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REVIEW

Mohammad Reza Boorboori^1,2, Haiyang Zhang^1,2,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.082409 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Regulators of Plant Growth and Environmental Stress Adaptation)
Abstract Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal pollutant released from various human activities including industrial production and agricultural practices. This pollutant adversely affects plant physiology by damaging root systems, inhibiting photosynthesis, and inducing oxidative stress through the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This review highlights the critical role of nitric oxide (NO) as a key signaling molecule that enhances plant tolerance to cadmium stress. The application of exogenous NO effectively alleviates Cd toxicity by stimulating the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), scavenging harmful ROS, and preventing membrane More >

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REVIEW

Sumit Sow^1,#, Alkajyoti Sharma^2,#, Mainak Ghosh^3,*, Nintu Mandal⁴, Sanjay Kumar², Shivani Ranjan^5,*, Souvik Sadhu⁶, Dibyajyoti Nath⁷, Harun Gitari⁸, Rakesh Panday⁹
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.081362 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Application of Nanomaterials in Plants)
Abstract Increasing population pressure and growing constraints on cultivable land and water resources necessitate improving resource use efficiency through the adoption of advanced and efficient agricultural technologies. With finite resources and a growing global population, agriculture has become increasingly essential as a source of food, fiber, and livestock. Due to their eco-friendly nature, the integration of crop improvement strategies with nanotechnology and plant biostimulants (PB) plays an important role in the development of smart and sustainable agriculture. Improved agricultural techniques have the potential to transform agricultural systems, and as a result, could be a viable option… More >

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144

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REVIEW

Saqib Ali¹, Hoe-Han Goh^2,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.084657 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Multi-Omics Insights into Plant Acclimation to Environmental Stress)
Abstract Abiotic stresses particularly drought, salinity, and temperature extremes increasingly threaten crop stability in tropical environments where combinatorial stress events are intensifying under climate change. Despite growing omics capacity, current multi-omics syntheses of plant stress acclimation remain dominated by model species and major crops, leaving tropical and underutilized plants underrepresented in comparative stress biology. This review examines how transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and integrative multi-omics frameworks have been applied to abiotic stress acclimation in selected tropical and underutilized plants, including banana, cassava, cacao, oil palm, papaya, Garcinia, coconut, mango, Avicennia marina, and tropical millets. We show that transcriptomics… More >

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REVIEW

Sajida^1,#, Hamdy Kashtoh^2,#, Tensangmu Lama Tamang^2,*, Kwang-Hyun Baek^2,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.075288 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Abiotic Stresses and Plant Defences in Climate Change)
Abstract Drought represents a major environmental challenge, limiting water availability to plants and disrupting their physiological functions and growth, particularly in dryland regions. Traditional strategies, including water conservation practices, plant breeding, and advanced tools such as genetic engineering, have been employed to enhance drought tolerance. However, these methods are often time-consuming and expensive. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) present a promising alternative by forming symbiotic relationships with plant roots and boosting drought resilience. PGPR enhances plant tolerance to drought-induced water stress through complex biochemical and physiological mechanisms, including phytohormone modulation, exopolysaccharides production, nutrient uptake, and gene regulation.… More >

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2079

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1073

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REVIEW

Zixin Lin¹, Cen Xiong², Yanli Yu¹, Sy-Yu Shiau^1,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.080430 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Ornamental Plants: Traits, Flowering, Aroma, Molecular Mechanisms, Postharvest Handling, and Application)
Abstract Anthocyanins (ACNs), a major class of water-soluble flavonoid pigments, are responsible for the vivid red, purple, and blue hues in many edible ornamental flowers. Recently, increasing attention has been directed toward these flowers not only for their aesthetic value but also for their nutritional and functional potential, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, and cardioprotective activities. This review summarizes current knowledge on the source and biosynthesis pathways of ACNs in edible ornamental flowers, highlighting the key enzymes and regulatory genes involved. Factors affecting ACN stability, such as chemical structure, pH, temperature, light, oxygen, water activity,… More >

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153

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ARTICLE

Hanane Oucif^1,2,*, Miloud Benaissa^1,2, Leila Saddikioui³, Nadia Y. Asfouri³, Meriem F. Meliani¹, Zineb Belhamra^1,2, Djilali Baghdadi^1,2
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.080926 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) and Plant Stress)
Abstract Enhancing lipid productivity in microalgae is a critical goal for advancing sustainable biofuel production. Among emerging strategies, the supplementation of plant growth regulators (PGRs) has gained attention as a potential approach for modulating microalgal metabolism. This in silico study evaluated the predicted binding of sixty-five PGRs from 11 chemical classes to five microalgal enzymes associated with lipid biosynthesis, (FabD, KASII, FabG, FATA, and GPAT) using an integrative computational workflow combining virtual screening, molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Structure-based screening identified fifty-eight compounds with docking scores below −5.0 kcal/mol, consistent… More >

