Plant sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blue light stimulates stomatal opening in Arabidopsis by activating phototropins. By screening for mutants that lack this response, the authors isolate the protein kinase blus1, and show that its phosphorylation by phototropin-1 promotes guard cell signalling and stomatal opening.

    • Atsushi Takemiya
    • , Naoyuki Sugiyama
    •  & Ken-ichiro Shimazaki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Algae beds are a promising resource for bio-energy and gas production, but their productivity is often limited by solar energy harvesting efficiency. Wondraczek et al. promote algal growth by using photoluminescent phosphor, which shifts the light spectrum to better match the algal adsorption band.

    • Lothar Wondraczek
    • , Miroslaw Batentschuk
    •  & Christoph J. Brabec

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Flowering time is a critical developmental transition for a plant’s reproductive success and it depends on endogenous and environmental signals. Here Gu et al.show that MADS-domain floral repressors form protein complexes that coordinate Arabidopsis responses to these cues and regulate its flowering time.

    • Xiaofeng Gu
    • , Chau Le
    •  & Yuehui He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant cell division is driven by the expansion of the phragmoplast, a characteristic structure that forms in the middle of the plant cell during cytokinesis. Murata et al. use genetic and cell imaging approaches to clarify the microtubule behaviour that leads to phragmoplast expansion.

    • Takashi Murata
    • , Toshio Sano
    •  & Mitsuyasu Hasebe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    RecQ helicases are enzymes that play a central role in maintaining genome stability in the DNA repair cascade. Klaue et al. show that RecQ2 and RecQ3 from Arabidopsis thalianaprocess DNA by, respectively, unwinding and rewinding forked DNA substrates, using a frequent strand switching mechanism.

    • Daniel Klaue
    • , Daniela Kobbe
    •  & Ralf Seidel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The switch from linear to cyclic electron flow has long been thought to rely on the migration of antenna proteins from Photosystem II to Photosystem I. Takahashi et al. report that this is not the case and that cyclic electron flow is tuned by the intrachloroplastic redox power.

    • Hiroko Takahashi
    • , Sophie Clowez
    •  & Fabrice Rappaport

  • Article |

    Rates of molecular evolution vary significantly between species, but the reasons behind this variation remain unclear. Lanfear et al.show that height accounts for one-fifth of the rate variation measured in plant genomes, and suggest that is because taller plants copy their genomes less frequently.

    • Robert Lanfear
    • , Simon Y. W. Ho
    •  & Andrew P. Allen

  • Article |

    Spatial positioning of the division plane in plant cells is determined premitotically by the preprophase band of microtubules. Spinner et al. show that its formation in Arabidopsisrequires a PP2A complex containing FASS and TON1 which is recruited to cortical microtubules by the TRM protein family.

    • Lara Spinner
    • , Astrid Gadeyne
    •  & Martine Pastuglia

  • Article |

    Differentiated genomic regions among conserved loci, known as speciation islands, are believed to form because of reduced inter-population gene flow near loci under divergent selection. Renault et al.show that reduced recombination, rather than slower gene flow, accounts for the formation of these regions in sunflowers.

    • S. Renaut
    • , C. J. Grassa
    •  & L. H. Rieseberg

  • Article |

    Environmental conditions are likely to become more temporally variable with global environmental change. Parepa et al. show that temporal variability on soil nutrient availability strongly promotes plant invasion and consequently can be a strong driver of ecological changes.

    • Madalin Parepa
    • , Markus Fischer
    •  & Oliver Bossdorf

  • Article |

    Nitrate is a signalling molecule that modulates the expression of a wide range of genes and regulates growth and development in plants. Konoshi and Yanagisawa identify a family of Nin-like transcription factors that bind the nitrate-responsive cis-element and regulate the plant's response to this nutrient.

    • Mineko Konishi
    •  & Shuichi Yanagisawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The wild rice species can be used as germplasm resources for this crop’s genetic improvement. Here Chen and colleagues report the de novo sequencing of the O. brachyanthagenome, and identify the origin of genome size variation, the role of gene movement and its implications on heterochromatin evolution in the rice genome.

    • Jinfeng Chen
    • , Quanfei Huang
    •  & Mingsheng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tillering is a multigenic complex trait that influences grain yield in cereal; however, the molecular network for its regulation remains unclear. Guo et al.show that OsMADS57, a transcription factor controlled by miR444a, interacts with OsTEOSINTE BRANCHED1 and targets DWARF14 to control tillering in rice.

