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Cadmium (Cd) is a water-soluble heavy metal. It has adverse effects on rivers and underground water in developing countries. Rice is a hydrophilic crop grown by extensive utilization of water. Presence of Cd in paddy water can lead to destruction of both quality and quantity of rice. To access the variation in impact of Cd on two elite rice cultivars of Pakistan i.e., indica (Super Basmati) and japonica (JP-5), a pot experiment with three replicates was carried out in completely randomized design. To induce stress conditions, both cultivars were subjected to elevated levels of Cd (50 mg/kg) as cadmium chloride. The results indicated that Cd stress had a high impact on morpho-physiological traits such as grain yield, thousand grain weight and tiller number in Supper Basmati compared to JP-5. This was due to high accumulation of the reactive oxygen species and lower levels of enzymatic antioxidants including peroxidase, catalase, carotenoids, glutathione, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, and phenols in Super basmati. The Cd translocation from roots to leaf and subsequently grains was higher in Super Basmati compared to JP-5. Nutritional profiling of grains showed low level of carbohydrates and proteins in Super Basmati compared to JP-5 which shows that JP-5 is more tolerant, nutritious, and high-yielding under Cd-stress conditions. JP-5 is thus recommended to be cultivated in Cd-stressed areas in future and breeders can further use it to improve crop performance in Cd-stress soil and ensure sustainable food production around the world.

Micro/nanoplastics, tiny fragments smaller than 5 mm, have emerged as significant pollutants in aquatic ecosystems across the globe. This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted dimensions of micro/nanoplastic pollution in aquatic habitats, offering insights into its sources, distribution patterns, and the toxicological repercussions it fosters. An alarming finding highlights that these minute particles, often overlooked, are ubiquitous across freshwater, marine, and estuarine environments, posing threats to aquatic flora and fauna. Detailed case studies provide real-world evidence of the damage micro/nanoplastic inflict, emphasizing their insidious nature and potential for biomagnification in aquatic food webs. Accompanying these particles, the associated chemical contaminants further exacerbate the environmental harm. This review also sheds light on the advanced methodologies employed for the detection and analysis of these plastic fragments, ranging from innovative sampling techniques to in vivo, in vitro, and in silico toxicological evaluations. However, with the escalating challenges presented by micro/nanoplastic pollution, it is imperative to look beyond the present. Our recommendations for the future hinge on robust research endeavors, policy-making fortified by scientific insights, and a collaborative global approach to mitigate the looming crisis. This review aims to be a cornerstone for researchers, policymakers, and environmentalists, offering a panoramic view of the current state, challenges, and prospective strategies concerning micro/nanoplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Graphical Abstract

Artemisia L. is among the most diverse and medicinally important genera of the plant family Asteraceae. Discrepancies arise in the taxonomic classification of Artemisia due to the occurrence of multiple polyploidy events in separate lineages and its complex morphology. The discrepancies could be resolved by increasing the genomic resources. A. scoparia is one of the most medicinally important species in Artemisia. In this paper, we report the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Artemisia scoparia. The genome was 151,060 bp (base pairs), comprising a large single copy (82,834 bp) and small single copy (18,282 bp), separated by a pair of long inverted repeats (IRa and IRb: 24,972 bp each). We identified 114 unique genes, including four ribosomal RNAs, 30 transfer RNAs, and 80 protein-coding genes. We analysed the chloroplast genome features, including oligonucleotide repeats, microsatellites, amino acid frequencies, RNA editing sites, and codon usage. Transversion substitutions were twice as frequent as transition substitutions. Mutational hotspot loci included ccsA-ndhD, trnH-psbA, ndhG-ndhI, rps18-rpl20, and rps15-ycf1. These loci can be used to develop cost-effective and robust molecular markers for resolving the taxonomic discrepancies. The reconstructed phylogenetic tree supported previous findings of Artemisia as a monophyletic genus, sister to the genus Chrysanthemum, whereby A. scoparia appeared as sister to A. capillaris.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1139136.].

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of soils is an environmental concern, as cadmium harms food crops and can therefore impact human health. The use of combinations of biochar (seeded with Rhizobium leguminosarum ) and Vigna radiata (as an intercrop) has the potential to reduce the mobilization of Cd from soil via mustard plants ( Brassica juncea ). Mustard plants are grown as a food and oil production crop that is consumed worldwide. However, this plant has the property of hyperaccumulation; thus, it bioaccumulates Cd in its tissues, which in turn, if eaten, can become part of the human food chain. Hence, reducing Cd bioaccumulation in mustard plants is crucial to making these plants a reliable and safe source of food for consumption. To improve soil sorption capacity and immobilization efficiency, biochar (in the form of wheat husk) was mixed with R. leguminosarum and intercropped (using V. radiata) with mustard plants for further investigation. Sampling was performed at an early growth stage (i.e., at 30 days) and at maturity (i.e., at 60 days) to determine the impact of Cd on a plant’s morphophysiological attributes. Data were analyzed in two ways: first by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and then by the post hoc Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test. The statistical analysis concluded that combinations effectively improved plant traits by 65%–90% in the early growth stage and by 70%–90% in the maturity stage. The T6 treatment combination [i.e., biochar +  R. leguminosarum  +  V. radiata (BC + RL + VR)] provided the most effective results in terms of growth, biomass, pod yield, and pigmentation content. In addition, this combination reduced the translocation of Cd in mustard plants by 70%–95%. The combination of BC + RL + VR effectively reduced Cd contamination of mustard tissue and provided a suitable growing environment for the plants. A post-harvesting soil analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD) found that Cd was undetectable in soil. This provides clear confirmation that these approaches can lead to Cd soil remediation. Moreover, this study provided insight into the responses of different morphophysiological attributes of mustard plants to Cd stress and could aid in developing Cd stress tolerance in mustard plants.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has recently evolved as a powerful mutagenic tool for targeted genome editing. The impeccable functioning of the system depends on the optimal design of single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) that mainly involves sgRNA specificity and on-target cleavage efficacy. Several research groups have designed algorithms and models, trained on mammalian genomes, for predicting sgRNAs cleavage efficacy. These models are also implemented in most plant sgRNA design tools due to the lack of on-target cleavage efficacy studies in plants. However, one of the major drawbacks is that almost all of these models are biased for considering only coding regions of the DNA while excluding ineffective regions, which are of immense importance in functional genomics studies especially for plants, thus making prediction less reliable. In the present study, we evaluate the on-target cleavage efficacy of experimentally validated sgRNAs designed against diverse ineffective regions of Arabidopsis thaliana genome using various statistical tests. We show that nucleotide preference in protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) proximal region, GC content in the PAM proximal seed region, intact RAR and 3 rd stem loop structures, and free accessibility of nucleotides in seed and tracrRNA regions of sgRNAs are important determinants associated with their high on-target cleavage efficacy. Thus, our study describes the features important for plant sgRNAs high on-target cleavage efficacy against ineffective genomic regions previously shown to give rise to ineffective sgRNAs. Moreover, it suggests the need of developing an elaborative plant-specific sgRNA design model considering the entire genomic landscape including ineffective regions for enabling highly efficient genome editing without wasting time and experimental resources.