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Forests
Special Issues
Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats
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Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 3093

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jingli Yang

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Interests: trees breeding; genetic engineering; abiotic stress; biotic stress; resistant mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Haizhen Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Northeast Agriculture University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: genetic engineering; molecular mechanism; genetic regulation network
Dr. Shicheng Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Harbin University of Commerce, No.138 Tongdajie Street, Harbin 150028, China
Interests: trees cell engineering; genetic transformation; stress-resistant
Dr. Hanzeng Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agriculture, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, Jilin 132101, China
Interests: abiotic stress; genetic regulation network; phosphorus

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Different threats such as drought, low temperature, heat, heavy metal, salt damage, pests and diseases are important factors restricting the growth of forest trees. Trees have a long growth cycle, and their resilience mechanisms are extremely complex; therefore, improving the resistance of trees to stress has always been a difficult problem for breeders. However, people can modify trees’ resistance traits at the genetic level by using genetic engineering technology. This has given rise to a new era in the century of in-depth developments in tree breeding by molecular design. Finding some key regulatory genes of tree resistance to effectively improve the stress traits of trees would directly contribute to genetic improvement for stronger stress resistance and ultimately benefit tree breeding.

This Special Issue of Forests guides the genetics breeding of forest trees in response to different environmental stresses and explores the fields of genetics and molecular mechanisms of tree stress–resistance traits, seeking new breeding strategies that can improve trees’ resistance against environmental stress.

Dr. Jingli Yang
Dr. Haizhen Zhang
Dr. Shicheng Zhao
Dr. Hanzeng Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • trees
  • genetics and breeding
  • heat stress
  • cold stress
  • salt stress
  • metal stress
  • abiotic and biotic stresses
  • environmental adaptation
  • gene regulation
  • genetic engineering

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7411 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Analysis of Homologous E6-AP Carboxyl-Terminal E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Gene Family in Populus trichocarpa
by Yanrui Fu, Hui Li, Yaqi Li, Haoqin Zhao, Da Yang, Aihua Chen and Jingli Yang
Forests 2024, 15(1), 169; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f15010169 - 13 Jan 2024
Viewed by 799
Abstract
Proteins containing the homologous E6-AP carboxyl-terminal (HECT) domain are a class of E3 ubiquitin ligases involved in the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, which plays an irreplaceable role in plant growth, development, and stress resistance. However, a phylogenetic analysis and expression profile of the HECT gene [...] Read more.
Proteins containing the homologous E6-AP carboxyl-terminal (HECT) domain are a class of E3 ubiquitin ligases involved in the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, which plays an irreplaceable role in plant growth, development, and stress resistance. However, a phylogenetic analysis and expression profile of the HECT gene (PtrHECT) in the model plant Populus trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray) have not been reported. In this study, we identified 13 PtrHECT genes using genome-wide analysis, and then these were divided into four groups. The protein interaction networks showed that the PtrHECT protein may interact with PTR6 and participate in ABA signal regulation. Abiotic stress is the main environmental factor limiting plant growth and development. The qRT-PCR results showed that PtrHECT1, 4, 7, 8, and 9 were significantly up-regulated in leaves at each time point under drought stress, and most PtrHECT genes responded to both drought and high salt stress, consistent with their promoter sequence analysis, revealing the presence of an important number of phytohormone-responsive and stress-related cis-regulatory elements. This study provides useful information for further analysis of the functions of the HECT gene family in P. trichocarpa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats)
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15 pages, 3643 KiB  
Article
Drought and Salinity Tolerance of the PtWRKY33 Gene in Populus
by Chengjun Yang, Ming Jin, Lei Zhang, Jian Shen and Qingjie Guan
Forests 2023, 14(10), 2039; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f14102039 - 12 Oct 2023
Viewed by 856
Abstract
In this study, the PtWRKY33 gene sequence was cloned by PCR from cDNA, and systematic evolutionary analysis was performed. qRT–PCR was performed to measure the expression of the PtWRKY33 gene in the roots, stems and leaves of Populus tremuloides under drought and saline [...] Read more.
In this study, the PtWRKY33 gene sequence was cloned by PCR from cDNA, and systematic evolutionary analysis was performed. qRT–PCR was performed to measure the expression of the PtWRKY33 gene in the roots, stems and leaves of Populus tremuloides under drought and saline stresses, and overexpression vectors were constructed and genetically transformed into tobacco. The results showed that the WRKY transcription factors of Populus trichocarpa, Populus euphratica and Populus alba were in the same branch and were closely related to each other. Treating poplar seedlings with 20% PEG6000 solution to simulate drought stress showed that expression of the PtWRKY33 gene was induced and increased 1.89 times, 3.45 times and 11.6 times in leaves, stems and roots. The relative expression of the PtWRKY33 gene was slower to respond to 150 mM NaCl treatment but was nonetheless induced. At 48 h, the increase was 1–3 times in leaves, stems and roots, respectively. NaHCO3 (60 mM) was used to treat poplar seedlings with alkaline salt stress; the results indicated that the PtWRKY33 gene was sensitive to NaHCO3 stress treatment, and that its relative expression was significantly increased and increased 10.51 times (24 h), 6.56 times (6 h) and 5.16 times (24 h) in leaves, stems and roots, respectively. In this study, we found that NaCl and NaHCO3 stress treatments were able to induce an increase in the expression of the NtSOD1 and NtAPX2 genes using qRT–PCR, and the significant increase in expression under the treatments compared with WT may be caused by overexpression of the PtWRKY33 gene. Overexpression of the PtWRKY33 gene in tobacco enhanced the antioxidant stress capacity and improved the salinity tolerance of transgenic tobacco. These results indicate that the PtWRKY33 gene is a key gene for improved salinity-tolerant growth, which is important for future molecular breeding of tree resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats)
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17 pages, 5924 KiB  
Article
Populus trichocarpa PtHSFA4a Enhances Heat Tolerance by Regulating Expression of APX1 and HSPs
by Haizhen Zhang, Xuetong Zhang, Meng Meng, Haoyang Di and Jingang Wang
Forests 2023, 14(10), 2028; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f14102028 - 10 Oct 2023
Viewed by 887
Abstract
Heat stress can severely inhibit plant growth and reproduction, resulting in heavy financial and crop yield losses. Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play an important role in regulating plant responses to abiotic stress. However, compared with the in-depth study of HSF gene function [...] Read more.
Heat stress can severely inhibit plant growth and reproduction, resulting in heavy financial and crop yield losses. Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play an important role in regulating plant responses to abiotic stress. However, compared with the in-depth study of HSF gene function in herbaceous species, reports on the regulatory mechanism of the response of HSFs to heat stress in trees are scarce. Here, we demonstrated that PtHSFA4a is induced by high temperatures in Populus trichocarpa leaves. Intense GUS activity was detected in the leaves of PtHSFA4a promoter-GUS reporter transgenic line under heat stress. Ectopic expression of PtHSFA4a in Arabidopsis thaliana enhanced heat stress tolerance, which reduced malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species levels. RT-qPCR revealed that the expression of key heat stress-related genes (that is, AtMBF1c, AtZAT12, AtAPX1, AtHSA32, and AtHSPs) was upregulated in PtHSFA4a transgenic plants. Additionally, PtHSFA4a directly bind to the promoters of AtAPX1 and AtHSPs under heat stress to enhance heat tolerance by upregulating the antioxidant defense system and maintaining protein folding homeostasis in A. thaliana leaves. These findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying PtHSFA4a-mediated regulation of plant responses to heat stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding in Response to Different Threats)
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