A single locus confers tolerance to continuous light and allows substantial yield increase in tomato

Photosynthetic adaptation strategies in peppers under continuous lighting: insights into photosystem protection

Energy efficient lighting strategies have received increased interest from controlled environment producers. Long photoperiods (up to 24 h - continuous lighting (CL)) of lower light intensities could be used to achieve the desired daily light integral (DLI) with lower installed light capacity/capital costs and low electricity costs in regions with low night electricity prices. However, plants grown under CL tend to have higher carbohydrate and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels which may lead to leaf chlorosis and down-regulation of photosynthesis. We hypothesize that the use of dynamic CL using a spectral change and/or light intensity change between day and night can negate CL-injury. In this experiment we set out to assess the impact of CL on pepper plants by subjecting them to white light during the day and up to 150 µmol m-2 s-1 of monochromatic blue light at night while controlling the DLI at the same level. Plants grown under all CL treatments had similar cumulative fruit number and weight compared to the 16h control indicating no reduction in production. Plants grown under CL had higher carbohydrate levels and ROS-scavenging capacity than plants grown under the 16h control. Conversely, the amount of photosynthetic pigment decreased with increasing nighttime blue light intensity. The maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), a metric often used to measure stress, was unaffected by light treatments. However, when light-adapted, the operating efficiency of photosystem II (ΦPSII) decreased and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) increased with increasing nighttime blue light intensity. This suggests that both acclimated and instantaneous photochemistry during CL can be altered and is dependent on the nighttime light intensity. Furthermore, light-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence measurements may be more adept at detecting altered photochemical states than the conventional stress metric using dark-adapted measurements.

The Effects of Different Durations of Night-Time Supplementary Lighting on the Growth, Yield, Quality and Economic Returns of Tomato

To achieve higher economic returns, we employ inexpensive valley electricity for night-time supplementary lighting (NSL) of tomato plants, investigating the effects of various durations of NSL on the growth, yield, and quality of tomato. Tomato plants were treated with supplementary light for a period of 0 h, 3 h, 4 h, and 5 h during the autumn-winter season. The findings revealed superior growth and yield of tomato plants exposed to 3 h, 4 h, and 5 h of NSL compared to their untreated counterparts. Notably, providing lighting for 3 h demonstrated greater yields per plant and per trough than 5 h exposure. To investigate if a reduced duration of NSL would display similar effects on the growth and yield of tomato plants, tomato plants received supplementary light for 0 h, 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h at night during the early spring season. Compared to the control group, the stem diameter, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate, and yield of tomatoes significantly increased upon supplementation with lighting. Furthermore, the input-output ratios of 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h NSL were calculated as 1:10.11, 1:4.38, and 1:3.92, respectively. Nonetheless, there was no detectable difference in yield between the 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h NSL groups. These findings imply that supplemental LED lighting at night affects tomato growth in the form of light signals. Night-time supplemental lighting duration of 1 h is beneficial to plant growth and yield, and its input-output ratio is the lowest, which is an appropriate NSL mode for tomato cultivation.

Tomato and mini-cucumber tolerance to photoperiodic injury involves photorespiration and the engagement of nighttime cyclic electron flow from dynamic LEDs

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is critical for achieving year-round food security in many regions of the world. CEA is a resource-intensive endeavor, with lighting consuming a large fraction of the energy. To lessen the burden on the grid and save costs, an extended photoperiod strategy can take advantage of off-peak time-of-day options from utility suppliers. However, extending the photoperiod limits crop production morphologically and physiologically if pushed too long. Here, we present a continuous-light dynamic light-emitting diode (LED) strategy (involving changes in spectra, intensity, and timing), that overcomes these limitations. We focused on tomato, a well described photoperiodic injury-sensitive species, and mini-cucumber, a photoperiodic injury-tolerant species to first assess morphological responses under control (16-h photoperiod, unchanging spectrum), constant (24-h photoperiod, unchanging spectrum), and two variations of a dynamic LED strategy, dynamic 1 (16-h "day", 3-h "peak", 8-h "night" spectra) and dynamic 2 (20-h "day", 5-h "peak", 4-h "night" spectra). Next, we tested the hypothesis of photorespiration's involvement in photoperiodic injury by using a leaf gas exchange coupled with chlorophyll fluorescence protocol. We further explored Adenosine triphosphate (ATP): Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) ratio supply/demand responses by probing photosynthetic electron flow and proton flow with the MultispeQ instrument. We found canopy architecture can be tuned by minor variations of the same dynamic LED strategy, and we highlight dynamic 1 as the optimal choice for both tomato and mini-cucumber as it improved biomass/architecture and first-yield, respectively. A central discovery was that dynamic 1 had a significantly higher level of photorespiration than control, for both species. Unexpectedly, photorespiration was comparable between species under the same treatments, except under constant. However, preliminary data on a fully tolerant tomato genotype grown under constant treatment upregulated photorespiration similar to mini-cucumber. These results suggest that photoperiodic injury tolerance involves a sustained higher level of photorespiration under extended photoperiods. Interestingly, diurnal MultispeQ measurements point to the importance of cyclic electron flow at subjective nighttime that may also partially explain why dynamic LED strategies mitigate photoperiodic injury. We propose an ontology of photoperiodic injury involving photorespiration, triose phosphate utilization, peroxisomal H2O2-catalase balance, and a circadian external coincidence model of sensitivity that initiates programmed cell death.

Melatonin Mitigates Water Deficit Stress in Cenchrus alopecuroides (L.) Thunb through Up-Regulating Gene Expression Related to the Photosynthetic Rate, Flavonoid Synthesis, and the Assimilatory Sulfate Reduction Pathway

Melatonin can improve plant adaptability to water deficit stress by regulating the biosynthesis of flavonoids and improving the reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzyme system. However, it remains unclear whether melatonin mitigates the effects and causes of water deficit stress in Cenchrus alopecuroides. We conducted a PEG-simulated water stress pot experiment to determine whether and how exogenous melatonin alleviates water deficit in C. alopecuroides. The experiment was divided into four treatments: (1) normal watering (Control), (2) 40% PEG-6000 treatment (D), (3) 100 μmol·L-1 melatonin treatment (MT), and (4) both melatonin and PEG-6000 treatment (DMT). The results showed that melatonin can alleviate water deficit in C. alopecuroides by effectively inhibiting plant chlorophyll degradation and MDA accumulation while increasing antioxidant enzyme activities and photosynthetic rates under water deficit stress. The transcriptome results indicated that melatonin regulates the expression of genes with the biosynthesis pathway of flavonoids (by increasing the expression of PAL, 4CL, HCT, and CHS), photosynthesis-antenna proteins (by increasing the expression of LHC), and sulfur metabolism (the expression of PAPSS and CysC is up-regulated in the assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway), while up-regulating the transcription factors (AP2/ERF-ERF-, C2H2-, WRKY-, Tify-, bHLH-, NAC-, and MYB-related). These findings revealed the possible causes by which melatonin mitigates water deficit stress in C. alopecuroides, which provided novel insights into the role of melatonin in water deficit stress.

