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<jats:p>Abiotic stresses are major environmental conditions that reduce plant growth, productivity and quality. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) approaches can be used to screen stress-responsive proteins and reveal the mechanisms of protein response to various abiotic stresses. Biotin-based proximity labeling (PL) is a recently developed technique to label proximal proteins of a target protein. TurboID, a biotin ligase produced by directed evolution, has the advantages of non-toxicity, time-saving and high catalytic efficiency compared to other classic protein-labeling enzymes. TurboID-based PL has been successfully applied in animal, microorganism and plant systems, particularly to screen transient or weak protein interactions, and detect spatially or temporally restricted local proteomes in living cells. This review concludes classic PPI approaches in plant response to abiotic stresses and their limitations for identifying complex network of regulatory proteins of plant abiotic stresses, and introduces the working mechanism of TurboID-based PL, as well as its feasibility and advantages in plant abiotic stress research. We hope the information summarized in this article can serve as technical references for further understanding the regulation of plant adaptation to abiotic stress at the protein level.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Salinity is a global conundrum that negatively affects various biometrics of agricultural crops. Jasmonic acid (JA) is a phytohormone that reinforces multilayered defense strategies against abiotic stress, including salinity. This study investigated the effect of JA (60 μM) on two wheat cultivars, namely ZM9 and YM25, exposed to NaCl (14.50 dSm<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) during two consecutive growing seasons. Morphologically, plants primed with JA enhanced the vegetative growth and yield components. The improvement of growth by JA priming is associated with increased photosynthetic pigments, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, maximal photosystem II efficiency, and transpiration rate of the stressed plants. Furthermore, wheat cultivars primed with JA showed a reduction in the swelling of the chloroplast, recovery of the disintegrated thylakoids grana, and increased plastoglobuli numbers compared to saline-treated plants. JA prevented dehydration of leaves by increasing relative water content and water use efficiency via reducing water and osmotic potential using proline as an osmoticum. There was a reduction in sodium (Na<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>) and increased potassium (K<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>) contents, indicating a significant role of JA priming in ionic homeostasis, which was associated with induction of the transporters, <jats:italic>viz., SOS1, NHX2</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>HVP1</jats:italic>. Exogenously applied JA mitigated the inhibitory effect of salt stress in plants by increasing the endogenous levels of cytokinins and indole acetic acid, and reducing the abscisic acid (ABA) contents. In addition, the oxidative stress caused by increasing hydrogen peroxide in salt-stressed plants was restrained by JA, which was associated with increased α-tocopherol, phenolics, and flavonoids levels and triggered the activities of superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase activity. This increase in phenolics and flavonoids could be explained by the induction of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity. The results suggest that JA plays a key role at the morphological, biochemical, and genetic levels of stressed and non-stressed wheat plants which is reflected in yield attributes. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analyses showed that salt sensitivity was associated with the increments of Na<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>, hydrogen peroxide, and ABA contents. The regulatory role of JA under salinity stress was interlinked with increased JA level which consequentially improved ion transporting, osmoregulation, and antioxidant defense.</jats:p>

<jats:p>The long-distance transport of iron (Fe) in the xylem is critical for maintaining systemic Fe homeostasis in plants. The loading form of Fe(II) into the xylem and the long-distance translocation form of Fe(III)–citrate have been identified, but how Fe(II) is oxidized to Fe(III) in the xylem remains unknown. Here, we showed that the cell wall-resided ferroxidases LPR1 and LPR2 (LPRs) were both specifically expressed in the vascular tissues of <jats:italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</jats:italic>, while disruption of both of them increased Fe(II) in the xylem sap and caused excessive Fe deposition in the xylem vessel wall under Fe-sufficient conditions. As a result, a large amount of Fe accumulated in both roots and shoots, hindering plant growth. Moreover, under low-Fe conditions, <jats:italic>LPRs</jats:italic> were preferentially induced in old leaves, but the loss of LPRs increased Fe deposition in the vasculature of older leaves and impeded Fe allocation to younger leaves. Therefore, disruption of both LPRs resulted in severer chlorosis in young leaves under Fe-deficient conditions. Taken together, the oxidation of Fe(II) to Fe(III) by LPRs in the cell wall of vasculature plays an important role in xylem Fe allocation, ensuring healthy Fe homeostasis for normal plant growth.</jats:p>

