Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. is an important medicinal plant in northeast China. Cutting propagation is an effective method for the rapid propagation of many tree species. This research aimed to determine a suitable growing medium and appropriate root hormone type, concentration and treatment time through the utilization of different substrates and hormones to treat one-year-old branches of S. chinensis. The optimal treatment achieved a rooting rate of 60% with 225 ppm ABT and 75 ppm NAA for 2.5 h. The substrate of vermiculite/perlite = 1:1 (urea+potassium) was beneficial to the adventitious root formation, which reached 79%. The adventitious root primordium of S. chinensis originated from the junction of the xylem and cambium. ABT and NAA treatments altered the peak timing of POD, PPO and IAAO in S. chinensis cuttings. During the adventitious root formation of S. chinensis cuttings, the high endogenous IAA concentration promoted the occurrence of adventitious roots in the early stage and the lower endogenous IAA and GA₃ concentrations promoted the elongation and growth of adventitious roots in the later period. Low ABA and ZR concentrations enabled adventitious root formation and elongation. An efficient cutting propagation system would enable the mass propagation of S. chinensis seedlings.

Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. is an important traditional medicinal plant. Lignans, the main active components of S. chinensis, have pharmacological effects, including liver protection, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. In this study, we investigated the dynamic changes and differences in appearance quality, contents of key lignan compounds, and antioxidant capacity of three S. chinensis varieties during the ripening of fruits and seeds. The lignan content in the seeds of the three varieties reached up to 91.9%, it showed an ‘M’-type trend of ‘increase–decrease–increase–decrease’ during fruit ripening; this lignan content was significantly higher than that measured in the fruit. The antioxidant capacity of the seeds surpassed that of the grains, and the maturation trends of the grains and seeds remained relatively aligned. The overall change in free radical (DPPH)-scavenging ability in the seeds during ripening exhibited an inverted ‘N’-type trend of ‘decrease–increase–decrease’. The trends in TFC and TPC were consistent with this ‘N’-type pattern of ‘increase–decrease–increase’. In summary, our results suggest 104 days after flowering as the best harvesting period for S. chinensis. Additionally, this study elucidates the synthesis patterns of lignan content and the corresponding changes in antioxidant capacity in S. chinensis, thereby providing a foundation for the evaluation and screening of germplasm resources.

With the decrease in the number of natural populations of Actinidia arguta, there is an urgent need to collect A. arguta germplasm resources and explore their genetic diversity for better management and protection. In this study, 31 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to identify 148 wild A. arguta germplasms from six natural populations in Changbai Mountain, China, and the genetic diversity of their leaf quality traits was subsequently evaluated. SSR analysis revealed rich genetic diversity among different individuals and within populations of A. arguta. Molecular variance analysis determined that the genetic diversity of wild A. arguta mainly came from within the populations (95% variance component ratio), while only a small part originated from among populations (5% variance component ratio). Abundant genetic variations were observed in the leaf quality traits of the different A. arguta resources with a high genetic diversity index (0.13–1.23). Leaf quality trait clustering and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) clustering analysis showed similar classification results. Population structure analysis divided 148 individuals into three subgroups. Our results indicate that the populations of A. arguta in Changbai Mountain have large genetic variation and high genetic diversity. This study broadens the genetic basis of the A. arguta breeding germplasm.

Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is a highly efficient and sensitive technique for quantifying gene transcript levels. The accuracy of gene expression analysis depends critically on the selection of appropriate reference genes for normalization, which is essential to minimize technical variation arising from differences in RNA quality, reverse transcription efficiency, and sample handling. Schisandra chinensis is a medicinally important plant with a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine and has gained increasing global recognition. In recent years, a growing number of studies have employed molecular biology approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying secondary metabolite biosynthesis in S. chinensis. However, systematically validated reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis in this species have not yet been established. In the present study, the expression stability of eleven candidate reference genes was evaluated across different tissues and under various abiotic stress conditions in S. chinensis using four statistical algorithms: geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and RefFinder. Comprehensive analysis revealed that PP2A15 and UBC2 were the optimal reference gene combination for leaves; UBC2 and UBC11 for stems; RPL6 and PP2A15 for roots; RPL21 and RPL6 for fruits; and RPL6 and UBC11 as the best-performing pair across all tissue types. Under abiotic stress conditions, UBC11 and UBC2 exhibited the highest stability in both leaves and roots under salt stress; UBC2 and GPN1 proved most stable under alkaline stress; UBC2 and RPL6 were identified as the most suitable combination under drought stress; and UBC2 and UBQ12 demonstrated consistently stable expression across all three abiotic stress treatments. The reliability of these reference gene combinations was further validated by examining the expression profiles of three target genes. Collectively, these findings establish a validated reference gene toolkit for future gene expression studies in S. chinensis, particularly for the functional characterization of genes involved in lignan biosynthesis and abiotic stress responses.

There is an urgent need for the cryopreservation of dormant buds to conserve the genetic resources of woody plants, particularly fruit trees, as this method is less time-consuming and relatively inexpensive. In the present study, three different cryopreservation protocols were tested on dormant buds from three varieties of Vitis amurensis Rupr. The explants were collected between November 2017 and March 2018. Twig segments harvested from field-grown plants, each containing one dormant bud, were desiccated in a low-temperature test chamber at −5 °C. The viability of the buds was highest (45%) after 28–30 days of desiccation, when the moisture content was approximately 25–30%. Cryopreservation using the CP3 protocol (which involves decreasing the temperature at a rate of 0.1 °C/min to −30 °C and holding this temperature for 24 h, followed by a 0.5 °C/min decline to −80 °C, a 1 °C/min decline to −180 °C, and finally reaching −196 °C in a CryoMed controlled rate freezer) significantly enhanced the viability (66.67%) when the samples were packed in aluminum-foil bags. Additionally, immersing the twigs in ice-cold (4 °C) water for 24 h in a refrigerator during thawing proved to be more conducive to viability. The dormant buds of all three V. amurensis varieties collected in January exhibited the highest viability after cryopreservation, followed by those collected in February and December. In contrast, the dormant buds collected in November and March showed the lowest viability after cryopreservation. The average viability of twigs of ‘Shuanghong’, ‘Zuoshanyi’, and ‘Shuangfeng’ collected between 2019 and 2021 all exceeded 60%. After the cryopreservation process, the outer multilayered cells in the buds were completely damaged; however, the inner cells exhibited moderate damage and were able to resume growth after thawing. Therefore, based on graft viability and histological observations, the dormant bud cryopreservation protocols tested in this study could be applicable to these three V. amurensis varieties.