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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
Table of Contents
Functional Plant Biology

Functional Plant Biology

Volume 51 Number 1 2024

Apple growth can be affected by saline–alkali stress, limiting the yield. Nanomaterials, like TiO2NPs, have shown potential in mitigating environmental stress in plants. In our study, 1 g kg−1 TiO2NPs treatment was found to effectively alleviate salt–alkali stress on apple rootstock B9, improving photosynthesis and reducing cell damage. This research provides insights for managing plants affected by salinity and alkalinity.

While ameliorating effects of melatonin (MT) on abiotic stress tolerance in plants are widely reported, the mechanism that underlies this process remains elusive. This work showed that MT decreased oxidative stress in plants caused by drought and improved nitrogen metabolism by activating a range of related examples. Thus, exogenous application of MT could provide an affordable and straightforward solution to the production of crops under conditions of limited water availability.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Drought affects arid and semi-arid regions and climate change accentuate the situation. Therefore, finding tolerant species is a solution. Under water stress, Pistacia atlantica, an endangered species, is well adapted and recovered better compared with Pistacia vera. P. atlantica is a potential species to rehabilitate arid regions and may be used as drought-tolerant rootstock for the cultivation of P. vera.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

FP22139Foliar application of ascorbic acid enhances growth and yield of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) under saline conditions by improving antioxidant defence mechanism

Safina Naz, Abubakar Mushtaq, Sajid Ali, Hafiza Muniba Din Muhammad, Bushra Saddiq, Riaz Ahmad, Faisal Zulfiqar 0000-0001-5428-5695, Faisal Hayat, Rahul Kumar Tiwari, Milan Kumar Lal 0000-0002-2442-9640 and Muhammad Ahsan Altaf 0000-0001-7257-479X

This research work showed the ascorbic acid role in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants, by regulating the growth and development and alleviating the damaging effects of salinity stress. Salinity stress limit biomass production and thus plant growth. We demonstrate the important functions of ascorbic acid in response to salinity stress, and protective role of ascorbic acid in maintaining antioxidant enzymes system of lettuce in salinity stress. Ascorbic acid application improved the growth and biomass production, enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and promoted root growth; Hence, ascorbic acid facilitates lettuce plants to improve growth and development under salinity stress conditions.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Soybean is one of the most cultivated rainfed crops; it is affected by soil drying causing yield losses. An internal chemical signalling modulates how plants exchange gas with the atmosphere, and so is closely related to crop growth and yield. It is important to understand which tissue promotes this chemical signal; the root or the shoot. The knowledge of how that signal is moving throughout the plant is needed to guide crop breeding programs.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

FP23207Photochemical attributes determine the responses of plant species from different functional groups of ferruginous outcrops when grown in iron mining substrates

Camilla Oliveira Rios 0009-0006-4469-4747, Paulo Antônio Pimentel, Elisa Monteze Bicalho 0000-0003-1746-0663, Queila Souza Garcia and Eduardo Gusmão Pereira 0000-0001-5660-2949

The ecological rehabilitation of degraded areas by mining is paramount to reduce the damage caused by anthropogenic activities and climate change. We found that native species from banded iron formations (BIFs) within different functional groups, displays photochemical and growth attributes that better explained the strategies developed by the species than it’s morphofunctional traits. The use of methods in plant ecophysiology are able to select species with better adaptive strategies, ensuring the success of revegetation.

Plants perceive different signals from bacteria and fungi, both pathogenic and symbiotic, through a family of cell-surface receptor proteins. Oligosaccharides, particularly those structurally related to chitin, are sensed by protein modules of bacterial origin known as LysM domains. Plant proteins contain three LysM domains in their extracellular region, however, available tools are not always able to detect the three LysM domains. In this work, we provide improved tools for the detection of LysM domains in plant proteins, and for their classification by ligand specificity.

Drought tolerance involved activation of various metabolic pathways such as GABA shunt pathway that significantly improve plant growth and metabolism homeostasis during drought stress. The degree of tolerance to drought stress in durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) might be connected with ROS scavenging systems and the activation of antioxidant enzymes that were associated with activation of GABA shunt pathway and the production of GABA. Generally, our data showed that different wheat cultivars responded differently to water deficit stress during the seedling growth stage.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

FP23031Effect of salt, alkali and combined stresses on root system architecture and ion profiling in a diverse panel of oat (Avena spp.)

Shahid Ahmed, Richa Patel, Maneet Rana, Neeraj Kumar, Indu I, Mukesh Choudhary, Subhash Chand, Amit Kumar Singh 0000-0002-2166-141X, Avijit Ghosh and Rajesh Kumar Singhal 0000-0003-2685-6299

This study aims to determine the effect of combined stresses, salinity and alkalinity, on oat crop. Twenty-one germplasms of Avena spp. were used and evaluated under different stress combinations. The root architecture and anatomical traits were observed and it was found that tolerant species maintained greater growth under these conditions. Furthermore, this study revealed that ion homeostasis is crucial for salinity–alkalinity stress tolerance.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

FP23133Outer apoplastic barriers in roots: prospects for abiotic stress tolerance

Lucas León Peralta Ogorek 0000-0002-9178-7050, Juan de la Cruz Jiménez 0000-0002-9985-5302, Eric J. W. Visser 0000-0002-4763-3775, Hirokazu Takahashi 0000-0001-6182-3236, Mikio Nakazono 0000-0001-7119-2052, Sergey Shabala 0000-0003-2345-8981 and Ole Pedersen 0000-0002-0827-946X

The outer apoplastic barriers in roots are beneficial for plants growing in flooded soils and could also increase salinity and drought tolerance. We discuss how the outer aposplastic barriers support plant resilience during flooding and new discoveries in relation to conditions of water deficit. We also highlight the mechanisms by which the barrier helps during flooding or drought, the current understanding of its genetic regulation, and the potential side-effects of this trait in various circumstances and in different scenarios.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

