Volume 5 Issue 11, November 2019

Humans have been using biodiversity for hundreds of thousands of years, but at no time in our history has it been more crucial to accelerate our exploration of the useful properties of the species that inhabit the world around us.

The One Thousand Plant Initiative analysed an unprecedented collection of >1,000 plant vegetative transcriptomes from species spanning the green tree of life, resolved controversial phylogenetic placements and highlighted gene family expansions and whole genome duplications that occurred during different stages of evolution.

The ancient genome of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian emmer wheat sheds light on the domestication and dispersal history of emmer wheat as well as the unique diversity that the historical species contained.

Heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) chaperones play an essential role in plant defence by assisting the folding of client proteins needed for immunity. A newly identified bacterial effector promotes disease by mimicking a HSP90 client, functioning as a minimal kinase that phosphorylates and inactivates the chaperone.

Cellular homeostasis requires a defined concentration of free amphiphilic phytosterols in membranes. A novel regulatory component controlling the metabolism of these compounds has been identified.

The authors studied the function of a PIN gene in a filamentous charophyte green alga (Klebsormidium flaccidum). They found that the plasma membrane auxin efflux function is an early trait that emerged before divergence between algae and land plants.

A study sequenced the genome of a museum specimen of Egyptian emmer wheat chaff dated back to 3,000 years ago. The genome reveals the unique genetic diversity contained in this ancient sample as well as the domestication and dispersal history of emmer wheat.

Two novel orthologous lectin receptor kinases are identified in barley. They specifically confer quantitative resistance to leaf rust pathogens that are not adapted to different cereal hosts.

Taxonomic monographs have been considered too vast and daunting as a source for studying biodiversity, but this novel study of morning glories combines herbarium specimens with DNA barcodes and high-throughput sequencing to describe new species and discover hidden traits.

Subfunctionalization allows gene paralogues to perform distinct ancestral functions. Now, Glover et al. report the functional divergence of proteins of the TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 (TTG1) WD40-repeat family in Arabidopsis, showing that small changes in highly conserved proteins can result in major changes to their functions.

Sterols are essential structural components of cell membranes and have functions in many different physiological processes. For example, brassinosteroids are a class of sterol phytohormones that are important in regulating plant growth and development. This study describes the identification of a protein factor that regulates sterol homeostasis in Arabidopsis.

Chitin oligomers from fungal cell walls induce plant immunity. Genetic evidence shows that chitin deacetylation by a secreted fungal enzyme hides the presence of the pathogen from the immune recognition system and is essential for host colonization.

Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) protects plants from photodamage. A mutant lacking LHCII, the main antenna complex of plants, shows that NPQ mainly occurs in LHCII, but there is an additional quenching site within the Photosystem II core.

BicA is a bicarbonate transporter involved in cyanobacterial photosynthesis. The structure of BicA from Synechocystis suggests a mechanism for all SLC26/4-family transporters and can aid bioengineering of BicA to boost CO₂ assimilation.