Hanhui Wang

Climate change is intensifying environmental stresses, including drought, high temperature, and salinity, posing increasing challenges to plant growth and development. In addition to genetic variation, DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mechanism that regulates gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence through the addition of methyl groups to the fifth carbon of cytosine. Genome-wide dynamic changes in DNA methylation and demethylation at CG, CHG, and CHH sites contribute to the regulation of stress-responsive transcriptional networks, thereby shaping plant phenotypes and facilitating the establishment of stress memory. In recent years, advances in methylome profiling and molecular validation have shifted research from describing DNA methylation changes to elucidating their regulatory mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment, maintenance, and removal of DNA methylation, with a particular focus on its dynamic changes and regulatory roles in plant responses to cold, heat, drought, and salt stresses. It also compares the characteristics of DNA methylation responses across different types of stress and discusses their potential molecular mechanisms. Overall, DNA methylation represents an important regulatory layer in plant responses to abiotic challenges, and its dynamic changes are closely associated with plant adaptation, providing new insights into the mechanisms underlying stress adaptation.

Beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is an important economic crop widely cultivated across various regions worldwide. Its agricultural significance lies not only in its high sugar yield but also in its positive impact on agro-ecosystems and the economic value of its by-products. However, beet production and quality are adversely affected by multiple abiotic and biotic stresses, including pathogen infection, drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures. In recent years, numerous key stress-responsive genes have been identified, including BvPAL, BvPR, and Rz1-4, which mediate responses to biotic stresses, and BvM14-SAMS2, BvINT1;1, BvHMA3, BvCOLD1, and BvALKBH10B, which enhance tolerance to abiotic stresses. Meanwhile, core transcription factors such as bHLH, HSP, WRKY, and SPL show differential expression under stresses, suggesting that they may regulate stress-related genes and constitute major transcriptional modules enabling beet to withstand adverse conditions. In this study, we summarize the changes in beet under different stress conditions, combining gene information to reveal key regulatory changes in stress responses and how these molecular processes contribute to stress adaptation. This not only provides a theoretical basis for the improvement of beet stress tolerance and yield, but also offers potential directions for future breeding strategies in practical applications.

Ricinus communis is a significant economic crop, where plant height and stress tolerance are critical factors influencing both yield and quality. The variation in plant height is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, with environmental stresses such as salt, drought, and cold notably affecting plant growth phenotypes. In this study, we utilized transcriptome data from two varieties, DL01 and Hale, which differ in plant height, to systematically identify the RcMYB transcription factor family and screen 12 key RcMYBs associated with height variation. We also analyzed the expression patterns of these genes under various stress conditions, including salt, drought, cold, and heat. Notably, these 12 height/stress-related RcMYB genes such as RcMYB45 and RcMYB27 showed notable expression changes in response to different stress treatments, suggesting their pivotal roles in regulating both plant height and stress tolerance. Through protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, we further discovered that these RcMYBs could interact with several regulatory factors. This study highlights the roles of RcMYB regulators in controlling plant height and stress adaptation in R. communis, providing potential target genes for molecular breeding and offering valuable insights into improving growth performance and stress tolerance.

In plants, alternative splicing (AS) is a crucial post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism that generates diverse mature transcripts from precursor mRNA, with the resulting functional proteins regulating a wide range of plant life activities. The regulation of AS is intricate and complex, playing pivotal roles in controlling plant biological processes like seed germination, flowering time control, growth, and development, as well as responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. The regulation of AS is a multilayered and intricately coordinated network system, primarily involving two core components: cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting factors on pre-mRNA. The precise execution of AS relies on the splicing factors by recognizing cis-elements to modulate splice site selection. Regulated by their own sequence variation, environmental cues, and identification of different spliceosomes, functional genes enable AS to achieve precise spatiotemporal regulation, thereby allowing plants to dynamically respond to developmental signals and environmental challenges. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of AS patterns, functional genes, and splicing factors undergoing AS and its regulatory mechanisms during different processes, highlighting how AS-mediated gene regulation contributes to plant development and stress response, and offering potential strategies for improving plant adaptation by manipulation of AS-regulated genes.