Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) is a key enzyme in sucrose synthesis, which controls sucrose content in plants. This study was designed to examine the efficacy of the overexpression of SoSPS1 gene on sucrose accumulation and carbon partitioning in transgenic sugarcane. The overexpression of SoSPS1 gene increased SPS activity and sucrose content in transgenic sugarcane leaves. More importantly, the overexpression enhanced soluble acid invertase (SAI) activity concomitant with the increase of glucose and fructose levels in the leaves, whereas sucrose synthase activity exhibited almost no change. In the stalk, a similar correlation was observed, but a higher correlation was noted between SPS activity and sugar content. These results suggest that SPS overexpression has both direct and indirect effects on sugar concentration and SAI activity in sugarcane. In addition, SPS overexpression resulted in a significant increase in plant height and stalk number in some transgenic lines compared to those in non-transgenic control. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that enhancing SPS activity is a useful strategy for improving sugarcane yield.

Sucrose is the primary form of mobile photoassimilates, and its level is regulated by sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) in plants. Increasing in the SPS activity was accompanied by an increase in sucrose accumulation. This study was designed to examine the effect of the overexpression sugarcane SoSPS1 gene on sucrose metabolizing enzymes, growth, and grain yield of indica rice. The SoSPS1 gene was constructed in a binary vector under the control of a rice ubiquitin promoter and transformed into indica rice using an Agrobacterium vector. Five lines of transgenic rice were selected to develop homozygous transgenic lines and used for analysis. The overexpression of the SoSPS1 gene significantly increased the transcript and protein levels, followed by increasing in SPS activity and sucrose content in the leaves of the transgenic rice lines. Moreover, the activity of soluble acid invertase (SAI) was elevated rather than sucrose synthase (SuSy) in the transgenic lines. The increase in the sucrose-degrading enzymes leads to an increase in plant growth and development. The plant height and number of tillers were significantly higher in the transgenic line compared to non-transgenic (NT) rice. In addition, the amylose content, the number of seeds per panicle, and the weight of 1000 grains of seed, including dry biomass weight, were increased in the transgenic lines. The results indicated that enhancement of SPS activity, as well as sucrose content, provides a higher carbon partitioning for higher growth and productivity of the transgenic rice lines.

Yellow cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus Cav.) is a specific flowering plant and considered a suitable genetic engineering model. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is commonly used for plant genetic engineering. Floral dip transformation is one of the plant genetic transformation methods, and it involves dipping flower buds into an Agrobacterium suspension. Studies on floral dip transformation of yellow cosmos have never been reported. Therefore, an efficient method in plant genetic engineering must be established. This study developed an effective and efficient floral dip transformation method for yellow cosmos.

Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV), and sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV) are the causative pathogens of mosaic disease. This study aimed to identify mosaic virus infection and its impact on photosynthetic and antioxidant gene expression in eight commercial sugarcane cultivars grown on sugarcane plantations in East Java, Indonesia. The disease incidence and severity were observed in symptomatic leave samples, and then the virus was identified. A high incidence and severity of mosaic symptoms were observed in the PS881 and NX04 cultivars compared with the other cultivars. RT-PCR analysis detected SCSMV infection in all cultivars; double infections with SCSMV and SCMV in the PS881, PS882, and Cening cultivars; and triple infections with SCSMV, SCMV, and SrMV in the PS881 cultivar. Ascorbate peroxidase (Apx) expression was upregulated in all virus-infected cultivars and significantly increased in the triple-infected PS881 cultivar. However, catalase (Cat) expression was only slightly increased in the PS881 cultivar. The chlorophyll content was reduced, and the PsaA gene was downregulated in all cultivars. The expression of PsaA, RbcS, and Sps was significantly suppressed in the triple-infected PS881 cultivar. Moreover, the downregulation of both the RbcS and Pepc genes was concomitant with that of their protein levels.

Mosaic disease is the most major devastating pathogen in sugarcane caused by sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), otherwise SCMV was also causing mosaic disease in an

The need for plants resistant to abiotic stress now and in the future is predicted to be very high. It is related to extreme climate change and converting agricultural land into residential and industrial land. As Indonesia’s national strategic commodity, chili peppers require special attention when assembling chili peppers resistant to salinity and drought stress. New varieties of chili pepper plants resistant to saline and drought can be obtained through unconventional breeding (overexpression of the dehydrin gene). As a first step in assembling saline and drought-resistant chili plants, growth response and dehydrin gene expression tests were carried out from explants of chili pepper plants of the TM999 variety in vitro on salt and drought treatment media. This study aims to obtain information on the initial response to the growth and expression of the dehydrin gene from chili pepper plants of the TM999 variety before further research is carried out to increase the expression of the dehydrin gene through a molecular approach. The method used in this study is a complete randomized design with two treatments: Sodium chloride (NaCl) and polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000). The results obtained in this study showed that chili pepper varieties TM999 were more tolerant of drought stress than salinity based on several growth response data in both treatments. The analysis of dehydrin gene expression in both treatments showed that the gene expression was strongly influenced by the two strokes given. NaCl and PEG-6000 treatments increased the dehydrin gene expression of chili pepper plants grown in vitro.