Effects of Extended Light/Dark Cycles on Solanaceae Plants

The absence of an externally-imposed 24 h light/dark cycle in closed plant production systems allows setting the light environmental parameters in unconventional ways. Innovative lighting modes for energy-saving, high-quality, and yield production are widely discussed. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the light/dark cycles of 16/8 h (control) and 24/12 h, 48/24 h, 96/48 h, 120/60 h (unconventional cycles) based on the same total light amount, and continuous lighting (360/0 h) on plant performance of some Solanaceae species. Responses of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants to extended light/dark cycles and continuous lighting were studied under controlled climate conditions. Plants with two true leaves were exposed to different light/dark cycles for 15 days. Light intensity was 250 µmol m-2 s-1 PPFD, provided by light-emitting diodes (LEDs). After the experiment, tomato, sweet pepper, and eggplant transplants were planted in a greenhouse and grown under identical conditions of natural photoperiod for the estimation of the after-effect of light treatments on fruit yield. Extended light/dark cycles of 24/12 h, 48/24 h, 96/48 h, 120/60 h, and 360/0 h affected growth, development, photosynthetic pigment content, anthocyanin and flavonoid content, and redox state of plants. Effects varied with plant species and length of light/dark cycles. In some cases, measured parameters improved with increasing light/dark periods despite the same total sum of illumination received by plants. Treatments of tomato and pepper transplants with 48/24 h, 96/48 h, and 120/60 h resulted in higher fruit yield compared to conventional 16/8 h photoperiod. The conclusion was made that extended light/dark cycles can result in increased light use efficiency compared to conventional photoperiod and, therefore, reduced product cost, but for practical application, the effects need to be further explored for individual plant species or even cultivars.

Plant domestication: setting biological clocks

Through domestication of wild species, humans have induced large changes in the developmental and circadian clocks of plants. As a result of these changes, modern crops are more productive and adaptive to contrasting environments from the center of origin of their wild ancestors, albeit with low genetic variability and abiotic stress tolerance. Likewise, a complete restructuring of plant metabolic timekeeping probably occurred during crop domestication. Here, we highlight that contrasting timings among organs in wild relatives of crops allowed them to recognize environmental adversities faster. We further propose that connections among biological clocks, which were established during plant domestication, may represent a fundamental source of genetic variation to improve crop resilience and yield.

Physiological and transcriptomic analysis of OsLHCB3 knockdown lines in rice

The photosystem II (PSII) outer antenna LHCB3 protein plays critical roles in distributing the excitation energy and modulating the rate of state transition for photosynthesis. Here, OsLHCB3 knockdown mutants were produced using the RNAi system. Phenotypic analyses showed that OsLHCB3 knockdown led to pale green leaves and lower chlorophyll contents at both tillering and heading stages. In addition, mutant lines exhibited decreased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) capacity and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by downregulating the expression of PSII-related genes. Moreover, RNA-seq experiments were performed at both tillering and heading stages. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) mainly involved in chlorophyll binding response to abscisic acid, photosystem II, response to chitin, and DNA-binding transcription factor. Besides, our transcriptomic and physiological data indicated that OsLHCB3 was essential for binding chlorophyll, but not for the metabolism of chlorophyll in rice. OsLHCB3 RNAi knockdown plants affected the expression of PS II-related genes, but not PS I-related genes. Overall, these results suggest that OsLHCB3 also plays vital roles in regulating photosynthesis and antenna proteins in rice as well as responses to environment stresses.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-023-01387-z.

In silico and in vitro approaches allow the identification of the Prosystemin molecular network

Tomato Prosystemin (ProSys), the precursor of Systemin, a small peptidic hormone, is produced at very low concentration in unchallenged plants, while its expression greatly increases in response to several different stressors triggering an array of defence responses. The molecular mechanisms that underpin such a wide array of defence barriers are not fully understood and are likely correlated with the intrinsically disordered (ID) structure of the protein. ID proteins interact with different protein partners forming complexes involved in the modulation of different biological mechanisms. Here we describe the ProSys-protein network that shed light on the molecular mechanisms underpinning ProSys associated defence responses. Three different approaches were used. In silico prediction resulted in 98 direct interactors, most clustering in phytohormone biosynthesis, transcription factors and signal transduction gene classes. The network shows the central role of ProSys during defence responses, that reflects its role as central hub. In vitro ProSys interactors, identified by Affinity Purification-Mass Spectrometry (AP-MS), revealed over three hundred protein partners, while Bimolecular Fluorescent Complementation (BiFC) experiments validated in vivo some interactors predicted in silico and in vitro. Our results demonstrate that ProSys interacts with several proteins and reveal new key molecular events in the ProSys-dependent defence response of tomato plant.

Photosynthetic carbon and nitrogen metabolism of Camellia oleifera Abel during acclimation to low light conditions

Tea-oil tree (Camellia oleifera Abel) is an important woody oil crop with high economic value. However, it has low photosynthetic production considering the low light intensity of its growth environment. To understand the acclimation mechanism of tea-oil trees to low light conditions, three light intensity treatments were conducted: high light (450-500 μmol. m^-2. s^-1), medium light (180-200 μmol. m^-2. s^-1), and low light (45-50 μmol. m^-2. s^-1). The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) metabolism network were constructed by investigating the leaf anatomy, photosynthetic characteristics, N partitioning, transcriptome and metabolome. Results demonstrated that a larger proportion light energy was used for photochemical reactions in an environment with lower light intensity, which resulted in an increase in photosystem II photochemical efficiency and instantaneous light use efficiency (LUE) at the leaf level. As the light intensity increased, decreased electron transfer and carboxylation efficiencies, photorespiration and dark respiration rates, LUE at plant level, and N use efficiency (P_NUE) were observed. Leaves trended to harvest more light using higher expression levels of light-harvesting protein genes, higher chlorophyll content, more granum and more tightly stacked granum lamella under lower light intensity. At transcriptional and metabolic levels, the TCA cycle, and the synthesis of starch and saccharides were weakened as light intensity decreased, while the Calvin cycle did not show the regularity between different treatments. Less N was distributed in Rubisco, respiration, and cell wall proteins as light decreased. Storage N was prominently accumulated in forms of amino acids (especially L-arginine) and amino acid derivatives as under medium and low light environments, to make up for C deficiency. Therefore, tea-oil trees actively improve light-harvesting capacity and enlarges the storage N pool to adapt to a low light environment, at the cost of a decrease of photosynthetic C assimilation and P_NUE.

Louis S, Little C, Hao X. Continuous lighting can improve yield and reduce energy costs while increasing or maintaining nutritional contents of microgreens

Microgreens represent a fast growing segment of the edible greens industry. They are prized for their colour, texture, and flavour. Compared to their mature counterparts, microgreens have much higher antioxidant and nutrient content categorizing them as a functional food. However, current production practices in plant factories with artificial light are energy intensive. Specifically, the lack of sunlight within the indoor structure means all of the light must be provided via energy consuming light fixtures, which is energy intensive and costly. Plant growth is usually increased with the total amount of light provided to the plants - daily light integral (DLI). Long photoperiods of low intensity lighting (greater than 18h) providing the desired/target DLI can reduce the capital costs for light fixtures and electricity costs. This is achieved by moving the electricity use from peak daytime hours (high price) to off-peak hours (low price) during the night in regions with time-based pricing scheme and lowering the electricity use for air conditioning, if plant growth is not compromised. However, lighting with photoperiods longer than tolerance thresholds (species/cultivar specific) usually leads to plant stress/damage. Therefore, we investigated the effects of continuous 24h white light (CL) at two DLIs (~14 and 21 mol m^-2 d^-1) on plant growth, yield, and antioxidant content on 4 types of microgreens - amaranth, collard greens, green basil, and purple basil to see if it compromises microgreen production. It was found that amaranth and green basil had larger fresh biomass when grown under CL compared to 16h when the DLIs were the same. In addition, purple basil had higher biomass at higher DLI, but was unaffected by photoperiods. Plants grown under the CL treatments had higher energy-use-efficiencies for lighting (10-42%) than plants grown under the 16h photoperiods at the same DLI. Notably, the electricity cost per unit of fresh biomass ($ g^-1) was reduced (8-38%) in all microgreens studied when plants were grown under CL lighting at the same DLIs. Amaranth and collard greens also had higher antioxidant content. Taken together, growing microgreens under CL can reduce electricity costs and increase yield while maintaining or improving nutritional content.

