High summer temperatures increasingly constrain sweet cherry production, yet field-validated assessments of rootstock resilience remain scarce. To fill this gap, this study presents a pioneering multidimensional evaluation of five widely used sweet cherry rootstocks (Gisela 6, Gisela 12, Krymsk 5, Colt, and Lanting) under prolonged natural heat stress. Morphological traits, leaf anatomical characteristics, antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, POD), lipid peroxidation (MDA), phytohormones (ABA and JA), and osmotic regulators were assessed. Traits with high coefficients of variation, including POD activity, ABA, JA, and soluble protein content, were identified as sensitive indicators of heat stress. Lanting exhibited the strongest heat tolerance, characterized by thicker leaves, fewer heat-induced lesions, and enhanced antioxidant capacity, whereas Gisela 6 showed severe leaf abscission, elevated MDA and ABA accumulation, and the weakest defense capacity. Correlation analysis indicated that root sucker number was positively associated with SOD activity and soluble sugar content, suggesting a potential role of whole-plant carbon allocation in mitigating oxidative stress. Using the Entropy Weight–TOPSIS model, we provided a robust ranking that identifies Lanting and Colt as superior heat-resilient genotypes. The results provide a field-validated framework that bridges the gap between controlled-environment theory and practical orchard management, offering critical guidance for expanding sweet cherry cultivation into high-temperature regions.

Waterlogging stress is one of the major natural issues resulting in stunted growth and loss of agricultural productivity. Cultivated kiwifruits are popular for their rich vitamin C content and unique flavor among consumers, while commonly sensitive to waterlogging stress. The wild kiwifruit plants are usually obliged to survive in harsh environments. Here, we carried out a transcriptome analysis by high-throughput RNA sequencing using the root tissues of Actinidia deliciosa (a wild resource with stress-tolerant phenotype) after waterlogging for 0 d, 3 d, and 7 d. Based on the RNA sequencing data, a high number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in roots under waterlogging treatment, which were significantly enriched into four biological processes, including stress response, metabolic processes, molecular transport, and mitotic organization, by gene ontology (GO) simplify enrichment analysis. Among these DEGs, the hypoxia-related genes AdADH1 and AdADH2 were correlated well with the contents of acetaldehyde and ethanol, and three transcription factors Acc26216, Acc08443, and Acc16908 were highly correlated with both AdADH1/2 genes and contents of acetaldehyde and ethanol. In addition, we found that there might be an evident difference among the promoter sequences of ADH genes from A. deliciosa and A. chinensis. Taken together, our results provide additional information on the waterlogging response in wild kiwifruit plants.

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is widely planted in northern China due to its high economic value, and its cultivation has gradually spread south to warm regions. However, fruit rot, observed on the young fruits, poses a considerable threat to the development of sweet cherry. To determine the causal agent, morphological observation, molecular identification, and pathogenicity tests were performed on isolates obtained from diseased fruits. As a result, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was identified as the pathogen. Pathogenicity tests on different sweet cherry cultivars indicated that ‘Summit’ was highly sensitive to S. sclerotiorum, whereas ‘Hongmi’ showed significant resistance. Besides sweet cherry, S. sclerotiorum could also infect other vegetable crops we tested, such as cowpea, soybean, tomato, and chili. Fungicide sensitivity and efficacy assays showed that both fludioxonil and pyraclostrobin can effectively inhibit the mycelial growth of S. sclerotiorum and decrease disease incidences on the young fruits of sweet cherry. Furthermore, genome sequencing resulted in a 37.8 Mb assembly of S. sclerotiorum strain ScSs1, showing abundant SNPs, InDels, and SVs with the genome of S. sclerotiorum reference strain 1980 UF-70. The above results provide an important basis for controlling the fruit rot of sweet cherry caused by S. sclerotiorum in China.

Soil salinity is a major constraint on crop productivity, and plants rely on multilayered regulatory mechanisms to adapt to stress. Alternative splicing (AS) enhances transcriptome plasticity, yet how light modulates AS under salt stress remains unclear. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide analysis to investigate light-dependent AS dynamics in sweet potato under salt stress. Plant treatments were initiated during daytime (SD) and nighttime (SN) conditions, and samples were collected at five time points (0–8 h). Intron retention (IR) was the predominant AS type (~36–37%), followed by A3SS, A5SS, and exon skipping (SE). Notably, light enhanced both the magnitude and temporal dynamic of AS, with a pronounced early response (0–2 h) under SD, where differential AS (DAS) events were nearly doubled compared with SN. This early AS response was accompanied by an increased prevalence of IR events and upregulation of spliceosome-related genes, suggesting dynamic splicing regulation under light. Enrichment of the mRNA surveillance pathway further indicates that IR-derived transcripts may be subject to RNA quality control. Although enriched pathways were largely conserved between SD and SN, including spliceosome and mRNA surveillance, more DAS genes under SD indicate enhanced responsiveness of conserved regulatory networks. These findings demonstrate that light reshapes the temporal dynamics of AS under salt stress, primarily through IR and its coupling with RNA surveillance, providing new insights into post-transcriptional regulation in crop stress adaptation.

The parasitic wasps of Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera) are a group of insects with significant biological control value. However, their genomic evolution and ecological adaptation mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we focused on the genome analysis of Eretmocerus hayati and performed a comparative analysis with four other species from Aphelinidae. Our results indicated that the divergence time of Aphelinidae was approximately 119.9 million years ago. In Er. hayati, gene families related to energy metabolism and humoral immunity have significantly expanded, which may be associated with the high metabolic demands of its small body size and the immune adaptation strategies resulting from its unique parasitic methods. Additionally, genes involved in DNA replication and recombination have undergone positive selection in the ancestral branch of Aphelinidae species. Compared with 23 species within nine families in the Chalcidoidea superfamily studied here, the genome size of Er. hayati is the largest. The analysis of repetitive sequences revealed a recent burst of long terminal repeat (LTR) sequence insertions in the genome of Er. hayati. Our study indicates the evolutionary characteristics of Er. hayati in terms of gene family evolution, chromosomal collinearity, and transposon dynamics, providing a theoretical basis for understanding the environmental adaptation and biological control applications.