Vegetation Stress Research Articles

The influence of vegetation drought stress on formaldehyde and ozone distributions over a central European city

To estimate the effect of vegetation stress and changes in biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions on urban ozone (O3) levels we perform a systematic, observation-based analysis of the relationship between formaldehyde (HCHO) mixing ratios, meteorological parameters, measurement-based drought indicators and O3 over the central European city of Vienna, Austria. In addition, numerical models SURface EXternalisée (SURFEX), Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) Vers.2.1 and 3 and MOdèle de Chimie A Grande Echelle (MOCAGE) are combined to estimate the soil moisture, the spatial distribution and drought response of isoprene emissions, and the resulting distribution of HCHO in the atmosphere. To analyse the effect of drought during spring and summer we contrast observations during dry and reference years. Our results show that the observed HCHO can be explained using the simulated isoprene emissions as well as observed and simulated vegetation drought responses. HCHO mixing ratios differ strongly between dry and reference seasons. Spring-time precipitation deficits facilitate reduced HCHO mixing ratios due to delayed and weakened plant growth. In consequence also O3 burdens are lowered due to reduced BVOC precursor emissions. These reductions occur despite radiation levels being higher than during the reference year, illustrating the strong potential of spring-time BVOC emissions to modulate urban O3 burdens. Conversely, during summer elevated O3 levels occur during local drought conditions. These are driven by advected isoprene originating from nearby forest areas, which are not affected by drought. Our results regarding elevated summer-time O3 burdens under vegetation heat and drought stress are in good agreement with previous work.

Identification of multiple abiotic stress tolerant donors for climate-resilient rice (Oryza sativa) development

The increasing occurrence of adverse weather events is continuously challenging agricultural production globally. The wide genetic base of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and the availability of a diverse set of germplasm can be explored to identify multiple abiotic stress-tolerant donors for rice improvement. Therefore, an experiment was conducted during 2018–21 at ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha to evaluate diverse rice germplasm (68 accessions) for vegetative stage drought and submergence stress and for their anaerobic germination potential. Under drought stress, 49 accessions showed a drought score (DS) of 1 indicating a tolerance response. The early vegetative score indicated that 58 accessions were highly vigorous, while the drought recovery score indicates that >90% of the genotypes showed good recovery after the drought cycle. The same genotypes showed a average survival rate (SR) of 48% under two weeks of complete submergence. Among them, 11 were found highly tolerant with >70% SR and 26 genotypes scored positive SUB1A locus by SNP-based functional marker AEX1. Nearly 50% of the genotypes scored positive for SUB1A, based on both AEX1 and Sub1A203 markers, which nearly matched the phenotyping result. Out of 68, only 4 accessions showed more than 50% germination under anaerobic conditions. A multivariate analysis showed that 11 genotypes had both drought and submergence tolerance, while 6 genotypes were having tolerance to drought and anaerobic germination. We found only 1 accession (IC516149) tolerant to all these 3 stresses which can be identified as a potential donor for multiple abiotic stresses.

Detection and mapping of vegetation stress using AVIRIS-NG hyperspectral imagery in coal mining sites

This paper primarily focuses on identifying and mapping vegetation stress caused by the impact of coal mining using airborne hyperspectral image (AVIRIS-NG) at a fine scale level and is validated using spectroscopic field data. In this work, we have calculated and tested vegetation stress-affected narrow banded vegetation indices (VIs) based on Separability (S) and Coefficient of discrimination (R2) statistical tests for the identification of suitable vegetation stress indices. We have considered the highest S and R2 values of stress indices for weighted and vegetation combined pixels’ analysis. The final weighted combination index has been used for vegetation stress detection and mapping in coal mining sites. The outcome has been validated using field-based healthy and stress-affected plant spectral data and compared to ENVI software's agriculture stress tool (AST) based vegetation stress result. Some indices exhibited higher performance for vegetation stress analysis (NDVI, NSI-2, SR-1, SWST-3, SRWI, NWI-2, CSVI, HMSSI, and ARI-1), according to statistical results (S and R2) of VIs. Based on the vegetation stress index, high-stress zones are located in and around the mines whilelow-stress regions are positioned farther from the mines. The findings additionally demonstrated that the VIs-based stress result (AUC-0.69) fits the data more accurately than the ENVI's AST result (AUC-0.61). The VI’s-based stress index had a clearly negative correlation with the distance of vegetation from the mines, which could be verified using the on-field NIR spectral measurements. Therefore, effective vegetation health monitoring and planning in coal mining sites might benefit from these results .

