GWC1 transcripts accumulated to high levels in early endosperm after fertilization and developing inflorescences, and GWC1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) signal was detected in the nucleus and cytoplasm. GWC1 is likely to regulate grain appearance quality through genes involved in sucrose metabolism and starch biosynthesis. Overall, the present findings reveal that GWC1 is important for grain quality and yield due to its effects on grain chalkiness and size.Girdling is an important horticultural practice that allows increased yields or modulated ripening but not much is known how it affects metabolic processes. Trunk girdling was performed at fruit set using a single-blade knife on two table grape cultivar SUPERIOR SEEDLESS® and SABLE SEEDLESS®. Sampling of berries was carried out 1 or 9 weeks after girdling in 2017 from both cultivars and 7 and 9 weeks after girdling of ‘Sable’ in 2018. As expected, girdling resulted in consistent increase in berry size but total soluble content of mature ‘Superior’ berries was not affected and in ‘Sable’ it was slightly reduced in one of the two seasons examined. One week after girdling, abscisic acid and gibberellin content was higher in fruitlets from girdled vines and genes of the phenylpropanoid pathway were induced in both cultivars. learn more Berry color development of ‘Sable’ measured both by auto-fluorescence and concentration of anthocyanins was reduced upon girdling. In contrast, flavan-3-ol and flavonol content, and total proanthcyanidins (PA) content increased 1.8-fold while the mean degree polymerization of the PA decreased from 26 to 21 upon girdling. Girdling reduced the levels of fatty acid derived volatiles in berries of ‘Superior’ and ‘Sable’. In ‘Sable’, the total terpene level and the level of volatiles released after acid hydrolysis, decreased upon girdling. Overall, our study indicates that girdling can divert metabolic pathways in a manner that may have significant effect on the taste and flavor of grapes.Drought stress has a great impact on wheat yields. The ubiquitin/26S proteasome system is one of the most important mechanisms employed by plants for responding to stress. E3 ubiquitin ligase is an important part of the ubiquitin/26S proteasome system. In wheat, the mechanism of E3 ubiquitin ligase TaDIS1 has not been investigated in great detail. In this study, TaSTP was identified as an interacting partner using yeast two-hybrid screening. The results obtained from bimolecular fluorescence complementation, pull-down, and co-immunoprecipitation assays also demonstrated that TaDIS1 interacts with TaSTP. In vitro ubiquitination assays showed that TaDIS1 has an E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and the results based on two TaDIS1 mutants suggested that the RING domain is essential for its E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. In addition, we used MG132 to show that TaSTP can be degraded by TaDIS1 via the 26S proteasome pathway. The transcript levels of TaSTP showed that it can also respond to different abiotic stresses, such as drought, salt, and abscisic acid treatment. RING E3 ubiquitin ligase TaDIS1 may through the posttranslational regulation of TaSTP to play an important role in drought tolerance.Potential gene flow from transgenic Brassica napus to widely-distributed, cross-compatible weedy relatives has received significant attention. All previous, albeit scarce, research has shown little to no success in producing viable F1 hybrids between B. napus (n = 38) and B. nigra (n = 16). The present study tested the working premise that the propensity for interspecific hybridization is significantly higher between B. napus and wild-growing, B. nigra displaying mixoploidy (n = 32). Controlled hybridization was performed using local, wild-growing B. nigra (♀) x transgenic (Bt Cry1Ac) B. napus (♂). Spontaneous hybridization was performed using the same B. nigra (♀) population x non-transgenic B. napus (♂) under sympatric open-field and greenhouse conditions. The total hybridization frequency, determined by the functional expression of the Bt Cry1Ac endotoxin, was 1.8 % of the F1 hybrids (n = 35). Gene flow from non-transgenic B. napus to B. nigra ranged from 4 to 29 % in F1 hybrids, with combined wind- and wild-insect-mediated pollen dispersal being the most effective. Successful interspecific hybridization is significantly enhanced using mixoploid B. nigra progenitor material. Gene flow rates in F1 hybrids were equivalent to those previously reported between B. napus with B. rapa and B. juncea, respectively, which are at the forefront of risk assessment concerns.Transglutaminases (TGases), mediators of the transamidation of specific proteins by polyamines (PA), play critical roles in PA metabolism in animals, but their functions and regulatory mechanisms are largely unknown in plants. In this study, we demonstrated that TGase from cucumber played a protective role in the regulation of PA metabolism under salt stress. The expression of TGase was induced by salt stress in cucumber. Ectopic overexpression of cucumber TGase in tobacco conferred enhanced tolerance to salt stress based on both external symptoms and membrane integrity. Overexpression lines maintained high levels of PAs under salt stress, suggesting that PAs played a vital role in TGase-induced salt tolerance. In contrast, the levels of Na+ content in the wild-type (WT) plants increased, while they decreased in the overexpression plants. The expression levels of several genes related to ion exchange enhanced, and the Na+/K+ ratio decreased by increased TGase activity under salt stress. The activities of the proton-pump ATPase (H+-ATPase), vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) and vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase (PPase) were higher in the overexpression lines than in WT plants under salt stress. Moreover, the malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 contents were significantly lower in the overexpression lines than in WT plants, accompanied by increased antioxidant enzyme activity. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that TGase plays protective roles in response to salt stress, which may promote plant survival by regulating PA metabolism and the Na+/K+ balance under salt stress.