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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.
Microbial symbioses can help plants mitigate environmental stresses and plant microbiome compositions are influenced, for example, by drought stress. The investigated temporal shifts of the rice root microbiome under various durations of drought show the progression of microbiome composition in response to stress and a long-lasting effect of severe conditions.
By examining the relationship of various facets of genomic changes with phenotypic evolution, this study found that pulses of phenotypic innovation in gymnosperms are strongly associated with gene duplications and genomic conflict.
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 large-scale comparison of transcriptome datasets from ten evolutionarily representative species identifies general patterns on the genomic evolution of various plant organs. Among various insights, the authors find that the origin of organ-specific gene families predate the origin of the organs themselves.
High-resolution structures of the PSI–LHCI–LHCII supercomplex from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii reveal the mechanism of assembly between the PSI–LHCI complex and two phosphorylated LHCII trimers.
A synthetic root microbial community rescues weak growth under low light and enhances immunity in Arabidopsis. Transcription factor MYC2 regulates both this coordination between rhizosphere and shoots and the growth/defence trade-off under low light conditions.
Brassinosteroids (BR) and abscisic acid (ABA) signalling pathways are mostly known to antagonize each other. Here, it is shown that BR and ABA can also interact synergistically, which plays a role in development and salt stress tolerance of rice plants.
Cryo-electron microscopy structures of two PSII intermediates from psbV-deletion and wild-type strains of cyanobacteria show substantial structural changes. These provide a structural basis for understanding the assembly process of native PSII.
Vicine and convicine are the main anti-nutritional factors restricting the consumption of faba bean. Transcript profiling combined with metabolite profiling was applied to identify a key enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of vicine and convicine in faba bean.
This study showed efficient base editing of mitochondria and chloroplast genomes in both lettuce and rapeseed by DddA-derived cytosine base editors (DdCBEs), and DNA-free editing in chloroplasts by delivering DdCBE mRNA to protoplasts, which avoids off-target effects.
This study used bacterial cytidine deaminase fused to the DNA binding domains of transcription activator-like effector nucleases to enable targeted base editing in the Arabidopsis thaliana plastid genome, generating T1 plants with inheritable homoplasmic mutations.
Pollen apertures, the special areas on the surfaces of pollen grains that allow pollen tube emergence, show enormous diversity of patterns across plant species. Now a species-specific module formed by two DOG1-domain proteins is identified to control the formation of pollen apertures in flowering plants.
In barley, a MADS transcription factor regulates inflorescence morphogenesis in response to warm temperature. MADS1 maintains unbranched spike morphology through repression of cell division in the spike meristem. A loss-of-function mutant forms branch-like spikes.
A substantially improved robust CRISPR activation system, CRISPR–Act3.0, enables efficient and multiplexed gene activation in rice, Arabidopsis and tomato, and can be compatible with Cas12b and the near-PAM-less SpRY to expand the targeting scope.
Plant diversity for agriculture has been found to increase biomass, but what about resource allocation? This study of two- to four-crop species mixtures finds increased productivity compared with monocultures but reduced harvest indices, since all of the crops studied have been optimized for monocultures.
CBF transcription factors are central to cold stress responses. The authors show that only monomeric reduced forms can induce target genes. The redox status of CBFs is controlled by thioredoxin, isotype-h2, Trx-h2.
A new method for transgene expression in chloroplasts is developed, which amplified transgenes efficiently as a minichromosome. Such amplified transgenes can express foreign proteins and are maintained stably during plant development and inheritance.
An improved reference genome of sweet orange and newly sequenced genomes of its somatic mutants uncover the global pattern of somatic variations, the diversification and dispersal history of sweet orange and candidate genes controlling fruit taste and flavour.