Research progress on the roles of lncRNAs in plant development and stress responses.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNAs of more than 200 nucleotides in length that are not (or very rarely) translated into proteins. In eukaryotes, lncRNAs regulate gene expression at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic levels. lncRNAs are categorized according to their genomic position and molecular mechanism. This review summarized the characteristics and mechanisms of plant lncRNAs involved in vegetative growth, reproduction, and stress responses. Our discussion and model provide a theoretical basis for further studies of lncRNAs in plant breeding.

Sensitivity of hyperspectral vegetation indices to rainfall seasonality in the Brazilian savannahs: an analysis using PRISMA data

ABSTRACT We evaluated the sensitivity of 14 narrowband vegetation indices (VIs) to rainfall seasonality over the Brazilian savannahs. Five images obtained in 2020 by the PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) tracked the transition from the rainy (11 May) to the dry season (8 July, 17 August, and 4 September), and towards the beginning of a new seasonal cycle on 3 October. We considered two scenarios in the data analysis. First, we kept the PRISMA image from 11 May as a reference to evaluate the VI sensitivity with increasing water deficit from 8 July (49 days without any precipitation) to 4 September (102 days). Second, we changed the reference image to 4 September to evaluate the largest VI responses on 3 October after the first rainfall. The first three VIs (ranked by F-values) having significant changes with increasing water deficit over grasslands were the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Moisture Stress Index (MSI). The Vogelmann red edge index (VOG) and Red-Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (RENDVI) presented the largest F-values over woodlands. In the second scenario, Red-edge Vegetation Stress Index (RVSI) and RENDVI were among the first five ranked VIs by t-values over both areas. The largest changes in VIs were generally observed over savannah grassland, which is the most sensitive physiognomy to water deficit. The lowest modifications were noted over riparian forests, which have access to waters from rivers. The vegetation-type dependence of the VI changes was also observed after the occurrence of rainfall. Results suggest the potential use of different VIs to obtain phenological metrics for more accurate savannah mapping in Brazil.

Precision Phenotyping of Agro-Physiological Responses and Water Use of Sorghum under Different Drought Scenarios

Understanding sorghum response to water stress at different developmental stages is important for developing sorghum varieties with improved tolerance to drought. This study set out to finely characterize key agro-physiological responses and water use of sorghum subjected to different drought scenarios. A greenhouse experiment was conducted using a DroughtSpotter facility that enables real-time quantification of water use by gravimetric tracking. Four different water treatments were assessed: (i) early vegetative drought stress (DS1), (ii) DS1 plus recovery (DS1R), (iii) late vegetative drought stress (DS2), and (iv) well-watered (WW). Plant pheno-morphology and yield data were recorded. Leaf fluorescence and photosynthesis were continuously recorded throughout the experiment. Our results showed that green leaf number and plant leaf area were more affected by DS2 than DS1 and delayed plant flowering. Nevertheless, plants in DS2 were taller and produced higher stem and leaf biomass compared to DS1. No significant difference was recorded in grain yield between DS1 and DS2 but were outperformed by DS1R and WW. The transpiration and photosynthetic rates were shown to decrease at the same time as the stomatal conductance. This can therefore be assimilated to a stomatal down-regulation limiting CO2 uptake. However, the increase in intercellular CO2 concentration is likely to indicate the presence of CO2 in the substomatal cavity that was not conveyed to the carboxylation sites. This suggests a non-stomatal limitation of the photosynthesis. Moreover, the plants recovered quite well from DS1, and this was more prominent for physiological parameters than morphological ones. Globally, water use efficiency (WUE) for DS2 was higher compared to WW and DS1 treatments, confirming the growing point differentiation as a critical stage where drought stress should be avoided to ensure yield and better WUE. Adaptation responses were related to the reduction of transpiration through plant leaf area reduction, the reduction of stomatal conductance, and the increase of intercellular CO2 limiting photosynthesis. Further studies focusing on the biomarkers of stress and transcriptomic analyses are needed to provide further insight into the drought adaptation mechanisms of this line.

