Drought and salinity stresses significantly threaten global wheat productivity, limiting growth and reducing yields, thus endangering food security worldwide. These stresses disrupt physiological processes, impair photosynthesis, and hinder optimal growth and yield by diminishing water uptake, causing osmotic stress, ion toxicity, and oxidative stress. In response, various mitigation strategies have been explored, including breeding for stress-tolerant cultivars, improved irrigation techniques, and the application of exogenous osmoprotectants and soil amendments. Among these strategies, the emergence of rhizospheric and endophytic growth-promoting microorganisms has attracted significant attention. Therefore, a systematic review was undertaken to illustrate the role of endophytic bacteria in enhancing wheat tolerance to drought and salinity stresses. This review analyzes physiological mechanisms and research trends, identifies gaps, and discusses implications for sustainable agriculture. An analysis of the literature related to endophytic bacteria in wheat was conducted using databases of major publishers from 2004 to 2023. The review explores their mechanisms, such as phytohormone production and stress-responsive gene induction, emphasizing their contribution to plant growth and stress resilience. The current research trends indicate a growing interest in utilizing endophytic bacteria to mitigate these stresses in wheat cultivation, with studies focusing on understanding their physiological responses and interactions with wheat plants. Future research should concentrate on elucidating the role of endophytic bacteria in enhancing host plant tolerance to multiple stressors, as well as aspects like endophytic mechanism of action, endophytic lifestyle, and transmission pathways. Overall, endophytic bacteria offer promising avenues for sustainable agricultural practices, aiding in crop resilience and food security amid environmental challenges.

The in vitro response of two citrus rootstocks (sour orange, Citrus aurantium L. and Volkamer lemon, Citrus volkameriana Ten. & Pasq.) to two types of salts (NaCl and CaCl₂) of different concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, or 300 mM) was investigated. Results showed that increasing NaCl level in the growth medium led to increased Na and Cl accumulation and decreased Ca concentrations in plant tissue. Increasing CaCl₂ levels in the growth medium led to increased Ca accumulation and decreased Na concentrations in plant tissue. Plant K concentrations decreased with increased salinity level in the media. In general, increased salinity level in growth medium, using NaCl, CaCl₂, or a combination of the two, led to reduced plant growth (leaf number, plant length, fresh weight, dry weight, and increased plant leaf damage) in Volkamer lemon and sour orange after two months in culture.

In vitro preservation of transgenic tomato lines overexpressing the stress-responsive transcription factor SlAREB1 was studied by using slow growth and cryopreservation techniques. Slow growth preservation was performed by using different concentrations of sucrose (0, 100, 200, 300 mm) and abscisic acid (0, 4, 8, 12 μm) in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media, while cryopreservation was conducted by using encapsulation dehydration, V-cryoplates and seeds. Significant differences were observed between tested lines grown on MS media supplemented with 200 mm sucrose where transgenic lines overexpressing SlAREB1 showed improved growth when compared with negative control. The addition of abscisic acid (ABA) to the preservation media affected negatively transgenic lines growth and development when compared with ABA-free media. In encapsulation dehydration, non-cryopreserved transgenic lines overexpressing SlAREB1 pretreated in 0.8 M sucrose for 1 day and subjected to different dehydration periods showed significantly higher survival percentages when compared with negative control. For V-cryoplates technique, cryopreserved transgenic lines overexpressing SlAREB1 treated in 0.3 M sucrose for 3 days with or without cold acclimatization showed significantly higher survival percentages when compared with the negative control. Seed cryopreservation was performed successfully with a clear reduction in germination percentage in transgenic lines overexpressing high levels of SlAREB1. In conclusion, transgenic tomato lines overexpressing SlAREB1 were found to improve tolerance against different abiotic stresses associated with different in vitro preservation protocols.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has quickly developed into a worldwide pandemic. Mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome may affect various aspects of the disease including fatality ratio. In this study, 553,518 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences isolated from patients from continents for the period 1 December 2020 to 15 March 2021 were comprehensively analyzed and a total of 82 mutations were identified concerning the reference sequence. In addition, associations between the mutations and the case fatality ratio (CFR), cases per million and deaths per million, were examined. The mutations having the highest frequencies among different continents were Spike_D614G and NSP12_P323L. Among the identified mutations, NSP2_T153M, NSP14_I42V and Spike_L18F mutations showed a positive correlation to CFR. While the NSP13_Y541C, NSP3_T73I and NSP3_Q180H mutations demonstrated a negative correlation to CFR. The Spike_D614G and NSP12_P323L mutations showed a positive correlation to deaths per million. The NSP3_T1198K, NS8_L84S and NSP12_A97V mutations showed a significant negative correlation to deaths per million. The NSP12_P323L and Spike_D614G mutations showed a positive correlation to the number of cases per million. In contrast, NS8_L84S and NSP12_A97V mutations showed a negative correlation to the number of cases per million. In addition, among the identified clades, none showed a significant correlation to CFR. The G, GR, GV, S clades showed a significant positive correlation to deaths per million. The GR and S clades showed a positive correlation to number of cases per million. The clades having the highest frequencies among continents were G, followed by GH and GR. These findings should be taken into consideration during epidemiological surveys of the virus and vaccine development.

Genetic diversity among 17 Jordanian snake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) landraces was investigated using 8 AFLP primer combinations and 14 ISSR molecular markers. The eight AFLP primer combinations produced 403 bands among which 219 (54%) were polymorphic with the polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 92.1% to 95.5%. The Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) classified the landraces into two groups based on Dice similarity coefficient, ranging from a high of 0.88 to a low of 0.22% similarity. Bootstrapping of the obtained AFLP-clusters ranged from 33 to 97. The 14 ISSR primers produced 63 bands, among which 27 (43%) were polymorphic, and classified the landraces into two groups ranging from a high of 0.97 to a low of 0.39% similarity. Bootstrapping of the obtained ISSR clusters ranged from 2 to 96. Both AFLP and ISSR markers were successful in amplifying informative bands for different snake melon landraces and showed moderate level of positive correlation (r = 0.71) based on Mantel test. While the principal component analysis explained 34% of the total variation, AFLP and ISSR markers were successful in characterizing and identifying potential important population sources for snake melon breeders.