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Edible sprouts with germinating seeds of a few days of age are naturally rich in nutrients and other bioactive compounds. Among them, the cruciferous (Brassicaceae) sprouts stand out due to their high contents of glucosinolates (GLSs) and phenolic compounds. In order to obtain sprouts enriched in these phytochemicals, elicitation is being increasing used as a sustainable practice. Besides, the evidence regarding the bioavailability and the biological activity of these compounds after their dietary intake has also attracted growing interest in recent years, supporting the intake of the natural food instead of enriched ingredients or extracts. Also, there is a growing interest regarding their uses, consumption, and applications for health and wellbeing, in different industrial sectors. In this context, the present review aims to compile and update the available knowledge on the fundamental aspects of production, enrichment in composition, and the benefits upon consumption of diverse edible cruciferous sprouts, which are sources of phenolic compounds and glucosinolates, as well as the evidence on their biological actions in diverse pathophysiological situations and the molecular pathways involved.

Nonthermal biocompatible plasma (NBP) is an emerging technology in the field of agriculture to boost plant growth. Plasma is a source of various gaseous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and has a promising role in agricultural applications, as the long-lived RONS (H2O2, NO2−, NO3−) in liquid activate signaling molecules in plant metabolism. Plasma-treated water (PTW) has an acidic pH of around 3 to 4, which may be detrimental to pH-sensitive plants. Innovative techniques for producing PTW with a pH value of 6 to 7 under neutral circumstances are desperately required to broaden the application range of NBP in agriculture. Furthermore, Pak Choi (Brassica campestris L.) is a Brassicaceae family green vegetable that has yet to be investigated for its response to NBP. In this work, we proposed an alternate method for neutralizing the pH of PTW by immersing metal ions (Mg2+ and Zn2+) in the PTW and observing its effect on Pak Choi. After synthesizing PTW with MECDBD, we analyzed germination rate and growth parameters, then seedlings for 42 days to show physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. The germination rate was observed to be higher with PTW and more efficient when metal ions were present. Seedling length and germination rates were dramatically boosted when compared to DI water irrigation. Because of the increased chlorophyll and protein content, the plants responded to the availability of nitrogen by generating highly green leaves. Furthermore, we observed that PTW increases the expression of NR genes and GLR1 genes, which are further increased when metals are submerged in the PTW. Furthermore, PTW and PTW with metals reduced ABI5 and CHO1 which is associated with a growth inhibitor. According to this study, nonthermal plasma might be utilized to significantly improve seed germination and seedlings’ development.

Pak choi is one of the most important leafy vegetables planted in East Asia and provides essential nutrients for the human body. Purple pak choi differs mainly in leaf colour but exhibits distinct nutritional profiles from green pak choi. In this study, we performed metabolic and transcriptomic analyses to uncover the mechanisms underlying the differences in metabolite biosynthesis profiles between the two pak choi varieties. Metabolite profiling revealed significant differences in the levels of metabolites, mainly amino acids and their derivatives and flavonoids. Furthermore, 34 flavonoids significantly differed between green and purple pak choi leaves, and cyanidin and its derivative anthocyanins were abundant in purple pak choi. In addition, we found that the structural genes CHS, DFR, ANS, and UGT75C1, as well as the transcription factor MYB2, play a major role in anthocyanin synthesis. These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying leaf pigmentation in pak choi and offer a platform for assessing related varieties.

Pak choi exhibits a diverse color range and serves as a rich source of flavonoids and terpenoids. However, the mechanisms underlying the heterosis and coordinated regulation of these compounds—particularly isorhamnetin—remain unclear. This study involved three hybrid combinations and the detection of 528 metabolites from all combinations, including 26 flavonoids and 88 terpenoids, through untargeted metabolomics. Analysis of differential metabolites indicated that the heterosis for the flavonoid and terpenoid contents was parent-dependent, and positive heterosis was observed for isorhamnetin in the two hybrid combinations (SZQ, 002 and HMG, ZMG). Moreover, there was a high transcription level of flavone 3′-O-methyltransferase, which is involved in isorhamnetin biosynthesis. The third group was considered the ideal hybrid combination for investigating the heterosis of flavonoid and terpenoid contents. Transcriptome analysis identified a total of 12,652 DEGs (TPM > 1) in various groups that were used for comparison, and DEGs encoding enzymes involved in various categories, including “carotenoid bio-synthesis” and “anthocyanin biosynthesis”, were enriched in the hybrid combination (SZQ, 002). Moreover, the category of anthocyanin biosynthesis also was enriched in the hybrid combination (HMG, ZMG). The flavonoid pathway demonstrated more differential metabolites than the terpenoid pathway did. The WGCNA demonstrated notable positive correlations between the dark-green modules and many flavonoids and terpenoids. Moreover, there were 23 ERF genes in the co-expression network (r ≥ 0.90 and p < 0.05). Thus, ERF genes may play a significant role in regulating flavonoid and terpenoid biosynthesis. These findings enhance our understanding of the heterosis and coordinated regulation of flavonoid and terpenoid biosynthesis in pak choi, offering insights for genomics-based breeding improvements.

