Science Shared: August 29

Here's this week's round up. Finding an image to go with the papers can be difficult sometimes. For example, I wanted to search for grasslands, but many grassland photos focus on the predator hiding in the grass. However, a search for Andropogon yielded this photo of put into silhouette by an aurora. As usual, papers behind a paywall are marked 💰otherwise they're free to access at time of checking.

1. Grassland destruction causes shifts in plant traits that persist during recovery 💰
Nerlekar, A. N. et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2 posts · 53 likes · 27 reposts on Bluesky

We synthesized trait data for 742 plant species from 24 studies across six continents to understand how plant species indicative of old-growth and secondary grasslands compare in their traits. Compared to old-growth grasslands, plants indicative of secondary grasslands were taller and had leaves with more nitrogen content, higher specific leaf area, and lower dry-matter content.

2. TOR–NOT4 signalling couples translation to co-translational quality control in plants
Schwarze, M. A. et al. · Nature Communications · 1 post · 42 likes · 21 reposts on Bluesky

Protein synthesis must be tightly coordinated with quality control to prevent proteotoxic stress, yet the mechanisms underlying co-translational surveillance in plants, and how these are aligned with translational output, remain poorly understood. Here, we identify three NOT4-like E3 ubiquitin ligases in Arabidopsis thaliana as regulators of co-translational protein quality control and uncover a functional link between NOT4 and TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR) signalling that coordinates quality-control capacity with translational output.

3. Herbaceous Plants in Forest Ecosystems: One Hundred Fundamental and Applied Questions
Radhamoni, H. V. N. et al. · Journal of Vegetation Science · 1 post · 22 likes · 13 reposts on Bluesky

Understanding this knowledge gap, and recognizing the critical importance of expanding and streamlining the scope of research on forest herbs, we set out to identify 100 fundamental and applied questions related to the ecology of this distinct plant group. We first conducted a survey shared widely online with the ecological community, which generated a total of 130 questions. We then held a 3‐day workshop involving invited herb researchers with expertise in various forest ecosystems, during which the questions were narrowed down through multiple rounds of discussion, revision, and rewording.

Martin Dovciak🌳🌱🌻 @dovciak-lab.bsky.social · on Bluesky

🌿 New paper! The forest herb layer can account for up to 80% of plant diversity, yet remains understudied.

I’m glad to have contributed to this Yale-led collaboration identifying 100 questions to advance forest herb-layer ecology.

What did we miss?

🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

View on Bluesky →

4. Prediction of plant organismal complexity based on transcription factor annotation: an AI approach
Varshney, D. et al. · bioRxiv · 1 post · 16 likes · 11 reposts on Bluesky

How morphological complexity evolves is still enigmatic. While there is evidence in algae and plants as well as animals that diversification of the repertoire of transcription factors (TF) is causative for evolution of organismal complexity, there are many examples from lineages that follow their own way of complexity evolution, for example by expansion of particular families... Here, we expand a previously available dataset of cell type numbers from 12 to 82 proteomes and introduce a four class body plan scheme.

5. Faster, bigger, more severe: Extreme wildfire spread sets the stage for forest ecosystem change in western and boreal North America
Coop, J. D. et al. · Science Advances · 1 post · 25 likes · 7 reposts on Bluesky

A relatively small number of rapidly spreading wildfire events burn disproportionately large areas. But beyond area burned, do fast fires produce distinct postfire ecological outcomes? Here, we measure daily linear fire growth rates and assess relationships between fire spread, burn severity, and metrics of postfire landscape resilience from 3499 fires occurring between 2012 and 2023 in conifer-dominated forests of Canada and the western US.

Discussed on Bluesky by @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social.