Boosting Efficiency in Light-Driven Water Splitting by Dynamic Irradiation through Synchronizing Reaction and Transport Processes

This work elaborates the effect of dynamic irradiation on light-driven molecular water oxidation to counteract deactivation. It highlights the importance of overall reaction engineering to overcome limiting factors in artificial photosynthesis reactions. Systematic investigation of a homogeneous three-component ruthenium-based water oxidation system revealed significant potential to enhance the overall catalytic efficiency by synchronizing the timescales of photoreaction and mass transport in a capillary flow reactor. The overall activity could be improved by a factor of more than 10 with respect to the turnover number and a factor of 31 referring to the external energy efficiency by controlling the local availability of photons. Detailed insights into the mechanism of light driven water oxidation could be obtained using complementary methods of investigation like Raman, IR, and UV/Vis/emission spectroscopy, unraveling the importance of avoiding high concentrations of excited photosensitizers.

Rapeseed (Brassica napus) Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 Enhances Shading Tolerance by Regulating the Photosynthesis Capability of Photosystem II

Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is the third-largest source of vegetable oil in the world with an edible, medicinal, and ornamental value. However, insufficient light or high planting density directly affects its growth, development, yield, and quality. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are serine/threonine protein kinases that play key roles in regulating the responses to biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. In this study, we found that the promoter of BnaMAPK1 contained several light-responsive elements (including the AT1-motif, G-Box, and TCT-motif), consistent with its shading stress-induced upregulation. Compared with the wild type under shading stress, BnaMAPK1-overexpressing plants showed higher light capture efficiency and carbon assimilation capacity, enhancing their shading tolerance. Using RNA sequencing, we systematically investigated the function of BnaMAPK1 in shading stress on photosynthetic structure, Calvin cycle, and light-driven electron transport. Notably, numerous genes encoding light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins (BnaLHCBs) in photosystem II-light-harvesting complex (LHC) II supercomplex were significantly downregulated in the BnaMAPK1-overexpressing lines relative to the wild type under shading stress. Combining RNA sequencing and yeast library screening, a candidate interaction partner of BnaMAPK1 regulating in shading stress, BnaLHCB3, was obtained. Moreover, yeast two-hybrid and split-luciferase complementation assays confirmed the physical interaction relationship between BnaLHCB3 and BnaMAPK1, suggesting that BnaMAPK1 may involve in stabilizing the photosystem II-LHC II supercomplex. Taken together, our results demonstrate that BnaMAPK1 positively regulates photosynthesis capability to respond to shading stress in rapeseed, possibly by controlling antenna proteins complex in photosystem II, and could provide valuable information for further breeding for rapeseed stress tolerance.

The Power of Far-Red Light at Night: Photomorphogenic, Physiological, and Yield Response in Pepper During Dynamic 24 Hour Lighting

Supplemental light is needed during the winter months in high latitude regions to achieve the desired daily light integral (DLI) (photoperiod × intensity) for greenhouse pepper (Capsicum annuum) production. Peppers tend to have short internodes causing fruit stacking and higher labor time for plant maintenance when grown under supplemental light. Far-red light can increase internode length, and our previous study on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) also discovered monochromatic blue light at night during continuous lighting (CL, 24 h) increased stem elongation. Furthermore, the use of low-intensity, long photoperiod lighting can reduce light fixture costs and overall electricity costs due to lower power prices during the night. Therefore, we investigated the use of blue and/or far-red light during the night period of CL to increase stem elongation. Three pepper cultivars with different internode lengths/growing characteristics ('Maureno,' 'Gina,' and 'Eurix') were used to investigate the effects on plant morphology in a short experiment, and one cultivar 'Maureno' was used in a long experiment to assess the impact on fruit yield. The five lighting treatments that were used are as follows: 16 h of white light during the day followed by either 8 h of darkness (16W - control), white light (24W), blue light only (16W + 8B), blue + far-red light (16W + 8BFR), or far-red light only (16W + 8FR). Calculated nighttime phytochrome photostationary state (PSS) was 0.833, 0.566, 0.315, and 0.186 for 24W, 16W + 8B, 16W + 8BFR, and 16W + 8FR respectively. All five treatments had the same DLI in photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and far-red light. The 16W + 8BFR and 16W + 8FR treatments significantly increased internode length compared to 16W and 24W but neither was more impactful than the other. The 16W + 8B treatment also increased internode length but to a lesser extent than 16W + 8BFR and 16W + 8FR. This indicates that a nighttime PSS of 0.315 is sufficient to maximize stem elongation. Both 16W + 8B and 16W + 8BFR drove photosynthesis during the nighttime supporting a similar yield compared to 16W. Therefore, 16W + 8BFR is the most potential lighting strategy as it can lead to a greater reduction in the light fixture and electrical costs while maintaining yield and enhancing internode length.

A Perspective Emphasizing Circadian Rhythm Entrainment to Ensure Sustainable Crop Production in Controlled Environment Agriculture: Dynamic Use of LED Cues

World-wide, sustainable crop production is increasingly dependent on the protection of crops from adverse local climate conditions by using controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities. Today's greenhouses and plant factories are becoming very technologically advanced. Important breakthroughs in our understanding of the deployment of affordable artificial lighting systems that can supplement and even replace solar radiation is the subject of this perspective article. The key to improving sustainable CEA is to synchronize those environmental cues that best entrain the natural circadian rhythm of the crop. Patterns of circadian rhythms reflect the balance of daily metabolic cycles and phenological stages of development that integrate and anticipate environmental changes for all complex organisms. Within the last decade, our understanding of the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as spectrally tunable tools for stimulating plant responses has expanded rapidly. This perspective proposes that extending the photoperiod in CEA is an economically sustainable goal to for year-round productivity of tomato, using dynamic LED shifts that entrain the circadian rhythm. When the photoperiod is extended too far, tomato experiences injury. To avoid yield reduction, we look to nature for clues, and how circadian rhythms evolved in general to long-photoperiods during the summer in high-latitudes. It follows that circadian rhythm traits are good targets for breeders to select new tomato cultivars suitable for CEA. Circadian rhythm entrainment, using dynamic LED cues, can be tailored to any latitude-of-origin crop, and thus expands the strategies ensuring sustainable food security including healthy diets locally in any region of the world.

Breeding More Crops in Less Time: A Perspective on Speed Breeding

Breeding crops in a conventional way demands considerable time, space, inputs for selection, and the subsequent crossing of desirable plants. The duration of the seed-to-seed cycle is one of the crucial bottlenecks in the progress of plant research and breeding. In this context, speed breeding (SB), relying mainly on photoperiod extension, temperature control, and early seed harvest, has the potential to accelerate the rate of plant improvement. Well demonstrated in the case of long-day plants, the SB protocols are being extended to short-day plants to reduce the generation interval time. Flexibility in SB protocols allows them to align and integrate with diverse research purposes including population development, genomic selection, phenotyping, and genomic editing. In this review, we discuss the different SB methodologies and their application to hasten future plant improvement. Though SB has been extensively used in plant phenotyping and the pyramiding of multiple traits for the development of new crop varieties, certain challenges and limitations hamper its widespread application across diverse crops. However, the existing constraints can be resolved by further optimization of the SB protocols for critical food crops and their efficient integration in plant breeding pipelines.

