#Phytoglobin 1 in plant #hypoxia acclimation and development: Integrating #oxygen sensing, NO #homeostasis and #redox balance
academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...
#PlantScience @rsasidharan.bsky.social @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social @jxbotany.bsky.social @sebiology.bsky.social @isplore.bsky.social
Ever wondered how a eukaryotic transcription factor finds its specific DNA motif in the vast genome? In this preprint, we directly measured the dynamics of this search process in living cells, revealing a cooperative mechanism mediated by disordered regions. 1/10 doi.org/10.64898/202...
Back to the future: Sarah Mathew and Rob Boyd reflect on how our thinking about cooperation among nonkin has changed since Axelrod and Hamilton's classic paper.
Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Summary of the molecular mechanisms underlying ck-RNAi. (A) Bi-directional sRNA translocation between aplant and a soil-borne fungus. Plant sRNAs (miRNAs, siRNAs, and tyRNAs) may be selectively packaged into PEN1/TET8-positive extracellular vesicles (EVs) (Cai et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2024; Koch et al., 2025; Ravet et al., 2025), potentially through the involvement of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), or exist on the outer surface of EVs either freely or protein bound. They may also be transferred directly in ‘naked’ form to the fungal cells. Inside the fungus, these plant sRNAs are loaded onto the fungal AGO/RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex), triggering post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) of corresponding fungal genes.
☎️🧬 REVIEW 🧬☎️
This review summarizes current knowledge on transmission of small RNA between plants and their interacting organisms, highlighting the unexplored dimensions of the mechanism – Kellari et al.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
The authors of the two papers. Carlos O. Miller standing on the left, looking down upon a couple of glass beakers. Opposite him, from the back to the front, are Malcolm H. van Saltza, Francis Shigeo Okumura, Folke K. Skoog and Frank M. Strong. Below the photo are the headers of their two papers describing kinetin, the first cytokinin: “Kinetin, a cell division factor from desoxyribonucleic acid” by Carlos O. Miller, Folke K. Skoog, Malcolm H. van Saltza and Frank M. Strong, and “Structure and synthesis of kinetin” by Carlos O. Miller, Folke K. Skoog, Francis Shigeo Okumura, Malcolm H. van Saltza and Frank M. Strong. Both published in 1955 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
#PlantScienceClassics #20: Kinetin & Cytokinins. In 1955 Carlos Miller, Folke Skoog & co-workers describe the first #Cytokinin and its role in promoting cell division and growth promotion. #Phytohormones #PlantScience #PlantDevelopment
pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
The global food system is systemically fragile in the same way that the global financial system was before the 2008 crash. If it goes it down, we’re looking, as complex societies, at a potential termination event.
This week's column. Please read it.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Fig. 2 (shortened, full legend in paper): Anatomy of pistachio hull during late-stage development. (A) Diagram and transverse sections from the non-suture region (magenta box) depicting the anatomical features of the hull at 133 dpa (i). Scale bar=5 mm. Cell anatomy is visualized by toluidine blue staining (ii), scale bar=100 µm, and cell autofluorescence (iii), scale bar=50 µm. Cell senescence is visualized with Evans blue staining (iv), scale bar=50 µm. The exocarp (skin, cyan) contains the cuticle, epidermis, and hypodermal parenchyma, while the mesocarp (red) contains resin ducts, vascular bundles and their associated accessory tissues, as well as filler and border parenchyma. The transition zone is indicated in white, while the dashed line indicates one potential line of exocarp–mesocarp separation during hull tattering. (B) Schematic representation of the cracked and tattered hull events, with the transition zone indicated with a white dashed line.
🔬🥜 RESEARCH 🥜🔬
Cell layer-specific modifications of the cell wall are associated with cell expansion and loss of cell–cell adhesion, leading to hull split during late-stage pistachio fruit development – Zhang et al.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
The lncRNA47980-miR5303-FBA41 module modulates tomato disease resistance by fine-tuning reactive oxygen species and phytohormone levels (Chenglin Su , Ruirui Yang , Ruili Lv , Zhengjie Wang , Jiaxuan Zhu , Xiaoxiao Zhang , Huimin Li , Yushi Luan) doi.org/10.1093/plph... #PlantScience @aspbofficial
Modeling of gene regulatory networks: an annotated glossary #plantscience
Researchers are pulling clues from genetic material in ice age soils and rewriting chapters of human history
go.nature.com/47pDhG9
Fig. 4.Characterizing stem morphology at stage 5 of common bean. (A) Cross-sections of stem segments showing the circular outline of the hypocotyl, and subtle undulation of internodes 1, 3, and 6. (B) Illustration of the longitudinal and cross-sectional distribution of lobes and furrows at internode 6. (C) Comparison of hypocotyl and internode 1 demonstrating a lack of lobes in the former, and presence of shallow lobes in the latter. Scale bars, 500 μm (A), 125 μm (C). Cross sections stained in 0.01% (w/v) S4B.
🌀 RESEARCH - EDITOR'S CHOICE 🌀
Longitudinal cortical microtubules in coiled stems of common bean vine highlight disparities between the directional growth of well-documented twisted Arabidopsis mutants and naturally twining plants – Acevedo et al. 🌿
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
From credit scores to fitness trackers to baby monitors, metrics don’t just measure behavior — they can define what “good” looks like.
