Here's a round up of the top papers you've been sharing this week on Bluesky. Papers behind a paywall are marked 💰otherwise they're free to access at time of checking.

The TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR) kinase controls shade-mediated hypocotyl elongation responses in Arabidopsis.
Courbier, S. et al.

Plants perceive neighboring vegetation through an enrichment of far-red light (shade) in the environment. These changes in light quality trigger molecular and physiological responses aimed at outgrowing competitors, collectively known as the shade avoidance syndrome. In this study, we identify the TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR) complex 1 (TORC1), a major growth-regulating hub in eukaryotes, as a driver of shade-mediated growth responses in plants.

Seagrasses provide a novel ecosystem service by trapping marine plastics
Sanchez-Vidal, A. et al. · Scientific Reports

There is strong evidence that the seafloor constitutes a final sink for plastics from land sources. There is also evidence that part of the plastics lying on the shallow seafloor are washed up back to the shoreline. However, little is known on the natural trapping processes leading to such landwards return. Here we investigate microplastics and larger plastic debris within beached seagrass remains including balls (aegagropilae) made of natural aggregates of vegetal fibers intertwined by seawater motion.

Miguel A Gómez Serrano @gomezserrano-ma.bsky.social · on Bluesky

Hace poco se describió uno de los servicios ecosistémicos de las praderas de Posidonia oceanica: la extracción de plásticos del fondo marino: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Las bolas de Neptuno (restos de rizomas de Posidonia), atrapan plásticos y los sacan a la playa tras los temporales. 👇 Doy fe

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Agrobacterium. A Memoir 💰
Chilton, M. D. · Plant Physiology

This little memoir is not a review; the reader is directed to current authoritative Agrobacterium reviews with genetic (23) or cell biology emphasis (24). Likewise, this is not an update on recent advances in plant genetic engineering, which are the subject of a recent book (13). Rather, I invite you to join me on a foray through the story of Agrobacterium transformation of plant cells

Origin and diversity of leaf vein patterns
Robil, J. M., Scarpella, E. · Journal of Experimental Botany

We have all felt at the touch the vein stripes in a grass leaf or have seen against the sun the vein mesh in a fallen leaf. Those veins distribute water to and collect sugars from all leaf areas. How vein networks evolved and develop is therefore a key question in biology. Here we address that question for vascular plants, in whose leaves veins are thought to be arranged in either grids or webs. We will see that those are just two instances of the natural diversity of vein patterns, which evolved independently multiple times.

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

🕸️ DARWIN REVIEW 🕸️

Robil & Scarpella show that vein patterns are more diverse than commonly thought, and identification of vein precursor cells is arbitrary and inconsistent across species, thus challenging current understanding of vein patterns 🌿

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

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Anticipate, acclimate, recuperate and remember: How spatiotemporal signal integration controls flooding stress resilience in plants 💰
Rodriguez-Cisneros, C. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany

Flooding is a major abiotic stress that restricts terrestrial plant growth and survival. A plant tissue’s ability to avoid or sustain critical oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and subsequent re-oxygenation damage is vital for its survival. Submergence triggers rapid ethylene and hypoxia signalling that in turn control acclimation responses, promoting plant resilience. Interestingly, an extensive range of additional environmental and internal factors were shown to influence these canonical signalling pathways associated with flooding acclimation and tolerance. Here, we discuss how such integrative ethylene- and hypoxia-dependent signalling enables plants to anticipate and prepare for potential flooding-induced hypoxia stress, fine-tune acclimation according to the environmental and internal metabolic context, and effectively orchestrate re-oxygenation responses.

Replication-independent eviction of the histone variant H2B.8 reveals chromatin reprogramming during seed imbibition
Simon, L. et al. · Nature Communications

The transition from seed to seedling involves major changes in nuclear organization and gene expression, yet the extent to which this developmental transition requires chromatin reprogramming remains largely unexplored. Here, we report that Arabidopsis dry seed embryos accumulate the histone variant H2B.8, which contributes to higher-order chromatin organization by forming spatial clusters that structure the 3D nuclear space.

Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning 💰
Barnes, A. D. et al. · Nature

Biodiversity change has elicited widespread concern over the consequences for functions and services provided by ecosystems. Despite extensive evidence for a positive effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning within a single trophic level, how this biodiversity effect varies with multi-trophic food web structure remains unresolved even though most ecosystems contain two to six trophic levels. We investigate how food web complexity modulates biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships in nature by quantifying energy fluxes as proxies for two principal ecosystem functions⁸—primary consumption and predation—in 318 highly resolved, complex food webs from marine, lake, stream and soil ecosystems.

