The plasticity of crop development is crucial for survival and yield stability under adverse conditions. Saline-alkaline soil is a major environmental constraint limiting wheat productivity. Elucidating the regulatory basis of wheat developmental plasticity under salt stress is crucial for improving salt tolerance and yield stability. In this study, salt stress promotes the initiation of lateral root (LR) primordia while inhibiting LR emergence in wheat. Upon return to non-stress conditions, these primordia rapidly develop into LRs, enabling swift recovery and root system expansion. We identify glycogen synthase kinase 3 (TaGSK3) as a molecular switch that regulates this plastic response via brassinosteroid and auxin signaling pathways. By this mechanism, environmental signals are transduced into root development plasticity via TaGSK3 phosphorylation. This work provides new insights into how crops control developmental plasticity under stress.

Thinopyrum ponticum (2n=10×=70), a wild relative of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is considered an invaluable genetic resource for wheat improvement due to its abundance of genes conferring resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. This study focused on the CH97 line, derived from the BC₁F₇ progeny of a cross between wheat cv. 7182 and Th. ponticum. Cytological evidence showed that CH97 has 42 chromosomes, forming 21 bivalents at meiotic metaphase I, with the bivalents subsequently separating and moving to opposite poles during meiotic anaphase I. Through a combination of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), multicolor GISH (mc-GISH), and liquid array analysis, it was determined that CH97 comprises 40 wheat chromosomes and two alien chromosomes from the E^e genome of Th. ponticum, featuring the absence of a pair of 5D chromosomes and variations in 1B, 6B, and 7B chromosomes. These findings confirm that CH97 is a stable wheat-Th. ponticum 5E (5D) alien disomic substitution line. Inoculation experiments revealed that CH97 exhibits high resistance to wheat powdery mildew and stripe rust throughout the growth period, in contrast to the highly susceptible common wheat parent 7182. Compared to 7182, CH97 displayed improvements in thousand-kernel weight and kernel length. Additionally, utilizing specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) technology, chromosome 5E-specific molecular markers were developed and validated, achieving a 33.3% success rate, facilitating marker-assisted selection for disease resistance in wheat. Overall, the CH97 substitution line, with its resistance to diseases and improved agronomic traits, represents valuable new germplasm for wheat chromosome engineering and breeding.