FP23172Shaking off the blow: plant adjustments during submergence and post-stress growth in Lotus forage species

Florencia B. Buraschi 0009-0006-1170-5710, Federico P. O. Mollard 0000-0002-1648-1983, Carla E. Di Bella 0000-0002-7641-3288, Agustín A. Grimoldi 0000-0001-7075-1879 and Gustavo G. Striker 0000-0002-6395-6734

Recovery growth after submergence (partial and complete) distinguished Lotus tenuis accessions as more tolerant than L. corniculatus. L. tenuis showed positive correlations between recovery and leaf mass fraction, in contrast to L. corniculatus. Adaptability to both partial and complete submergence scenarios was observed in L. tenuis accessions, whereas L. corniculatus accessions appeared better suited for partial submergence.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

Underwater germination is a risky decision for seeds so it must be controlled by the perception of cues forecasting a friendly environment for seedling growth in flooded environments. We discovered that high-amplitude alternating temperatures and seed priming increase underwater germination in Junglerice, a noxious crop weed. Our research teaches us more about how weed seeds in flooded crops germinate underwater thus taking advantage of a less competitive environment.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

FP23226Flooding-adaptive root and shoot traits in rice

Chen Lin 0000-0003-3256-6415, Zhao Zhang, Xuwen Shen, Dan Liu 0000-0002-1898-4242 and Ole Pedersen 0000-0002-0827-946X

Wild ancestors of wetland plants have adapted to flooding stress. However, the growth and development of rice (Oryza spp.) can still be impaired by flooding. We reviewed the latest research on rice with focus on root and shoot traits conferring tolerance to partial or complete submergence. These findings pave the way for breeding modern high-yielding rice cultivars showing tolerance not only to submergence but also to other types of abiotic stress such as drought and salinised soils.

This article belongs to the Collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

FP22158Tolerance and adaptation mechanism of Solanaceous crops under salinity stress

Muhammad Ahsan Altaf 0000-0001-7257-479X, Biswaranjan Behera, Vikas Mangal, Rajesh Kumar Singhal, Ravinder Kumar 0000-0001-9034-7742, Sanket More 0000-0002-9672-4083, Safina Naz, Sayanti Mandal, Abhijit Dey, Muhammad Saqib, Gopi Kishan, Awadhesh Kumar, Brajesh Singh, Rahul Kumar Tiwari and Milan Kumar Lal 0000-0002-2442-9640

Salinity stress is an abiotic element that negatively affects the growth and yield of Solanaceous plants. Salt stress influences the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of these plants by altering their metabolisms. For the alleviation of salinity stress in Solanaceous crops, agronomic, cultural, breeding, and contemporary transgenic techniques may be useful.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

FP23140Changes in morphological traits associated with waterlogging, salinity and saline waterlogging in Festuca arundinacea

Federico Emanuel Menon-Martínez, Agustín Alberto Grimoldi 0000-0001-7075-1879, Gustavo Gabriel Striker 0000-0002-6395-6734 and Carla Estefania Di Bella 0000-0002-7641-3288

Livestock grazing areas are being increasingly affected by waterlogging, salinity and their combination. Festuca arundinacea demonstrates variability in response to these stresses. Accessions with decreased specific leaf area, indicating thicker/denser leaves, showed the highest tolerance to the evaluated stresses. Specific leaf area could serve as an easily measurable trait for predicting tolerance to waterlogging, salinity and saline waterlogging in future breeding programs.

This article belongs to the collection Flooding Stress and Hypoxic Responses in Plants.

Viscum schimperi is an evergreen hemiparasitic plant that infests and grows on some tree species including Acacia, and withdraws the required nutritive resources via a specialised organ called a haustorium. This association was believed to induce deleterious effects on hosts. However, in the current study it appeared to have no deleterious effects on water status, photosynthetic activity and multi-element accumulations in Acacia trees; and some metabolites were revealed to be exchanged between the host and the hemiparasite.

FP23032Evaluation of functional kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers for selection of drought-tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes

Marya Rubab, Summiya Jannat, Haytham Freeg, Hina Abbas, Kotb A. Attia 0000-0002-2992-1765, Sajid Fiaz 0000-0001-9097-4359, Nageen Zahra, Muhammad Uzair 0000-0001-8329-9762, Safeena Inam, Asad Hussain Shah, Itoh Kimiko, Muhammad Kashif Naeem and Muhammad Ramzan Khan 0000-0001-9167-6556

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important crop providing calories to millions of people, and enhancement in productivity is a priority for breeders, farmers, industrialists and policy makers. High-throughput kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) has been successfully deployed to evaluate genotypic and phenotypic mechanism controlling traits of economic importance. We show that KASP markers helped to screen genotypes performing better under drought stress condition, and utilising gentoypes Markaz, Bhakar Star, China 2, Aas and Chakwal-50 for developing drought-tolerant varieties.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Increased salinity in vast areas of the world poses a serious threat for sustainable cultivation of food crops to feed the human population. Advancements in agricultural practices (e.g. tissue culture technology) and use of novel compounds/strategies are needed to achieve global food security. The current study deciphered the significance of silicon addition in tissue culture medium for sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) cultivation in saline areas.

This article belongs to the collection Understanding Mechanistic Basis of Plant Adaptation to Salinity and Drought.

Committee on Publication Ethics

Call for Papers

We are seeking contributions for the following Special Issues. More

Australian Society of Plant Scientists

Official Journal of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (asps.org.au).

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Best Paper Award

Phan Thi Thanh Hoai has been awarded the ASPS-FPB Best Paper Award for 2023.

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