Model plants articles from across Nature Portfolio

The near telomere-to-telomere genome of Physcomitrium patens reveals 26 chromosomes and new genome structures, while also identifying new telomeres, an improved chromosomal karyotype model and intriguing differences in 3D genome models between the protonema and gametophore stages, which offer promising prospects for future research.

This protocol comprises two Agrobacterium-based methods (direct delivery and fast-treated Agrobacterium co-culture) that use developmental regulators to induce de novo meristems to create genetic modifications on either sterilely grown or soil-grown Nicotiana benthamiana plants.

Zhang et al. identify that a group of PP2C phosphatases is responsible for direct sensing of CO₂ in the environment via phase separation of an intrinsically disordered region, which is a conserved mechanism across various species.

This protocol describes two peat-based plant growth systems for microbiome research in Arabidopsis. While both systems support microbe-free plants and input microbiota control, GnotoPots have advantages for throughput and FlowPots for versatility.

The structural basis of the interactions between Rubisco and its intrinsically disordered linker protein provides insight into phase separation within the algal pyrenoid, an organelle responsible for around a third of global CO₂ fixation.

Intrinsically disordered regions are a ubiquitous class of protein domains that lack a fixed 3D structure. Here, an evolutionarily conserved family of disordered CO₂ sensors has been discovered, expanding the growing repertoire of disordered regions that respond to changes in the cellular environment.

New work studying the plant Arabidopsis thaliana shows that patterns of observed sequence variants are primarily influenced by biases in initial mutation occurrences rather than by the subsequent selective pressures.

The conserved chromatin remodeller DECREASED IN DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) has long been an enigma given its powerful but likely indirect effect in maintaining plant DNA methylation. In this issue of Nature Cell Biology, Osakabe et al. show that the direct action of DDM1 is deposition of the H2A.W histone variant to silence transposable elements.

A new model system for C₄ plants has been established based on an indoor-cultivated rapid-cycling foxtail millet mutant xiaomi. This mutant, together with its reference genome and an efficient transformation protocol, paves the way for understanding the unique and interesting biology of C₄ photosynthesis.

Leaf development follows a common principle but is also flexibly tuned in different species in a spatiotemporal manner. A novel regulatory mechanism controlling leaflet formation has been identified in Medicago.