Mung bean (Vigna radiata), an essential annual legume, holds substantial value in global agriculture due to its short growth cycle, low input requirements, and nutritional benefits. Despite extensive domestication, the genetic mechanisms underlying its morphological and physiological evolution remain incompletely understood. In this study, we present a gap-free, telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of the mung bean cultivar 'Weilv-9′, achieved through the integration of PacBio HiFi, Oxford Nanopore, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing technologies. The 500-Mb assembly, encompassing 11 chromosomes and containing 28 740 protein-coding genes, reveals that 49.17% of the genome comprises repetitive sequences. Within the genome, we found the recent amplification of transposable elements significantly impacts the expression of nearby genes. Furthermore, integrating structural variation and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from resequencing, we identified that the fatty acid synthesis, suberin biosynthetic, and phenylpropanoid metabolic processes have undergone strong selection during domestication. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic mechanisms driving domestication and offer a foundation for future genetic enhancement and breeding programs in mung beans and related species.

The Rab protein family is the largest family of the small GTP-binding proteins. Among them, the RabG genes are known to be responsive to abiotic stresses, but the molecular mechanisms of the stress responses mediated by RabG genes in plants is poorly understood. To investigate the molecular mechanism of AhRabG gene in peanut, transgenic plants overexpressing the AhRabG gene (S6) with relatively higher salinity resistance than the non-transgenic plants (S7) were obtained. Digital gene expression (DGE) sequencing was performed with the leaves of S6 and S7 plants before and after salinity-stress treatment. The AhRabG gene in peanut was found to be involved in a few pathways such as "photosynthesis", "oxidative phosphorylation", "AMPK signaling pathway", "plant hormone signal transduction", etc. A total of 298 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found to be upregulated or downregulated at five sampling time points based on the comparison between S6 and S7 plants. Among them, 132 DEGs were responsive to salinity stress in S6 and/or S7 after salinity-stress treatment. These 132 DEGs included genes encoding various transcription factors and proteins involved in resistance to salinity stress such as MYB, AP2, RING-H2 zinc finger proteins, late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, dehydration-responsive protein RD22, peroxidases, CBL-interacting protein kinases, calcium-binding proteins, and others. The information from this study will be useful for further studies on elucidating the mechanism of salinity resistance conferred by RabG genein peanut.

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important legume crop. However, the yield of pea is adversely affected by heat stress in China. In this study, heat-tolerant germplasms were screened and evaluated in the field under multi-conditions. The results showed that heat stress could significantly affect pea yield. On the basis of grain weight per plant, 257 heat-tolerant and 175 heat-sensitive accessions were obtained from the first year’s screening, and 26 extremely heat-tolerant and 19 extremely heat-sensitive accessions were finally obtained in this study. Based on SNaPshot technology, two sets of SNP markers, including 46 neutral and 20 heat-tolerance-related markers, were used to evaluate the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the 432 pea accessions obtained from the first year’s screening. Genetic diversity analysis showed that the average polymorphic information content was lower using heat-tolerance-related markers than neutral markers because of the selective pressure under heat stress. In addition, population genetic structure analysis showed that neutral markers divided the 432 pea accessions into two subpopulations associated with sowing date type and geographical origin, while the heat-tolerance-related markers divided these germplasms into two subpopulations associated with heat tolerance and sowing date type. Overall, we present a comprehensive resource of heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive pea accessions through heat-tolerance screenings in multi-conditions, which could help genetic improvements of pea in the future.

To clarify cultivar differences in growth performance, yield formation, and bioactive characteristics at the sprout and fresh seed stages, twelve pea cultivars were evaluated. Growth traits, yield formation, and changes in phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity during sprouting were assessed, and the nutritional quality and mineral element composition of fresh seeds were also determined. The results showed that cultivars 24-164 and 24-510 exhibited low germination rates and severe cotyledon decay, making them unsuitable for sprout production. Significant differences were observed among the remaining cultivars in growth traits, edible ratio, and yield efficiency, with cultivars 24-724 and 24-486 showing superior processing efficiency and utilization value. During sprouting, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, as well as 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), were significantly influenced by both cultivar and light exposure stage. Root length and root diameter were significantly and positively correlated with phenolic accumulation and antioxidant activity. Analysis of fresh seed quality revealed marked inter-cultivar variation in nutritional and health-related traits. Cultivar 24-486 exhibited the highest values for phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, vitamin C, vitamin E, and Fe and Se accumulation, whereas cultivar 24-013 showed advantages in calcium and potassium contents. These results identify cultivars 24-724 and 24-486 as promising candidates for sprout production and highlight cultivar 24-486 as a dual-purpose genotype for both sprout and fresh seed utilization.