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152

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Yuan Chen^#, Sumeera Asghar^#, Hanfei Li, Ju Cai, Yin You, Yan Li^*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.080045 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Ornamental Plants: Traits, Flowering, Aroma, Molecular Mechanisms, Postharvest Handling, and Application)
Abstract The TIFY transcription factor family plays a major role in plant growth and development. Petal size is a very important agronomic characteristic in the ornamental species of Verbena bonariensis. This study identifies 16 TIFY genes (VbTIFYs) in the V. bonariensis genome. Phylogenetic reconstruction divided these genes into six distinct subclades, indicating a high degree of homology between Verbena bonariensis and Arabidopsis thaliana. Promoter sequence analysis illustrated that the promoters of TIFY genes harbor not only cis-acting elements related to hormone regulation, but also functional motifs involved in light responses and low-temperature adaptation. Chromosomal localization results shows that VbTIFY genes… More >

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188

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Xin Li^#, Xiaoming Tian^#,*, Guangfeng Xiang, Lan Zhou, Gaofei Li, Lu Zhu, Chao Liu, Xiangpeng Li, Li Liu, Tianyi Jiang, Cun Mou, Hao Lv^*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.079853 - 29 June 2026
Abstract Quercus is widely distributed globally and holds significant ecological and economic value. However, the morphological classification of this genus has long been controversial, with the core issue being whether the Cyclobalanopsis should be treated as an independent genus or as a subgenus within Quercus. In this study, the chloroplast genomes of eight Quercus species were determined and analyzed. Among these, the complete chloroplast genome of Quercus pachyloma is reported for the first time, alongside newly published chloroplast genome data for seven other Quercus species collected from Hunan and Jiangxi provinces in China. All eight species exhibited a typical quadripartite… More >

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195

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Argyrios Kalaitzidis¹, Anastasia Zotou¹, Dimitra Loka², Paraskevi Mpeza¹, Persephone Archimandriti¹, Nicholas E. Korres^1,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.081379 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress)
Abstract The effects of water stress on the morphophysiological and biochemical characteristics of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) were investigated in a pot experiment under greenhouse conditions. Both species were exposed to four irrigation levels: no stress (1000 mL H₂O), mild stress (800 mL H₂O), moderate stress (600 mL H₂O), and severe stress (400 mL H₂O), with treatments applied every 2 days over a period of eight weeks. The results demonstrated the negative impacts of water stress, especially under moderate and severe conditions. Specifically, there was a reduction in height and dry weight in both species, with… More >

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208

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ARTICLE

Renjie Li^#, Ruiya Li^#, Yuying Li, Lili Guo, Qi Guo, Xiangnan He, Yunxin Zhou, Xiaogai Hou^*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.083737 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Crop Genetics and Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture)
Abstract SEP3, one of the SEPALLATA (SEP) genes, plays a crucial role in the regulation of floral organ morphogenesis in plants. However, its specific function and molecular regulatory mechanisms remain largely unclear in tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.). In this study, the PsSEP3L1 sequence of the tree peony cultivar ‘Luoyang Hong’ was obtained by homologous cloning. The open reading frame of PsSEP3L1 is 738 bp and encodes 245 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PsSEP3L1 was most closely related to the SEP3 homolog from cassava. The expression level of PsSEP3L1 in petals, petaloid petals, and stamens was significantly higher than… More >

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ARTICLE

Jongwon Park^1,#, Jinhyoung Lee^2,#, Gunhee Lee¹, Eunji Lee¹, Jiwoo Kim¹, Seunghwan Wi², Tae-Cheol Seo², Seonghoe Jang^1,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.082849 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress)
Abstract Heat stress severely impairs plant growth and productivity, particularly in cool-season crops such as Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis). While short-term heat responses have been extensively studied, the mechanisms underlying prolonged heat stress adaptation remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we conducted an integrative analysis of Chinese cabbage exposed to sustained high temperatures. Our approach combined physiological characterization, antioxidant profiling, and transcriptome-wide gene expression analysis to dissect long-term heat stress responses. Prolonged heat stress caused marked growth inhibition, including leaf chlorosis and a 39% reduction in leaf length by day 9. Biochemical analyses revealed a progressive… More >

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198

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ARTICLE

Xianfeng Zhou^1,2,3, Shaogang Lei^1,*, Xinfeng Li², Zhaojie Zhang², Lijiao Jin², Jingcheng Zhang³, Dongmei Chen^3,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.080299 - 29 June 2026
Abstract Accurate recognition of visually similar pest species remains a major challenge in agricultural vision, given that existing datasets often lack sufficient taxonomic structure, confusable categories, and quantitative analysis of class-level visual difficulty. To address these limitations, we present AP60, a taxonomy-guided benchmark dataset for fine-grained pest recognition, comprising 62,091 images from 60 pest categories and organized according to insect taxonomy. A distinctive characteristic of AP60 is the deliberate inclusion of morphologically confusable taxa, which enables more realistic evaluation of recognition models under biologically meaningful fine-grained settings. Beyond dataset construction, we introduce a feature-level confusion analysis… More >

