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Genetic underpinnings of arthropod community distributions in Populus trichocarpa New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Sandra J. Simon, Anna Furches, Hari Chhetri, Luke Evans, Chanaka Roshan Abeyratne, Piet Jones, Gina Wimp, David Macaya‐Sanz, Daniel Jacobson, Timothy J. Tschaplinski, Gerald A. Tuskan, Stephen P. DiFazio
Summary Community genetics seeks to understand the mechanisms by which natural genetic variation in heritable host phenotypes can encompass assemblages of organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and many animals including arthropods. Prior studies that focused on plant genotypes have been unable to identify genes controlling community composition, a necessary step to predict ecosystem structure and function
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Contrasting coordination of non‐structural carbohydrates with leaf and root economic strategies of alpine coniferous forests New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Peipei Zhang, Junxiang Ding, Qitong Wang, Nate G. McDowell, Deliang Kong, Yindong Tong, Huajun Yin
Summary Non‐structural carbohydrates (NSCs), as the labile fraction and dominant carbon currency, are essential mediators of plant adaptation to environments. However, whether and how NSC coordinates with plant economic strategy frameworks, particularly the well‐recognized leaf economics spectrums (LES) and root economics space (RES), remains unclear. We examined the relationships between NSC and key
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Ontogenetic trajectories as the target of selection New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Mark E. Olson
Even though all organisms experience some sort of development, studies that depict ontogenetic trajectories as the subjects of evolution are rare. The importance of ontogeny has certainly been recognized throughout the history of evolutionary biology. For instance, in the early Modern Synthesis period, Gavin de Beer (1940) used the charming term ‘youthful adaptation’ to describe the effects of selection
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Convergently evolved metabolites are new to me but not to my attackers New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Amanda Agosto‐Ramos, Anna Jo Muhich, Daniel J. Kliebenstein
Biosynthetic pathways evolve and arise within the context of the genes and compounds previously existing within the organism. Genomic processes such as gene duplication and neofunctionalization can create new biochemical potential which most often alters the chemical output of existing pathways (Weng, 2014). However, completely new pathways are occasionally created in plants. Interestingly, these can
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The receptor kinase RiSho1 in Rhizophagus irregularis regulates arbuscule development and drought tolerance during arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Sijia Wang, Lina Han, Ying Ren, Wentao Hu, Xianan Xie, Hui Chen, Ming Tang
Summary In terrestrial ecosystems, most plant species can form beneficial associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi benefit plant nutrient acquisition and enhance plant tolerance to drought. The high osmolarity glycerol 1 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (HOG1‐MAPK) cascade genes have been characterized in Rhizophagus irregularis. However, the upstream receptor
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miR164‐MhNAC1 regulates apple root nitrogen uptake under low nitrogen stress New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Xiaona Wang, Yan Zhou, Xiaofen Chai, Toshi M. Foster, Cecilia H. Deng, Ting Wu, Xinzhong Zhang, Zhenhai Han, Yi Wang
Summary Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth and serves as a signaling molecule to regulate gene expression inducing physiological, growth and developmental responses. An excess or deficiency of nitrogen may have adverse effects on plants. Studying nitrogen uptake will help us understand the molecular mechanisms of utilization for targeted molecular breeding. Here, we identified and functionally
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Sirt5‐mediated lysine desuccinylation regulates oxidative stress adaptation in Magnaporthe oryzae during host intracellular infection New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Zhiyong Ren, Xiang Dong, Lun Guan, Lei Yang, Caiyun Liu, Xuan Cai, Hong Hu, Ziwei Lv, Hao Liu, Lu Zheng, Junbin Huang, Richard A. Wilson, Xiao‐Lin Chen
Summary Plant pathogenic fungi elaborate numerous detoxification strategies to suppress host reactive oxygen species (ROS), but their coordination is not well‐understood. Here, we show that Sirt5‐mediated protein desuccinylation in Magnaporthe oryzae is central to host ROS detoxification. SIRT5 encodes a desuccinylase important for virulence via adaptation to host oxidative stress. Quantitative proteomics
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Seasonal drought promotes citrate accumulation in citrus fruit through the CsABF3‐activated CsAN1‐CsPH8 pathway New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Xiaochuan Ma, Ling Sheng, Feifei Li, Tie Zhou, Jing Guo, Yuanyuan Chang, Junfeng Yang, Yan Jin, Yuewen Chen, Xiaopeng Lu
