Reviews & Analysis

Archaeological evidence reveals the impacts of ancient hunter-gatherers and settlers on tropical forests over the last 45,000 years. Archaeology can thus play an important role in promoting heritage and informing conservation and policy-making.

The evolutionary relationships between extinct species are almost exclusively based on the shape and structure of their fossil specimens. Now, a spectroscopic technique that records a ‘chemical fingerprint’ of fossil plant cuticles is being used to re-interpret the histories of thousands of specimens languishing in museum collections.

A Review Article describes recent progress in plant genome editing by introducing newly developed editing tools and methods and their application. The associated challenges and future prospects are also discussed.

Plants have long been recognized for their therapeutic properties. Now, modern science is unravelling the mechanisms of action of ancient herbal medicines and finding new ways to exploit them.

For multicellular organisms, long-distance communication is essential for coordination of organ growth and development. In higher plants, a dual root-to-shoot cytokinin signalling system plays a key role in adapting the growth of distant shoot organs to fluctuating environments.

Understanding the impacts of government interventions intended to support rural development — such as strengthening land rights or boosting commercial agriculture — is crucial for designing better policies. Two recent studies highlight some of the complexities in measuring outcomes for people and forests.

Before maize-based agriculture, there existed in eastern North America a crop system that is now only known from archaeological data. Present research is exploring whether these crops, which sustained ancient societies for millennia, can be re-domesticated.

A Review Article highlights knowledge of miRNA function in orchestrating distinct agronomic traits by summarizing recent functional analyses of 65 miRNAs in 9 major crops and discusses the potential application of miRNAs as a tool in crop improvement.

Recognition between proteins encoded by genes duplicated from the self-incompatibility S locus causes intraspecific unilateral incompatibility in Brassica rapa.

The nitrate signalling pathway now has a backbone. CPK calcium-dependent kinases are the long-awaited molecular link between major players in this pathway, the membrane-located nitrate transceptor NRT1.1 and the NLP transcription factors.

Plants defend themselves from invading viruses using RNA silencing. However, plant viruses try to spoil this defensive mechanism by expressing one or more proteins that act as RNA silencing suppressors. One such protein spoils plant defence by transporting the silencing signal into the peroxisomes to avoid its systemic spread.

A high-quality sunflower genome provides insight into Asterid genome evolution. Moreover, integrative analyses based on quantitative genetics, expression and diversity data uncover the gene networks and candidate genes for oil metabolism and flowering time, two important agronomic traits for sunflowers.

SHATTERING 4 is a key rice domestication gene. A non-synonymous mutation of this gene was found to be selected during Asian rice domestication as it confers non-shattering. Now, a nonsense mutation of SHATTERING 4 is shown to simultaneously result in non-shattering and small grain size during the independent domestication of African rice.

Invasive plants pose a particular environmental management issue given rapid environmental change and an unpredictable future. Productive connections have recently been established between social and natural science approaches to the problem.

Fifty per cent of the nitrogen fertilizer used globally is lost as ammonia, nitrate or nitrous oxide. Nitrification inhibitors, exuded by plant roots, play a role in reducing those losses both naturally and in the service of sustainable agriculture.

The first N-acetylglucosamine transporter to be functionally characterized in plants has an unexpected role in root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in rice.

Cell metabolism relies on redox reactions to harness energy for life. Cells need to sense and regulate their internal redox state, typically with cysteine thiols. At plastid origin, cysteine residue frequency increased in the diatom genome lineage, an evolutionary redox footprint preserved in plant DNA.

Circular RNAs can regulate the alternative splicing profile of their parental genes by physically interacting with the DNA to form RNA:DNA hybrids.

The role of nodule cysteine-rich (NCR) peptides during the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is complex. They are more than just antimicrobial compounds used by the host to control bacterial growth, as previously thought.

“Neither you nor I nor anyone know, how oats, peas, beans, and barley grow.” Like all fine nursery rhymes, this couplet rings true, but a new study brings us a step closer to being able to retort: “Do so!”