DhFIG_2, a gene of nematode-trapping fungus Dactylellina haptotyla that encodes a component of the low-affinity calcium uptake system, is required for conidiation and knob-trap formation

Calcium ion (Ca2+) is a universal second messenger involved in regulating diverse processes in animals, plants, and fungi. The low-affinity calcium uptake system (LACS) participates in acquiring Ca2+ from extracellular environments under high extracellular Ca2+ concentration. Unlike most fungi, which encode only one protein (FIG1) for LACS, nematode-trapping fungi (NTF) encode two related proteins. AoFIG_2, the NTF-specific LACS component encoded by adhesive network-trap forming Arthrobotrys oligospora, was shown to be required for conidiation and trap formation. We characterized the role of DhFIG_2, an AoFIG_2 ortholog encoded by knob-trap forming Dactylellina haptotyla, in growth and development to expand our understanding of the role of LACS in NTF. Because repeated attempts to disrupt DhFIG_2 failed, knocking down the expression of DhFIG_2 via RNA interference (RNAi) was used to study its function. RNAi of DhFIG_2 significantly decreased its expression, severely reduced conidiation and trap formation, and affected vegetative growth and stress responses, suggesting that this component of LACS is crucial for trap formation and conidiation in NTF. Our study demonstrated the utility of RNAi assisted by ATMT for studying gene function in D. haptotyla.

Spatiotemporal monitoring of droughts in Iran using remote-sensing indices

This study spatially monitored drought in Iran using drought indicators. Four drought indicators measured from 2016 to 2020 were used: temperature condition index (TCI), vegetation condition index (VCI), vegetation health index (VHI), and precipitation condition index (PCI). Moreover, a standardized precipitation index (SPI) was prepared using rainfall measurements from 1989 to 2019. The TCI revealed that most of Iran was classified as having “severe drought” in 2020. The highest value of VCI showed for northern Iran, which belongs to the class without drought. The VHI indicated that vegetation stress increased over the study period throughout the region, and areas of severe and moderate drought reached their greatest extents in the aforementioned years. Significant droughts occurred in central, eastern, and southeastern Iran, and mild droughts occurred in northern Iran. The PCI indicated that rainfall amounts have diminished in most of the country over the period of study. The 30-year SPI showed that northern Iran received fine rain and the region has parts that can be classified as either extremely wet or very wet. However, most of the country was extremely dry and severely dry. The analysis of the VHI index for agricultural plants showed that 27.71% of Iran's agricultural regions, including the provinces of Razavi Khorasan, Hamadan, and Khozestan, experienced “critical drought” conditions. The study provides guidance for the selection of the most useful drought-monitoring indicators and can enable a more thorough understanding of drought in arid and semiarid regions.

Genome-wide analysis of 14-3-3 gene family in four gramineae and its response to mycorrhizal symbiosis in maize.

14-3-3 proteins (regulatory protein family) are phosphate serine-binding proteins. A number of transcription factors and signaling proteins have been shown to bind to the 14-3-3 protein in plants, which plays a role in regulating their growth (seed dormancy, cell elongation and division, vegetative and reproduction growth and stress response (salt stress, drought stress, cold stress). Therefore, the 14-3-3 genes are crucial in controlling how plants respond to stress and develop. However, little is known about the function of 14-3-3 gene families in gramineae. In this study, 49 14-3-3 genes were identified from four gramineae, including maize, rice, sorghum and brachypodium, and their phylogeny, structure, collinearity and expression patterns of these genes were systematically analyzed. Genome synchronization analysis showed large-scale replication events of 14-3-3 genes in these gramineae plants. Moreover, gene expression revealed that the 14-3-3 genes respond to biotic and abiotic stresses differently in different tissues. Upon arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, the expression level of 14-3-3 genes in maize significantly increased, suggesting the important role of 14-3-3 genes in maize-AM symbiosis. Our results provide a better understanding on the occurrence of 14-3-3 genes in Gramineae plants, and several important candidate genes were found for futher study on AMF symbiotic regulation in maize.

The compound event that triggered the destructive fires of October 2017 in Portugal

Portugal is regularly affected by destructive wildfires that have severe social, economic, and ecological impacts. The total burnt area in 2017 (∼540,000ha) marked the all-time record value since 1980 with a tragic toll of 114 fatalities that occurred in June and October events. The local insurance sector declared it was the costliest natural disaster in Portugal with payouts exceeding USD295 million. Here, the 2017 October event, responsible for more than 200,000ha of burnt area and 50 fatalities is analyzed from a compound perspective. A prolonged drought led to preconditioned cumulative hydric stress of vegetation in October 2017. In addition, on 15 October 2017, two other major drivers played a critical role: 1) the passage of hurricane Ophelia off the Coast of Portugal, responsible for exceptional meteorological conditions and 2) the human agent, responsible for an extremely elevated number of negligent ignitions. This disastrous combination of natural and anthropogenic drivers led to the uncontrolled wildfires observed on 15 October.