Impact of streetlights on physiology, biochemistry and diversity of urban bryophyte: a case study on moss Semibarbula orientalis

The use of artificial light at night is a very basic symbol of urbanization and has distorted many ecological, biochemical and physiological phenomena in plants, which have settled for millions of years in the biological system. Continuous illumination of light significantly alters the circadian rhythm of all organisms. The present study was focused to understand the effects of continuous light (CL) on the biochemistry and physiology of moss Semibarbula orientalis. It was observed that H2O2 accumulation and activities of chlorophyllase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes significantly enhanced in plants growing under streetlights. Similarly, plants under CL showed a marked reduction in photosynthetic performance. Specific fluxes (ABS/RC, TR/RC, ET/RC), phenomenological fluxes (ABS/CS, TR/CS, ET/CS), density of photosystem-II, quantum yield of photosynthesis and chlorophyll concentration markedly declined in plants growing under streetlights. Depletion in performance indices (PIcs and PIabs) and primary and secondary photochemistry [PHIO/(1 − PHIO) and PSIO/(1 − PSIO)] were also noticed, which indicated failure of adaptive strategies of photosystem-II, resulting in the loss of biomass of S. orientalis. Biomass decline is also shown by a decrease in coverage, which reduces the bryophyte species richness of the chosen locations. Present studies clearly indicate that artificial light at night drastically affects the moss population. The reduction in the dominating species, S. orientalis, improves species evenness and results in a slow growth rate.

SpaceHort: redesigning plants to support space exploration and on-earth sustainability

Crewed missions to Mars are planned within the next twenty years. Production of food and materials in situ will eventually be necessary for mission success. This will require the development of crops which can thrive in environments we can sustain in Space. Here, we discuss the challenges we must solve to provide adequate nutrition to support long term Space habitation. Further, we propose that plants are an ideal biomanufacturing platform for producing pharmaceuticals and biomaterials on demand. Designing Space plants requires advances in our ability to engineer plant biology in a predictive manner. Parallel development of suitable tightly controlled growth environments, including extensive monitoring and sensing, will also be a key enabler. Collectively, such research promises to deliver solutions for progressing sustainable closed environment agriculture on Earth.

Light Spectra and Root Stocks Affect Response of Greenhouse Tomatoes to Long Photoperiod of Supplemental Lighting

Plant biomass and yield are largely dictated by the total amount of light intercepted by the plant (daily light integral (DLI)—intensity × photoperiod). It is more economical to supply the desired DLI with a long photoperiod of low-intensity light because it uses fewer light fixtures, reducing capital costs. Furthermore, heat released by the light fixtures under a long photoperiod extended well into the night helps to meet the heating requirement during the night. However, extending the photoperiod beyond a critical length (>17 h) may be detrimental to production and lead to leaf chlorosis and a reduction in leaf growth and plant vigor in greenhouse tomato production. It is known that red light can increase leaf growth and plant vigor, as can certain rootstocks, which could compensate for the loss in plant vigor and leaf growth from long photoperiods. Therefore, this study investigated the response of tomatoes grafted onto different rootstocks to a long photoperiod of lighting under red and other light spectra. Tomato plants ‘Trovanzo’ grafted onto ‘Emperator’ or ‘Kaiser’ were subjected to two spectral compositions—100% red or a mix of red (75%), blue (20%), and green (5%) light for 17 h or 23 h. The four treatments supplied similar DLI. Leaf chlorosis appeared in all plants under 23 h lighting regardless of spectral compositions between 20 and 54 days into the treatment. The yield for 23 h mixed lighting treatment was lower than both 17 h lighting treatments. However, the 23 h red lighting treatment resulted in less leaf chlorosis and the plants grafted onto ‘Emperator’ produced a similar yield as both 17 h lighting treatments. Therefore, both spectral compositions and rootstocks affected the response of greenhouse tomatoes to long photoperiods of lighting. With red light and proper rootstock, the negative yield impact from long photoperiod lighting can be eliminated.

Downregulation of Light-Harvesting Complex II Induces ROS-Mediated Defense Against Turnip Mosaic Virus Infection in Nicotiana benthamiana

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex protein 3 (LHCB3) of photosystem II plays important roles distributing the excitation energy and modulating the rate of state transition and stomatal response to abscisic acid. However, the functions of LHCB3 in plant immunity have not been well investigated. Here, we show that the expression of LHCB3 in Nicotiana benthamiana (NbLHCB3) was down-regulated by turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection. When NbLHCB3 was silenced by tobacco rattle virus-induced gene silencing, systemic infection of TuMV was inhibited. H₂O₂ was over-accumulated in NbLHCB3-silenced plants. Chemical treatment to inhibit or eliminate reactive oxygen species (ROS) impaired the resistance of the NbLHCB3-silenced plants to TuMV infection. Co-silencing of NbLHCB3 with genes involved in ROS production compromised the resistance of plants to TuMV but co-silencing of NbLHCB3 with genes in the ROS scavenging pathway increased resistance to the virus. Transgenic plants overexpressing NbLHCB3 were more susceptible to TuMV. These results indicate that downregulation of NbLHCB3 is involved in defense against TuMV by inducing ROS production.

Continuous Lighting and High Daily Light Integral Enhance Yield and Quality of Mass-Produced Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus L.) in Plant Factories

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus L.), as a medicinal plant, has a high phenolic content in its leaves and flowers. It is often used in salads as a dietary vegetable. Attracting strong demand, it could be a good candidate crop for a plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) that can achieve the mass production of high-quality crops with high productivity by regulating environmental conditions such as light. In this study, two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of continuous lighting (CL) and different daily light integrals (DLIs) under CL on the growth, secondary metabolites, and light use efficiency (LUE) of nasturtium, all of which are essential in the successful cultivation in PFALs. In Experiment 1, two lighting models, the same DLI of 17.3 mol m⁻² d⁻¹ but different light periods (24 and 16 h) with different light intensities (200 and 300 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹, respectively), were applied to nasturtium. The results showed that leaf production, secondary metabolites, and LUE were higher under the 24-h CL treatment than under the 16-h non-CL treatment. In Experiment 2, three DLI levels (17.3, 25.9, and 34.6 mol m⁻² d⁻¹) under the CL condition were applied. The results showed that the growth parameters were positively correlated with the DLI levels under CL. The lowest DLI had the highest LUE. We conclude that the mass production of nasturtium under CL in PFALs is feasible, and the yield increases as DLI increases from 17.3 to 34.6 mol m⁻² d⁻¹ under CL without causing physiological stress on plants.

Chronoculture, harnessing the circadian clock to improve crop yield and sustainability

Human health is dependent on a plentiful and nutritious supply of food, primarily derived from crop plants. Rhythmic supply of light as a result of the day and night cycle led to the evolution of circadian clocks that modulate most plant physiology, photosynthesis, metabolism, and development. To regulate crop traits and adaptation, breeders have indirectly selected for variation at circadian genes. The pervasive impact of the circadian system on crops suggests that future food production might be improved by modifying circadian rhythms, engineering the timing of transgene expression, and applying agricultural treatments at the most effective time of day. We describe the applied research required to take advantage of circadian biology in agriculture to increase production and reduce inputs.

Effect of Root Restriction on the Performance of Three-Truss Cultivated Tomato in the Low-Node Pinching Order at High-Density Cultivation System

The low-node pinching order at a high-density plant cultivation system (LN&HD) is now widely adopted for increasing tomato yield and fruit quality. The LN&HD cultivation period spans 70–120 days, employs the use of a small amount of substrate (low substrate volume), and plants are usually topped between the first and the fourth truss. Using a small amount of substrate in cultivation induces root restriction. Increasing the extent of root restriction in small pots has been adopted for increasing the fruit quality of tomato in some advanced countries. However, improving fruit quality at the expense of yield becomes a major drawback for adopting the LN&HD in Ghana. The LN&HD was introduced into Ghana mainly to increase tomato yield sustainably at a cost-effective level. This study aimed to manipulate or reduce the extent of root restriction to increase tomato yield. Information related to manipulating or reducing the extent of root restriction has not been extensively reported. Thus, an experiment was conducted (between 21 April 2019 and 11 August 2019) in the greenhouse of the University of Ghana Forest and Horticultural Research Centre, Kade-Ghana. Plants of two tomato cultivars (Jaguar and Momotaro York) were subjected to four root restriction conditions. The extent of root restriction were (1) complete root restriction in a 1.0 L volume capacity pot, (2) complete root restriction in a 1.5 L volume capacity pot, (3) partial root restriction in Rockwool-like cultivation, otherwise referred to as Cocowool, and (4) No root restriction in a trough containing 1.5 L of the substrate. The experiment was laid out in a 2 x 4 factorial in a randomized complete block. Results showed that partial root restriction in Cocowool and unrestricted roots in the trough produced the highest tomato yield and total dry matter compared to the plants that received complete root restrictions in the 1.0 and 1.5 L pots. However, the tomato’s total soluble solids increased with a complete root restriction in the 1.0 L pot. Reducing the extent of root restriction increased the yield and total dry matter of tomato. With the LN&HD, a small amount of substrate could be used (at a reduced cost) with a partial root restriction to increase the yield of tropical tomato cultivars grown in Ghana.