Summary Plenty of rainfall but unevenly seasonal distribution happens regularly in southern China. Seasonal drought from summer to early autumn leads to citrus fruit acidification, but how seasonal drought regulates citrate accumulation remains unknown. Herein, we employed a set of physiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to reveal that CsABF3 responds to seasonal drought stress and modulates
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Spectral ecophysiology: hyperspectral pressure–volume curves to estimate leaf turgor loss New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Raiza Castillo‐Argaez, Gerard Sapes, Nicole Mallen, Alston Lippert, Grace P. John, Alina Zare, William M. Hammond
Summary Turgor loss point (TLP) is an important proxy for plant drought tolerance, species habitat suitability, and drought‐induced plant mortality risk. Thus, TLP serves as a critical tool for evaluating climate change impacts on plants, making it imperative to develop high‐throughput and in situ methods to measure TLP. We developed hyperspectral pressure–volume curves (PV curves) to estimate TLP
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Hybrid Mimulus flowers attract a new pollinator New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Foen Peng, Xiaohe Sun, Claudia van Vloten, Jude Correll, Marlena Langdon, Weerin Ngochanthra, Karl Johnson, Suzanne Amador Kane
Summary Hybridization is common in flowering plants and is believed to be an important force driving adaptation and speciation. The flowers of hybrids often exhibit new trait combinations, which, theoretically, could attract new species of pollinators. In this study, we found that the hybrids between a hummingbird‐pollinated species Mimulus cardinalis and a self‐pollinated species Mimulus parishii
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Plant root mechanisms and their effects on carbon and nutrient accumulation in desert ecosystems under changes in land use and climate New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Akash Tariq, Corina Graciano, Jordi Sardans, Fanjiang Zeng, Alice C. Hughes, Zeeshan Ahmed, Abd Ullah, Sikandar Ali, Yanju Gao, Josep Peñuelas
SummaryDeserts represent key carbon reservoirs, yet as these systems are threatened this has implications for biodiversity and climate change. This review focuses on how these changes affect desert ecosystems, particularly plant root systems and their impact on carbon and mineral nutrient stocks. Desert plants have diverse root architectures shaped by water acquisition strategies, affecting plant biomass
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Phytochrome B photobody components New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-13 Yongmin Kwon, Chanhee Kim, Giltsu Choi
SummaryPhytochrome B (phyB) is a red and far‐red photoreceptor that promotes light responses. Upon photoactivation, phyB enters the nucleus and forms a molecular condensate called a photobody through liquid–liquid phase separation. Phytochrome B photobody comprises phyB, the main scaffold molecule, and at least 37 client proteins. These clients belong to diverse functional categories enriched with
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Gary Loake New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-12
What inspired your interest in plant science? My boyhood home was adjacent to the Rushall canal, which despite running through the Black Country of the West Midlands, UK, an industrial heartland, was counter intuitively largely rural. There was also a farm at the end of my road with fields running out to the Beacon Hills. Consequently, I spent my childhood angling, kayaking, and collecting various
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LONESOME HIGHWAY‐TARGET OF MONOPTEROS5 transcription factor complex promotes a predifferentiation state for xylem vessel differentiation in the root apical meristem by inducing the expression of VASCULAR‐RELATED NAC‐DOMAIN genes New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-11 Kyoko Ohashi‐Ito, Kuninori Iwamoto, Hiroo Fukuda
Summary In Arabidopsis thaliana, heterodimers comprising two bHLH family proteins, LONESOME HIGHWAY (LHW) and TARGET OF MONOPTEROS5 (TMO5) or its homolog TMO5‐LIKE 1 (T5L1) control vascular development in the root apical meristem (RAM). The LHW‐TMO5/T5L1 complex regulates vascular cell proliferation, vascular pattern organization, and xylem vessel differentiation; however, the mechanism of preparation
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Arbuscular mycorrhizal conserved genes are recruited for ectomycorrhizal symbiosis New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-09 Huchen Li, Yueyang Ge, Zhiyong Zhang, Haolin Zhang, Yiyang Wang, Mingdong Wang, Xin Zhao, Jundi Yan, Qian Li, Ling Qin, Qingqin Cao, Ton Bisseling
Introduction Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis evolved more recently than the well-studied arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. AM symbiosis enables plants to take up scarce minerals from the soil through their fungal partner, by its extraradical hyphae and its highly branched intracellular structures named arbuscules. It was predicted to have a single evolutionary origin and to have facilitated the
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A tail of two horses? Guard cell abscisic acid and carbon dioxide signalling in the Equisetum ferns New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Caspar C. C. Chater
