Quinoa is a crop originating in the Andes but grown more widely and with the genetic potential for significant further expansion. Due to the phenotypic plasticity of quinoa, varieties need to be assessed across years and multiple locations. To improve comparability among field trials across the globe and to facilitate collaborations, components of the trials need to be kept consistent, including the type and methods of data collected. Here, an internationally open-access framework for phenotyping a wide range of quinoa features is proposed to facilitate the systematic agronomic, physiological and genetic characterization of quinoa for crop adaptation and improvement. Mature plant phenotyping is a central aspect of this paper, including detailed descriptions and the provision of phenotyping cards to facilitate consistency in data collection. High-throughput methods for multi-temporal phenotyping based on remote sensing technologies are described. Tools for higher-throughput post-harvest phenotyping of seeds are presented. A guideline for approaching quinoa field trials including the collection of environmental data and designing layouts with statistical robustness is suggested. To move towards developing resources for quinoa in line with major cereal crops, a database was created. The Quinoa Germinate Platform will serve as a central repository of data for quinoa researchers globally.

Globally, drought and salinity stress critically constrain potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production. Considering the impact of these stresses on crops and increasing food demand, insight into both tolerance and susceptibility is essential. The present study screens two potato cultivars, BARI-401 and Spunta, for their tolerance to simulated salinity and drought by in vitro LiCl and mannitol exposure. Plantlets treated with a range of LiCl (0, 10, 30, and 40 mM) and mannitol (0, 50, 100, 200, and 250 mM) concentrations were biochemically and physiologically characterized to assess their tolerance capacity. Shoot number, shoot length, root number, and root length were affected in both cultivars under higher LiCl and mannitol concentrations, even though Spunta was able to better maintain a higher shoot length under the 40 mM of LiCl and 250 mM of mannitol compared to BARI-401. The total phenol contents (TPC) in both cultivars were increased at the highest treatment concentration and the total flavonoids content (TFC) was decreased in BARI-401 as compared to Spunta. Higher free radical scavenging capacity (FRSC, low IC₅₀ value) was recorded in Spunta as compared to BARI-401 with increasing treatment concentrations, which supports the high antioxidant capacity of Spunta. An inverse correlation between polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and TPC was noted in both cultivars. Peroxidase dismutase (POD) activity was increased significantly in both cultivars for all treatments, but activity was highest overall in Spunta. These physiological and biochemical analyses of both cultivars suggest that cultivar Spunta is more tolerant to salinity and drought stress. Further open-field experiments are required to confirm these results.

Globally, many crop production areas are threatened by drought and salinity. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is susceptible to these challenging environmental conditions. In this study, an in vitro approach was employed to compare the tolerance of potato cultivars ‘BARI-401’ (red skin) and ‘Spunta’ (yellow skin). To simulate ionic and osmotic stress, MS media was supplemented with lithium chloride (LiCl 20 mM) and mannitol (150 mM). GC-MS and spectrophotometry techniques were used to determine metabolite accumulation. Other biochemical properties, such as total phenols concentration (TPC), total flavonoids concentration (TFC), antioxidant capacity (DPPH free radical scavenging capacity), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and peroxidase (POD) activities, were also measured. The two cultivars respond differently to ionic and osmotic stress treatments, with Spunta accumulating more defensive metabolites in response, indicating a higher level of tolerance. While further investigation of the physiological and biochemical responses of these varieties to drought and salinity is required, the approach taken in this paper provides useful information prior to open field evaluation.

Certain endangered Thymelaeaceous trees are major sources of the fragrant and highly valued resinous agarwood, comprised of hundreds of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (STPs). Despite growing pressure on natural agarwood sources, the chemical complexity of STPs severely limits their synthetic production. Here, we catalogued the chemical diversity in 58 agarwood samples by two-dimensional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and used synthetic biology to produce subsets of the complex STP mixtures found in agarwood. We improved STP yields in the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by 25-fold through combinatorial engineering to biosynthesise nine macrocyclic STP backbones found in agarwood. A bioprocess following green-chemistry principles was developed that exploits ‘milking’ of STPs without cell lysis, solvent–solvent STP extraction, solvent–STP nanofiltration, and bulk STP oxy-functionalisation to obtain terpene mixtures like those of agarwood. This green bioprocess allows total solvent recycling and continuous production. Our synthetic biology and green bioprocess approach enables a more sustainable synthesis of complex, fragrant terpenes as an alternative to their exploitation from natural sources.

Terpenoids play key roles in cellular metabolism and can have specialized functions. Their heterologous production in microbial hosts offers an alternative to natural extraction. Here, we developed a subcellular engineering approach in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by targeting both sesquiterpenoid synthases and cytochrome P450s (CYPs) to the plastid, exploiting its photosynthetic electron transport chain to drive CYP‐mediated oxidation without reductase partners. Nuclear‐encoded sesquiterpenoid synthases were expressed with farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase fusions and targeted to the plastid, while CYPs were modified for soluble localization in the plastid stroma by removing transmembrane domains. The plastid environment supported hydroxylation, epoxidation, and oxidation reactions, with functionalization efficiencies reaching 80 % of accumulated products. Carbon source availability influenced product ratios, revealing metabolic flexibility in the engineered pathways. Overall sesquiterpenoid yields ranged between 250–2500 μg L ⁻¹ under screening conditions, establishing proof‐of‐concept for using plastid biochemistry in complex terpenoid biosynthesis. Living two‐phase terpenoid extractions with different perfluorinated solvents revealed variable performances based on sesquiterpenoid functionalization and solvent type. This work demonstrates that photosynthetic electron transport can drive CYP‐mediated functionalization in engineered subcellular compartments. However, improvements in photobioreactor cultivation concepts will be required to facilitate the use of algal chassis for scaled production.

Quinoa germplasm preserves useful and substantial genetic variation, yet it remains untapped due to a lack of implementation of modern breeding tools. We have integrated field and sequence data to characterize a large diversity panel of quinoa. Whole-genome sequencing of 310 accessions revealed 2.9 million polymorphic high confidence SNP loci. Highland and Lowland quinoa were clustered into two main groups, with F _ST divergence of 0.36 and fast LD decay of 6.5 and 49.8 Kb, respectively. A genome-wide association study uncovered 600 SNPs stably associated with 17 agronomic traits. Two candidate genes are associated with thousand seed weight, and a resistance gene analog is associated with downy mildew resistance. We also identified pleiotropically acting loci for four agronomic traits that are highly responding to photoperiod hence important for the adaptation to different environments. This work demonstrates the use of re-sequencing data of an orphan crop, which is partially domesticated to rapidly identify marker-trait association and provides the underpinning elements for genomics-enabled quinoa breeding.