Nitrogen Deficiency and Synergism between Continuous Light and Root Ammonium Supply Modulate Distinct but Overlapping Patterns of Phytohormone Composition in Xylem Sap of Tomato Plants

Continuous light (CL) or a predominant nitrogen supply as ammonium (NH4+) can induce leaf chlorosis and inhibit plant growth. The similarity in injuries caused by CL and NH4+ suggests involvement of overlapping mechanisms in plant responses to these conditions; however, these mechanisms are poorly understood. We addressed this topic by conducting full factorial experiments with tomato plants to investigate the effects of NO3- or NH4+ supply under diurnal light (DL) or CL. We used plants at ages of 26 and 15 days after sowing to initiate the treatments, and we modulated the intensity of the stress induced by CL and an exclusive NH4+ supply from mild to strong. Under DL, we also studied the effect of nitrogen (N) deficiency and mixed application of NO3- and NH4+. Under strong stress, CL and exclusive NH4+ supply synergistically inhibited plant growth and reduced chlorophyll content. Under mild stress, when no synergetic effect between CL and NH4+ was apparent on plant growth and chlorophyll content, we found a synergetic effect of CL and NH4+ on the accumulation of several plant stress hormones, with an especially strong effect for jasmonic acid (JA) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), the immediate precursor of ethylene, in xylem sap. This modulation of the hormonal composition suggests a potential role for these plant hormones in plant growth responses to the combined application of CL and NH4+. No synergetic effect was observed between CL and NH4+ for the accumulation of soluble carbohydrates or of mineral ions, indicating that these plant traits are less sensitive than the modulation of hormonal composition in xylem sap to the combined CL and NH4+ application. Under diurnal light, NH4+ did not affect the hormonal composition of xylem sap; however, N deficiency strongly increased the concentrations of phaseic acid (PA), JA, and salicylic acid (SA), indicating that decreased N concentration rather than the presence of NO3- or NH4+ in the nutrient solution drives the hormone composition of the xylem sap. In conclusion, N deficiency or a combined application of CL and NH4+ induced the accumulation of JA in xylem sap. This accumulation, in combination with other plant hormones, defines the specific plant response to stress conditions.

Continuous Light Does Not Compromise Growth and Yield in Mini-Cucumber Greenhouse Production with Supplemental LED Light

Continuous lighting (CL, 24 h) can reduce the light intensity/light capital costs used to achieve the desired amount of light for year-round greenhouse vegetable production in comparison to short photoperiods of lighting. However, growth under CL has led to leaf injury characterized by chlorosis unless a thermoperiod or alternating light spectrum during CL is used. To date, there is no literature relating to how cucumbers (Cucumissativus) respond to CL with LEDs in a full production cycle. Here, we evaluated a mini-cucumber cv. "Bonwell" grown under 4 supplemental lighting strategies: Treatment 1 (T1, the control) was 16 h of combined red light and blue light followed by 8 h of darkness. Treatment 2 (T2) had continuous (24 h) red light and blue light. Treatment 3 (T3) was 16 h of red light followed by 8 h of blue light. Treatment 4 (T4) was 12 h of red light followed by 12 h of blue light. All treatments had a supplemental daily light integral (DLI) of ~10 mol m-2 d-1. Plants from all treatments showed similar growth characteristics throughout the production cycle. However, plants grown under all three CL treatments had higher chlorophyll concentrations from leaves at the top of the canopy when compared to T1. The overall photosynthetic capacity, light use efficiency, and photosynthetic parameters related to light response curves (i.e., dark respiration, light compensation point, quantum yield, and photosynthetic maximum), as well as the quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII; Fv/Fm) were similar among the treatments. Plants grown under all CL treatments produced a similar yield compared to the control treatment (T1). These results indicate that mini-cucumber cv. "Bonwell" is tolerant to CL, and CL is a viable and economical lighting strategy for mini-cucumber production.

Alternating Red and Blue Light-Emitting Diodes Allows for Injury-Free Tomato Production With Continuous Lighting

Plant biomass is largely dictated by the total amount of light intercepted by the plant [daily light integral (DLI) - intensity × photoperiod]. Continuous light (CL, 24 h lighting) has been hypothesized to increase plant biomass and yield if CL does not cause any injury. However, lighting longer than 18 h causes leaf injury in tomato characterized by interveinal chlorosis and yield is no longer increased with further photoperiod extension in tomatoes. Our previous research indicated the response of cucumbers to long photoperiod of lighting varies with light spectrum. Therefore, we set out to examine greenhouse tomato production under supplemental CL using an alternating red (200 µmol m-2 s-1, 06:00-18:00) and blue (50 µmol m-2 s-1, 18:00-06:00) spectrum in comparison to a 12 h supplemental lighting treatment with a red/blue mixture (200 µmol m-2 s-1 red + 50 µmol m-2 s-1 blue, 06:00-18:00) at the same DLI. Our results indicate that tomato plants grown under supplemental CL using the red and blue alternating spectrum were injury-free. Furthermore, parameters related to photosynthetic performance (i.e., Pnmax, quantum yield, and Fv/Fm) were similar between CL and 12 h lighting treatments indicating no detrimental effect of growth under CL. Leaves under CL produced higher net carbon exchange rates (NCER) during the subjective night period (18:00-06:00) compared to plants grown under 12 h lighting. Notably, 53 days into the treatment, leaves grown under CL produced positive NCER values (photosynthesis) during the subjective night period, a period typically associated with respiration. At 53 days into the growth cycle, it is estimated that leaves under CL will accumulate approximately 800 mg C m-2 more than leaves under 12 h lighting over a 24 h period. Leaves grown under CL also displayed similar diurnal patterns in carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose, and starch) as leaves under 12 h lighting indicating no adverse effects on carbohydrate metabolism under CL. Taken together, this study provides evidence that red and blue spectral alternations during CL allow for injury-free tomato production. We suggest that an alternating spectrum during CL may alleviate the injury typically associated with CL production in tomato.

Speed breeding in growth chambers and glasshouses for crop breeding and model plant research

'Speed breeding' (SB) shortens the breeding cycle and accelerates crop research through rapid generation advancement. SB can be carried out in numerous ways, one of which involves extending the duration of plants' daily exposure to light, combined with early seed harvest, to cycle quickly from seed to seed, thereby reducing the generation times for some long-day (LD) or day-neutral crops. In this protocol, we present glasshouse and growth chamber-based SB approaches with supporting data from experimentation with several crops. We describe the conditions that promote the rapid growth of bread wheat, durum wheat, barley, oat, various Brassica species, chickpea, pea, grass pea, quinoa and Brachypodium distachyon. Points of flexibility within the protocols are highlighted, including how plant density can be increased to efficiently scale up plant numbers for single-seed descent (SSD). In addition, instructions are provided on how to perform SB on a small scale in a benchtop growth cabinet, enabling optimization of parameters at a low cost.