    • Siyi Guo
    • , Yunyuan Xu
    •  & Kang Chong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, the key enzyme of C4 photosynthesis, evolved from an ancestral isoform in C3 plants and has a reduced feedback inhibition. Paulus et al.show that enhanced inhibitor tolerance of C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase is achieved by a single amino-acid exchange.

    • Judith Katharina Paulus
    • , Daniel Schlieper
    •  & Georg Groth

  • Article |

    The interaction between nitric oxide and the plant phytohormone cytokinin has a critical role in regulating adaptation growth. Here Feng et al. find that nitric oxide-mediated S-nitrosylation of a phosphotransfer protein inhibits its phosphorylation, thereby repressing cytokinin signalling.

    • Jian Feng
    • , Chun Wang
    •  & Jianru Zuo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phosphorus supply is one of the major factors responsible for reduced crop yields. Here Okazaki et al.use untargeted lipidomics to elucidate the biosynthetic pathway of a novel plant lipid, glucuronosyldiacylglycerol, which is essential for the protection of plants against phosphorus depletion.

    • Yozo Okazaki
    • , Hitomi Otsuki
    •  & Kazuki Saito

  • Article |

    In plants, the regulatory mechanisms that control disease resistance responses remain poorly understood. Marino et al. show that the Arabidopsis E3 ubiquitin ligase MIEL1 interacts with and ubiquitinates the MYB transcription factor (TF), MYB30, leading to proteasomal degradation of MYB30 and attenuation of plant defence.

    • Daniel Marino
    • , Solène Froidure
    •  & Susana Rivas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sorghum is a drought-adapted cereal, but the grains have lower digestibility than other cereal crops. This work shows that a low-frequency allele type in the starch metabolic gene pullulanase is associated with increased digestibility, which may help improve sorghum yield and therefore food security.

    • Edward K. Gilding
    • , Celine H. Frère
    •  & Ian D. Godwin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rice sheath blight pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani, is an important fungal pathogen that can devastate rice and maize crops. Zheng and colleagues sequence and assemble the R. solani AG1 IA genome—the first to be sequenced from the Rhizoctoniagenus—using Illumina sequencing technology.

    • Aiping Zheng
    • , Runmao Lin
    •  & Ping Li

  • Article |

    Agrobacterium radiobacter strain K84 generates an antibiotic targeting pathogenic strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, enabling its use as a biocontrol to prevent infection of crops. Here the authors show that this antibiotic inhibits leucyl-tRNA synthetases via an unusual mechanism that depends on binding of tRNALeu.

    • Shaileja Chopra
    • , Andrés Palencia
    •  & John S. Reader

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant pathogens encode effector proteins that trigger immunity in plants carrying appropriate resistance genes. Here Qutob et al. show non-Mendelian interactions between naturally occurring Phytophthora sojaealleles that result in transgenerational gene silencing and gain of virulence in soybean plants.

    • Dinah Qutob
    • , B. Patrick Chapman
    •  & Mark Gijzen

  • Article |

    Plants such asArabidopsishave evolved genetic adaptations to their geographic location. Here, a network-based approach is applied to study the link between geographic location and heterogeneous molecular phenotypes, revealing a pattern of isolation by distance in genotypic variability, flowering and metabolic phenotypes.

    • Sabrina Kleessen
    • , Carla Antonio
    •  & Zoran Nikoloski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Prunus mume was domesticated in China over 3,000 years ago and is an important ornamental plant and fruit. Here Qixiang Zhang et al.obtain the first assembly of its genome with a combination of next-generation sequencing, whole-genome mapping and restriction-site-associated DNA.

    • Qixiang Zhang
    • , Wenbin Chen
    •  & Jun Wang

  • Article |

    The rise of open-habitat ecosystems in southern South America is thought to have occurred with the spread of hypsodont mammals 26 million years ago. In this study, the fossil record of plants preserved in Patagonia suggests that open-habitat ecosystems emerged 15 million years later than previously assumed.

    • Luis Palazzesi
    •  & Viviana Barreda

  • Article |

    Demand for crops is increasing, but it is not clear whether the yields can meet this demand. Using crop yield observations, this study analyses global trends and finds that while yields continue to increase in some areas, across 24–39% of crop-growing regions, yields have stagnated or declined over the past 50 years.

    • Deepak K. Ray
    • , Navin Ramankutty
    •  & Jonathan A. Foley

  • Article |

    Epigenetic modifications are thought to affect the accessibility of DNA, but it is not clear whether this is a universal effect. These authors map DNA accessibility inArabidopsis thalianaand find that, in contrast to fruitflies, H3K9 dimethylation reduces accessibility in a DNA methylation-dependent manner.

