Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MPK) cascades consist of a set of kinase types (MPKKKs, MPKKs, MPKs) to establish
conserved signal-transducing modules mediating plant growth, development as well as responses to internal and external
cues. In this study, the expression patterns of six MPKKK, two MPKK, and 11 MPK genes in wheat in responses to external
treatments of phytohormones, including naphthylacetic acid (NAA), abscisic acid (ABA), 6-benzyladenine (6-BA), gibberellin
(GA^₃), salisylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ETH), were investigated. Expression analysis revealed
that several of the MPK cascade genes are responses to the external phytohormone signaling. Of which, TaMPKKKA;3
is induced by 6-BA and NAA while TaMPK4 repressed by ETH, GA_3, SA, and JA; TaMPKKKA, TaMPKKKA;3 and TaMPK1
are down-regulated by ETH and GA^₃ whereas TaMPK9 and TaMPK12 repressed by ETH and JA in addition that TaMPK12
also repressed by GA_3; TaMPK12;1 is down-regulated by ABA, GA₃ and SA while TaMPK17 repressed by all exogenous
phytonormones examined. TaMPK4, a MPK type gene previously characterized to mediate tolerance to phosphate (Pi)
deprivation, was functionally evaluated for its role in mediation of responses of plants to exogenous GA₃, ETH, SA, and JA.
Results indicated that overexpression and antisense expression of TaMPK4 in tobacco dramatically modify the growth of
seedlings upon treatments of GA₃, SA and JA, in which the overexpressors behaved deteriorated growth feature whereas
the seedlings with antisense expression of TaMPK4 exhibited improved seedling phenotype. The growth behaviors in
lines overexpressing or antisensely expressing TaMPK4 are closely associated with the biomass and the corresponding
hormone-associated parameters. These results demonstrated that TaMPK4 acts as a critical player in mediating the phytohormone
signaling. Our findings have identified the phytohormone-responsive MPK cascade genes in wheat and provided
a connection between the phytohormone-mediated responses and the MPK cascade pathways.

As a specific type of acid phosphatses, phytases play diverse roles in plants by catalazing the degradation of phytic acid and its derivatives. In this study, a rice phytase gene referred to OsPHY1 has been functionally characterized. OsPHY1 contains a 1 620 bp of open reading frame, encoding a 539-aa polypeptide. A conserve domain metallophosphatase (MPP) (MPP_PAPs), generally harbored in phytase and purple acid phosphatases (PAP), was identified in OsPHY1 (residue 194- 398). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that OsPHY1 shares high similarities with phytase genes and PAP-type genes that derived from diverse plant species. The OsPHY1 transcripts were detected to be abundant in germinating seeds, suggesting that this gene plays potential roles on degradation of seed phytic acid and its derivatives during the germination process. Biochemical analysis confirmed that OsPHY1 possesses strong catalytic activities on phytic acid-Na2, with optimal temperature of 57°C and suitable pH of 3.5. Based on transgene analysis, the putative role of OsPHY1 in plants on utilization of phytate was assessed. Under the condition that phytic acid-Na2 was used as sole P source, the OsPHY1- overexpressing tobacco plants behaved higher phytase activities, higher concentrations of Pi, more accumulative amount of total phosphorus, and much more improved growth traits than those of the control plants. Therefore, OsPHY1 is acted as an important component on degradation of the phytins during the seed germination process in rice. Also, OsPHY1 has a potential use on generation of elite crop germplasms with improved use efficiencies on phytate and its derivatives.

Premature senescence in crop production, especially occurred at the late growth stage, generally results in a reduction inyield and quality. Therefore, it is beneficial for yield and quality to properly delay senescence of plant tissues during thelate developmental stage. In this study, it was observed that the chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate weregradually decreased along leaf growth progression, and the rates of reduction were promoted by drought. Based on gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, total eight, five, seven, and five kinds of organic compounds thatputatively associated with the tissue senescent progression were identified in leaves, fruit branches, petals, and sepals,respectively. It was found that the identified organic compound, such as α-pinene, β-pinene, and pentadecane werepresent in different tissues. Among the total ten organic substances identified to be related with the leaf senescence, halfwere specifically detected in the drought treatment. These results suggest some biochemical pathways associated withthe leaf senescence are distinctly regulated by drought. The identified organic compounds in the tested tissues showedthree types on the performance pattern based on the contents along with the senescent progression, including graduallyincreasing, decreasing, and a curve with one single peak. Thus, during the senescence process in tissues, a subset ofmetabolic substances occur modifications on the quantities, reflecting a complicate biochemical reactions are initiated viathe senescence signals. Further analysis of the important organic substances will be helpful for elucidation of the tissuesenescence mechanism at the biochemical level and provide a new insight of the senescence signaling transductions incotton.