Diurnal biomarkers reveal key photosynthetic genes associated with increased oil palm yield

To investigate limiters of photosynthate assimilation in the carbon-source limited crop, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), we measured differential metabolite, gene expression and the gas exchange in leaves in an open field for palms with distinct mesocarp oil content. We observed higher concentrations of glucose 1-phosphate, glucose 6-phosphate, sucrose 6-phosphate, and sucrose in high-oil content palms with the greatest difference being at 11:00 (p-value ≤0.05) immediately after the period of low morning light intensity. Three important photosynthetic genes were identified using differentially expressed gene analysis (DEGs) and were found to be significantly enriched through Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment: chlorophyll a-b binding protein (CAB-13), photosystem I (PSI), and Ferredoxin-NADP reductase (FNR), particularly for sampling points at non-peak light (11:00 and 19:00), ranging from 3.3-fold (PSI) and 5.6-fold (FNR) to 10.3-fold (CAB-13). Subsequent gas exchange measurements further supported increased carbon assimilation through higher level of internal CO₂ concentration (Ci), stomatal conductance (g_s) and transpiration rate (E) in high-oil content palms. The selection for higher expression of key photosynthesis genes together with CO₂ assimilation under low light is likely to be important for crop improvement, in particular at full maturity and under high density planting regimes where light competition exists between palms.

Phytochrome A Protects Tomato Plants From Injuries Induced by Continuous Light

Plants perceive and transduce information about light quantity, quality, direction and photoperiod via several photoreceptors and use it to adjust their growth and development. A role for photoreceptors has been hypothesized in the injuries that tomato plants develop when exposed to continuous light as the light spectral distribution influences the injury severity. Up to now, however, only indirect clues suggested that phytochromes (PHY), red/far-red photoreceptors, are involved in the continuous-light-induced injuries in tomato. In this study, therefore, we exposed mutant and transgenic tomato plants lacking or over-expressing phytochromes to continuous light, with and without far-red light enrichment. The results show that PHYA over-expression confers complete tolerance to continuous light regardless the light spectrum. Under continuous light with low far-red content, PHYB1 and PHYB2 diminished and enhanced the injury, respectively, yet the effects were small. These results confirm that phytochrome signaling networks are involved in the induction of injury under continuous light.

HIGHLIGHTS

- PHYA over-expression confers tolerance to continuous light regardless the light spectrum.- In the absence of far-red light, PHYB1 slightly diminishes the continuous light-induced injury.- Continuous light down-regulates photosynthesis genes in sensitive tomato lines.

Trait discovery and editing in tomato

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), which is used for both processing and fresh markets, is a major crop species that is the top ranked vegetable produced over the world. Tomato is also a model species for research in genetics, fruit development and disease resistance. Genetic resources available in public repositories comprise the 12 wild related species and thousands of landraces, modern cultivars and mutants. In addition, high quality genome sequences are available for cultivated tomato and for several wild relatives, hundreds of accessions have been sequenced, and databases gathering sequence data together with genetic and phenotypic data are accessible to the tomato community. Major breeding goals are productivity, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and fruit sensorial and nutritional quality. New traits, including resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses and root architecture, are increasingly being studied. Several major mutations and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) underlying traits of interest in tomato have been uncovered to date and, thanks to new populations and advances in sequencing technologies, the pace of trait discovery has considerably accelerated. In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 gene editing (GE) already proved its remarkable efficiency in tomato for engineering favorable alleles and for creating new genetic diversity by gene disruption, gene replacement, and precise base editing. Here, we provide insight into the major tomato traits and underlying causal genetic variations discovered so far and review the existing genetic resources and most recent strategies for trait discovery in tomato. Furthermore, we explore the opportunities offered by CRISPR/Cas9 and their exploitation for trait editing in tomato.

Speed breeding in growth chambers and glasshouses for crop breeding and model plant research

'Speed breeding' (SB) shortens the breeding cycle and accelerates crop research through rapid generation advancement. SB can be carried out in numerous ways, one of which involves extending the duration of plants' daily exposure to light, combined with early seed harvest, to cycle quickly from seed to seed, thereby reducing the generation times for some long-day (LD) or day-neutral crops. In this protocol, we present glasshouse and growth chamber-based SB approaches with supporting data from experimentation with several crops. We describe the conditions that promote the rapid growth of bread wheat, durum wheat, barley, oat, various Brassica species, chickpea, pea, grass pea, quinoa and Brachypodium distachyon. Points of flexibility within the protocols are highlighted, including how plant density can be increased to efficiently scale up plant numbers for single-seed descent (SSD). In addition, instructions are provided on how to perform SB on a small scale in a benchtop growth cabinet, enabling optimization of parameters at a low cost.

Study of the beneficial effects of green light on lettuce grown under short-term continuous red and blue light-emitting diodes

Red and blue light are the most important light spectra for driving photosynthesis to produce adequate crop yield. It is also believed that green light may contribute to adaptations to growth. However, the effects of green light, which can trigger specific and necessary responses of plant growth, have been underestimated in the past. In this study, lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) was exposed to different continuous light (CL) conditions for 48 h by a combination of red and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) supplemented with or without green LEDs, in an environmental-controlled growth chamber. Green light supplementation enhanced photosynthetic capacity by increasing net photosynthetic rates, maximal photochemical efficiency, electron transport for carbon fixation (JPSII ) and chlorophyll content in plants under the CL treatment. Green light decreased malondialdehyde and H2 O2 accumulation by increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) and ascorbate peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.11) after 24 h of CL. Supplemental green light significantly increased the expression of photosynthetic genes LHCb and PsbA from 6 to 12 h, and these gene expressions were maintained at higher levels than those under other light conditions between 12 and 24 h. However, a notable downregulation of both LHCb and PsbA was observed during 24 to 48 h. These results indicate that the effects of green light on lettuce plant growth, via enhancing activity of particular components of antioxidative enzyme system and promoting of LHCb and PsbA expression to maintain higher photosynthetic capacity, alleviated a number of the negative effects caused by CL.

Two Inexpensive and Non-destructive Techniques to Correct for Smaller-Than-Gasket Leaf Area in Gas Exchange Measurements

The development of technology, like the widely-used off-the-shelf portable photosynthesis systems, for the quantification of leaf gas exchange rates and chlorophyll fluorescence offered photosynthesis research a massive boost. Gas exchange parameters in such photosynthesis systems are calculated as gas exchange rates per unit leaf area. In small chambers (<10 cm²), the leaf area used by the system for these calculations is actually the internal gasket area (A_G), provided that the leaf covers the entire A_G. In this study, we present two inexpensive and non-destructive techniques that can be used to easily quantify the enclosed leaf area (A_L) of plant species with leaves of surface area much smaller than the A_G, such as that of cereal crops. The A_L of the cereal crop species studied has been measured using a standard image-based approach (iA_L) and estimated using a leaf width-based approach (wA_L). iA_L and wA_L did not show any significant differences between them in maize, barley, hard and soft wheat. Similar results were obtained when the wA_L was tested in comparison with iA_L in different positions along the leaf in all species studied. The quantification of A_L and the subsequent correction of leaf gas exchange parameters for A_L provided a precise quantification of net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance especially with decreasing A_L. This study provides two practical, inexpensive and non-destructive solutions to researchers dealing with photosynthesis measurements on small-leaf plant species. The image-based technique can be widely used for quantifying A_L in many plant species despite their leaf shape. The leaf width-based technique can be securely used for quantifying A_L in cereal crop species such as maize, wheat and barley along the leaf. Both techniques can be used for a wide range of gasket shapes and sizes with minor technique-specific adjustments.

