Volume 7 Issue 9, September 2021

The genome of a magnoliid, Aristolochia fimbriata, shows no evidence of whole-genome duplication, a feature uniquely shared with Amborella trichopoda, the sister species to all other angiosperms. This ancestral structure of the Aristolochia genome offers great opportunities for comparative genomics.

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.

This Review summarizes the current status of base editors and prime editors in plants, reporting both technological developments and biological applications of these precise genome editors.

Biological membrane bilayers typically have distinct phospholipid compositions in the two leaflets, which require lipid translocation mediated by transporters called lipid flippases. These proteins are crucial for cell survival and various physiological activities in eukaryotic cells. This Review discusses the current knowledge of lipid flippases in plants.

This study of 4,000-year-old Egyptian yarn examines the cellular nature of the flax fibres to investigate their durability and integrity, as well as their differences from modern flax.

Analyses of four International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center global spring wheat trial datasets showed that genotype–environment interactions have changed over recent decades and crossover interactions have increased, largely owing to climatic factors, making breeders’ decision-making harder.

Phytochrome B was found to directly trigger light-dependent chromatin remodelling by physically interacting with a component of PRC2, thereby regulating the expression of target genes, including growth-promoting genes.

New emerged variants of stem rust threaten wheat production globally. Here, mutational genomics is used to characterize a new resistance gene named Sr27 both in wheat and in triticale, and the corresponding secreted effector in the pathogen, AvrSr27.

A probe to visualize membrane potential in real time is used to connect rapid auxin-induced membrane depolarization with root growth inhibition, which are both controlled by the AFB1 auxin receptor.

A high-quality genome of Aristolochia fimbriata illuminates its unique history of whole-genome duplication similar to Amborella, the genomic basis of its complex flower morphology and chemical biosynthesis, and the phylogenetic placement of magnoliids.

The Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein RLP42 perceives a 9-amino-acid peptide contained in a fungal endopolygalacturonase. Other Brassica species perceive different epitopes, highlighting rapid and convergent evolution to ensure immunity against pathogenic microbes.

Do simple leaves have the potential to become compound leaves? In Arabidopsis, the combined action of CINCINNATA-like TEOSINTE BRANCHED1, CYCLOIDEA, PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORS (CIN-TCP) transcription factors and class II KNOTTED1-LIKE (KNOX-II) transcription factors suppresses leaflet initiation in simple leaves. Downregulation of these genes leads to super-compound leaves.

Could plant stem cells be maintained by a constitutive endogenous stress? It is shown here that components of the ethylene signalling pathway are involved in Arabidopsis shoot stem cell maintenance, through the transcription factor AGL22.

p-Hydroxybenzoylation is a common type of lignin modification but its catalytic mechanism and physiological relevance are unclear. An enzyme that catalyses lignin p-hydroxybenzoylation in poplar sheds light on the role of this specialized modification.

An expanded OnGuard platform incorporates feedback between CO₂ concentration, photosynthesis and stomatal dynamics to connect molecular mechanisms with gas exchange in the leaf. Modelling and experimental data highlight the importance of intracellular calcium stores and calcium pumps in a response latency with environmental fluctuations.

Cryo-EM photosystem I structure reveals adaptation mechanisms to extreme high light in Chlorella ohadii.