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In addition to the previously reported root-to-shoot nitrogen-deficiency small peptides, two more polypeptides are identified as phloem-mobile descending shoot-to-root signals and show a mechanism of systemic nitrogen-demand signalling.
Food production causes a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. This life-cycle assessment of the supply chain of a loaf of bread finds that over half of its environmental impacts arise from wheat cultivation, with 40% from the use of nitrate fertiliser.
Pesticide is a threat to the environment and human health. Whether reducing pesticide would necessarily undermine crop productivity remains elusive. Analyses of data from 946 farms in France show that reducing pesticide rarely decreases productivity.
Sown grassland mesocosms involving eight common plant species were provided different forms of phosphorus. Individual species used organic and inorganic phosphate differently, with their success relating to acquisition of a specific form of phosphorus.
High-quality draft genomes have been generated for the two commercially cultivated jute species, Corchorus olitorius and Corchorus capsularis. Transcriptome analyses revealed key regulatory and structural genes involved in fibre formation.
Polarity establishment during the first zygote asymmetrical division is explored in the brown algae Dictyota. Through transcriptomics and cytological observations, the authors uncover a novel polarization process based on two steps that are controlled by different cues.
Data from 2,201 interviews in 68 South American communities show that the use of palms (Arecaceae) is linked to function and geography. Plant size and location are stronger predictors of utilization for basic needs than less-basic ones, such as ritual uses.
Several lines of evidence indicate that under osmotic stress conditions, subclass I SnRK2 kinases phosphorylate VARICOSE, one of the components of the mRNA decapping complex, providing an additional molecular mechanism of adaptation to stress.
Small RNAs regulate plant–pathogen interactions. In rice, AGO18 sequesters microRNA528, which negatively regulates resistance to viruses through the silencing of L-ascorbate oxidase and thus controls the production of reactive oxygen species.