Zheng Tangchun

Beijing Forestry University · Shool of Landscape Architecture

The 9-cis-epoxy carotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is an enzyme that is crucial in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis, and its role is vital in plant development and abiotic stress. However, the function of the NCED family in Rosaceae plant species remains unclear. Through genome-wide screening, we identified 10, 10, 11, 12 and 13 NCED genes in Prunus mum...

Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is a globally used ornamental woody plant and is the representative species of Lagerstroemia. However, studies on the evolution and genomic breeding of L. indica were hindered by the lack of a reference genome. Here, we assembled the first high-quality genome of L. indica using PacBio combined with Hi-C scaffoldi...

Mulberry is an economically important plant in the sericulture industry and traditional medicine. However, the genetic and evolutionary history of mulberry remains largely unknown. Here, this work presents the chromosome‐level genome assembly of Morus atropurpurea (M. atropurpurea), originating from south China. Population genomic analysis using 42...

Plant growth and development rely heavily on cyclins, which compose an important class of cell division regulators. D-type cyclins (CYCDs) are responsible for the rate-limiting step of G1 cells. In the plant kingdom, despite the importance of CYCDs in herbaceous plants, there is little knowledge of these proteins in perennial woody plants. Here, a...

Lagerstroemia speciosa is an important ornamental plant, and there is only one double-petaled variety, ‘Yunshang’, produced by natural mutation, in the whole genus of Lagerstroemia. The members of the MADS-box family play important roles in floral organ development. However, little is known about the biological function of the MADS-box gene in L. s...

Low temperature is one of the most important abiotic factors limiting the growth, development and geographical distribution of plants. Prunus mume is a special woody ornamental plant that blooms in early spring in Beijing. However, the molecular mechanism underlying cold hardening to enhance freezing tolerance in Prunus genus remains elusive. This...

Rare cold inducible 2 (RCI2) proteins are a group of low molecular weight proteins that widely exist in various tissues of plants and play crucial roles in plant growth and development and abiotic stress responses. Genome-wide identification and analysis of RCI2 have not been documented in Rosaceae plants. Therefore, we identified 23 RCI2 genes fro...

Prunus mume, a famous perennial ornamental plant and fruit tree in Asia, blooms in winter or early spring in the Yangtze River area. The flowering time directly determines its ornamental and economic value, so it is of great significance to study the molecular mechanism of flowering time. SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN (SBP), often regulated by...

Prunus mume is a traditional Chinese ornamental and fruit tree crop with a long history of cultivation and wide use in gardens. With the rapid development of biotechnology, the researchers have successively completed the whole genome sequencing and resequencing of P. mume. They have analyzed the formation mechanism of flower aroma, flower color, fl...

Prunus mume var. purpurea, commonly known as “Red Bone”, is a special variety with pink or purple-red xylem. It is famous due to gorgeous petals and delightful aromas, playing important roles in urban landscaping. The regulation mechanism of color formation in P. mume var. purpurea stem development is unclear. Here, we conducted a comprehensive ana...

A special issue on continuous flowering in Frontiers in Plant Science

The D-type cyclin (CYCD) gene, as the rate-limiting enzyme in the G1 phase of cell cycle, plays a vital role in the process of plant growth and development. Early studies on plant cyclin mostly focused on herbs, such as Arabidopsis thaliana. The sustainable growth ability of woody plants is a unique characteristic in the study of plant cyclin. Here...

The water deficits limit the growth and development of agricultural and forest organisms. The AP2/ERF family has been identified as one of the largest plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) essential for plant development and stress response. The function of PtaERF194 in growth and drought tolerance was detected in the overexpression (OX) and R...

Mei (Prunus mume) is a traditional fruit and ornamental woody plant. P. mume cultivars with dwarf and dense intersecting branched tree architecture are essential for enhancing the ornamental value and application diversity, such as bonsai, flower arrangement and potted plants. However, little is known about the mechanism of branching in P. mume. Th...