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ARTICLE

Mazin Ahmed Abdelraouf^1,2, Xiaoqi He¹, Hind Abdelmonim Elsanosi^1,3, Tiantian Zhu¹, Jinghui Shi¹, Ullah Habib¹, Li Song^1,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.079749 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Crop Genetics and Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture)
Abstract The fasciclin-like arabinogalactan protein (FLA) family is involved in important plant wall formation and mechanical strength of the stems, and has never been systematically characterized in soybean (Glycine max), a huge crop in which stem lodging has been the cause of significant losses in yield. Here, we found that the soybean genome has 64 GmFLA genes, or a considerable increase over Arabidopsis, rice, and poplar, and these genes were grouped into three phylogenetic clusters (A, B, and C) that have varied domain structures. Evolutionary studies showed that duplication of segments was the most common cause of family… More >

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ARTICLE

Svetlana Goryunova^1,2,*, Margarita Lebedeva¹, Aya Trifonova¹, Denis Goryunov^2,3, Anastasia Sivolapova², Aleksey Troitsky³, Igor Loskutov⁴, Vitalii Pukhalskiy¹
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.077294 - 29 June 2026
Abstract Twenty-six cultivated and wild oat species with genomes of varying ploidy levels are currently known worldwide. The search for informative markers, as well as the analysis of variability and phylogeny of oat species, represents a key research directions with both fundamental and applied significance. Chloroplast microsatellites are promising markers for studying groups of closely related species, particularly in the context of allopolyploid origin analyses. The transferability of chloroplast microsatellite markers among species belonging to different “core pooids” supertribes within the Pooideae subfamily of Poaceae has been demonstrated. Following preliminary screening, twelve primer pairs were selected… More >

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128

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Antonio Santos-Rufo^1,*, Carlos Weiland-Ardáiz¹, Jose A. Dueñas²
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.082736 - 29 June 2026
Abstract Seed germination in blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L.) is frequently constrained by deep physiological dormancy, limiting its use in breeding and germplasm studies. This study evaluated the combined effects of cold stratification (CS) and static magnetic field (SMF; 80 mT) exposure on germination performance and associated biochemical changes related to starch metabolism. Seeds of the commercial cultivar ‘Loch Ness’ were subjected to different stratification periods and magnetic treatments prior to germination under laboratory conditions. Some SMF + CS combinations showed higher germination than the untreated control, although overall germination remained low. Higher germination values were associated with… More >

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192

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Lorena E. Romero-Chávez^1,*, Emilee Calero-Rios², Uriel Aldava-Pardave³, Elvis Ottos-Díaz¹, Noelito Salgado-Veramendi³, Eldhy S. Huerto-Pajuelo⁴, Carolina Ibarra-Porras⁴, Richard A. Solórzano-Acosta²
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.081119 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant–Soil Interactions Under Stress: Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies)
Abstract The exploration and identification of spontaneous weed species in heavy metal–contaminated soils represent a relevant approach for understanding the role and their potential application in phytoremediation. In cacao cultivation, cadmium contamination poses a significant risk due to the restrictions established for soils and cacao-derived products, thereby threatening productive sustainability and export viability. The objective of this study was to identify weed species associated with cacao cultivation exhibiting accumulation patterns and phytoremediation potential for Cd and Pb, through the assessment of biomass production and the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF), in natural conditions. Soil… More >

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Ling He, Shun Tao, Qian Wang, Yu-Pei Yin, Xin-Yu He, Shuo Shi, Chun-Yan Wang^*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.081349 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Ornamental Plants: Micropropagation, Plant Biotechnology, Chromosome Doubling, Mutagenesis, Plant Breeding, Environmental Stress Tolerance, and Postharvest Physiology)
Abstract As essential regulatory proteins, WRKY transcription factors participate in the regulation of plant growth, development and stress resistance; however, the functions of LoWRKY22 in the ‘Siberia’ cultivar of Lilium remain uncharacterized. In this study, LoWRKY22 was cloned and subjected to comprehensive functional analyses. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that LoWRKY22 belongs to the WRKY-IIe type subgroup, featuring a conserved WRKY domain and a C2H2-type zinc finger motif, indicating evolutionary conservation with WRKY homologs from Arabidopsis thaliana. Subcellular localization and transactivation assays confirmed its nuclear localization and transcriptional activation activity, supporting its role as a transcriptional regulator. Structural characterization of the LoWRKY22… More >

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José Luis Rodríguez-Lorenzo¹, José Javier Martín-Gómez², Ángel Anocibar Beloqui³, Félix Cabello Sáenz de Santamaría⁴, Gregorio Muñoz Organero⁴, Ángel Tocino⁵, Emilio Cervantes^2,*
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.6, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.080612 - 29 June 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Genomics and Molecular Breeding of Grapevine and Kiwifruit)
Abstract Background: The transition from wild Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris to cultivated grapes led to major changes in seed shape, known as the “domestication syndrome.” While traditional measurements distinguish these groups, high-resolution geometric analysis provides a more precise way to track domestication and variety stability. Objective: This study uses a multi-parametric approach—combining Fourier descriptors, curvature analysis, and the J-Index—to quantify seed shape variation across 121 Vitis populations. Methods: We analysed 48 varieties, including wild species and three major cultivated lineages (Iberian, Central European, and Muscat). Results: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) successfully separated wild and cultivated groups. The first three components explained… More >

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