Andrew Barnes @barnesecodiv.bsky.social · on Bluesky

Published today in @nature.com, our study shows that the #foodweb trophic structure is critical for #ecosystemfunctioning.
Read it here: rdcu.be/frxEl
This has been an incredibly rewarding collaboration with many amazing scientists! 🌐🧪🦑🍁🌱
@waikatouniversity.bsky.social @idiv-research.bsky.social

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Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature
Lynas, M., Houlton, B. Z., Perry, S. · Environmental Research Letters

While controls over the Earth’s climate system have undergone rigorous hypothesis-testing since the 1800s, questions over the scientific consensus of the role of human activities in modern climate change continue to arise in public settings. We update previous efforts to quantify the scientific consensus on climate change by searching the recent literature for papers sceptical of anthropogenic-caused global warming. From a dataset of 88125 climate-related papers published since 2012, when this question was last addressed comprehensively, we examine a randomized subset of 3000 such publications. We also use a second sample-weighted approach that was specifically biased with keywords to help identify any sceptical peer-reviewed papers in the whole dataset. We identify four sceptical papers out of the sub-set of 3000, as evidenced by abstracts that were rated as implicitly or explicitly sceptical of human-caused global warming. In our sample utilizing pre-identified sceptical keywords we found 28 papers that were implicitly or explicitly sceptical. We conclude with high statistical confidence that the scientific consensus on human-caused contemporary climate change—expressed as a proportion of the total publications—exceeds 99% in the peer reviewed scientific literature.

Taxonomic Revision of Corsia (Corsiaceae) Reveals Over‐Estimated Mycoheterotroph Diversity in Papuasia: 25 Species Become 10
Hatt, S. A., Lamei, P. · Feddes Repertorium

Corsia (Corsiaceae) is a remarkable genus of achlorophyllous, fully mycoheterotrophic plants distributed across New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Northern Australia. The genus has often been considered an example of adaptive radiation amongst mycoheterotrophic plants, with 25 narrowly endemic species, most known from just one or two specimens. The previous revision by van Royen in 1972 recognized 25 species from just 45 specimens. Here, we present a comprehensive taxonomic revision of Corsia based on the c. 150 specimens now available, including critical re‐examination of type material.

Discussed on Bluesky by @scottzona.bsky.social.

What determines transfer of carbon from plants to mycorrhizal fungi?
Bunn, R. A. et al. · New Phytologist

Biological Market Models are common evolutionary frameworks to understand the maintenance of mutualism in mycorrhizas. ‘Surplus C’ hypotheses provide an alternative framework where stoichiometry and source–sink dynamics govern mycorrhizal function. A critical difference between these frameworks is whether carbon transfer from plants is regulated by nutrient transfer from fungi or through source–sink dynamics. In this review, we: provide a historical perspective; summarize studies that asked whether plants transfer more carbon to fungi that transfer more nutrients; conduct a meta-analysis to assess whether mycorrhizal plant growth suppressions are related to carbon transfer; and review literature on cellular mechanisms for carbon transfer.

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · on Bluesky

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/7) What determines transfer of carbon from plants to mycorrhizal fungi?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Crossing the PAL crossroads: De novo gene birth in plant scent diversification and the pathogenic arms race 💰
Khan, M. S. S. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany

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

🌸🧬 VIEWPOINT 🧬🌸

Khan et al. explore how newly evolved de novo genes shape both floral scent and plant defence, revealing their role in the evolutionary arms race between plants and pathogens.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

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Evidence for a trade‐off between growth rate and xylem embolism resistance in 22 Eucalyptus species
Pan, T. et al. · New Phytologist

The genetic and regulatory framework of cuticular wax formation: insights from model plants to cereal crops 💰
Niu, J. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany

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

🌾💧 REVIEW 💧🌾

This review reveals how plants build a waxy surface barrier. It summarizes the genetic regulations, especially in cereals, and discusses how the knowledge guides the design of resilient crops - Niu et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

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Opening the black box: in situ imaging of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal structures in soil using synchrotron‐based micro‐CT
Braunmiller, H. M. et al. · New Phytologist

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · on Bluesky

Opening the black box: in situ imaging of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal structures in soil using synchrotron-based micro-CT

Braunmiller et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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PERSPECTIVE: organelle positioning as a principle of metabolic regulation and stress tolerance
Fernie, A. R. et al. · The Plant Journal

AI, Comparative Advantage, and the Next Decade of Ecological Research
Drake, J. M. · Ecology Letters

Soil fertility controls on tropical forest productivity and mortality: synthesis and roadmap
Wong, M. Y. et al. · New Phytologist

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · on Bluesky

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/7) Soil fertility controls on tropical forest productivity and mortality: synthesis and roadmap
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Cerrado plant traits (CPT): a database of functional traits across vegetation types in a global biodiversity hotspot
Amaral-Garcia, L. et al. · Annals of Botany

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · on Bluesky

🎉Great news! The paper ‘Cerrado plant traits (CPT): a database of functional traits across vegetation types in a global biodiversity hotspot’ in @annbot.bsky.social by Lara Amaral-Garcia et al. is now #free for 2 weeks 🧵(1/10)

👉 doi.org/rdct

@leveg.bsky.social
#AoBpapers #Botany #PlantScience

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Dune restoration must consider species that need open and early successional dune habitats 💰
Gómez-Serrano, M. Á. · Nature Ecology & Evolution

Miguel A Gómez Serrano @gomezserrano-ma.bsky.social · on Bluesky

El hábitat óptimo de nidificación de las aves litorales es la franja de la playa seca donde se depositan los restos mareales y se desarrollan las dunas embrionarias: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Poner una pasarela de madera justo encima y paralela a la orilla es una buena forma de destruirlo.

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Cover image: Arabidopsis thaliana by Mallol Camprubí Albert CC BY-SA via Pl@ntNet