Equisetum, or horsetail, is stubborn. This fern is the bane of gardeners and farmers alike and is one of the world's most pernicious agricultural weeds. No wonder it is perhaps the oldest single extant genus of vascular plants. Its mere 16 or so species are the last stout survivors of a mighty lineage rooted deep in the Devonian–Carboniferous coal swamps and forests. Equisetum's story is, in some ways
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Signal‐specific spatiotemporal organization of AtRGS1 in plant pattern‐triggered immunity New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Bodan Su, Anqi Wang, Jinxing Lin, Daoxin Xie, Xiaoyi Shan
Introduction The plasma membrane (PM) constitutes a regulatory platform for the transduction of external signals into the interior of cells to regulate various physiological processes. The dynamics of plant membrane proteins on the PM, as well as exocytic and endocytic trafficking between the PM and endosomes, are thought to be important determinants that control signaling activation and passivation
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The role of thermodiffusion in transpiration New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Danielle S. Griffani, Pierre Rognon, Graham D. Farquhar
Summary Plant leaf temperatures can differ from ambient air temperatures. A temperature gradient in a gas mixture gives rise to a phenomenon known as thermodiffusion, which operates in addition to ordinary diffusion. Whilst transpiration is generally understood to be driven solely by the ordinary diffusion of water vapour along a concentration gradient, we consider the implications of thermodiffusion
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Sorghum SbGhd7 is a major regulator of floral transition and directly represses genes crucial for flowering activation New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Dimiru Tadesse, Estella F. Yee, Tezera W. Wolabu, Hui Wang, Jianfei Yun, Nicolas Grosjean, Desigan Kumaran, Kassandra Santiago, Wenqian Kong, Ankush Sharma, Jianghua Chen, Andrew H. Paterson, Meng Xie, Million Tadege
Summary Molecular genetic understanding of flowering time regulation is crucial for sorghum development. GRAIN NUMBER, PLANT HEIGHT AND HEADING DATE 7 (SbGhd7) is one of the six classical loci conferring photoperiod sensitivity of sorghum flowering. However, its functions remain poorly studied. The molecular functions of SbGhd7 were characterized. The gene regulatory network controlled by SbGhd7 was
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Genome‐wide DNA methylation dynamics following recent polyploidy in the allotetraploid Tragopogon miscellus (Asteraceae) New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Shengchen Shan, Matthew A. Gitzendanner, J. Lucas Boatwright, Jonathan P. Spoelhof, Christina L. Ethridge, Lexiang Ji, Xiaoxian Liu, Pamela S. Soltis, Robert J. Schmitz, Douglas E. Soltis
Summary Polyploidy is an important evolutionary force, yet epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, that regulate genome‐wide expression of duplicated genes remain largely unknown. Here, we use Tragopogon (Asteraceae) as a model system to discover patterns and temporal dynamics of DNA methylation in recently formed polyploids. The naturally occurring allotetraploid Tragopogon miscellus formed
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Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Steven P. Bachman, Matilda J. M. Brown, Tarciso C. C. Leão, Eimear Nic Lughadha, Barnaby E. Walker
Introduction There is an urgent need to ‘bend the curve’ of biodiversity loss (Mace et al., 2018), as indicators report widespread and ongoing decline (Tittensor et al., 2014; Haddad et al., 2015; Díaz et al., 2019). Ambitious goals and targets have been set to stem this loss, achieve stabilisation, and build a path to recovery, whilst ensuring human needs are fairly met (Gumbs et al., 2021; Milner-Gulland
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From cyanobacteria and cyanophages to chloroplasts: the fate of the genomes of oxyphototrophs and the genes encoding photosystem II proteins New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Ireneusz Ślesak, Halina Ślesak
Summary Chloroplasts are the result of endosymbiosis of cyanobacterial organisms with proto‐eukaryotes. The psbA, psbD and psbO genes are present in all oxyphototrophs and encode the D1/D2 proteins of photosystem II (PSII) and PsbO, respectively. PsbO is a peripheral protein that stabilizes the O2‐evolving complex in PSII. Of these genes, psbA and psbD remained in the chloroplastic genome, while psbO
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Quantifying isotope parameters associated with carbonyl‐water oxygen exchange during sucrose translocation in tree phloem New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Yonghui Pan, Fang Li, Wen Lin, Youping Zhou, Xin Song
Summary Stable oxygen isotope ratio of tree‐ring α‐cellulose (δ18Ocel) yields valuable information on many aspects of tree–climate interactions. However, our current understanding of the mechanistic controls on δ18Ocel is incomplete, with a knowledge gap existent regarding the fractionation effect characterizing carbonyl‐water oxygen exchange during sucrose translocation from leaf to phloem. To address
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Convergent and/or parallel evolution of RNA‐binding proteins in angiosperms after polyploidization New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Liangyu Guo, Shuo Wang, Xi Jiao, Xiaoxue Ye, Deyin Deng, Hua Liu, Yan Li, Yves Van de Peer, Wenwu Wu
