Maize (Zea mays L.) has limited cold tolerance, and breeding for cold tolerance is a noteworthy bottleneck for reaching the high potential of maize production in temperate areas. In this study, we evaluate a large panel of 836 maize inbred lines to detect genetic loci and candidate genes for cold tolerance at the germination and seedling stages. Genetic variation for cold tolerance was larger than in previous reports with moderately high heritability for most traits. We identified 187 significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were integrated into 159 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for emergence and traits related to early growth.

Drought is the main abiotic constraint of the production of common bean. Improved adaptation to drought environments has become a main goal of crop breeding due to the increasing scarcity of water that will occur in the future. The overall objective of our study was to identify genomic regions associated with drought resistance based on root traits using genome-wide association analysis.

A simple soil indicator failed to predict durum wheat response to Zn fertilization. Only one of the combinations tested increased wheat yield in the 11 field experiments carried out. Zinc foliar spraying (1.28 kg ha⁻¹) was effective for wheat biofortification when applied at early booting (durum wheat) or flowering, and also when splitting this application between stem elongation and flowering stages (bread wheat).

The BES1/BZR1 transcription factors regulate the expression of genes responsive to brassinosteroids and play pivotal roles in plant development, but their role in regulating kernel development in maize remains unclear. In this study, we found that ZmBES1/BZR1-5 positively regulates kernel size. Association analysis of candidate genes in 513 diverse maize inbred lines indicated that three SNPs related to ZmBES1/BZR1-5 were significantly associated with kernel width and whilst four SNPs were related to 100-kernel weight.

A general approach for heritably altering gene expression has the potential to enable many discovery and therapeutic efforts. Here, we present CRISPRoff—a programmable epigenetic memory writer consisting of a single dead Cas9 fusion protein that establishes DNA methylation and repressive histone modifications. Transient CRISPRoff expression initiates highly specific DNA methylation and gene repression that is maintained through cell division and differentiation of stem cells to neurons

The present study was performed to express stacked insecticidal genes in potato cv. Lady Olympia and Agria to encode resistance against Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say). Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene (cry3A), synthetic hybrid (SN-19) and plant proteinase inhibitor Oryza cystatin II (OCII) cloned in pCAMBIA1301 binary vector in two different combinations as of DS-1 (cry3A + SN-19 genes) and DS-2 (OCII + SN-19 genes) constructs and further transformed to two potato cultivars using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Hermaphroditic (perfect) flowers were a key trait in grapevine domestication, enabling a drastic increase in yields due to the efficiency of self-pollination in the domesticated grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. vinifera). In contrast, all extant wild Vitis species are dioecious, each plant having only male or female flowers. In this study, we identified the male (M) and female (f) haplotypes of the sex-determining region (SDR) in the wild grapevine species V. cinerea and confirmed the boundaries of the SDR.

Wheat curl mite (WCM, Aceria tosichella Keifer) is a disastrous wheat pest in many wheat-growing regions worldwide. WCM not only directly affects wheat yield, but also transmits wheat streak mosaic virus. Growing WCM resistant cultivars is the most economical and sustainable method to reduce its damage. A hard winter wheat breeding line OK05312 (PI 670019) carries Cmc4 gene resistance to A. tosichella and has many desirable agronomic traits

Phytophthora root and crown rot, caused by the soilborne oomycete pathogen Phytophthora capsici, leads to severe yield losses in squash (Cucurbita pepo). To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in resistance to this disease, we crossed a partially resistant squash breeding line with a susceptible zucchini cultivar and evaluated over 13,000 F₂ seedlings in a greenhouse screen.

This study statistically explores the relationship between information provision and peoples’ attitudes towards the application of gene-editing technology to food, by contrasting cases of gene-edited livestock and vegetables in Japan. Japanese food producers and researchers are optimistic about the application of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) approach to food.