Attributing Vegetation Recovery During the Indian Summer Monsoon to Climate Drivers in Central India

Increasing droughts and heat waves as a result of global warming pose a major threat to forests and croplands in India. Monitoring the dynamics of vegetation during a drought and its recovery is essential for the Indian socio-economy and biodiversity. We investigate vegetation recovery from a stressed state in the pre-monsoon (May) period to the end of the monsoon period (September). We then attribute net change during the monsoon period to climate drivers such as temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. To delineate non-linear interactions, we use an information-theoretic metric to understand the relative association of climate variables with vegetation productivity on a daily scale. We found that pre-monsoon vegetation stress is influenced by soil moisture (r = 0.8, p < 0.01), which is driven by variations in temperature and precipitation. During the monsoons, precipitation contributes to vegetation recovery from pre-monsoon stress through soil moisture recharge while inhibiting vegetation productivity by limiting the amount of radiation available for photosynthesis. Linear regression shows the significant negative dependence of vegetation recovery on precipitation (β = –0.7, p < 0.01) and positive dependence on soil moisture (β = 0.4, p < 0.1) indicating radiation limitation on photosynthesis...

A method for detecting underground natural gas pipeline micro-leakage in vegetated areas using high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery

Natural gas is an important clean energy source that is mainly transported through buried pipelines. However, slight leakage during transportation is inevitable and needs to be identified in time to reduce the risk of related accidents. For this purpose, remote sensing can be used as an indirect and non-destructive technique to detect natural gas leakage through vegetation. Abundant spectral and detailed spatial information enables the high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery to capture subtle stress responses from vegetation. In this study, we designed a simulation experiment of natural gas leakage in vegetated areas, and collected the high spatial resolution hyperspectral images of three plant species. Considering the shadow problem contained in high spatial resolution images, a new vegetation pixel extraction method to eliminate the influence of background shadows was proposed. Then, two spectral transformation methods, continuum removal (CR) and variational mode decomposition (VMD), were integrated to analyze the vegetation spectra, and a spectral index which could reflect the degree of vegetation stress was designed based on the spectral characteristics, named CVI (Continuum removal - Variational mode decomposition Index). Finally, the threshold segmentation methods and the cumulative minimum circumscribed circle method were used to extract the range and location of natural gas leakage. The study demonstrated the potential of using high spatial hyperspectral imagery to map and monitor natural gas leakage through its stress on vegetation. Results of this research can be a reference for the fine identification of stressed plants and are expected to be applied to provide support for related departments and stakeholders.

Flash drought drives rapid vegetation stress in arid regions in Europe

Flash droughts are characterised by rapid onset, combined with the potential to severely impact agriculture and ecosystems. However, assessments of the ecological impacts of flash droughts, especially in Europe, are largely lacking. Here we investigate ecosystem responses to flash droughts in Europe between 2001 and 2019 using diverse observational data, including gross primary production (GPP) and leaf area index (LAI). We find that in arid regions an abrupt transition to water-stressed conditions occurs within a few weeks, which negatively affects vegetation status and reduces carbon uptake in the initial stages of drought; normalised anomalies of LAI and GPP decrease to about −0.5. By contrast, vegetation in humid regions is not as severely affected, given that soil moisture recovers relatively quickly. We also show that soil moisture status before the onset of drought significantly impacts the timing (1–5 pentads) and degree (−0.33 to −0.71 of normalised LAI and GPP anomalies) of drought-induced vegetation stress, particularly in arid regions. Our results highlight the regional characteristics of flash drought impacts for more informative monitoring and early warning systems.

