Science Shared: November 14

It's a diverse selection of papers this week. As usual, papers behind a paywall are marked 💰. Otherwise, they're free to access at time of checking.

1. Severe drought and warming increase the extinction risk of cacti
Pillet, M. D. et al. · Nature · 1 post · 122 likes · 44 reposts on Bluesky

Here we integrate new spatial data on severe drought, including compounding effects of warmer temperatures, with a comprehensive curated dataset of cactus occurrences (648,316 records) and species distribution models to assess how severe drought alters projected suitable climatic area for 993 species of Cactaceae, a highly threatened family that is commonly considered drought tolerant.

Discussed on Bluesky by @bjenquist.bsky.social.

2. How to build a shoot: insights from Physcomitrium patens
Howe, S. A., Moody, L. A. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 44 likes · 25 reposts on Bluesky

The evolution of body plans with multiple cell layers provided structural rigidity and enabled tissue specialisation, which were both essential for the colonisation of land by plants.

3. A large phylogenetic tree for euphyllophytes
Carruthers, T. et al. · Applications in Plant Sciences · 1 post · 39 likes · 21 reposts on Bluesky

We generated a phylogenetic tree (and 1000 bootstrap trees) with divergence times that span euphyllophytes.

4. When insects smell like plants: how sensory bias shapes insect pheromone evolution
Darragh, K. · Evolution · 1 post · 45 likes · 18 reposts on Bluesky

Here, I propose that adaptation of insect sensory systems to plant chemistry biases the origin and diversification of insect pheromones.

5. A hidden T-DNA-linked inversion-duplication is associated with a light-dependent Arabidopsis mutant phenotype
del Pilar Martinez, M. et al. · Plant Cell Reports · 1 post · 33 likes · 18 reposts on Bluesky

A hidden T-DNA-linked genomic rearrangement alters gene dosage and exacerbates light-dependent phenotypes in Arabidopsis, highlighting the importance of structural genome validation for reliable interpretation of mutant phenotypes.

6. Waterlogging adaptation in mangroves: a review of aeration through aerenchyma and its functions
Inoue, T. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 28 likes · 14 reposts on Bluesky

This review focuses on studies related to aerenchymal tissues and their functions in mangrove trees, particularly from the perspective of the hypoxic tolerance of trees, which is crucial for understanding ecophysiological mechanisms underlying mangrove tree growth and evaluating functions of mangrove ecosystems.

7. Floodproof mustards: adaptation strategies in wild
Brassicaceae
Mustroph, A., Mandáková, T. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 20 likes · 12 reposts on Bluesky

This review summarises anatomical, physiological, and molecular strategies of flooding adaptation in wild Brassicaceae, with a focus on the ecologically diverse tribe Cardamineae.

8. Phytoglobin 1 in plant hypoxia acclimation and development: integrating oxygen sensing, nitric oxide homeostasis, and redox balance
van der Wijk, E., Xu, J., Sasidharan, R. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 17 likes · 11 reposts on Bluesky

Here we provide an overview of the current understanding of how PGB1 biochemistry, localization, and regulatory architecture are connected and of relevance for hypoxia acclimation.

9. C4 photosynthetic pathway fluxes in transgenic rice plants
Baccolini, C. et al. · Nature Plants · 1 post · 12 likes · 12 reposts on Bluesky

Here we developed new transgenic rice lines and protocols to detect C4 cycle activity: CO2 fixation into C4 acids by the carboxylation of a C3 compound, decarboxylation, refixation of CO2 by Rubisco and regeneration of the C3 donor.

10. Genetic and molecular networks mediating potato tuber development
Sinha, D. et al. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 12 likes · 9 reposts on Bluesky

In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying underground and aerial tuber formation, their regulation by antituberigen factors, key genes controlling stolon‐to‐tuber transitions, the role of StSWEET‐StSUT transporters in establishing the source–sink relationship essential for tuber development, and the evolution and global dissemination of modern potato cultivars.

11. Roots to simplicity: when evolution removes a key organ
Fairburn, R., Ware, A., Bishopp, A. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 15 likes · 7 reposts on Bluesky

We identify several ecological niches/life habits in which rootless vascular plants have evolved: aquatic environments, canopies, arid environments, and carnivory.

12. Decomposition and mycorrhizal suppression of saprotrophs remain stable after wildfire and clearcut disturbance in boreal forests
Callebaut, T. et al. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 18 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

We quantified mycorrhizal suppression of saprotrophs and decomposition in needle and humus litter through a root‐exclusion experiment in 31 sites across wildfire (4–375 yr since disturbance) and clearcut chronosequences (1–109 yr since disturbance) in northern Sweden.

13. Multiplexed profiling of transcriptional regulators in plant cells
Alamos, S. et al. · Nature Biotechnology · 1 post · 16 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

Here we present enrichment of nuclear trans -elements reporter assay in plants with sequencing (ENTRAP-seq), a high-throughput method that introduces protein-coding libraries into plant cells to drive a nuclear magnetic sorting-based reporter, enabling multiplexed measurement of regulatory activity from thousands of protein variants.

14. From plant blindness to plant awareness: a narrative and visual framework for botanical literacy
Navarro, L. · Annals of Botany · 2 posts · 10 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

In this Perspective, I argue that narrative and visual storytelling can help shift attention from plant invisibility to plant awareness.

15. Managing water on plant leaf surfaces: roles and regulation of hydrophobicity
Hashimoto, S., Itoh, J. I. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 10 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

This review integrates current understanding of the biological significance of hydrophobicity in maintaining plant fitness, the hierarchical surface architectures such as epidermal roughness and epicuticular wax crystals that determine hydrophobicity, and the molecular genetic pathways that control these structures.

16. Assessing the population genetics of Quercus tardifolia and other red oaks in west Texas
Koontz, A. C. et al. · International Journal of Plant Sciences · 4 posts · 10 likes · 2 reposts on Bluesky

Here, we describe our research delineating species boundaries in a group of red oaks found in the Chisos and Davis Mountains of west Texas, with a focus on Quercus tardifolia, the lateleaf oak, which was thought to have gone extinct in 2011 before its identification in Big Bend National Park in 2022 and other locations thereafter.

17. A developmentally scheduled inhibitory polarity circuit centers the stomatal pore
Lebecq , A. et al. · 1 post · 12 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

Here we show that pore position arises from a combination of pole avoidance and gradient centering in the membranes and wall dividing sister guard cells.

18. Successful predictive modeling of pollen fitness phenotypes is enabled by measures of expression specificity
Mueller, S. A. F. et al. · The Plant Cell · 1 post · 8 likes · 6 reposts on Bluesky

We leveraged a large set of fluorescently-marked insertional mutations, the Ds-GFP lines, to link fitness effects to specific genes.

19. Metabolic Snorkeling – The Metabolic Interaction Between Plant Organs and Tissues with different Oxygen Availabilities
Herfurth, F., Fürtauer, L., van Dongen, J. T. · Journal of Experimental Botany · 1 post · 11 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

The apparent metabolic interplay between hypoxic and normoxic tissue can facilitate the plant to endure differing oxygen availabilities between tissues and organs without active oxygen circulation. Here, we define this mechanism as ‘metabolic snorkeling’.

20. Direct regulation of a tRNA modification enzyme by ppGpp links stress signaling to translational control and biofilm development
Trinquier, A. E. et al. · Science Advances · 1 post · 10 likes · 5 reposts on Bluesky

We show that the alarmone guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) directly inhibits MnmE (TrmE), a conserved tRNA-modification GTPase required for methylaminomethyl (mnm) modification of wobble uridine.

Cover image by Nabin K. Sapkota (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).