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One major transition in early plant development is de-etiolation of the young seedling. A retrograde signal from plastids and the light perception pathway converge to antagonistic regulators (ABI4 and HY5) that optimize this transition.
Temperature modulates flowering times. Alternative splicing, followed by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, downregulates the thermosensitive repressor gene FLM at high temperatures, which accelerates the timing of floral transition.
The bittersweet nightshade Solanum dulcamara produces extrafloral nectar from herbivore-inflicted wounds, without the need for any specialized structure. This nectar attracts ants that defend the plant against two of its native herbivores.
Future food demand may require agricultural intensification, which depends on material input such as phosphorous fertilizers. This paper quantifies the necessary P input to intensify global crop production on P-fixing soils, based on Brazilian data.
Most Arabidopsis AGO proteins have been well studied, but the function of AGO3 remains elusive. Now a study has shown that, unexpectedly, AGO3 is functionally different from its closest paralogue AGO2, and instead shares similar function with AGO4 in the epigenetic pathway.
C4 photosynthesis is thought to be more efficient than the ancestral C3 form, but data directly comparing the two are inconsistent. This study compares 382 grasses and finds a consistent increase in growth and greater investment in water and nutrient acquisition in C4 species.
Micronutrient deficiency in a cereal-based human diet can have grave consequences. Combining genetics, grafting and multi-elemental image analysis, the authors show how two maternal P1B-ATPases export zinc to the developing seed in Arabidopsis.
Current food production systems are heavily dependent on synthetic inputs that threaten the environment and human wellbeing. Results from multi-site field experiments in Thailand, China and Vietnam reveal that surrounding rice fields with nectar-producing plants significantly reduces pest numbers and the need for insecticide applications, while increasing yields.
Fossil plants preserved in amber can give detailed palaeoevolutionary and biogeographical insights; the same degree of preservation can be found for vascular plant remains as for arthropods. This paper presents the earliest member of the highly diverse and widespread asterid clade of angiosperms preserved in mid-Tertiary Dominican amber, Strychnos electri sp. nov.
How plant genic DNA methylation evolves remains elusive. Using methylome data covering the phylogenetic breadth of land plants, researchers show that evolutionary patterns of methylation vary considerably across species, genes and methylation contexts.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS) is a common mutualistic association in land plants. A comprehensive phylogenomics analysis identifies a set of genes required for AMS, and their importance is demonstrated experimentally with mutants.
In the moss Physcomitrella patens, a single gene called BELL1 can trigger the gametophyte-to-sporophyte transition, and induce embryogenesis and asexual reproduction without fertilization.
