Publications by authors named "A Wild"

The close interconnection of plants with rhizosphere- and root-associated microorganisms is well recognized, and high expectations are raised for considering their symbioses in the breeding of future crop varieties. However, it is unclear how consistently plant-mediated selection, a potential target in crop breeding, influences microbiome members compared to selection imposed by the agricultural environment. Landraces may have traits shaping their microbiome, which were lost during the breeding of modern varieties, but knowledge about this is scarce.

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Background: Alterations of the superficial retinal vasculature are commonly observed in multiple sclerosis (MS) and can be visualized through optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Objectives: This study aimed to examine changes in the retinal vasculature during MS and to integrate findings into current concepts of the underlying pathology.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, including 259 relapsing-remitting MS patients and 78 healthy controls, we analyzed OCTAs using deep-learning-based segmentation algorithm tools.

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A holistic understanding of plant strategies to acquire soil resources is pivotal in achieving sustainable food security. However, we lack knowledge about variety-specific root and rhizosphere traits for resource acquisition, their plasticity and adaptation to drought. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to phenotype root and rhizosphere traits (mean root diameter [Root D], specific root length [SRL], root tissue density, root nitrogen content, specific rhizosheath mass [SRM], arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi [AMF] colonization) of 16 landraces and 22 modern cultivars of temperate maize (Zea mays L.

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Multiple studies across a variety of scientific disciplines have shown that the number of times that a paper is shared on Twitter (now called X) is correlated with the number of citations that paper receives. However, these studies were not designed to answer whether tweeting about scientific papers causes an increase in citations, or whether they were simply highlighting that some papers have higher relevance, importance or quality and are therefore both tweeted about more and cited more. The authors of this study are leading science communicators on Twitter from several life science disciplines, with substantially higher follower counts than the average scientist, making us uniquely placed to address this question.

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Article Synopsis
  • Biophysicochemical properties of rhizosheath are crucial for how plants adapt to drought, but our understanding of their mechanisms and how they interact with soil during drought is lacking.
  • A study involving 38 varieties of Zea mays showed that drought conditions negatively impacted soil structure and affected the movement of plant carbon within the soil.
  • The responses of different plant varieties to drought varied, influencing how they maintained soil structure and interacted with microbes, suggesting that these changes at the root-soil interface are key for ecosystem resilience in a changing climate.
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