Summary Increasing studies suggest that the biased retention of stress‐related transcription factors (TFs) after whole‐genome duplications (WGDs) could rewire gene transcriptional networks, facilitating plant adaptation to challenging environments. However, the role of posttranscriptional factors (e.g. RNA‐binding proteins, RBPs) following WGDs has been largely ignored. Uncovering thousands of RBPs
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Long‐term shift towards shady and nutrient‐rich habitats in Central European temperate forests New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Ondřej Vild, Markéta Chudomelová, Martin Macek, Martin Kopecký, Jindřich Prach, Petr Petřík, Petr Halas, Michal Juříček, Marie Smyčková, Jan Šebesta, Martin Vojík, Radim Hédl
Summary Biodiversity world‐wide has been under increasing anthropogenic pressure in the past century. The long‐term response of biotic communities has been tackled primarily by focusing on species richness, community composition and functionality. Equally important are shifts between entire communities and habitat types, which remain an unexplored level of biodiversity change. We have resurveyed >
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Linking the key physiological functions of essential micronutrients to their deficiency symptoms in plants New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Grmay Hailu Lilay, Noémie Thiébaut, Dorine du Mee, Ana G. L. Assunção, Jan Kofod Schjoerring, Søren Husted, Daniel Pergament Persson
SummaryIn this review, we untangle the physiological key functions of the essential micronutrients and link them to the deficiency responses in plants. Knowledge of these responses at the mechanistic level, and the resulting deficiency symptoms, have improved over the last decade and it appears timely to review recent insights for each of them. A proper understanding of the links between function and
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Drought increases Norway spruce susceptibility to the Eurasian spruce bark beetle and its associated fungi New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Sigrid Netherer, Linda Lehmanski, Albert Bachlehner, Sabine Rosner, Tadeja Savi, Axel Schmidt, Jianbei Huang, Maria Rosa Paiva, Eduardo Mateus, Henrik Hartmann, Jonathan Gershenzon
Summary Drought affects the complex interactions between Norway spruce, the bark beetle Ips typographus and associated microorganisms. We investigated the interplay of tree water status, defense and carbohydrate reserves with the incidence of bark beetle attack and infection of associated fungi in mature spruce trees. We installed roofs to induce a 2‐yr moderate drought in a managed spruce stand to
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Back to the future for drought tolerance New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Luis M. Guadarrama‐Escobar, James Hunt, Allison Gurung, Pablo J. Zarco‐Tejada, Sergey Shabala, Carlos Camino, Pilar Hernandez, Mohammad Pourkheirandish
SummaryGlobal agriculture faces increasing pressure to produce more food with fewer resources. Drought, exacerbated by climate change, is a major agricultural constraint costing the industry an estimated US$80 billion per year in lost production. Wild relatives of domesticated crops, including wheat (Triticum spp.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), are an underutilized source of drought tolerance genes
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Excavating the fossil record for evidence of leaf mining New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Stephen McLoughlin, Artai A. Santos
Leaf mining is a highly specialized endophytic feeding style that evolved independently, within multiple lineages, in four major insect orders: Coleoptera (beetles), Hymenoptera (wasps), Diptera (flies), and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Mining is carried out by the larval stages of these groups with chewing mouthparts, and this feeding strategy confers benefits to the herbivore by protecting
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The effects of plant hormones on dispersal and predation of seeds by Leopoldamys edwardsi: the co‐evolutionary knot between acorns and rodents grows tighter New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Michael Steele, Michal Bogdziewicz
The close ecological relationship between rodents and the seeds they store or consume is emerging as a growing area of research that continues to reveal unexpected ecological and evolutionary outcomes, which follow from these interactions (see overview by Steele, 2021). Although there is extensive knowledge on the ecological and evolutionary impact of squirrels and other rodents as seed predators in
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Identification of two key genes involved in flavonoid catabolism and their different roles in apple resistance to biotic stresses New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Qian Zhao, Xiaoning Li, Yu Jiao, Ying Chen, Yanfang Yan, Yuzhu Wang, Cyril Hamiaux, Yule Wang, Fengwang Ma, Ross G. Atkinson, Pengmin Li
