El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles affect South American conifers such as Araucaria araucana (pictured here on the northern slope of Lanin volcano, Paso Mamuil-Malal, Lanin National Park, Argentina) over multiple centuries. The reproductive cycles of individual plants are also altered on a regional scale in line with climate events.

See I. A. Mundo et al.

In tissue culture, plant organs can be generated from a pluripotent cell mass known as callus. The middle cell layer of the callus has a quiescent centre-like identity, able to regenerate organs by the action of auxin and cytokinin.

See N. Zhai and L. Xu

Cryptochromes are photoreceptors that mediate light regulation of the circadian clock. Under short-wavelength illumination they combine with RNA-binding proteins into photobodies with a heterogeneous distribution in the nucleus.

See X. Wang et al.

Stem cell populations occupy specialist niches. The stress hormone ethylene is needed to maintain the stem cell niche by acting on the transcription factor AGAMOUS-LIKE 22. Without this internal stress signalling, growth and development become stunted.

See J. Zeng et al.

The Chinese yew (Taxus chinensis) is a natural source of the anticancer drug paclitaxel (Taxol). A chromosome-level genome assembly of Taxus chinensis var. mairei shows the evolution of its genome and the paclitaxel biosynthesis pathway.

See X. Xiong et al.

Fava beans (Vicia faba L.) are high-yielding, protein-rich legumes, but their seeds accumulate potentially toxic vicine and convicine. Genetic screening has identified a synthesis that is based, unexpectedly, on purine for these pyrimidine glucosides.

See Björnsdotter, E. et al.

Plant regulatory networks adapt to abiotic stresses such as salt conditions. Comparing the gene regulatory networks in Arabidopsis and Marchantia shows what is kept and what is lost over the evolutionary history of land plants.

SeeWu, T.-Y. et al.

iDePP is a synthetic system designed to dephosphorylate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, a low-abundance lipid involved in development, immunity and reproduction. Formed by fusion of the phosphatase domain of a Drosophila enzyme and a fluorescent protein, it is artificially targeted to the plasma membrane.

See Doumane, M. et al.

Coffea stenophylla is a wild species from Upper West Africa not cultivated since the early twentieth century, and now threatened with extinction. Blind tasting shows its flavour is like high-quality Arabica, but it can grow in warmer conditions.

See Davis, A. et al.

Each molecule of nitrate imported into roots by the transporter NRT2.1 is accompanied by a proton. The consequent increase in soil pH can be used to follow its dephosphorylation-dependent activation using a pH-sensitive dye such as bromocresol purple.

See Ohkubo, Y. et al.

Despite its hyperarid environment, the Atacama Desert of Chile supported a thriving agriculture from 3,000 to 500 years ago. Isotopic data of archaeological plant remains show that this was sustained from at least AD 1000 by importing guano as fertilizer from the Chilean coast.

See Santana-Sagredo, F. et al.

Cereal crop production can be severely affected by seed-borne bacterial diseases such as those caused by Burkholderia pathogens. Colonization by other endophytic bacteria, for example Sphingomonas sp., conveys resistance on seedlings (Gentiana asclepiadea in the image).

See Matsumoto, H. et al.