<jats:p>The diploid woodland strawberry (<jats:italic>F. vesca</jats:italic>) represents an important model for the genus <jats:italic>Fragaria</jats:italic>. Significant advances in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating seasonal alternance of flower induction and vegetative reproduction has been made in this species. However, this research area has received little attention on the cultivated octoploid strawberry (<jats:italic>F.</jats:italic> × <jats:italic>ananassa</jats:italic>) despite its enormous agronomical and economic importance. To advance in the characterization of this intricated molecular network, expression analysis of key flowering time genes was performed both in short and long days and in cultivars with seasonal and perpetual flowering. Analysis of overexpression of <jats:italic>FaCO</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>FaSOC1</jats:italic> in the seasonal flowering ‘Camarosa’ allowed functional validation of a number of responses already observed in <jats:italic>F. vesca</jats:italic> while uncovered differences related to the regulation of FaFTs expression and gibberellins (GAs) biosynthesis. While FvCO has been shown to promote flowering and inhibit runner development in the perpetual flowering H4 accession of <jats:italic>F. vesca</jats:italic>, our study showed that <jats:italic>FaCO</jats:italic> responds to LD photoperiods as in <jats:italic>F. vesca</jats:italic> but delayed flowering to some extent, possibly by induction of the strong <jats:italic>FaTFL1</jats:italic> repressor in crowns. A contrasting effect on runnering was observed in FaCO transgenic plants, some lines showing reduced runner number whereas in others runnering was slightly accelerated. We demonstrate that the role of the MADS-box transcription factor FaSOC1 as a strong repressor of flowering and promoter of vegetative growth is conserved in woodland and cultivated strawberry. Our study further indicates an important role of FaSOC1 in the photoperiodic repression of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes <jats:italic>FaFT2</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>FaFT3</jats:italic> while <jats:italic>FaTFL1</jats:italic> upregulation was less prominent than that observed in <jats:italic>F. vesca</jats:italic>. In our experimental conditions, FaSOC1 promotion of vegetative growth do not require induction of GA biosynthesis, despite GA biosynthesis genes showed a marked photoperiodic upregulation in response to long days, supporting GA requirement for the promotion of vegetative growth. Our results also provided insights into additional factors, such as FaTEM, associated with the vegetative developmental phase that deserve further characterization in the future.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Maize (<jats:italic>Zea may</jats:italic>s L.) is an economically important source of food and feed. This species is highly sensitive to drought, which is the most limiting factor for the biomass yield of a crop. Thus, maize cultivation methods should be improved, especially by environment-friendly agricultural practices, such as microorganisms. Here, we provide evidence that <jats:italic>Glomus</jats:italic> sp. and <jats:italic>Bacillus</jats:italic> sp. modulate maize response to drought. Inoculation of maize seeds by these microorganisms restored the proper photosynthetic activity of the plant under drought and stabilized the osmoprotectant content of the leaf. The beneficial effect of <jats:italic>Glomus</jats:italic> sp. and <jats:italic>Bacillus</jats:italic> sp. was also related to the stabilization of cell redox status reflected by hydrogen peroxide content, antioxidant enzymes, and malondialdehyde level in leaves. As we revealed by several methods, shaping maize response to drought is mediated by both microorganism-mediated modifications of cell wall composition and structure of leaves, such as downregulating pectin, affecting their methylation degree, and increasing hemicellulose content. Overall, we provide new information about the mechanisms by which <jats:italic>Glomus</jats:italic> sp. and <jats:italic>Bacillus</jats:italic> sp. induce drought tolerance in maize, which is a promising approach for mitigating abiotic stresses.</jats:p>

<jats:p><jats:italic>Cistanche salsa</jats:italic> (C. A. Mey.) G. Beck, a holoparasitic desert medicine plant with multiple hosts, is regarded as a potential future desert economic plant. However, as a result of excessive exploitation and poaching, its wild resources have become scarce. Thus, before developing its desert economic value, this plant has to be protected, and the identification of its natural reserve is currently the top priority. However, in previous nature reserve prediction studies, the influence of host plants has been overlooked, particularly in holoparasitic plants with multiple hosts. In this study, we sought to identify the conservation areas of wild <jats:italic>C. salsa</jats:italic> by considering multiple host–plant interactions and climate change conditions using the MaxEnt model. Additionally, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the autocorrelation between environmental variables. The effects of the natural distribution of the host plants in terms of natural distribution from the perspective of niche similarities and extrapolation detection were considered by filtering the most influential hosts: <jats:italic>Krascheninnikovia ceratoides</jats:italic> (Linnaeus), Gueldenstaedt, and <jats:italic>Nitraria sibirica</jats:italic> Pall. Additionally, the change trends in these hosts based on climate change conditions combined with the change trends in <jats:italic>C. salsa</jats:italic> were used to identify a core protection area of 126483.5 km<jats:sup>2</jats:sup>. In this article, we corrected and tried to avoid some of the common mistakes found in species distribution models based on the findings of previous research and fully considered the effects of host plants for multiple-host holoparasitic plants to provide a new perspective on the prediction of holoparasitic plants and to provide scientific zoning for biodiversity conservation in desert ecosystems. This research will hopefully serve as a significant reference for decision-makers.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Abiotic stress is an important factor affecting the normal growth and development of plants and crop yield. To reduce the impact of abiotic adversity on cotton growth and development, the material basis of cotton resistance and its physiological functions are analyzed at the molecular level. At the same time, the use of genetic engineering methods to recombine resistance genes has become a hot spot in cotton resistance research. This paper provides an overviews of the resistance mechanism of cotton against the threat of non-biological adversity, as well as the research progress of osmoregulation-related genes, protein-acting genes, and transcription regulatory factor genes in recent years, and outlines the explored gene resources in cotton resistance genetic engineering, with the aim to provide ideas and reference bases for future research on cotton resistance.