Summary Biosynthesis of flavonoid aglycones and glycosides is well established. However, key genes involved in their catabolism are poorly understood, even though the products of hydrolysis and oxidation play important roles in plant resistance to biotic stress. Here, we report on catabolism of dihydrochalcones (DHCs), the most abundant flavonoids in domesticated apple and wild Malus. Two key genes
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Maize functional requirements drive the selection of rhizobacteria under long‐term fertilization practices New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Liyu Zhang, Liang Yuan, Yanchen Wen, Meiling Zhang, Shuyu Huang, Shiyu Wang, Yuanzheng Zhao, Xiangxiang Hao, Lujun Li, Qiang Gao, Yin Wang, Shuiqing Zhang, Shaomin Huang, Kailou Liu, Xichu Yu, Dongchu Li, Jiukai Xu, Bingqiang Zhao, Lu Zhang, Huimin Zhang, Wei Zhou, Chao Ai
Summary Rhizosphere microbiomes are pivotal for crop fitness, but the principles underlying microbial assembly during root–soil interactions across soils with different nutrient statuses remain elusive. We examined the microbiomes in the rhizosphere and bulk soils of maize plants grown under six long‐term (≥ 29 yr) fertilization experiments in three soil types across middle temperate to subtropical
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NaWRKY70 is a key regulator of Nicotiana attenuata resistance to Alternaria alternata through regulation of phytohormones and phytoalexins biosynthesis New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Na Song, Jinsong Wu
Summary Jasmonate (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) are two major phytohormones involved in pathogen resistance. However, how their biosynthesis is regulated is not well understood. We silenced NaWRKY70 in wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata and determined its role in regulating genes involved in the production of JA, ABA and the phytoalexin capsidiol in response to the fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata
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Exploring the frontier of rapid prototyping technologies for plant synthetic biology and what could lie beyond New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Kevin Morey, Arjun Khakhar
SummaryRealizing the full potential of plant synthetic biology both to elucidate the relationship between genotype and phenotype and to apply these insights to engineer traits requires rapidly iterating through design‐build‐test cycles. However, the months‐long process of transgenesis, the long generation times, and the size‐based limitations on experimentation have stymied progress by limiting the
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Is plant acoustic communication fact or fiction? New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Jin‐Soo Son, Seonghan Jang, Nicolas Mathevon, Choong‐Min Ryu
SummaryIn recent years, the idea has flourished that plants emit and perceive sound and could even be capable of exchanging information through the acoustic channel. While research into plant bioacoustics is still in its infancy, with potentially fascinating discoveries awaiting ahead, here we show that the current knowledge is not conclusive. While plants do emit sounds under biotic and abiotic stresses
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Multiple horizontal gene transfer events have shaped plant glycosyl hydrolase diversity and function New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Beatriz Kfoury, Wenderson Felipe Costa Rodrigues, Sang-Jin Kim, Federica Brandizzi, Luiz-Eduardo Del-Bem
Introduction Carbohydrates constitute the most abundant group of organic compounds in nature (Varki, 2011, 2017). This can be primarily attributed to the ability of photosynthetic eukaryotes to harness sunlight and convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates during photosynthesis. While carbohydrates can serve as an immediate source of energy for cellular processes, plants use a significant
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Altering the substitution and cross-linking of glucuronoarabinoxylans affects cell wall architecture in Brachypodium distachyon New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Theodora Tryfona, Yanina Pankratova, Deborah Petrik, Diego Rebaque Moran, Raymond Wightman, Xiaolan Yu, Alberto Echevarría-Poza, Parveen Kumar Deralia, Francisco Vilaplana, Charles T. Anderson, Mei Hong, Paul Dupree
Introduction Most of the energy and renewable materials in plant lignocellulosic biomass is locked within secondary cell walls in cellulose and xylan in a dense matrix with lignin (McCann & Carpita, 2008). Grasses are considered an abundant renewable source of biomass for bioenergy and biomaterials production due to their year-round production and ability to grow on less fertile land and in semi-arid
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New approaches to dissect leaf hydraulics reveal large gradients in living tissues of tomato leaves New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Piyush Jain, Annika E. Huber, Fulton E. Rockwell, Sabyasachi Sen, N. Michele Holbrook, Abraham D. Stroock
Introduction Leaves support critical biological functions and play a dominant role in mediating land–atmosphere exchanges of water, CO2, and energy (Fig. 1a). Leaves are also the terminus of the hydraulic path for transpiration from soil to the evaporative surfaces in the spongy mesophyll beneath the epidermis and stomata. The hydraulic (liquid phase) conductance within leaves, and its variability
