Galactinol synthase (GolS) has been known to play a key role in raffinose biosynthesis by catalysing the formation of galactinol. The GolS gene family has been recently identified in various plant species. Among them, many individual GolS genes have been reported to function in plant stress tolerance. In this study, we reported the construction of transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing a soybean GolS gene, GolS2. There were no significant differences in the phenotypes of the transgenic and control plants during normal physiological conditions. We evaluated the performance of the transgenic plants under various stress conditions in relation to that of the control plants. The result evidenced that the overexpression of GmGolS2 gene in Arabidopsis improved the plant’s tolerance to salt stress but did not protect the plants against heavy metals and paraquat. Our study suggested that soybean GolS genes could be a potential candidate for genetic engineering to improve abiotic stress tolerance of plants.

Abstract:Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is a transcription factor which plays an important role in the regulation of various developmental processes and stress responses in plants. By using various bioinformatics tools, the identification and analyses of the NF-YA subunit of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) have been attempted in this study. A total of 12 members of the NF-YA gene family were identified in the cassava genome. They were located on the 18 cassava chromosomes with different frequencies. Several initial structural analyses of the NF-YA family were also performed. Among them, the typical gene organization of the MeNF-YA gene family contained 5 exons/4 introns. Interestingly, the conserved region of NF-YA was characterized by the interaction of NF-YB/C domain and the DNA binding domain. This study provided information on NF-Y in plants.

The viral disease is one of the biggest challenges in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production. Although disease management is highlighted and seriously controlled in whole production areas, there are still many difficulties due to the lack of understanding of the symptoms, pathogens, and detection methods to control the viral disease at early stages. In this review, the authors summarised some major viral diseases in tomato plants with a brief of virus characteristics and their specific symptoms. Then the authors discussed the application of the molecular techniques, with a focus on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), for the detection of tomato viral diseases in the early stages of infection, thereby providing a solid foundation for further improvement of virus-free tomato production