Temperature Variation under Continuous Light Restores Tomato Leaf Photosynthesis and Maintains the Diurnal Pattern in Stomatal Conductance

The response of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Aromata) to continuous light (CL) in relation to photosynthesis, abscisic acid (ABA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) was investigated to improve the understanding of the development and/or alleviation of CL-induced leaf injury in constant and diurnal temperature fluctuations with similar daily light integral and daily mean temperature. The plants were grown in three photoperiodic treatments for 15 days; One treatment with a 16/8 h light/dark period and a light/dark temperature of 27/17°C (Control), two CL treatments with 24 h photoperiods, one with a constant temperature of 24°C (CLCT) and the other one with variable temperature of 27/17°C for 16/8 ho, respectively (CLVT). A diurnal pattern of stomatal conductance (gs ) and [ABA] was observed in the plants grown in the control and CLVT conditions, while the plants in CLCT conditions experienced a significant decrease in stomatal conductance aligned with an increase in ABA. The net photosynthesis (A) was significantly reduced in CLCT, aligned with a significant decrease in the maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax), the maximum rate of electron transport (Jmax) and mesophyll diffusion conductance to CO2 (gm) in comparison to the control and CLVT. An increased production of H2O2 and O2•- linked with increased activities of antioxidative enzymes was seen in both CL treatments, but despite of this, leaf injuries were only observed in the CLCT treatment. The results suggest that the diurnal temperature fluctuations alleviated the CL injury symptoms, probably because the diurnal cycles of cellular mechanisms were maintained. The ROS were shown not to be directly involved in CL-induced leaf injury, since both ROS production and scavenging was highest in CLVT without leaf chlorotic symptoms.

Sucrose and Starch Content Negatively Correlates with PSII Maximum Quantum Efficiency in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Exposed to Abnormal Light/Dark Cycles and Continuous Light

Light is most important to plants as it fuels photosynthesis and provides clues about the environment. If provided in unnatural long photoperiods, however, it can be harmful and even lethal. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), for example, develops mottled chlorosis and necrosis when exposed to continuous light. Understanding the mechanism of these injuries is valuable, as important pathways regulating photosynthesis, such as circadian, retrograde and light signaling pathways are probably involved. Here, we use non-targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis as well as hypothesis-driven experiments with continuous light-tolerant and -sensitive tomato lines to explore the long-standing proposed role of carbohydrate accumulation in this disorder. Analysis of metabolomics and transcriptomics data reveals a clear effect of continuous light on sugar metabolism and photosynthesis. A strong negative correlation between sucrose and starch content with the severity of continuous light-induced damage quantified as the maximum quantum efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) was found across several abnormal light/dark cycles, supporting the hypothesis that carbohydrates play an important role in the continuous light-induced injury. We postulate that the continuous light-induced injury in tomato is caused by down-regulation of photosynthesis, showing characteristics of both cytokinin-regulated senescence and light-modulated retrograde signaling. Molecular mechanisms linking carbohydrate accumulation with down-regulation of carbon-fixing enzymes are discussed.

On the induction of injury in tomato under continuous light: circadian asynchrony as the main triggering factor

Unlike other species, when tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are deprived of at least 8h of darkness per day, they develop a potentially lethal injury. In an effort to understand why continuous light (CL) is injurious to tomato, we tested five factors, which potentially could be responsible for triggering the injury in CL-grown tomato: (i) differences in the light spectral distribution between sunlight and artificial light, (ii) continuous light signalling, (iii) continuous supply of light for photosynthesis, (iv) continuous photo-oxidative pressure and (v) circadian asynchrony - a mismatch between the internal circadian clock frequency and the external light/dark cycles. Our results strongly suggest that continuous-light-induced injury does not result from the unnatural spectral distribution of artificial light nor from the continuity of light per se. Instead, circadian asynchrony seems to be the main factor inducing the CL-induced injury, but the mechanism is not by the earlier hypothesised circadian pattern in sensitivity for photoinhibition. Here, however, we show for the first time diurnal fluctuations in sensitivity to photoinhibition during normal photoperiods. Similarly, we also report for the first time diurnal and circadian rhythms in the maximum quantum efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and the parameter F0.

Deep sequencing of wheat sRNA transcriptome reveals distinct temporal expression pattern of miRNAs in response to heat, light and UV

Understanding of plant adaptation to abiotic stresses has implications in plant breeding, especially in the context of climate change. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs play a crucial role in gene regulation. Here, wheat plants were exposed to one of the following stresses: continuous light, heat or ultraviolet radiations over five consecutive days and leaf tissues from three biological replicates were harvested at 0, 1, 2, 3, 7 and 10 days after treatment (DAT). A total of 72 small RNA libraries were sequenced on the Illumina platform generating ~524 million reads corresponding to ~129 million distinct tags from which 232 conserved miRNAs were identified. The expression levels of 1, 2 and 79 miRNAs were affected by ultraviolet radiation, continuous light and heat, respectively. Approximately 55% of the differentially expressed miRNAs were downregulated at 0 and 1 DAT including miR398, miR528 and miR156 that control mRNAs involved in activation of signal transduction pathways and flowering. Other putative targets included histone variants and methyltransferases. These results suggest a temporal miRNA-guided post-transcriptional regulation that enables wheat to respond to abiotic stresses, particularly heat. Designing novel wheat breeding strategies such as regulatory gene-based marker assisted selection depends on accurate identification of stress induced miRNAs.

Transcriptome Analysis Provides a Preliminary Regulation Route of the Ethylene Signal Transduction Component, SlEIN2, during Tomato Ripening

Ethylene is crucial in climacteric fruit ripening. The ethylene signal pathway regulates several physiological alterations such as softening, carotenoid accumulation and sugar level reduction, and production of volatile compounds. All these physiological processes are controlled by numerous genes and their expression simultaneously changes at the onset of ripening. Ethylene insensitive 2 (EIN2) is a key component for ethylene signal transduction, and its mutation causes ethylene insensitivity. In tomato, silencing SlEIN2 resulted in a non-ripening phenotype and low ethylene production. RNA sequencing of SlEIN2-silenced and wild type tomato, and differential gene expression analyses, indicated that silencing SlEIN2 caused changes in more than 4,000 genes, including those related to photosynthesis, defense, and secondary metabolism. The relative expression level of 28 genes covering ripening-associated transcription factors, ethylene biosynthesis, ethylene signal pathway, chlorophyll binding proteins, lycopene and aroma biosynthesis, and defense pathway, showed that SlEIN2 influences ripening inhibitor (RIN) in a feedback loop, thus controlling the expression of several other genes. SlEIN2 regulates many aspects of fruit ripening, and is a key factor in the ethylene signal transduction pathway. Silencing SlEIN2 ultimately results in lycopene biosynthesis inhibition, which is the reason why tomato does not turn red, and this gene also affects the expression of several defense-associated genes. Although SlEIN2-silenced and green wild type fruits are similar in appearance, their metabolism is significantly different at the molecular level.

The Plant Circadian Clock: From a Simple Timekeeper to a Complex Developmental Manager

The plant circadian clock allows organisms to anticipate the predictable changes in the environment by adjusting their developmental and physiological traits. In the last few years, it was determined that responses known to be regulated by the oscillator are also able to modulate clock performance. These feedback loops and their multilayer communications create a complex web, and confer on the clock network a role that exceeds the measurement of time. In this article, we discuss the current knowledge of the wiring of the clock, including the interplay with metabolism, hormone, and stress pathways in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana We outline the importance of this system in crop agricultural traits, highlighting the identification of natural alleles that alter the pace of the timekeeper. We report evidence supporting the understanding of the circadian clock as a master regulator of plant life, and we hypothesize on its relevant role in the adaptability to the environment and the impact on the fitness of most organisms.