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Rhizosheath drought responsiveness is variety‐specific and a key component of belowground plant adaptation New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Franziska A. Steiner, Andreas J. Wild, Nicolas Tyborski, Shu‐Yin Tung, Tina Koehler, Franz Buegger, Andrea Carminati, Barbara Eder, Jennifer Groth, Benjamin D. Hesse, Johanna Pausch, Tillmann Lüders, Wouter K. Vahl, Sebastian Wolfrum, Carsten W. Mueller, Alix Vidal
Summary Biophysicochemical rhizosheath properties play a vital role in plant drought adaptation. However, their integration into the framework of plant drought response is hampered by incomplete mechanistic understanding of their drought responsiveness and unknown linkage to intraspecific plant–soil drought reactions. Thirty‐eight Zea mays varieties were grown under well‐watered and drought conditions
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Temporal dynamics of genetic architecture governing leaf development in Populus New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Peng Li, Yuling He, Liang Xiao, Mingyang Quan, Mingyue Gu, Zhuoying Jin, Jiaxuan Zhou, Lianzheng Li, Wenhao Bo, Weina Qi, Rui Huang, Chenfei Lv, Dan Wang, Qing Liu, Yousry A. El‐Kassaby, Qingzhang Du, Deqiang Zhang
Summary Leaf development is a multifaceted and dynamic process orchestrated by a myriad of genes to shape the proper size and morphology. The dynamic genetic network underlying leaf development remains largely unknown. Utilizing a synergistic genetic approach encompassing dynamic genome‐wide association study (GWAS), time‐ordered gene co‐expression network (TO‐GCN) analyses and gene manipulation, we
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Syntrichia ruralis: emerging model moss genome reveals a conserved and previously unknown regulator of desiccation in flowering plants New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Xiaodan Zhang, Jenna T. B. Ekwealor, Brent D. Mishler, Anderson T. Silva, Li'ang Yu, Andrea K. Jones, Andrew D. L. Nelson, Melvin J. Oliver
Summary Water scarcity, resulting from climate change, poses a significant threat to ecosystems. Syntrichia ruralis, a dryland desiccation‐tolerant moss, provides valuable insights into survival of water‐limited conditions. We sequenced the genome of S. ruralis, conducted transcriptomic analyses, and performed comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses with existing genomes and transcriptomes
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Walking on a tightrope: cell wall‐associated kinases act as sensors and regulators of immunity and symbiosis New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Marco Giovannetti, Andrea Genre
Choosing between symbiosis- and immunity-related responses is a decision that plants have to make continuously. As they grow in the soil and the atmosphere, their epidermal cells are probed by a multitude of microbes, attracted by the wealth of organic molecules that plants accumulate in their tissues through photosynthesis. Among this crowd of plant-interacting microorganisms, fungi are an important
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Toward a coordinated understanding of hydro‐biogeochemical root functions in tropical forests for application in vegetation models New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Daniela F. Cusack, Bradley Christoffersen, Chris M. Smith‐Martin, Kelly M. Andersen, Amanda L. Cordeiro, Katrin Fleischer, S. Joseph Wright, Nathaly R. Guerrero‐Ramírez, Laynara F. Lugli, Lindsay A. McCulloch, Mareli Sanchez‐Julia, Sarah A. Batterman, Caroline Dallstream, Claire Fortunel, Laura Toro, Lucia Fuchslueger, Michelle Y. Wong, Daniela Yaffar, Joshua B. Fisher, Marie Arnaud, Lee H. Dietterich
SummaryTropical forest root characteristics and resource acquisition strategies are underrepresented in vegetation and global models, hampering the prediction of forest–climate feedbacks for these carbon‐rich ecosystems. Lowland tropical forests often have globally unique combinations of high taxonomic and functional biodiversity, rainfall seasonality, and strongly weathered infertile soils, giving
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Functional traits of fossil plants New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Jennifer C. McElwain, William J. Matthaeus, Catarina Barbosa, Christos Chondrogiannis, Katie O' Dea, Bea Jackson, Antonietta B. Knetge, Kamila Kwasniewska, Richard Nair, Joseph D. White, Jonathan P. Wilson, Isabel P. Montañez, Yvonne M. Buckley, Claire M. Belcher, Sandra Nogué
SummaryA minuscule fraction of the Earth's paleobiological diversity is preserved in the geological record as fossils. What plant remnants have withstood taphonomic filtering, fragmentation, and alteration in their journey to become part of the fossil record provide unique information on how plants functioned in paleo‐ecosystems through their traits. Plant traits are measurable morphological, anatomical
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Unpacking the point of no return under drought in poplar: insight from stem diameter variation New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Tsiky Andriantelomanana, Thierry Améglio, Sylvain Delzon, Hervé Cochard, Stephane Herbette
