecular breeding and genetic improvement of crop plants regarding stress sensitivity and response through production of defensive compounds.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeta Lohani ◽  
Saeid Babaei ◽  
Mohan B. Singh ◽  
Prem L. Bhalla

AbstractDOF, DNA binding with one finger proteins are plant-specific transcription factors shown to play roles in diverse plant functions. However, a—little is known about DOF protein repertoire of the allopolyploid crop, Brassica napus. Here, we report genome-wide identification and systematic analysis of the Dof transcription factor family in this important oilseed crop. We identified 117 Brassica napus Dof genes (BnaDofs). So far, this is the largest number of Dof genes reported in a single eudicot species. Based on phylogenetic analysis, BnaDofs were classified into nine groups (A, B1, B2. C1, C2.1, C2.2, C3, D1, D2). Most members belonging to a particular group displayed conserved gene structural organisation and similar protein motifs distribution. Chromosomal localisation analysis highlighted the uneven distribution of BnaDofs across all chromosomes. Evolutionary analysis exemplified that the divergence of Brassica genus from Arabidopsis, the whole genome triplication event, and the hybridisation of B. oleracea and B. rapa to form B. napus, followed by gene loss and rearrangements, led to the expansion and divergence of Dof TF gene family in B. napus. Functional annotation of BnaDof proteins, cis-element analysis of their promoters suggested potential roles in organ development, the transition from vegetative to the reproductive stage, light responsiveness, phytohormone responsiveness as well as abiotic stress responses. Furthermore, the transcriptomic analysis highlighted the preferential tissue-specific expression patters of BnaDofs and their role in response to various abiotic stress. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the molecular structure, evolution, and potential functional roles of Dof genes in plant development and abiotic stress response.


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