Conserved genes involved in cold stress tolerance were identified across plant species. Cell wall and secondary metabolism were the most conserved pathways involved in cold tolerance in plants. Mapping of abiotic stress-related genes was performed to develop molecular markers for crop breeding.

Pectin methylesterase (PME) genes can be classified into two types, with Type-1 having an extra domain, PMEI. Their sequence features and evolution not explored. Decoding the pro-region, containing the PMEI domain, revealed its more active nature than the DNA encoding PME domain, easier to be lost to produce Type-2 PME genes. Our research contributes to understanding how DNA sequence structure affects the functional innovation and evolution of PME genes.

Excellent potassium accumulation efficiency may be explained by high leaf potassium content. High-K tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) varieties owe obvious characteristics of a high potassium accumulation rate and a long duration of high-speed potassium accumulation. Superior genes expression involved in potassium metabolism lead to higher levels of potassium accumulation. Potassium accumulation rate at 40–60 days after transplanting may be useful for the selection of high-K tobacco varieties.

In this study, several microarray datasets of rice (Oryza sativa L.) with good quality were meta-analysed under drought stress and normal conditions using the R packages to clarify the genetic mechanism of plant response to drought stress that reduces crop yield. Differentially expressed genes, significant common Gene Ontology (GO) terms, transcription factors were identified. The hub down and up regulated genes function was determined. Our findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of rice response to drought stress.

Traditionally, most researchers have regarded the photoinhibited photosystem II as one population. Here, we stress that the photoinhibited photosystem II potentially includes three populations, namely those with inactive oxygen-evolving complexes and functional D1 protein, those with active oxygen-evolving complexes and damaged D1, and those with inactive oxygen-evolving complexes and damaged D1. In this perspective, we put forward this mixed population hypothesis. This hypothesis would provide a new insight into the concepts of the PSII photodamage/repair and photoprotection, and facilitate our understanding of their mechanisms.