Grapevine is an important and extensively grown fruit crop, which is severely hampered by drought worldwide. So, comprehending the impact of drought on grapevine genetic resources is necessary. In the present study, RNA-sequencing was executed using cDNA libraries constructed from both drought-stress and control plants. Results generated 12,451 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), out of which 8,021 genes were up-regulated, and 4,430 were down-regulated. Further physiological and biochemical investigations were also performed to validate the biological processes associated with the development of grapevine in response to drought stress. Results also revealed that decline in the rate of stomatal conductance, in turn, decrease the photosynthetic activity and CO₂ assimilation in the grapevine leaves. Reactive oxygen species, including stress enzymes and their related proteins, and secondary metabolites were also activated in the present study. Likewise, various hormones also induced in response to drought stress. Overall, the present study concludes that these DEGs play both positive and negative roles in drought tolerance by regulating various biological pathways of grapevine. Nevertheless, our findings have provided valuable gene information for future studies of abiotic stress in grapevine and various other fruit crops.

It is indispensable to comprehend the mechanism that regulates plant responses to drought conditions to intensify the water use efficiency of stone fruits. The physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of drought-treated peach leaves were investigated. Results revealed that drought-treated plants manifested a significant attenuation in water potential as compared to control plants. Furthermore, sorbitol and proline contents were accumulated contrary to glucose, fructose, and sucrose that were dwindled significantly throughout the drought period. Similarly, the activities of antioxidant enzymes and expression pattern of related genes were hoisted to counter the lipid peroxidation in drought-treated plants. Moreover, reduced stomatal conductance has repressed the photosynthesis process and linked genes during drought stress. The expression level of regulatory genes (dehydration-responsive element-bindings and WRKYs) exhibited up-regulation in the drought-treated group. Overall, this study asserts that ‘Yoshihime’ peach cultivar possesses unique physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses under different spells of drought stress.

Salinity is ubiquitous abiotic stress factor limiting viticulture productivity worldwide. However, the grapevine is vulnerable to salt stress, which severely affects growth and development of the vine. Hence, it is crucial to delve into the salt resistance mechanism and screen out salt-resistance prediction marker genes; we implicated RNA-sequence (RNA-seq) technology to compare the grapevine transcriptome profile to salt stress. Results showed 2472 differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) in total in salt-responsive grapevine leaves, including 1067 up-regulated and 1405 down-regulated DEGs. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotations suggested that many DEGs were involved in various defense-related biological pathways, including ROS scavenging, ion transportation, heat shock proteins (HSPs), pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) and hormone signaling. Furthermore, many DEGs were encoded transcription factors (TFs) and essential regulatory proteins involved in signal transduction by regulating the salt resistance-related genes in grapevine. The antioxidant enzyme analysis showed that salt stress significantly affected the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities in grapevine leaves. Moreover, the uptake and distribution of sodium (Na⁺), potassium (K⁺) and chlorine (Cl⁻) in source and sink tissues of grapevine was significantly affected by salt stress. Finally, the qRT-PCR analysis of DE validated the data and findings were significantly consistent with RNA-seq data, which further assisted in the selection of salt stress-responsive candidate genes in grapevine. This study contributes in new perspicacity into the underlying molecular mechanism of grapevine salt stress-tolerance at the transcriptome level and explore new approaches to applying the gene information in genetic engineering and breeding purposes.

In higher plants, sugars are nutrients and important signal molecules. Sugar transporters (STs) facilitate sugar transport across membranes and are associated with loading and unloading of the conducting complex. Strawberry ( Fragaria ×ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) is one of the most economically important and widely cultivated fruit crop and a model plant among fleshy fruits worldwide. In this study, 66 woodland strawberry ( F. vesca L.) ST (FvST) genes were identified and further classified into eight distinct subfamilies in the woodland strawberry genome based on the phylogenetic analysis. In the promoter sequences of FvST gene families, a search for cis ‐regulatory elements suggested that some of them might probably be regulated by plant hormones (e.g., salicylic acid, abscisic acid, and auxin), abiotic (e.g., drought, excessive cold, and light), and biotic stress factors. Exon–intron analysis showed that each subfamily manifested closely associated gene architectural features based on similar number or length of exons. Moreover, to comprehend the potential evolution mechanism of FvST gene family, the analysis of genome duplication events was performed. The segmental and tandem duplication analysis elucidated that some of ST genes arose through whole‐genome duplication (WGD) or segmental duplication, accompanied by tandem duplications. The expression analysis of 24 FvST genes in vegetative and during fruit development has shown that the expression of several ST genes was tissue and developmental stage specific. Generally, our findings are important in understanding of the allocation of photo assimilates from source to sink cell and provide insights into the genomic organization and expression profiling of FvST gene families in woodland strawberry.