6. Botrytis virus X ORF2 suppresses RNA silencing in a trigger-restricted manner and is associated with altered Dicer-like gene expression in Botrytis cinerea
Lalany, F. et al. · bioRxiv · 1 post · 15 likes · 9 reposts on Bluesky

RNA interference (RNAi) is a central antiviral defense mechanism in fungi, yet relatively few mycoviral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) have been functionally characterized, particularly in phytopathogenic hosts. Botrytis virus X (BVX), a positive-sense RNA virus in the family Alphaflexiviridae , infects Botrytis cinerea and encodes five predicted open reading frames (ORFs), most of which have unknown functions. Here, we screened BVX ORFs 2–5 for RNA silencing suppressor activity using complementary GFP-based assays in Nicotiana benthamiana and examined the leading candidate in the fungal host B. cinerea.

7. Palette—a system for visualizing the expression levels of target genes in orchids 💰
Yang, Z. et al. · Plant Physiology · 1 post · 15 likes · 9 reposts on Bluesky

By blending two types of plant pigments like an artist mixing colors on a palette to create new flower colors using multiple genetic transformation methods, this research provides a visible system for tracking gene expression in orchids.

8. Impact of nitrogen on ectomycorrhizal fungi: from resource exchange to forest carbon cycling
Cox, F. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 11 likes · 8 reposts on Bluesky

Inorganic nitrogen (N) is known to influence the composition and functioning of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities. Research consistently highlights fungal traits related to carbon (C) use as key determinants of fungal sensitivity to elevated inorganic N, with more C-demanding ECM fungi declining along inorganic N gradients. This decline is often attributed to reduced C allocation from host trees to their fungal symbionts, yet the precise mechanisms underlying this reduction remain unclear, despite significant research efforts. Here, recent advances in this field are examined, highlighting the role of fungal nutritional requirements and source–sink dynamics in regulating C flow to ECM fungi.

Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · on Bluesky

🌲 EXPERT VIEW 🌲

A discussion of recent advances in how resource exchange between plants and ectomycorrhizas can drive responses of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities to nitrogen availability, along with the effects on forest carbon cycling - Filipa Cox

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪

View on Bluesky →

9. Bacterial endosymbionts enhance fungal virulence by disrupting the disease-suppressive rhizobiome 💰
Zhou, X. et al. · Cell Host & Microbe · 1 post · 13 likes · 7 reposts on Bluesky

The mechanisms by which bacterial endosymbionts (bacteria living within fungal cells) enhance the fitness and virulence of fungal pathogens remain poorly understood. Here, we report that the tomato Fusarium wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) hosts Achromobacter spp. endosymbionts that enhance fungal virulence.

10. Atypical immunity induced by extracellular water in plants
Gaudreault-Lafleur, F. et al. · bioRxiv · 2 posts · 14 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

A key observable virulence mechanism employed by a large number of microbial pathogens to cause disease is to induce a water-rich niche in the extracellular space (i.e. the apoplast) of their host, known as water-soaked lesions. Given the ubiquity of this virulence mechanism, we asked whether plants respond to pathogen-induced extracellular water to activate immune programs.

11. Desiccation tolerance mechanisms in the green lineage and beyond
Schuster, J., VanBuren, R. · New Phytologist · 1 post · 15 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Here, we synthesize our current understanding of the evolutionary origins and core mechanisms underlying plant desiccation tolerance and place them within a broader comparative context across kingdoms.

12. Lives in a gram of soil: linking life cycle biology to soil ecology
van Gestel, J. · The ISME Journal · 1 post · 14 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

In this essay, I reflect on the microbial life cycles found in soils. Starting from a single gram of soil collected on our campus, I explore the conceptual building blocks underlying life cycle biology, how life cycles emerge within their environment and how they are coupled between species.

13. Transcriptome landscape of a bacterial pathogen under plant immunity 💰
Nobori, T. et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1 post · 20 likes · 4 reposts on Bluesky

In this study, we established two methods for in planta bacterial transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing. By analyzing 27 combinations of plant immunity mutants and Pseudomonas syringae strains, we succeeded in the identification of specific bacterial transcriptomic signatures that are influenced by plant immune activation.