BZIP Transcription Factor UvATF21 Mediates Vegetative Growth, Conidiation, Stress Tolerance and Is Required for Full Virulence of Rice False Smut Fungus Ustilaginoidea virens

bZIP proteins are widely distributed in eukaryotic organisms and regulate a diverse range of physiological processes. Several bZIP proteins have previously been identified in Ustilaginoidea virens. However, the biological roles of these bZIP proteins in this pathogen are still unknown. Here, one of these bZIP protein coding genes, UvATF21, was functionally characterized. Targeted deletion of UvATF21 resulted in reduced conidiation and pathogenicity despite of the increased vegetative growth. The deletion mutants also significantly decreased the sensitivity to osmotic and oxidative stresses. Interestingly, deletion of UvATF21 exhibited different performances to cell wall integrity stress. These results indicated that UvATF21 played crucial roles in vegetative growth, conidiation, stress response, and full virulence in U. virens.

Salinification of Coastal Wetlands and Freshwater Management to Support Resilience

Climates are rapidly changing in wetland ecosystems around the world and historical land-use change is not always given enough consideration in climate adaptation discussions. Historical changes to hydrology and other key environments can exacerbate vegetation stress; e.g., recent drought and flood episodes are likely more extreme because of climate change. The contributions of global and regional changes that affect groundwater and surface water availability all need consideration in conservation planning including sea-level rise, coastal subsidence and compaction, fluid extraction, and floodplain reengineering. Where subsidence is not too extreme, healthy coastal vegetation often can keep ahead of sea-level rise by accreting elevation through sedimentary and/or biogenic processes. Better water conservation and minimum water delivery during drought may support foundational species and avoid wetland collapse. Local approaches have been developed to rewet inland floodplains decades after their reengineering for agricultural and urban development to support biodiversity in salinified coastal wetlands. The purpose of this paper is to describe inland wetland remediation techniques that may also be useful to increase freshwater delivery to coastal wetlands experiencing salinification. While some salinified coastal ecosystems may transition in the future, attempts can be made to remediate salinification related to historical land use in support of wetland conservation, health, and sustainability.

Function of the Mitochondrial Transport Protein BcMtp1 in Regulating Vegetative Development, Asexual Reproduction, Stress Response, Fungicide Sensitivity, and Virulence of Botrytis cinerea.

In model fungi, mitochondrial transport proteins (MTPs), also known as "mitochondrial carriers" (MC), are known to facilitate the exchange of biochemical substances across the mitochondrial inner membrane. In this study, we characterized an MTP in Botrytis cinerea homologous to the known MTPs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae designated BcMtp1. The BcMtp1 deletion mutant phenotype was strikingly defective in vegetative development, conidiation, and sclerotia production. In addition, ΔBcMtp1 showed increased sensitivity to osmotic stress, oxidative stress, and cell wall biogenesis inhibitors. In the pathogenicity assay, ΔBcMtp1 displayed compromised virulence on various host-plant tissues. The BcMtp1 deletion mutant phenotype was rescued by transforming the wild-type BcMtp1 variant into the mutant. Together, these data indicate that BcMtp1 is critical for vegetative development, asexual reproduction, stress tolerance, and virulence of B. cinerea.

Genome-wide identification of BCS1 domain-containing proteins reveals the mitochondrial bcs1 essential for growth, stress response, and virulence of the filamentous entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana

In yeasts, bcs1 is a mitochondrial AAA protein (ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities) and required for biogenesis of the complex III in mitochondrial electron transfer chain. However, the presence and biological roles of bcs1 remain largely unknown in the filamentous fungi. In present study, genome-wide identification revealed that there were six BCS1-domain containing proteins (Bbbcs1a through f) in the filamentous insect pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, five of which (except for Bbbcs1f) were functionally analyzed. Phenotypic evaluation revealed that only Bbbcs1b and Bbbcs1c contributed to fungal physiologies, and they localized to nuclei and mitochondria, respectively. Hence, Bbbcs1c is considered as the ortholog of yeast bcs1 in B. bassiana. Ablation of Bbbcs1c did not affect biogenesis of mitochondria, but its loss significantly attenuated mitochondrial functionality (e.g., ATP synthesis and mitochondrial targeting of proteins) significantly. ΔBbbcs1c mutant displayed the impaired phenotypes in vegetative growth, stress response, development, and virulence. Notably, ΔBbbcs1c mutant displayed the increased sensitivity to linoleic acid (LA) stress and lost the intracellular fatty acid homeostasis. The Bbbcs1c loss compromised the mitochondrial membrane potential, and LA stress exacerbated this damage. These findings indicate that Bbbcs1c is a functional homolog of yeast bcs1 in B. bassiana and links mitochondrial functionality to unique lifestyle in the entomopathogenic fungi.