Summary A specific, robust threshold for drought‐induced tree mortality is needed to improve the prediction of forest dieback. Here, we tested the relevance of continuous measurements of stem diameter variations for identifying such a threshold, their relationship with hydraulic and cellular damage mechanisms, and the influence of growth conditions on these relationships. Poplar saplings were grown
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Gold perfusion experiments support the multi‐layered, mesoporous nature of intervessel pit membranes in angiosperm xylem New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Ya Zhang, Luciano Pereira, Lucian Kaack, Jiabao Liu, Steven Jansen
Summary Fluid transport across intervessel pit membranes of angiosperm xylem plays a major role in plant transpiration, with transport resistance largely depending on pore constriction sizes. Traditionally, fluid particles traversing pit membranes are assumed to cross a single instead of multiple pore constrictions. We tested a multi‐layered pit membrane model in xylem of eight angiosperm species by
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Spores of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi host surprisingly diverse communities of endobacteria New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Olga A. Lastovetsky, Tancredi Caruso, Fiona P. Brennan, David Wall, Susanna Pylni, Evelyn Doyle
Summary Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous plant root symbionts, which can house two endobacteria: Ca. Moeniiplasma glomeromycotorum (CaMg) and Ca. Glomeribacter gigasporarum (CaGg). However, little is known about their distribution and population structure in natural AMF populations and whether AMF can harbour other endobacteria. We isolated AMF from two environments and conducted detailed
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Histone modification‐dependent production of peptide hormones facilitates acquisition of pluripotency during leaf‐to‐callus transition in Arabidopsis New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Cheljong Hong, Hong Gil Lee, Sangrea Shim, Ok‐Sun Park, Jong Hee Kim, Kyounghee Lee, Eunkyoo Oh, Jungmook Kim, Yu Jin Jung, Pil Joon Seo
Summary Chromatin configuration is critical for establishing tissue identity and changes substantially during tissue identity transitions. The crucial scientific and agricultural technology of in vitro tissue culture exploits callus formation from diverse tissue explants and tissue regeneration via de novo organogenesis. We investigated the dynamic changes in H3ac and H3K4me3 histone modifications
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Insights into a functional model of key deubiquitinases UBP12/13 in plants New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Shiqi Zhang, Ningning Hu, Feifei Yu
SummaryUnderstanding the complexities of protein ubiquitination is crucial, as it plays a multifaceted role in controlling protein stability, activity, subcellular localization, and interaction, which are central to diverse biological processes. Deubiquitinases (DUBs) serve to reverse ubiquitination, but research progress in plant DUBs is noticeably limited. Among existing studies, UBIQUITIN‐SPECIFIC
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Distinct geographic parthenogenesis in spite of niche conservatism and a single ploidy level: A case of Rubus ser. Glandulosi (Rosaceae) New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Michal Sochor, Martin Duchoslav, Věra Forejtová, Michal Hroneš, Michaela Konečná, Bohumil Trávníček
Summary Asexual organisms often differ in their geographic distributions from their sexual relatives. This phenomenon, termed geographic parthenogenesis, has long been known, but the underlying factors behind its diverse patterns have been under dispute. Particularly problematic is an association between asexuality and polyploidy in most taxa. Here, we present a new system of geographic parthenogenesis
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Roles for leakiness and O2 evolution in explaining lower‐than‐theoretical quantum yields of photosynthesis in the PEP‐CK subtype of C4 plants New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Wenjing Ouyang, Emilie Wientjes, Peter E. L. van der Putten, Ludovico Caracciolo, Ruixuan Zhao, Collins Agho, Maurizio Junior Chiurazzi, Marius Bongers, Paul C. Struik, Herbert van Amerongen, Xinyou Yin
Summary Theoretically, the PEP‐CK C4 subtype has a higher quantum yield of CO2 assimilation () than NADP‐ME or NAD‐ME subtypes because ATP required for operating the CO2‐concentrating mechanism is believed to mostly come from the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC). However, reported is not higher in PEP‐CK than in the other subtypes. We hypothesise, more photorespiration, associated with
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Manipulation of soil mycorrhizal fungi influences floral traits New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Batoule F. Hyjazie, Risa D. Sargent
Summary Most plants form root hyphal relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, especially arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These associations are known to positively impact plant biomass and competitive ability. However, less is known about how mycorrhizas impact other ecological interactions, such as those mediated by pollinators. We performed a meta‐regression of studies that manipulated AMF and measured
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Greenbeards in plants? New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Germain Montazeaud, Laurent Keller
