Reviews & Analysis

This Perspective presents an historical overview and recent advances on adenylate cyclases (ACs) and cAMP signalling in plants, including an exploration of the active AC functions moonlighting within multifunctional protein complexes.

Previous genetic engineering of plant secondary cell walls targeted its core polymers to facilitate their extractability. The ectopic introduction of the polymer callose into poplar wood secondary cell walls modifies the ultrastructure of cellulose microfibril aggregates and suggests new avenues when considering biomass genetic engineering.

We identified the auxin transport-dependent molecular framework that underpins the setting, maintenance and regulation of non-vertical growth patterns in lateral roots of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

The inclusion of retrotransposon long terminal repeats — and of other repeated sequences — enhances transfer DNA copy numbers in plant cells during transformation. Gene editing and homologous recombination-mediated gene targeting can therefore be improved by these means: however, the mechanism remains a mystery.

Phenolic acids, such as salicylic acid, are part of a mechanism that helps to suppress the growth of neighbouring plants. New work shows that phenolic acids inhibit global translation by promoting the sequestration of ribosomal subunits into stress granules.

Highly repetitive regions such as centromeres bedevilled genome assembly for decades until a recent flurry of gapless genome publications. Attention is now focused on interpreting the chromatin within these most repetitive regions, as illustrated by a new paper on simultaneously measuring open chromatin and DNA methylation using long-read sequencing.

Nicotiana benthamiana is a workhorse for fundamental research and biotechnology. We assembled and annotated the allotetraploid chromosomal-level genomes and epigenomes of the laboratory strain and a wild strain of Nicotiana benthamiana, creating a reference genome for the genus Nicotiana.

A new study reveals that epigenetic mechanism mediates temperature control of callose synthase expression to regulate opening of plasmodesmata and facilitate bud sprouting in lilies.

High-quality genomes of the cultivated strawberry’s progenitors provide the strongest evidence to date for the identity and chromosomal composition of the four subgenomes of octoploid strawberry.

Plant organ growth relies on intrinsic genetic factors and sufficient supply of nutrients, including metal ions. This work reveals that the transcription factors SOD7 and DPA4 interact with the transcriptional coactivator GIF1 to coordinate plant organ size control and iron uptake by competing with growth and iron uptake regulators.

The authors hypothesize that effector-triggered immunity in plants is a quarantining mechanism that prevents disease by inducing localized acquired resistance, a strong defence response that occurs around the cells containing the pathogen.

Using population genomics, we reveal the global dispersal history of eelgrass (Zostera marina) from its origin in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, across to the East Pacific, Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Striking differences in genetic diversity among the locations reflect past glaciations and repeated bottlenecks during Z. marina’s worldwide colonization.

Organisms have developed specialized and intricate mechanisms to cope with environmental threats that depend on their natural habitat and ability to move. Arabidopsis demonstrates an impressive adaptation using cryptochrome 1 to maintain genomic stability through a blue-light-mediated process that involves the recruitment of repair proteins to double-strand breaks.

This Review summarizes recent knowledge and offers new insight about the role of strigolactone signalling in the integration of nutritional and metabolic status, as well as its consequences for plant development and architecture.

The destructive panicle disease rice false smut is caused by the biotrophic fungus Ustilaginoidea virens. Disease-suppressive microorganisms present in rice panicles have now been found to mediate fungal resistance by modulating the metabolism of the host plant.

ABACUS2 FRET biosensors allow an unparalleled live view of the dynamics of the plant hormone abscisic acid in plants. Well-watered roots accumulate abscisic acid in growing cells when shoots become dehydrated — a response that is essential to maintain root growth in low-humidity conditions.

Methods for analysing spatial gene expression in plants have been limited in their throughput. Now the imaging method PHYTOMap allows the spatial expression of dozens of genes to be analysed in three-dimensional whole-mount tissue at single-cell resolution, in a transgene-free manner.

The nucleoskeleton maintains nuclear integrity and chromatin organization at the inner nuclear surface. Here, Wang et al. revealed a disassociation of nuclear skeleton proteins from the nuclear periphery upon heat stress, which affects genome architecture and alters gene expression.

The authors revisit the array of phenotypes linked to FERONIA in an attempt to identify a unifying feature behind its many biological and biochemical functions. They propose that the contribution of FERONIA to monitoring turgor-dependent cell wall tension may explain its pleiotropy.

Transcriptomics of nitrogen-fixing plants and their symbionts reveals the origins of root-nodulating symbiosis and how it has endured more in some groups than others