Comprehensive genome-wide identification and expression profiling of ADF gene family in Citrus sinensis, induced by endophytic colonization of Beauveria bassiana

Endophytic entomopathogenic species are known to systematically colonize host plants and form symbiotic associations that benefit the plants they live with. The actin-depolymerizing factors (ADFs) are a group of gene family that regulate growth, development, and defense-related functions in plants. Systematic studies of ADF family at the genome-wide level and their expression in response to endophytic colonization are essential to understand its functions but are currently lacking in this field. 14ADF genes were identified and characterized in the Citrus sinensis genome. The ADF genes of C. sinensis were classified into five groups according to the phylogenetic analysis of plant ADFs. Additionally, the cis-acting analysis revealed that these genes play essential role in plant growth/development, phytohormone, and biotic and abiotic responses; and the expression analysis showed that the symbiotic interactions generate a significant expression regulation level of ADF genes in leaves, stems and roots, compared to controls; thus enhancing seedlings' growth. Additionally, the 3D structures of the ADF domain were highly conserved during evolution. These results will be helpful for further functional validation of ADFs candidate genes and provide important insights into the vegetative growth, development and stress tolerance of C. sinensis in responses to endophytic colonization by B. bassiana.

Identification of Early Heat and Water Stress in Strawberry Plants Using Chlorophyll-Fluorescence Indices Extracted via Hyperspectral Images.

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch) plants are vulnerable to climatic change. The strawberry plants suffer from heat and water stress eventually, and the effects are reflected in the development and yields. In this investigation, potential chlorophyll-fluorescence-based indices were selected to detect the early heat and water stress in strawberry plants. The hyperspectral images were used to capture the fluorescence reflectance in the range of 500 nm-900 nm. From the hyperspectral cube, the region of interest (leaves) was identified, followed by the extraction of eight chlorophyll-fluorescence indices from the region of interest (leaves). These eight chlorophyll-fluorescence indices were analyzed deeply to identify the best indicators for our objective. The indices were used to develop machine-learning models to assess the performance of the indicators by accuracy assessment. The overall procedure is proposed as a new workflow for determining strawberry plants' early heat and water stress. The proposed workflow suggests that by including all eight indices, the random-forest classifier performs well, with an accuracy of 94%. With this combination of the potential indices, namely the red-edge vegetation stress index (RVSI), chlorophyll B (Chl-b), pigment-specific simple ratio for chlorophyll B (PSSRb), and the red-edge chlorophyll index (CIREDEDGE), the gradient-boosting classifier performs well, with an accuracy of 91%. The proposed workflow works well with a limited number of training samples which is an added advantage.

Genome-Wide Identification, Evolution, and Expression Analysis of the TCP Gene Family in Rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.)

Roses have not only high ornamental and economic values but also cultural importance worldwide. As a plant-specific transcription factor gene family, the TCP (TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1, CYCLOIDEA, PROLIFERATING CELL FACTOR LAND 2) genes have been indicated to be involved in various aspects of plant biological processes, such as leaf morphogenesis and senescence, lateral branching, flower development, stress response and hormone signaling. Currently, TCP genes have been identified and analyzed in many plants, yet there is no systematic analysis in Rosa chinensis. Here, we identified 16 RcTCP genes from R. chinensis genome, which were unevenly distributed in five out of all seven chromosomes. Phylogenetic and structural analyses showed that RcTCP family could be classified into two classes, I (namely PCF) and II, and class II genes can be further divided into CIN and CyC/TB1 subclasses. The different classes of TCP genes were showed to have undergone different evolutionary processes, and genes in the same branch shared similar motifs, gene structures and conserved structural domains. Promoter analysis showed that RcTCPs had many cis-acting elements that are mainly associated with plant growth and development, plant hormones and abiotic/biotic stress responses. Furthermore, the expression levels of RcTCPs under vegetative and reproductive growth and drought stress treatments were analyzed based on public RNA-seq dataset, and it was shown that RcTCPs exhibited serious tissue-specific expression, with most of them dominantly expressed in flowers, leaves and stems, with high levels of expression at different stages of flower and bud differentiation, particularly during petal formation and gametophyte development. The high inducement of seven RcTCP genes from PCF class in drought stress indicated their important roles in biological processes against drought stress. Our results provide valuable information for the evolution and functional characterization of TCP genes in R. chinensis.