And increasingly, those standards are set by corporations, not communities.
theconversation.com/moral-metric...
This is very interesting and supports the notion that the planet will be ok without us: "What it shows is how ecosystems respond when the familiar rules break down – and how profoundly human absence, even when born of catastrophe, can reshape the living world."
www.sciencefocus.com/nature/5-ser...
🧪🌾VACANCY - Postdoc in fungal ecology & modelling🧬
This 2-year postdoc focuses on mycorrhizal fungal biogeography using large-scale metabarcoding data and species distribution models.🌍
Join the group of @frewecologist.bsky.social and work with us @umeaplantsciencecentre.se!
📅 Apply by 30 April
Nature research paper: Dominant clones leverage developmental epigenomic states to drive ependymoma
go.nature.com/41tNTQS
🧪🌾Take the next step towards an independent research career!
@umeauniversitet.bsky.social invites expressions of interest for Assistant Professor (tenure-track) positions across disciplines, including plant science.
More info: www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Contact: @johanneshanson.bsky.social
This week on the pod:
🦟 Why insects aren’t massive
🧬 CRISPR creates CAR-T cancer therapy inside mice
go.nature.com/4t2WLsp
Using Cryogenic Electron Tomography (cryoET) to Determine Rubisco Polymerization Constants in α-Carboxysomes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Why do nucleoli adopt irregular shapes despite their liquid-like nature?
Sara Cuylen-Häring and colleagues find that Ki-67 mediates this irregularity by tethering chromatin at the surface and creating internal chromatin invaginations
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Ancient DNA from grape seeds spanning 4,000 years reveals the domestication, cultivation, and trade of grapes in France over this period, as reported in research published in Nature Communications: spklr.io/63326EyyOr
#PlantScience #Wine
This is figure 1 from “Genomic history of early dogs in Europe.” It shows genomic screening identifies early dogs in Europe.
Domesticated dogs were already widely distributed in western Eurasia at least 14,200 years ago, according to two studies published in Nature. The papers report the oldest known dog genomes to date.
go.nature.com/4lWrxBe
go.nature.com/3NPY9zE
🧬 🏺 🧪
Who is responsible for retracting fraudulent science? Our latest:
reckoningscience.org/everybodys-b...
A proposed model for WRKY53-mediated thermotolerance in rice adaptation to low-latitude environments.
The OsNTL3-WRKY53-CatA module confers thermotolerance in rice
Gao et al.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/YBVTYN...
PNAS – Honoring the life of Pedro A. Sanchez. A social soil scientist.
Honoring Pedro A. Sanchez, a pioneering soil scientist who transformed tropical agriculture by linking soil health, farming systems, and policy. His work advanced agroforestry and helped shape global efforts to improve food security. Read the PNAS Retrospective: https://ow.ly/fX5C50YyTfw
Leaves of Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, a member of the Crassulaceae family of succulents also containing Kalanchoë laxiflora.
New research provides insight into succulent development and could be applied in agricultural contexts to engineer water conservation strategies.
Learn more in this week’s issue of #ScienceAdvances: https://scim.ag/4bNDGUj
Phenotypic correlations across environments suggest beneficial mutations impact relatively few latent phenotypes underlying fitness. Top: A library of 4,000 barcoded, evolved yeast strains was competed simultaneously against their ancestor across a panel of environments (multiple “base” media with individual small perturbations like extra glucose or EtOH). Middle: The reaction norm of fitness (δX) of evolved yeast strains (a to f) is plotted across a panel of perturbations (Pi). Each line connects the phenotypes from a single mutant representing its pleiotropic consequence across environments. The phenotypic profile of mutants clustered into discrete patterns (here termed ‘fitnotypes’). For simplicity, two such clusters are shown representing single fitnotypes (red = mutants a, b, c; blue = d, e, f). For example, F1 includes mutants who only demonstrated a benefit in P3. Note mutant phenotypes can also form linear combinations of fitnotypes (purple). When these mutants are tested across the same perturbations but in a new base environment, the outcome could range, at its extremes, from (bottom left) being maintained as the exact same groups that fell into the original fitnotypes, or (bottom right) these groups could split, clustering into entirely new sets (purple = b, d, e, f; green = a, c). Data from Ghosh and colleagues indicate that evolved strains fall in between, representing a blend of the bottom left and bottom right panels. There remain just three or four fitnotypes per environment, but these still overlap partially with the original fitnotypes.
How predictable are the collateral effects of adaptation? This Primer explores a @plosbiology.org study suggesting that growth across environments is fairly predictable because selected mutations only affect a few latent fitness-impacting phenotypes 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4dLy2Ez Primer: plos.io/4lYdUBh
Fig. 1.Reverse vulnerability segmentation in Populus species is only observed in branches grown for >1 year in the field. Mean leaf (black) and stem (gray) optical vulnerability curves of (A) P. trichocarpa (n=3, mean ±SE) grown in a glasshouse; (B) in young single-year growth branches (circle) and older (4–6 year old) branches (triangle) of P. grandidentata (n=4, mean ±SE); and (C) in 3-year-old glasshouse- (circle) and field- (triangle) grown branches of P. deltoides (n=4, mean ±SE). The solid horizontal line represents 50% of the embolized xylem area.
🌳💧 RESEARCH 💧🌳
Older, field-grown stems of poplars are more vulnerable to drought than leaves – Rimer et al.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪 Scott McAdam
