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Whether phenotypic mean values and plasticity share similar genetic architectures remains elusive. A study examining multiple traits in a maize NAM population using GWAS showed that genes underlying mean and plasticity measures form distinct groups.
Mechanical heterogeneity due to differences in methyl-esterification of cell wall pectins is sufficient to produce asymmetric leaf morphology, as predicted by a mathematical model and validated in Arabidopsis and tomato.
The uptake of CO2 by leaves, and its conversion to sugars, is the basis for life on land. This study proposes a model unifying light-use efficiency relationships and a standard model of photosynthesis across species and ecosystems, and globally.
Unlike in animal species, where topologically associated domains (TADs) are prevalent, it has been shown that TADs are not prominent in the Arabidopsis genome. Now, Hi-C shows that prominent TADs differentiate rice from Arabidopsis.
A study reports a high-efficient approach, ssDRIP-seq, for genome-wide identification of chromatin R-loops. Using this approach, researchers present the first genome-wide profile of Arabidopsis R-loops, showing that the R-loop is a common chromatin feature.
During gibberellic acid signalling, DELLAs restrict the size of the shoot apical meristem by targeting the cell cycle regulator KRP2. The roles of DELLAs in the shoot apical meristem and stem growth can be genetically uncoupled in Arabidopsis and barley.
Assembly of polyploid plant genomes has been technically challenging. Now, a study presents a half haplotype-resolved hexaploid genome of sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, using a novel haplotyping method.
After trans-zeatin riboside, the active cytokinin trans-zeatin is identified as the second major xylem cytokinin translocated from root to shoot. Interestingly, these two forms of root-derived cytokinins play different roles in regulating shoot development.
PopP2 is an effector from the YopJ family, present in plant and animal bacterial pathogens. Here, its structure is determined in complex with inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) and bound to its target, the WRKY domain of the RRS1-R plant immune receptor.
Increasing the accuracy of crop productivity estimates is key to ensuring global food security. This Article develops temperature response functions that reduce error in grain yield by 19% to 50%.
Leaf cuticle thickness can infer leaf mass area (LMA) of fossil plants. Gymnosperms from East Greenland show forests of low LMA taxa being replaced by high LMA taxa across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary as a result of CO2-induced global warming.
PILS are emerging auxin transporters that can modulate the intracellular auxin distribution in Arabidopsis. The authors now link these proteins to a developmental process, the apical hook opening in response to light, and to phytochrome signalling.
Orange carotenoid proteins are involved in photoprotection in cyanobacteria. In this Article, a new family of orange carotenoid proteins are identified and characterized, combining phylogenetic analysis, biochemistry, spectroscopy and structural studies.
The evening complex coordinates plant growth and environmental signalling with the circadian clock. Here, a comprehensive dataset of direct transcriptional targets of the evening complex uncovers a high-quality global regulatory network.
In response to drought, acetate accumulates endogenously through redirection of metabolic fluxes, and stimulates jasmonate pathways controlling Arabidopsis drought tolerance. Application of exogenous acetic acid alone increases drought tolerance of major crops such as maize, wheat and rice.
How plants reject foreign pollen remains elusive. Now, it is found that the recognition between two proteins encoded by genes duplicated from pollen–pistil recognition loci causes intraspecific unilateral incompatibility in Brassica rapa.
Modelling and remote sensing predict that near-future climate change could make 41–61% of the growing area of coffee in Ethiopia unusable. However, relocation of coffee areas and forest conservation could see coffee farming areas increase fourfold.
A new plant virus offensive strategy, in which defensive small RNAs are suppressed through peroxisomal import in Arabidopsis, is identified using peanut clump virus. This novel pathogenic strategy may also have counterparts in other plant and animal viruses.
In plants, photosystem II forms supercomplexes of core and light-harvesting complexes. Cryo-electron microscopy and single-particle analysis provides a 3D structure of the supercomplex from Arabidopsis at 5.3 Å resolution.
High-resolution images and tomography show unprecedented 3D structures of plasmodesmata. In cells just post-cytokinesis, plasmodesmata do not have a visible cytoplasmic sleeve but still conduct cell-to-cell movement of micro- and macromolecules.