MYBs ( v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homologs) are important transcriptional regulators that play critical roles in the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis. The overexpression of MYB genes has been reported in different plant species. However, the inconsistent strategies to assess transgenic plants have made it difficult to explain t...

The term ‘ornamental plant’ refers to all plants with ornamental value, which generally have beautiful flowers or special plant architectures. China is rich in ornamental plant resources and known as the “mother of gardens”. Genomics is the science of studying genomes and is useful for carrying out research on genome evolution, genomic variations,...

Weeping Prunus mume (mei) has long been cultivated in East Asia for its specific ornamental value. However, little is known about the regulatory mechanism of the weeping trait in mei, which limits molecular breeding for the improvement of weeping-type cultivars. Here, we quantified the weeping trait in mei using nested phenotyping of 214 accessions...

Plant with naturally twisted branches is referred to as a tortuous‐branch plant, which have extremely high ornamental value due to their zigzag shape and the natural twisting of their branches. Prunus mume is an important woody ornamental plant. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this unique trait in Prunus genus is unknown. Here, we prese...

Prunus mume is an important ornamental woody plant with winter-flowering property, which is closely related to bud dormancy. Despite recent scientific headway in deciphering the mechanism of bud dormancy in P. mume, the overall picture of gene co-expression regulating P. mume bud dormancy is still unclear. Here a total of 23 modules were screened b...

Prunus mume is an important woody plant that has high ornamental and economic value, widely distributed and used in landscape architecture in East Asia. In plants, basic (region) leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play important regulatory roles in growth, development, dormancy and abiotic stress. To date, bZIP transcription factors have n...

List> • Five QTLs associated with weeping traits on chromosome 7 were identified by BSR-seq. • The novel allele PmUGT72B3 has a synonymous transition of T66 (upright) to C (weeping) in the coding sequence and a 470-bp deletion in the promoter region. • PmUGT72B3 was associated with hormone and lignin regulation by WGCNA. Weeping species are use...

d-type cyclins (CYCDs) are a special class of cyclins and play extremely important roles in plant growth and development. In the plant kingdom, most of the existing studies on CYCDs have been done on herbaceous plants, with few on perennial woody plants. Here, we identified a Populus d-type cyclin gene, PsnCYCD1;1, which is mainly transcribed in le...

Plant dormancy is essential for perennial plant survival. Different genotypes of Prunus mume, including Eumume group and Apricot Mei group, undergo leaf senescence and dormancy at different times. In order to verify the cold resistance of P. mume, freeze resistance evaluation was carried out. Our results showed that Apricot Mei group had a stronger...

Rosaceae is an important family containing some of the highly evolved fruit and ornamental plants. Abiotic stress responses play key roles in the seasonal growth and development of plants. However, the molecular basis of stress responses remains largely unknown in Rosaceae. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a stress hormone involving abiotic stress response p...

Prunus mume (also known as Mei) is an important ornamental plant that is popular with Asians. The weeping trait in P. mume has attracted the attention of researchers for its high ornamental value. However, the formation of the weeping trait of woody plants is a complex process and the molecular basis of weeping stem development is unclear. Here, th...

Plant architecture includes vital traits that influence and benefit crops, and economically important trees. Different plant architectures provide natural beauty. Weeping ornamental plants are aesthetically appealing to people. The regulatory mechanism controlling the weeping trait is poorly understood in crape myrtle. To investigate the weeping tr...

The qRT-PCR method has been widely used to detect gene expression level in plants, helping to understand the molecular mechanisms. However, there are few researches which focus on the selection of the internal reference genes in Forsythia. To select the appropriate reference genes of Forsythia aimed at qRT-PCR normalization, twelve candidate refere...

The prostrate cultivars of ground-cover chrysanthemum have been used in landscape gardening due to their small stature, large crown width and strong branching ability. qRT-PCR is a rapid and powerful tool for gene expression analysis, while its accuracy highly depends on the stability of reference genes. The paucity of authentic reference genes pre...

Plant architectural characteristics, including branching patterns, are important traits. In recent years, enormous progress has been made in identifying genes that are required for establishing plant architecture. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism underlying the branching pattern of crape myrtle. In this study, a Decreased Apic...

