News & Views

Genome sequences and expression data for partly and wholly mycoheterotrophic orchids shed light on shifts in nuclear genes that may help drive dependence on fungi for carbon.

The first complete cycad genome offers an invaluable solution to sex determination, one of the largest conservation challenges in these enigmatic plants.

Theory predicts duplicate genes will evolve new functions or be lost from genomes rather than maintain redundant functions. Kwon et al. show that redundant plant genes can be maintained if they actively compensate for perturbation of their partners at the shoot tip, but that this might not be an evolutionarily stable strategy to stave off degenerative mutations.

Development of flowers typically employs conserved molecular pathways and recurrent sets of homologous genes. A new study shows that a homologue of RADIALIS, a gene well known to control flower symmetry, is recruited to serve a different function.

A recent study suggests that the optimal temperature for symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates exceeds the plant’s preferred growth temperature in laboratory conditions. A few degrees of warming could thereby increase or decrease nitrogen fixation rates, depending on the optimal rate among species.

New evidence that a mid-Cretaceous fossil represents a modern angiosperm genus partly reinstates Darwin’s view of the fossil record.

Growth defects associated with disruption of the mildew susceptibility gene MLO are rescued in bread wheat and Arabidopsis by transcriptional activation of a proximal monosaccharide transporter

The difference in phloem pressure is the driving force that moves photosynthetic products and other solutes from the source to the sink. Measurements with emerging technologies reveal that sugar loading is not essential for maintaining phloem pressure and phloem bulk flow in the maize sugar-loading-defective mutant sut1.

Dual recognition specificity of an MLA immune receptor in barley demonstrates that the deployment of mildew-resistant cultivars by plant breeders has unintentionally affected nonhost resistance to wheat stripe rust.

To us, donning a thick coat in the height of summer might seem a silly idea. To plants, it can be a matter of life and death.

Plants adapt to drought stress by reshaping their root architecture, a process in which abscisic acid signalling plays a key role. A recent study defines the mechanism by which abscisic acid signalling mediates sucrose transport from shoots to roots, thus modulating root growth under drought stress.

Incorporation of multiple-nucleotide substitution in prime-editing guide RNAs greatly boosts editing efficiency in rice and maize, advancing precise genome editing in plants.

Mixing maternal and paternal genomes is the base of plant sexual reproduction, but some so-called ‘haploid inducer lines’ lead to the formation of seeds bearing well-developed embryos with solely the maternal genome. A recent study adds a new piece to the puzzle of this enigmatic in planta haploid embryo induction process.

By sieving through the plant genomic literature for the last 20 years, a study uncovered a disconnection between the research locales and plants’ native ranges. Colonialism, both past and present, might be behind this disparity.

Auxin is a master hormone that affects most aspects of plant development. Its inactivation is a key process in regulating auxin levels, but it is only now that we are starting to properly understand the steps involved.

Hormone-induced plant regeneration involves acquisition of pluripotency based on auxin–cytokinin crosstalk. A recent study demonstrates the spatial and functional organization of callus cells and the role of pluripotent middle-layer cells in de novo tissue regeneration.

The levels of plant hormones are broadly determined by their relative rates of biosynthesis and degradation, but a degradation pathway for strigolactones has been missing. Now an enzyme has been discovered that can break down strigolactones and thereby influence plant development.

Light-induced ‘speckles’, or photobodies, have been long known in plants, but the mechanistic basis of their formation along with their cellular function have remained a mystery. Answers to both questions have now been provided.

MicroRNAs are key mobile players in many developmental and stress response pathways within plants. The role of miRNAs has now been expanded to include functioning as exogenously applied effectors and also plant-to-plant communicators of gene regulatory programs.

By adding high-resolution climatic factors to an innovative genotype-by-environment model, a study using high-quality data of global wheat trials demonstrates that climate change affects wheat breeding and that region-specific breeding efforts that target heat-tolerance traits achieve better yield stability in a warming climate.