Xiaoxi Zhou , Tianxia Guo

Institute of Life Sciences, Jiyang College, Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Legume Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 16 Aug., 2025    Accepted: 28 Sep., 2025    Published: 18 Oct., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Adzuki beans (Vigna angularis), as an important edible legume crop, have a wide cultivation base and nutritional value in East Asia. However, during early spring or high-latitude planting, it often suffers from low-temperature stress, which seriously affects seed germination, seedling growth and yield formation. To deeply analyze the response mechanism of adzuki beans to low-temperature stress, this study systematically explored the key regulatory networks of their cold response pathways at the molecular level, and sorted out the low-temperature perception and initial signal transduction mechanisms of adzuki beans, including the dynamic changes of early signal molecules such as calcium signaling (Ca²⁺), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and nitric oxide (NO). Focusing on the classic ICE-CBF-COR pathway, the expression characteristics of transcription factors such as CBF/DREB, MYB, and bZIP and their regulatory effects on downstream cold resistance genes were analyzed. Further, the epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and histone modification, as well as the regulatory roles of miRNA and lncRNA in the cold response of adzuki beans were explored. In this study, through the analysis of actual cases, multiple candidate genes with significant differential expression under low-temperature conditions were identified and verified. Combined with qRT-PCR and heterologous overexpression experiments, their potential functions in enhancing cold resistance were revealed. This study provides theoretical support for a deeper understanding of the complex molecular mechanism of adzuki beans' low-temperature response, and also offers key genetic resources and technical foundations for breeding cold-resistant and high-yield varieties.

Adzuki beans; Low-temperature stress; Signal transduction; Transcriptional regulation; Cold-resistant breeding