Prunus mume is a traditional ornamental tree with a graceful architecture that blossoms early in spring and presents beautiful flowers with a pleasant fragrance. Recently, the weeping trait has received increasing attention for its ornamental appeal and potential application to agriculture. In this study, we identified the SNPs tightly linked to th...

The homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) gene family, a group of plant-specific transcriptional factors (TFs), participates in regulating growth, development, and environmental responses. However, the characteristics and biological functions of HD-Zip genes in Prunus mume , which blooms in late winter or early spring, have not been reported. In this...

Lagerstroemia speciosa (Lythraceae), is a woody species blooming in whole summer with countless gorgeous flowers. It has been widely applied in landscapes. As double-flower is one of the most important trait among ornamental plants, this study has been conducted with unique double-flower L. speciosa. Through technologies like paraffin dissection, s...

As one of the most popular woody species that blooms in summer, Lagerstroemia speciosa has been used abundantly in urban landscape for its excellent floral beauty. For the first time, we discovered a double-flower variant with all petaloid stamens. To understand the molecular basis of this variation, we contrasted the transcriptomes of single- and...

Creeping plants have unique ornamental value because they have more branches and flowers and the creeping trait is rare in crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica L.). In this study, the first filial generation (F1) population was derived from Lagerstroemia fauriei Koehne (standard) and L. indica “Creole” (creeping) and the backcross1 (BC1) population w...

Prunus mume is an important ornamental woody plant that grows in tropical and subtropical regions. Freezing stress can adversely impact plant productivity and limit the expansion of geographical locations. Understanding cold-responsive genes could potentially bring about the development of new ways to enhance plant freezing tolerance. Members of th...

Chrysanthemum morifolium is a gynomonoecious plant that bears both female zygomorphic ray florets and bisexual actinomorphic disc florets in the inflorescence. This sexual system is quite prevalent in Asteraceae, but poorly understood. CYCLOIDEA (CYC) 2 subclade transcription factors, key regulators of flower symmetry and floret identity in Asterac...

Rose is one of the most valuable ornamental crops worldwide. In this study, the composition of hydrophilic and lipophilic pigments in petals of six rose cultivars at seven developing stages was investigated using high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Four anthocyanins, 20 flavonols, and 10 carotenoids were detected in petals...

Cyclins, a prominent class of cell division regulators, play an extremely important role in plant growth and development. D-type cyclins (CYCDs) are the rate-limiting components of the G1 phase. In plants, studies of CYCDs are mainly concerned with herbaceous plants, yet little information is available about these genes in perennial woody plants, e...

Tortuous-stem plants have extremely high ornamental value due to the zigzag shape or natural twisting of the branches. At present, the research about tortuous-stem plants focuses mainly on the morphological characteristics, anatomic structure and genetic characteristics, but few studies have been conducted on the genetic mechanism of tortuous stem...

NAC transcription factors (TFs) participate in multiple biological processes, including biotic and abiotic stress responses, signal transduction and development. Cold stress can adversely impact plant growth and development, thereby limiting agricultural productivity. Prunus mume, an excellent horticultural crop, is widely cultivated in Asian count...

Plant architecture is a popular research topic because plants with different growth habits that may generate economic or ornamental value are in great demand by orchards and nurseries. However, the molecular basis of the architecture of woody perennial plants is poorly understood due to the complexity of the phenotypic and regulatory relationships....

Lilium, the famous and significant cut flower, emits a variety of volatile organic compounds, which mainly contain monoterpenes, such as myrcene, (E)-β-ocimene, and linalool. To understand the molecular mechanism of monoterpene synthesis in Lilium, we cloned two potential genes in the methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathway, namely LiDXS and LiDXR, fr...

Mei (Prunus mume) is an ornamental woody plant that has been domesticated in East Asia for thousands of years. High diversity in floral traits, along with its recent genome sequence, makes mei an ideal model system for studying the evolution of woody plants. Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of floral traits in mei and its domestication...