Liverwort bHLH transcription factors and the origin of stomata in plants.

Stomata are distributed in nearly all major groups of land plants, with the only exception being liverworts. Instead of having stomata on sporophytes, many complex thalloid liverworts possess air pores in their gametophytes. At present, whether stomata in land plants are derived from a common origin remains under debate.

Parallel evolution of two AIM24 protein subfamilies and their conserved functions in ER stress tolerance in land plants.

Despite decades of efforts in genome sequencing and functional characterization, some important protein families remain poorly understood. In this study, we report the classification, evolution, and functions of the largely uncharacterized AIM24 protein family in plants, including the identification of a novel subfamily. We show that two AIM24 subfamilies (AIM24-A and AIM24-B) are commonly distributed in major plant groups.

The Cycas genome and the early evolution of seed plants.

Cycads represent one of the most ancient lineages of living seed plants. Identifying genomic features uniquely shared by cycads and other extant seed plants, but not non-seed-producing plants, may shed light on the origin of key innovations, as well as the early diversification of seed plants. Here, we report the 10.

Major episodes of horizontal gene transfer drove the evolution of land plants.

How horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has contributed to the evolution of animals and plants remains a major puzzle. Despite recent progress, defining the overall scale and pattern of HGT events in land plants has been largely elusive. In this study, we performed systematic analyses for acquired genes in different plant groups and throughout land plant evolution.

AGAMOUS-LIKE67 Cooperates with the Histone Mark Reader EBS to Modulate Seed Germination under High Temperature.

Seed germination is a vital developmental process that is tightly controlled by environmental signals, ensuring germination under favorable conditions. High temperature (HT) suppresses seed germination. This process, known as thermoinhibition, is achieved by activating abscisic acid and inhibiting gibberellic acid biosynthesis.

Expression of FRIGIDA in root inhibits flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana.

FRIGIDA (FRI), as the major regulator of flowering time in Arabidopsis accessions, can activate its target FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) to delay flowering before vernalization. In addition to FLC, other FRI targets also exist in Arabidopsis. Although leaves sense environmental cues to modulate flowering time, it is not known if roots also regulate the floral transition.

The hydrogen sulfide signal enhances seed germination tolerance to high temperatures by retaining nuclear COP1 for HY5 degradation.

Seed germination is a critical stage during the initiation of the plant lifecycle and is strongly affected by endogenous phytohormones and environmental stress. High temperature (HT) upregulates endogenous abscisic acid (ABA) to suppress seed germination, and ABA-INSENSITIVE 5 (ABI5) is the key positive regulator in the ABA signal-mediated modulation of seed germination. In plants, hydrogen sulfide (HS) is a small gas messenger that participates in multiple physiological processes, but its role in seed germination thermotolerance has not been thoroughly elucidated to date.

Powerdress as the novel regulator enhances Arabidopsis seeds germination tolerance to high temperature stress by histone modification of SOM locus.

Seeds germination or dormancy is strictly controlled by endogenous phytohormone signal and environment cues. High temperature (HT) suppresses seeds germination or triggers seeds dormancy but underlying mechanism by which HT mediates seeds germination thermoinhibition needs more investigating. SOM is reported as the critical factor negatively controls light-irradiation seeds germination by altering Abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin acid (GA) biosynthesis.

ABI5-BINDING PROTEIN2 Coordinates CONSTANS to Delay Flowering by Recruiting the Transcriptional Corepressor TPR2.

ABI5-BINDING PROTEIN2 (AFP2) negatively regulates the abscisic acid signal by accelerating ABI5 degradation during seed germination in Arabidopsis (). The abscisic acid signal is reported to delay flowering by up-regulating expression, but the role of AFP2 in regulating flowering time is unknown. Here, we found that flowering time was markedly delayed and () expression was reduced in a transgenic Arabidopsis line overexpressing under LD conditions.

AFP2 as the novel regulator breaks high-temperature-induced seeds secondary dormancy through ABI5 and SOM in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Imbibed seeds monitor environmental and endogenous signals to break dormancy and initiate growth under appropriate conditions. In Arabidopsis thaliana, high temperature (HT) induces secondary seed dormancy, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found that the abi5-1 mutant was insensitive to high temperature, whereas plants overexpressing ABI5 displayed sensitivity.

Preparation of hollow nickel silicate nanospheres for separation of His-tagged proteins.

Hollow nickel silicate nanospheres (NiSiO3 NSs) with hierarchical shells were hydrothermally synthesized by using silica spheres as a template. The NiSiO3 NSs have an average diameter of 250 nm with a shell thickness of 50 nm, and the hierarchical shell consists of a large number of sheets. By taking advantage of the high affinity of Ni(2+) toward histidine-tagged (His-tagged) proteins, hollow NiSiO3 NSs can be used to enrich and separate His-tagged proteins directly from a mixture of lysed cells.