High temperature stress during rice reproductive development results in yield losses. Reduced grain yield and grain quality has been associated with high temperature stress, and specifically with high night-time temperatures (HNT). Characterizing the impact of HNT on the phenotypic and metabolic status of developing rice seeds can provide insights into the mechanisms involved in yield and quality decline. Here, we examined the impact of warmer nights on the morphology and metabolome during early seed development in six diverse rice accessions. Seed size was sensitive to HNT in four of the six genotypes, while seed fertility and seed weight were unaffected. We observed genotypic differences for negative impact of HNT on grain quality. This was evident from the chalky grain appearance due to impaired packaging of starch granules. Metabolite profiles during early seed development (3 and 4 days after fertilization; DAF) were distinct from the early grain filling stages (7 and 10 DAF) under optimal conditions. We observed that accumulation of sugars (sucrose, fructose, and glucose) peaked at 7 DAF suggesting a major flux of carbon into glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and starch biosynthesis during grain filling. Next, we determined hyper (HNT > control) and hypo (HNT < control) abundant metabolites and found 19 of the 57 metabolites to differ significantly between HNT and control treatments. The most prominent changes were exhibited by differential abundance of sugar and sugar alcohols under HNT, which could be linked to a protective mechanism against the HNT damage. Overall, our results indicate that combining metabolic profiles of developing grains with yield and quality parameters under high night temperature stress could provide insight for exploration of natural variation for HNT tolerance in the rice germplasm.

Frost stress is one of the abiotic stresses that causes a significant reduction in winter faba bean yield in Europe. The main objective of this work is to genetically improve frost tolerance in winter faba bean by identifying and validating QTL associated with frost tolerance to be used in marker-assisted selection (MAS). Two different genetic backgrounds were used: a biparental population (BPP) consisting of 101 inbred lines, and 189 genotypes from single seed descent (SSD) from the Gottingen Winter bean Population (GWBP). All experiments were conducted in a frost growth chamber under controlled conditions. Both populations were genotyped using the same set of 189 SNP markers. Visual scoring for frost stress symptoms was used to define frost tolerance in both populations. In addition, leaf fatty acid composition (FAC) and proline content were analyzed in BPP as physiological traits. QTL mapping (for BPP) and genome wide association studies (for GWBP) were performed to detect QTL associated with frost tolerance. High genetic variation between genotypes, and repeatability estimates, were found for all traits. QTL mapping and GWAS identified new putative QTL associated with promising frost tolerance and related traits. A set of 54 SNP markers common in both genetic backgrounds showed a high genetic diversity with polymorphic information content (PIC) ranging from 0.31 to 0.37 and gene diversity ranging from 0.39 to 0.50. This indicates that these markers may be polymorphic for many faba bean populations. Five SNP markers showed a significant marker-trait association with frost tolerance and related traits in both populations. Moreover, synteny analysis between Medicago truncatula (a model legume) and faba bean genomes was performed to identify candidate genes for these markers. Collinearity was evaluated between the faba bean genetic map constructed in this study and the faba bean consensus map, resulting in identifying possible genomic regions in faba bean which may control frost tolerance genes. The two genetic backgrounds were useful in detecting new variation for improving frost tolerance in winter faba bean. Of the five validated SNP markers, one (VF_Mt3g086600) was found to be associated with frost tolerance and FAC in both populations. This marker was also associated with winter hardiness and high yield in earlier studies. This marker is located in a gene of unknown function.

Soybean oil has a wide variety of uses, and stearic acid, which is a relatively minor component of soybean oil is increasingly desired for both industrial and food applications. New soybean mutants containing high levels of the saturated fatty acid stearate in seeds were recently identified from a chemically mutagenized population. Six mutants ranged in stearate content from 6–14% stearic acid, which is 1.5 to 3 times the levels contained in wild-type seed of the Williams 82 cultivar. Candidate gene sequencing revealed that all of these lines carried amino acid substitutions in the gene encoding the delta-9-stearoyl-acyl-carrier protein desaturase enzyme (SACPD-C) required for the conversion of stearic acid to oleic acid. Five of these missense mutations were in highly conserved residues clustered around the predicted di-iron center of the SACPD-C enzyme. Co-segregation analysis demonstrated a positive association of the elevated stearate trait with the SACPD-C mutation for three populations. These missense mutations may provide additional alleles that may be used in the development of new soybean cultivars with increased levels of stearic acid.

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