Microarray analysis and real-time PCR assay developed to find biomarkers for mercury-contaminated soil

The evaluation of mercury (Hg) toxicity in agricultural soil is of great concern because its bioavailability and bioaccumulation in organisms through the food chain can have adverse effects on human health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop sensitive biomarkers for Hg stress in agricultural soil. With the results obtained from a high-throughput cDNA microarray, 12 Hg-responsive genes were selected to examine their concentration-dependent responses to Hg stress at different Hg concentrations. The lowest observable adverse effect concentrations (LOAECs) of Hg were 0.8 mg kg-1 for seed germination, 1.6 mg kg-1 for root biomass, 0.8 mg kg-1 for root elongation, and 0.8 mg kg-1 for root morphology, respectively, whereas the lowest Hg treatments (0.1-0.4 mg kg-1) could generally induce differential expression of genes. These results indicated that the detection of Hg in soil at the molecular level is a highly sensitive method. Moreover, the Hg soil content exhibited a significant positive correlation with the relative expression of probable glutathione S-transferase parA (r = 0.637, p = 0.05), chlorophyll a-b binding protein 13, chloroplastic-like (r = 0.689, p = 0.05) and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase 1 (r = 0.682, p = 0.05), implying that the three genes are good candidates to detect Hg-contaminated soil.

Domestication selected for deceleration of the circadian clock in cultivated tomato

The circadian clock is a critical regulator of plant physiology and development, controlling key agricultural traits in crop plants. In addition, natural variation in circadian rhythms is important for local adaptation. However, quantitative modulation of circadian rhythms due to artificial selection has not yet been reported. Here we show that the circadian clock of cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has slowed during domestication. Allelic variation of the tomato homolog of the Arabidopsis gene EID1 is responsible for a phase delay. Notably, the genomic region harboring EID1 shows signatures of a selective sweep. We find that the EID1 allele in cultivated tomatoes enhances plant performance specifically under long day photoperiods, suggesting that humans selected slower circadian rhythms to adapt the cultivated species to the long summer days it encountered as it was moved away from the equator.

Recovery of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) leaves from continuous light induced injury

Continuous light (CL) causes leaf injuries in tomato plants, but very little has been done to study the nature of recovery from these leaf injuries. To facilitate this, tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. 'Aromata') were first exposed to CL for 11 days in order to study the development of the leaf injuries. Afterwards, the plants were exposed to a photoperiodic treatment with a dark period of eight hours to study the nature of recovery of the leaves. Plants were grown in two photoperiodic treatments in climate chambers; a control treatment with a 16/8h light/dark and a CL treatment with 24h light. The two treatments had different light intensities to maintain a similar daily light integral (15 mol m(-2)d(-1)). The temperature and humidity were adjusted to maintain a similar vapor pressure deficit (VPD) of 1kPa in the two treatments. After 11 days of CL, 12% of the total leaflet area appeared light green in spots on the leaf surface aligned with lower total leaf chlorophyll content. The light green spots partially reversed while the leaf chlorophyll content increased to similar levels as seen in control leaves after 11 days of recovery. The CL significantly reduced the stomatal conductance (gs) and net photosynthesis (PN) and altered the carbohydrate content in the leaves. These negative effects of CL were also rapidly restored to the control levels when the plants were returned to the 16h photoperiodic conditions. The results demonstrate that, though leaf discoloration is only partially recovered, tomato plants can be grown for 11 days in CL conditions with the development of chlorotic discoloration of the leaves covering 12% of the leaf surface and rapidly recover physiological processes affected by CL by shortening the photoperiod to 16h.

Continuous light increases growth, daily carbon gain, antioxidants, and alters carbohydrate metabolism in a cultivated and a wild tomato species

Cultivated tomato species develop leaf injury while grown in continuous light (CL). Growth, photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and antioxidative enzyme activities of a cultivated (Solanum lycopersicum L. 'Aromata') and a wild tomato species (Solanum pimpinellifolium L.) were compared in this study aiming to analyze the species-specific differences and thermoperiod effects in responses to CL. The species were subjected to three photoperiodic treatments for 12 days in climate chambers: 16-h photoperiod with a light/dark temperature of 26/16°C (P16D10 or control); CL with a constant temperature of 23°C (P24D0); CL with a variable temperature of 26/16°C (P24D10). The results showed that both species grown in CL had higher dry matter production due to the continuous photosynthesis and a subsequent increase in carbon gain. In S. lycopersicum, the rate of photosynthesis and the maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II declined in CL with the development of leaf chlorosis, reduction in the leaf chlorophyll content and a higher activity of antioxidative enzymes. The normal diurnal patterns of starch and sugar were only present under control conditions. The results demonstrated that CL conditions mainly affected the photosynthetic apparatus of a cultivated species (S. lycopersicum), and to a less degree to the wild species (S. pimpinellifolium). The negative effects of the CL could be alleviated by diurnal temperature variations, but the physiological mechanisms behind these are less clear. The results also show that the genetic potential for reducing the negative effects of CL does exist in the tomato germplasm.

Quantifying the source-sink balance and carbohydrate content in three tomato cultivars

Supplementary lighting is frequently applied in the winter season for crop production in greenhouses. The effect of supplementary lighting on plant growth depends on the balance between assimilate production in source leaves and the overall capacity of the plants to use assimilates. This study aims at quantifying the source-sink balance and carbohydrate content of three tomato cultivars differing in fruit size, and to investigate to what extent the source/sink ratio correlates with the potential fruit size. Cultivars Komeet (large size), Capricia (medium size), and Sunstream (small size, cherry tomato) were grown from 16 August to 21 November, at similar crop management as in commercial practice. Supplementary lighting (High Pressure Sodium lamps, photosynthetic active radiation at 1 m below lamps was 162 μmol photons m(-2) s(-1); maximum 10 h per day depending on solar irradiance level) was applied from 19 September onward. Source strength was estimated from total plant growth rate using periodic destructive plant harvests in combination with the crop growth model TOMSIM. Sink strength was estimated from potential fruit growth rate which was determined from non-destructively measuring the fruit growth rate at non-limiting assimilate supply, growing only one fruit on each truss. Carbohydrate content in leaves and stems were periodically determined. During the early growth stage, 'Komeet' and 'Capricia' showed sink limitation and 'Sunstream' was close to sink limitation. During this stage reproductive organs had hardly formed or were still small and natural irradiance was high (early September) compared to winter months. Subsequently, during the fully fruiting stage all three cultivars were strongly source-limited as indicated by the low source/sink ratio (average source/sink ratio from 50 days after planting onward was 0.17, 0.22, and 0.33 for 'Komeet,' 'Capricia,' and 'Sunstream,' respectively). This was further confirmed by the fact that pruning half of the fruits hardly influenced net leaf photosynthesis rates. Carbohydrate content in leaves and stems increased linearly with the source/sink ratio. We conclude that during the early growth stage under high irradiance, tomato plants are sink-limited and that the level of sink limitation differs between cultivars but it is not correlated with their potential fruit size. During the fully fruiting stage tomato plants are source-limited and the extent of source limitation of a cultivar is positively correlated with its potential fruit size.

Continuous-light tolerance in tomato is graft-transferable

Continuous light induces a potentially lethal injury in domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants. Recently, continuous-light tolerance was reported in several wild tomato species, yet the molecular mechanisms underpinning tolerance/sensitivity are still elusive. Here, we investigated from which part of the plant continuous-light tolerance originates and whether this trait acts systemically within the plant. By exposing grafted plants bearing both tolerant and sensitive shoots, the trait was functionally located in the shoot rather than the roots. Additionally, an increase in continuous-light tolerance was observed in sensitive plants when a continuous-light-tolerant shoot was grafted on it. Cultivation of greenhouse tomatoes under continuous light promises high yield increases. Our results show that to pursuit this, the trait should be bred into scion rather than rootstock lines. In addition, identifying the nature of the signal/molecule(s) and/or the mechanism of graft-induced, continuous-light tolerance can potentially result in a better understanding of important physiological processes like long-distance signaling.