Increasing Fusarium verticillioides resistance in maize by genomicsassisted breeding:Methods,progress,and prospects

Maize(Zea mays L.)is an indispensable crop worldwide for food,feed,and bioenergy production.Fusarium verticillioides(F.verticillioides)is a widely distributed phytopathogen and incites multiple destructive diseases in maize:seedling blight,stalk rot,ear rot,and seed rot.As a soil-,seed-,and airborne pathogen,F.verticillioides can survive in soil or plant residue and systemically infect maize via roots,contaminated seed,silks,or external wounds,posing a severe threat to maize production and quality.Infection triggers complex immune responses:induction of defense-response genes,changes in reactive oxygen species,plant hormone levels and oxylipins,and alterations in secondary metabolites such as flavonoids,phenylpropanoids,phenolic compounds,and benzoxazinoid defense compounds.Breeding resistant maize cultivars is the preferred approach to reducing F.verticillioides infection and mycotoxin contamination.Reliable phenotyping systems are prerequisites for elucidating the genetic structure and molecular mechanism of maize resistance to F.verticillioides.Although many F.verticillioides resistance genes have been identified by genome-wide association study,linkage analysis,bulkedsegregant analysis,and various omics technologies,few have been functionally validated and applied in molecular breeding.This review summarizes research progress on the infection cycle of F.verticillioides in maize,phenotyping evaluation systems for F.verticillioides resistance,quantitative trait loci and genes associated with F.verticillioides resistance,and molecular mechanisms underlying maize defense against F.verticillioides,and discusses potential avenues for molecular design breeding to improve maize resistance to F.verticillioides.

Designing salt stress-resilient crops:Current progress and future challenges

Excess soil salinity affects large regions of land and is a major hindrance to crop production worldwide.Therefore,understanding the molecular mechanisms of plant salt tolerance has scientific importance and practical significance.In recent decades,studies have characterized hundreds of genes associated with plant responses to salt stress in different plant species.These studies have substantially advanced our molecular and genetic understanding of salt tolerance in plants and have introduced an era of molecular design breeding of salt-tolerant crops.This review summarizes our current knowledge of plant salt tolerance,emphasizing advances in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of osmotic stress tolerance,salt-ion transport and compartmentalization,oxidative stress tolerance,alkaline stress tolerance,and the trade-off between growth and salt tolerance.We also examine recent advances in understanding natural variation in the salt tolerance of crops and discuss possible strategies and challenges for designing salt stress-resilient crops.We focus on the model plant Arabidopsis(Arabidopsis thaliana)and the four most-studied crops:rice(Oryza sativa),wheat(Triticum aestivum),maize(Zea mays),and soybean(Glycine max).

Integrating machine learning and genome editing for crop improvement

Genome editing is a promising technique that has been broadly utilized for basic gene function studies and trait improvements.Simultaneously,the exponential growth of computational power and big data now promote the application of machine learning for biological research.In this regard,machine learning shows great potential in the refinement of genome editing systems and crop improvement.Here,we review the advances of machine learning to genome editing optimization,with emphasis placed on editing efficiency and specificity enhancement.Additionally,we demonstrate how machine learning bridges genome editing and crop breeding,by accurate key site detection and guide RNA design.Finally,we discuss the current challenges and prospects of these two techniques in crop improvement.By integrating advanced genome editing techniques with machine learning,progress in crop breeding will be further accelerated in the future.

Causal gene identification and desirable trait recreation in goldfish

Goldfish(Carassius auratus) have long fascinated evolutionary biologists and geneticists because of their diverse morphological and color variations.Recent genome-wide association studies have provided a clue to uncover genomic basis underlying these phenotypic variations,but the causality between phenotypic and genotypic variations have not yet been confirmed.Here,we edited proposed candidate genes to recreate phenotypic traits and developed a rapid biotechnology approach which combines gene editing with high-efficiency breeding,artificial gynogenesis,and temperature-induced sex reversal to establish homozygous mutants within two generations(approximately eight months).We first verified that low-density lipoprotein receptorrelated protein 2B(lrp2a B) is the causal gene for the dragon-eye variation and recreated the dragon-eye phenotype in side-view Pleated-skirt Lion-head goldfish.Subsequently,we demonstrated that the albino phenotype was determined by both homeologs of oculocutaneous albinism type II(oca2),which has subfunctionalized to differentially govern melanogenesis in the goldfish body surface and pupils.Overall,we determined two causal genes for dragon-eye and albino phenotypes,and created four stable homozygous strains and more appealing goldfish with desirable traits.The developed biotechnology approach facilitates precise genetic breeding,which will accelerate re-domestication and recreation of phenotypically desirable goldfish.