    • Huan Shu
    • , Thomas Wildhaber
    •  & Lars Hennig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The great increase in flowering angiosperm plants during the Cretaceous began the change towards modern biodiversity. This study shows that rapid angiosperm evolution was possible once the leaf interior transport path length for water became shorter than the leaf interior transport path length for carbon dioxide.

    • Hugo Jan de Boer
    • , Maarten B. Eppinga
    •  & Stefan C. Dekker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some social aphids have evolved to live inside completely closed galls, which presents a waste disposal problem of the honeydew that collects inside the gall. Here, Kutsukake et al.show that the gall inner surface is specialized for absorbing water, removing honeydew via the plant vascular system.

    • Mayako Kutsukake
    • , Xian-Ying Meng
    •  & Takema Fukatsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although horizontal gene transfer is prevalent in microorganisms, such sharing of genetic information is thought to be rare in land plants. Focusing on the sequenced moss species,Physcomitrella patens, these authors report genes acquired from microorganisms, which might have facilitated early evolution of land plants.

    • Jipei Yue
    • , Xiangyang Hu
    •  & Jinling Huang

  • Article |

    Human influence on an ecosystem generates a predictable pattern in biodiversity. In a study of boreal plant communities, Mayoret al.show that the species richness of native vascular plants fits the predicted hump-shaped relationship to human disturbance, reaching a maximum when half of the landscape is disturbed.

    • S.J. Mayor
    • , J.F. Cahill Jr
    •  & S. Boutin

  • Article |

    Gene-expression divergence produces phenotypic diversity, but the molecular basis for this is not clear. Here, a genome-wide study ofcis- and trans-regulation in Arabidopsisallopolyploids and their progenitors provides evidence for natural selection and epigenetic regulation during evolution and speciation.

    • Xiaoli Shi
    • , Danny W-K. Ng
    •  & Z. Jeffrey Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rice pattern recognition receptor—XA21—confers immunity against the Gram-negative bacterial pathogen,Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. This study shows that the intracellular kinase domain of XA21 translocates to the nucleus and that this translocation is essential for the XA21-mediated immune response.

    • Chang-Jin Park
    •  & Pamela C. Ronald

  • Article |

    Mediators of plant immunity, such as salicylic acid, are produced in the chloroplasts, but the molecular link between chloroplasts and the immune system is unclear. This work finds that pathogen-associated molecular pattern signals are relayed to chloroplasts and evoke Ca2+signatures in the stroma.

    • Hironari Nomura
    • , Teiko Komori
    •  & Takashi Shiina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The size of dicotyledon leaves and their venation vary enormously across ecosystems. In this study, using 485 plant species, scaling relationships are presented between vein traits and leaf size, and explained based on a developmental algorithm that demonstrates why smaller leaves persist in drier areas.

    • Lawren Sack
    • , Christine Scoffoni
    •  & Thusuong Tran

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vascular plants with root systems evolved in the mid-Palaeozoic with symbiotic fungi. Fieldet al. show that in contrast to non-vascular plants lacking roots, the efficiency of plant–fungal symbiosis increased for vascular plants with root systems as carbon dioxide levels declined in the mid-Palaeozoic.

    • Katie J. Field
    • , Duncan D. Cameron
    •  & David J. Beerling

  • Article |

    InArabidopsis the photoperiod pathway promotes flowering in response to longer days, but during short days flowering depends on gibberellin accumulation. This study shows that TEMPRANILLO downregulation is required to induce flowering, as TEMPRANILLOgenes repress floral induction in the photoperiod and gibberellin pathways.

    • Michela Osnato
    • , Cristina Castillejo
    •  & Soraya Pelaz

  • Article |

    An understanding of the genetic network that controls the flower-bearing structure—the inflorescence—in plants helps to explain the diversity seen in plant forms. This work identifies a new mechanism for the generation of inflorescence complexity in legumes, which is based on the function of theVEG1gene.

    • Ana Berbel
    • , Cristina Ferrándiz
    •  & Francisco Madueño

  • Article
    | Open Access

    MONOCULM1 is a transcriptional regulator that controls rice tillering and therefore grain yield. In this study the authors demonstrate that MONOCULM1 interacts with TAD1, forming a complex which activates APC and targets MONOCULM1 for degradation.

    • Cao Xu
    • , Yonghong Wang
    •  & Jiayang Li

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