WRKY transcription factors play important roles in abiotic stress by directly regulating stress-related genes. However, the molecular mechanism of its involvement in salt stress in pak-choi is still poorly understood. In this study, we elucidated the function of BcWRKY1 from pak-choi (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis) in salt stress. The expression level of BcWRKY1 showed the highest in rosette leaves among different tissues and was induced by salt and ABA treatment in pak-choi. Subcellular localization showed that BcWRKY1 was located in nucleus. The transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing BcWRKY1 exhibited enhanced salt sensitivity and higher H2O2 contents, which were further confirmed by silencing BcWRKY1 in pak-choi. In addition, the expression of ZAT12 was negatively regulated with BcWRKY1 under salt stress both in pak-choi and Arabidopsis. Yeast one-hybrid and dual luciferase reporter assay showed that BcWRKY1 could bind to the promoter of BcZAT12, and BcsAPX expression was activated by BcZAT12. To sum up, we propose a BcWRKY1–BcZAT12–BcsAPX regulatory model that involves in pak-choi salt stress response.Key messageBcWRKY1 repress the expression of BcZAT12 to inhibit reactive oxygen species scavenging, leading to enhanced salt tolerance in BcWRKY1 silencing pak-choi.

The duration of light exposure each day, termed the photoperiod, is a crucial environmental cue that influence several aspects of plant physiology, including growth, development, and metabolic activity. Adjusting the photoperiod in controlled agriculture systems has the potential to improve crop yield and nutritional content. However, the benefits of longer photoperiods compared to higher light intensities under a fixed daily light integral (DLI) have not been thoroughly examined for many leafy vegetables. DLI is the total amount of light a plant receives per day and it is the product of photoperiod and light intensity. This study aimed to determine to what extent the effect of DLI on pak choi ( subsp. ) growth, yield and quality depends on whether DLI is changed by light intensity (PPFD) or by photoperiod. Three cultivars ('Hybrid Special', 'Red Summer', and 'Shanghai Green') were grown under four different DLIs (10.8, 13.5, 16.2, and 18.9 mol m d ). These DLIs were achieved either by varying the photoperiod (12, 15, 18 and 21 hours) at a constant PPFD 250 µmol m s or by varying the PPFD (167, 208, 250, and 292 µmol m s ) at a constant photoperiod (18 hours). Increasing DLI by extending the photoperiod resulted in more growth than increasing DLI by increasing PPFD. Photoperiod extension also generally resulted in higher light use efficiency and energy use efficiency than increasing DLI by increasing PPFD. The content of vitamin C, glucosinolates and many other metabolites increased significantly with higher DLI regardless whether DLI was increased through PPFD or photoperiod. However, DLI did not affect shelf life and overall visual quality. These results suggest that extending photoperiod is a more effective strategy than increasing light intensity for optimizing leafy vegetable production in controlled environments.

Glucosinolates, their hydrolysis products and primary metabolites were analyzed in five pak choi cultivars to determine the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on metabolite flux from primary metabolites to glucosinolates and their hydrolysis products. Among detected glucosinolates (total 14 glucosinolates; 9 aliphatic, 4 indole and 1 aromatic glucosinolates), indole glucosinolate concentrations (153–229%) and their hydrolysis products increased with MeJA treatment. Changes in the total isothiocyanates by MeJA were associated with epithiospecifier protein activity estimated as nitrile formation. Goitrin, a goitrogenic compound, significantly decreased by MeJA treatment in all cultivars. Changes in glucosinolates, especially aliphatic, significantly differed among cultivars. Primary metabolites including amino acids, organic acids and sugars also changed with MeJA treatment in a cultivar-specific manner. A decreased sugar level suggests that they might be a carbon source for secondary metabolite biosynthesis in MeJA-treated pak choi. The result of the present study suggests that MeJA can be an effective agent to elevate indole glucosinolates and their hydrolysis products and to reduce a goitrogenic compound in pak choi. The total glucosinolate concentration was the highest in “Chinese cabbage” in the control group (32.5 µmol/g DW), but indole glucosinolates increased the greatest in “Asian” when treated with MeJA.

