The CRISPR genome editing technology is a crucial tool for enabling revolutionary advancements in plant genetic improvement. This review shows the latest developments in CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system variants, discussing their benefits and limitations for plant improvement. While this technology presents immense opportunities for plant breeding, it also raises serious biosafety concerns that require careful consideration, including potential off-target effects and the unintended transfer of modified genes to other organisms. This paper highlights strategies to mitigate biosafety risks and explores innovative plant gene editing detection methods. Our review investigates the international biosafety guidelines for gene-edited crops, analyzing their broad implications for agricultural and biotechnology research and advancement. We hope to provide illuminating and refined perspectives for industry practitioners and policymakers by evaluating CRISPR genome enhancement in plants.

An immune system is a protective mechanism that shields plants from environmental stresses. This primary function is to maintain optimal circumstances for the growth and development of plant tissues while avoiding harm from biotic and abiotic stress factors. Plants subjected to various stressors initiate stress signaling cascades that affect multiple gene expressions and induce adaptation. These signaling pathways are coordinated by transcription factors, non-coding RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, and protein–protein interaction networks. Several studies have focused on various immune systems, but no study has collected all of them together to illustrate them efficiently. According to this review, stress-responsive genes encode ion and water transporters, enzymes, and transcription factors, making plants more resistant to biological and abiotic challenges. Plants have also evolved anti-pathogen defense systems such as regulatory hormone pathways, reactive oxygen species generation, gene expression, programmed cell death, and cell survival. Plants produce short RNAs in response to a viral attack, which silences the offensive genome and creates complex epigenetic regulatory mechanisms such as histone changes, chromatin remodeling, and DNA methylation to protect plants from pathogens. This review provides an in-depth description of proteins, effectors, and pathways included in plant resistance against environmental stresses and offers details on future trends, such as metabolic pathways and genetic engineering, to improve the protection of plants against stress-induced responses.

Fatty acid desaturases (FADs) modulate carbon–carbon single bonds to form carbon–carbon double bonds in acyl chains, leading to unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) that have vital roles in plant growth and development and their response to environmental stresses. In this study, a total of 23 Populus trichocarpaFAD (PtFAD) candidates were identified from the poplar genome and clustered into seven clades, including FAB2, FAD2, FAD3/7/8, FAD5, FAD6, DSD, and SLD. The exon–intron compositions and conserved motifs of the PtFADs, clustered into the same clade, were considerably conserved. It was found that segmental duplication events are predominantly attributable to the PtFAD gene family expansion. Several hormone- and stress-responsive elements in the PtFAD promoters implied that the expression of the PtFAD members was complicatedly regulated. A gene expression pattern analysis revealed that some PtFAD mRNA levels were significantly induced by abiotic stress. An interaction proteins and gene ontology (GO) analysis indicated that the PtFADs are closely associated with the UFAs biosynthesis. In addition, the UFA contents in poplars were significantly changed under drought and salt stresses, especially the ratio of linoleic and linolenic acids. The integration of the PtFAD expression patterns and UFA contents showed that the abiotic stress-induced PtFAD3/7/8 members mediating the conversion of linoleic and linolenic acids play vital roles in response to osmotic stress. This study highlights the profiles and functions of the PtFADs and identifies some valuable genes for forest improvements.

Salinity stress severely impacts wheat productivity, necessitating effective strategies to enhance crop resilience. This study investigates the potential of Penicillium chrysogenum CM022 as a biological agent to alleviate the impact of salinity stress on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). P. chrysogenum CM022 improved germination of wheat seeds, particularly under salinity of 150 mM NaCl. Fungal inoculation significantly improved plant growth in terms of root length, plant height, and seedling biomass, even under high salinity conditions. Notably, inoculated plants preserved photosynthetic pigments and reduced oxidative damage, evidenced by lower levels of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA), compared to non-inoculated controls. The inoculated plants also exhibited enhanced proline and soluble sugar contents, which are crucial for osmotic adjustment under stress. Additionally, P. chrysogenum CM022 significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of wheat, boosting total phenolic and flavonoid contents, and enhancing antioxidant enzyme activity under high salinity. These findings underscore the potential of P. chrysogenum CM022 in improving wheat tolerance to salinity stress through physiological, biochemical, and antioxidant defense mechanisms, supporting its use in sustainable agricultural practices to mitigate the adverse effects of salinity on crop production.

This study investigated the effects of fungal (Penicillium chrysogenum, Thielavia basicola, Curvularia hawaiiensis) and bacterial (Sphingomonas aquatilis, Bacillus licheniformis, Exiguobacterium aurantiacum, Micromonospora echinaurantiaca, Kocuria rhizophila) endophytes on the growth and physiological traits of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under greenhouse conditions. Both individual and combined endophyte treatments significantly enhanced key growth parameters, including stem weight, height, and dry weight, with notable synergies observed in fungal-bacterial combinations such as P. chrysogenum + E. aurantiacum and S. aquatilis + M. echinaurantiaca. These combinations also optimised photosynthetic activity, increasing chlorophyll content, carotenoids, and photosystem II efficiency, improving plant vitality. Additionally, these endophytes stimulated a marked increase in carotenoid levels, with fungal-bacterial combinations leading to substantial improvements in antioxidant activity. Furthermore, inoculation with these endophytes promoted higher phenolic and proline content, with distinct combinations showing remarkable effects on carbohydrate accumulation. The findings underscore the synergistic potential of fungal-bacterial endophyte interactions in enhancing plant resilience, offering promising strategies for improving crop productivity and sustainability in agriculture.

Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetases (LACSs) catalyze fatty acids (FAs) to form fatty acyl-CoA thioesters, which play essential roles in FA and lipid metabolisms and cuticle wax biosynthesis. Although LACSs from Arabidopsis have been intensively studied, the characterization and function of LACSs from poplar are unexplored. Here, 10 poplar PtLACS genes were identified from the poplar genome and distributed to eight chromosomes. A phylogenetic tree indicated that PtLACSs are sorted into six clades. Collinearity analysis and duplication events demonstrated that PtLACSs expand through segmental replication events and experience purifying selective pressure during the evolutionary process. Expression patterns revealed that PtLACSs have divergent expression changes in response to abiotic stress. Interaction proteins and GO analysis could enhance the understanding of putative interactions among protein and gene regulatory networks related to FA and lipid metabolisms. Cluster networks and long-chain FA (LCFA) and very long-chain FA (VLCFA) content analysis revealed the possible regulatory mechanism in response to drought and salt stresses in poplar. The present study provides valuable information for the functional identification of PtLACSs in response to abiotic stress metabolism in poplar.