SummaryGreenbeards are selfish genetic elements that make their bearers behave either altruistically towards individuals bearing similar greenbeard copies or harmfully towards individuals bearing different copies. They were first proposed by W.D. Hamilton over 50 yr ago, to illustrate that kin selection may operate at the level of single genes. Examples of greenbeards have now been reported in a wide
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Segmental duplications drive the evolution of accessory regions in a major crop pathogen New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-25 Anouk C. van Westerhoven, Carolina Aguilera‐Galvez, Giuliana Nakasato‐Tagami, Xiaoqian Shi‐Kunne, Einar Martinez de la Parte, Edgar Chavarro‐Carrero, Harold J. G. Meijer, Alice Feurtey, Nani Maryani, Nadia Ordóñez, Harrie Schneiders, Koen Nijbroek, Alexander H. J. Wittenberg, Rene Hofstede, Fernando García‐Bastidas, Anker Sørensen, Ronny Swennen, Andre Drenth, Eva H. Stukenbrock, Gert H. J. Kema, Michael
Summary Many pathogens evolved compartmentalized genomes with conserved core and variable accessory regions (ARs) that carry effector genes mediating virulence. The fungal plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum has such ARs, often spanning entire chromosomes. The presence of specific ARs influences the host range, and horizontal transfer of ARs can modify the pathogenicity of the receiving strain. However
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Resting cell formation in the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-25 Guangning Wang, Lu Huang, Shanshan Zhuang, Fang Han, Qianqian Huang, Mengyuan Hao, Guifang Lin, Longnan Chen, Biying Shen, Feng Li, Xuesong Li, Changping Chen, Yahui Gao, Thomas Mock, Junrong Liang
Summary Resting cells represent a survival strategy employed by diatoms to endure prolonged periods of unfavourable conditions. In the oceans, many diatoms sink at the end of their blooming season and therefore need to endure cold and dark conditions in the deeper layers of the water column. How they survive these conditions is largely unknown. We conducted an integrative analysis encompassing methods
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Ethylene‐MPK8‐ERF.C1‐PR module confers resistance against Botrytis cinerea in tomato fruit without compromising ripening New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-25 Heng Deng, Yangang Pei, Xin Xu, Xiaofei Du, Qihan Xue, Zhuo Gao, Peng Shu, Yi Wu, Zhaoqiao Liu, Yongfei Jian, Mengbo Wu, Yikui Wang, Zhengguo Li, Julien Pirrello, Mondher Bouzayen, Wei Deng, Yiguo Hong, Mingchun Liu
Summary The plant hormone ethylene plays a critical role in fruit defense against Botrytis cinerea attack, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we showed that ethylene response factor SlERF.C1 acts as a key regulator to trigger the ethylene‐mediated defense against B. cinerea in tomato fruits without compromising ripening. Knockout of SlERF.C1 increased fruit susceptibility
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Drought resistance and resilience of rhizosphere communities in forest soils from the cellular to ecosystem scale – insights from 13C pulse labeling New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-25 Decai Gao, Jörg Luster, Alois Zürcher, Matthias Arend, Edith Bai, Arthur Gessler, Andreas Rigling, Marcus Schaub, Martin Hartmann, Roland A. Werner, Jobin Joseph, Christian Poll, Frank Hagedorn
Summary The link between above‐ and belowground communities is a key uncertainty in drought and rewetting effects on forest carbon (C) cycle. In young beech model ecosystems and mature naturally dry pine forest exposed to 15‐yr‐long irrigation, we performed 13C pulse labeling experiments, one during drought and one 2 wk after rewetting, tracing tree assimilates into rhizosphere communities. The 13C
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Plant size‐dependent influence of foliar fungal pathogens promotes diversity through allometric growth New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-24 Yao Xiao, Xiang Liu, Zhiping Song, Yawen Lu, Li Zhang, Mengjiao Huang, Yikang Cheng, Shiliang Chen, Yimin Zhao, Zhenhua Zhang, Shurong Zhou
Summary The effect of pathogens on host diversity has attracted much attention in recent years, yet how the influence of pathogens on individual plants scales up to affect community‐level host diversity remains unclear. Here, we assessed the effects of foliar fungal pathogens on plant growth and species richness using allometric growth theory in population‐level and community‐level foliar fungal pathogen
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Major quality regulation network of flavonoid synthesis governing the bioactivity of black wolfberry New Phytol. (IF 9.4) Pub Date : 2024-02-24 Youwei Du, Huiya Ma, Yuanyuan Liu, Rui Gong, Yu Lan, Jianhua Zhao, Guangli Liu, Yiming Lu, Shuanghong Wang, Hongchen Jia, Na Li, Rong Zhang, Junru Wang, Guangyu Sun
Summary Black wolfberry (Lycium ruthenicum Murr.) contains various bioactive metabolites represented by flavonoids, which are quite different among production regions. However, the underlying regulation mechanism of flavonoid biosynthesis governing the bioactivity of black wolfberry remains unclear. Presently, we compared the bioactivity of black wolfberry from five production regions. Multi‐omics