Selenium is an indispensable nutrient for plants, and optimizing selenium levels can enhance plant growth and metabolism, leading to improved yield and quality. In comparison to conventional inorganic or organic selenium fertilizers, nano-selenium demonstrates superior safety and enhanced biological activity, making it more suitable for crop production. Although nano-selenium fertilizer is extensively used in various crops, its application in pak choi remains limited. As a vital source of selenium, previous research on pak choi ( Brassica chinensis var. pekinensis cv. ' Suzhouqing ') has primarily focused on investigating physiological effects with limited exploration of the molecular mechanism. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of nano-selenium on pak choi through an integrated analysis of transcriptome and metabolome. Specifically, we examined the effects of different concentrations of nano-selenium (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg L −1 ) on the growth and nutritional quality of Suzhouqing . The findings revealed that a low concentration (5 mg L −1 ) of nano-selenium significantly increased leaf weight and total selenium content, while modulating primary metabolites such as soluble amino acids, proteins, sugars and ascorbic acid. Additionally, it influenced secondary metabolites including glucosinolates, phenolic acids and flavonoids. Consequently, this enhancement in growth performance and nutritional quality was attributed to the regulation of pathways involved in selenocompound metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis by key enzymes such as methionine S-methyltransferase, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase, kynurenine-oxoglutarate transaminase, thioredoxin reductase, phenylalanine ammonian-lyase, 4-coumarate-CoA ligase, flavonoid 3’, 5'-hydroxylase, naringenin 3-dioxygenase, flavonol synthase and bifunctional dihydroflavonol 4-reductase. These results provide comprehensive insights into the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the influence of nano-selenium on plant growth and nutritional quality. Therefore, they offer a solid theoretical basis and technical support for breeding and cultivation strategies aimed at producing selenium-rich pak choi.

Summary Brassica rapa displays a wide range of morphological diversity which is exploited for a variety of food crops. Here we present a high‐quality genome assembly for pak choi (Brassica rapa L. subsp. chinensis), an important non‐heading leafy vegetable, and comparison with the genomes of heading type Chinese cabbage and the oilseed form, yellow sarson. Gene presence–absence variation (PAV) and genomic structural variations (SV) were identified, together with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The structure and expression of genes for leaf morphology and flowering were compared between the three morphotypes revealing candidate genes for these traits in B. rapa. The pak choi genome assembly and its comparison with other B. rapa genome assemblies provides a valuable resource for the genetic improvement of this important vegetable crop and as a model to understand the diversity of morphological variation across Brassica species.

Background Cadmium translocation from roots to shoots is a complex biological process that is controlled by gene regulatory networks. Pak choi exhibits wide cultivar variations in Cd accumulation. However, the molecular mechanism involved in cadmium translocation and accumulation is still unclear. To isolate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in transporter-mediated regulatory mechanisms of Cd translocation in two contrasting pak choi cultivars, Baiyewuyueman (B, high Cd accumulator) and Kuishan’aijiaoheiye (K, low Cd accumulator), eight cDNA libraries from the roots of two cultivars were constructed and sequenced by RNA-sequencing. Results A total of 244,190 unigenes were obtained. Of them, 6827 DEGs, including BCd 10 vs. BCd 0 (690), KCd 10 vs. KCd 0 (2733), KCd 0 vs. BCd 0 (2919), and KCd 10 vs. BCd 10 (3455), were identified. Regulatory roles of these DEGs were annotated and clarified through GO and KEEG enrichment analysis. Interestingly, 135 DEGs encoding ion transport (i.e. ZIPs, P 1B -type ATPase and MTPs) related proteins were identified. The expression patterns of ten critical genes were validated using RT-qPCR analysis. Furthermore, a putative model of cadmium translocation regulatory network in pak choi was proposed. Conclusions High Cd cultivar (Baiyewuyueman) showed higher expression levels in plasma membrane-localized transport genes (i.e., ZIP2 , ZIP3 , IRT1 , HMA2 and HMA4 ) and tonoplast-localized transport genes (i.e., CAX4 , HMA3 , MRP7 , MTP3 and COPT5 ) than low Cd cultivar (Kuishan’aijiaoheiye). These genes, therefore, might be involved in root-to-shoot Cd translocation in pak choi.