14. Metabolic Modelling Facilitates the Design of Synthetic Communities by Simplifying Natural Microbial Communities 💰
Lin, X. et al. · Environmental Microbiology · 1 post · 13 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Natural microbial communities generally have complex compositions and unclear metabolic interactions, posing constraints on their applications. Clarifying these intricate interactions within microbial communities is challenging for traditional experiment‐based methods. Here, we developed a simulation‐based approach to design synthetic communities (SynComs) by simplifying complex microbial communities through metabolic modelling.

15. From water to land: evolution of tRNA gene repertoires in photosynthetic organisms
Hummel, G. et al. · The EMBO Journal · 1 post · 9 likes · 7 reposts on Bluesky

Photosynthetic eukaryotes have undergone evolutionary shifts from aquatic to terrestrial habitats, accompanied by changes in genome organization and gene regulation. Yet, the evolution of transfer RNA (tRNA) gene repertoires has received limited attention despite their central role in translation. Here, we review how tRNA gene content, structure, and genomic organization diversified across photosynthetic lineages, mainly Archaeplastida, and how changes relate to evolutionary transitions.

16. Reframing Pathogenesis-Related proteins: from plant immune drivers to stress resilience integration nodes
Mudher Abu-Altemen, W., Castroverde, C. D. M. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 11 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Traditionally viewed as defense proteins against pathogen infection, pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins comprise 19 diverse families encompassing defense-related enzymes (glucanases, chitinases, nucleases, proteases), antimicrobial peptides, enzyme inhibitors and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating proteins. While their significance during biotic stresses is well-documented, research has started to emerge on their dynamic regulation and functional roles in abiotic stresses, e.g. salinity, drought, heavy metal exposure, temperature and flooding. By synthesizing recent insights and critical knowledge gaps, we propose that PR proteins are global plant stress integration nodes, linking responses to abiotic and biotic stresses.

17. Iron-dependent reprogramming of damage-associated peptide receptor signaling coordinates immunity and phosphate stress adaptation
Tsuchida, N. et al. · bioRxiv · 1 post · 11 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Plant adaptation to inorganic phosphate (Pi) limitation entails extensive developmental and metabolic reprogramming, collectively termed the phosphate starvation response (PSR). How plants balance nutrient acquisition with immune competence remains unresolved. Here, we show that PSR selectively remodels pattern-recognition receptor (PRR) signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana.

18. Techniques and challenges in studying photosynthetic diversity in freshwater submerged vascular plants
Loew‐Mendelson, E. et al. · Applications in Plant Sciences · 2 posts · 8 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

While the photosynthetic diversity of aquatic plants rivals that of terrestrial species, the environmental conditions underlying that diversity fundamentally differ. Despite these environmental differences, aquatic and terrestrial plants have convergently evolved carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs). However, characterization of these pathways in submerged plants has lagged behind terrestrial systems due to methodological constraints of the aquatic environment. Here we review and evaluate contemporary methods for detecting CCMs in aquatic plants.

19. A simple seed-piercing transformation protocol for pearl millet and finger millet
Moin, M., Tyagi, W., Sreevarshitha, G. · AoB PLANTS · 1 post · 11 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

Pearl millet and finger millet face challenges in adopting transgenic or editing approaches due to their inherent recalcitrance to genetic transformation protocols. To overcome these limitations, the current study aims to streamline the genetic transformation protocol for pearl millet and finger millet.

20. A STRUBBELIG–NHL3 cell surface receptor complex mediates the response to cellulose deficiency in Arabidopsis
Boikine, R. et al. · Nature Plants · 1 post · 8 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Cell wall remodelling upon disruption of cell wall integrity through inhibition of cellulose biosynthesis depends on the receptor kinase STRUBBELIG (SUB) and its binding partner QUIRKY (QKY). Here, we identify NON-RACE SPECIFIC DISEASE RESISTANCE/HIN1 HAIRPIN-INDUCED-LIKE protein 3 (NHL3) as an additional factor involved in the SUB-dependent cellulose biosynthesis inhibition response.

Cover image: Andropogon gerardi by -Rorey- / iNaturalist CC BY