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) participate in the defense responses of plants as well as their growth and development processes, including seed germination. Yet the functioning of <jats:italic>TLP</jats:italic> family genes, in addition to key details of their encoded protein products, has not been thoroughly investigated for Qingke (<jats:italic>Hordeum vulgare</jats:italic> L. var. <jats:italic>nudum</jats:italic>). Here, a total of 36 <jats:italic>TLP</jats:italic> genes were identified in the genome of Qingke via HMM profiling. Of them, 25 TLPs contained a signal peptide at the N-terminus, with most proteins predicted to localize in the cytoplasm or outer membrane. Sequence alignment and motif analysis revealed that the five REDDD residues required for β-1,3-glucanase activity were conserved in 21 of the 36 Qingke TLPs. Phylogenetically, the TLPs in plants are clustered in 10 major groups. Our analysis of gene structure did not detect an intron in 15 Qingke <jats:italic>TLPs</jats:italic> whereas the other 21 did contain 1–7 introns. A diverse set of <jats:italic>cis</jats:italic>-acting motifs were found in the promoters of the 36 <jats:italic>TLPs</jats:italic>, including elements related to light, hormone, and stress responses, growth and development, circadian control, and binding sites of transcription factors, thus suggesting a multifaceted role of TLPs in Qingke. Expression analyses revealed the potential involvement of <jats:italic>TLPs</jats:italic> in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. Taken together, the findings of this study deepen our understanding of the <jats:italic>TLP</jats:italic> family genes in Qingke, a staple food item in Tibet, which could strengthen future investigations of protein function in barley and its improved genetic engineering.</jats:p>

<jats:p>It has widely been documented that nitrogen (N) enrichment stimulates plant growth and modifies plant functional traits in the terrestrial ecosystem. However, it remains unclear whether there are critical transitions or tipping points for the response of plant growth or traits to N enrichment, and how these responses differ to different N forms. We chose the native, perennial clonal grass, <jats:italic>Leymus chinensis</jats:italic> in Inner Mongolia steppe, and conducted a field experiment, in which six N addition rates (0, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 g N m<jats:sup>–2</jats:sup> year<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup>) and five N compound types [NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub>NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, (NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub>)<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>SO<jats:sub>4</jats:sub>, NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub>HCO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, CO(NH<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>)<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, slow-release CO(NH<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>)<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>] are considered. Here, we found that the different N compound types had no significant effect on the growth of <jats:italic>L. chinensis</jats:italic>. N addition rate significantly increased plant aboveground biomass and leaf nitrogen concentration, whereas decreased leaf dry matter content. The tipping point for N-induced aboveground biomass increase was at 10 g N m<jats:sup>–2</jats:sup> year<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup>, and the changes in functional traits were at N addition rates of 20 g N m<jats:sup>–2</jats:sup> year<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup>. Our findings suggested that the responses of aboveground biomass and functional traits to N addition were asymmetric, in which responses in aboveground biomass were more sensitive than that in functional traits. The differential sensitivity of aboveground biomass and functional traits of <jats:italic>L. chinensis</jats:italic> occurred to N deposition highlights the importance of functional traits in mediating ecosystem functioning in the face of N deposition, regardless of which chemical forms dominate in the deposited N.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Kin recognition might help plants decrease competitive cost and improve inclusive fitness with close genes; thus it might interact with environmental factors to affect communities. Whether and how various factors, such as the genetic distance of neighbors, environmental stressors, or the way a plant recognizes its neighbors, might modify plant growth strategies remains unclear. To answer these questions, we conducted experiments in which ramets of a clonal plant, <jats:italic>Glechoma longituba</jats:italic>, were grown adjacent to different genetically related neighbors (clone kin / close kin / distant kin) in different nutrient conditions (high / medium / low), or with only root exudates from pre-treatment in culture solution. By comparing competitive traits, we found that: (1) kin recognition in <jats:italic>G. longituba</jats:italic> was enhanced with closer genetic distance; (2) the outcomes of kin recognition were influenced by the extent of nutrient shortage; (3) kin recognition helped to alleviate the nutrient shortage effect; (4) kin recognition via root exudates affected only below-ground growth. Our results provide new insights on the potential for manipulating the outcome of kin recognition by altering neighbor genetic distance, nutrient conditions and recognition ways. Moreover, kin recognition can help plants mitigate the effects of nutrient shortage, with potential implications in agricultural research.</jats:p>