Gene family rearrangements and transcriptional priming drive the evolution of vegetative desiccation tolerance in Selaginella.

Extreme dryness is lethal for nearly all plants, excluding the so-called resurrection plants, which evolved vegetative desiccation tolerance (VDT) by recruiting genes common in most plants. To better understand the evolution of VDT, we generated chromosome-level assemblies and improved genome annotations of two Selaginella species with contrasting abilities to survive desiccation. We identified genomic features and critical mechanisms associated with VDT through sister-group comparative genomics integrating multi-omics data.

Hormetic and transcriptomic responses of the toxic alga Prymnesium parvum to glyphosate.

Growth of the toxic alga Prymnesium parvum is hormetically stimulated with environmentally relevant concentrations of glyphosate. The mechanisms of glyphosate hormesis in this species, however, are unknown. We evaluated the transcriptomic response of P.

Beneficial Effects of Phosphite in Mediated by Activation of ABA, SA, and JA Biosynthesis and Signaling Pathways.

Phosphite (Phi) has gained attention in agriculture due to its biostimulant effect on crops. This molecule has been found to benefit plant performance by providing protection against pathogens, improving yield and fruit quality as well as nutrient and water use efficiency. It is still unclear how Phi enhances plant growth and protects against multiple stresses.

Link between Plant Phosphate and Drought Stress Responses.

The menace of drought has persistently loomed over global crop production, posing a serious threat to agricultural sustainability. Research on drought stress highlights the important role of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) in orchestrating plant responses to drought conditions. ABA regulates various drought/dehydration-responsive genes, initiates stomatal closure, and influences cellular responses to drought stress.

Transcriptomic analysis of Chaetoceros muelleri in response to different nitrogen concentrations reveals the activation of pathways to enable efficient nitrogen uptake.

Nitrogen is the principal nutrient deficiency that increases lipids and carbohydrate content in diatoms but negatively affects biomass production. Marine diatom Chaetoceros muelleri is characterized by lipid and carbohydrate accumulation under low nitrogen concentration without affecting biomass. To elucidate the molecular effects of nitrogen concentrations, we performed an RNA-seq analysis of C.

Identification of bZIP Transcription Factors That Regulate the Development of Leaf Epidermal Cells in by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing.

Epidermal cells are the main avenue for signal and material exchange between plants and the environment. Leaf epidermal cells primarily include pavement cells, guard cells, and trichome cells. The development and distribution of different epidermal cells are tightly regulated by a complex transcriptional regulatory network mediated by phytohormones, including jasmonic acid, and transcription factors.

Breaking new ground: Decoding the root's molecular circuits to penetrate compacted soil.

Penetration capacity is a central root phenotype for enhancing rooting into compacted soils and improving abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants, but the molecular mechanisms are unclear. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Xu et al. demonstrate the vital role of the FER-PIF3-PIEZO circuitry in controlling primary root penetrability into compacted substrates.

The Shoot Apical Meristem: An Evolutionary Molding of Higher Plants.

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) gives rise to the aerial structure of plants by producing lateral organs and other meristems. The SAM is responsible for plant developmental patterns, thus determining plant morphology and, consequently, many agronomic traits such as the number and size of fruits and flowers and kernel yield. Our current understanding of SAM morphology and regulation is based on studies conducted mainly on some angiosperms, including economically important crops such as maize () and rice (), and the model species Arabidopsis ().

Enhanced phenylpropanoid metabolism underlies resistance to f. sp. race 4 infection in the cotton cultivar Pima-S6 ( L.).

f. sp. vasinfectum (FOV) race 4 (FOV4) is a highly pathogenic soil-borne fungus responsible for Fusarium wilt in cotton () and represents a continuing threat to cotton production in the southwest states of the United States, including California, New Mexico, and Texas.

A non-invasive method to predict drought survival in Arabidopsis using quantum yield under light conditions.

Background: Survival rate (SR) is frequently used to compare drought tolerance among plant genotypes. While a variety of techniques for evaluating the stress status of plants under drought stress conditions have been developed, determining the critical point for the recovery irrigation to evaluate plant SR often relies directly on a qualitative inspection by the researcher or on the employment of complex and invasive techniques that invalidate the subsequent use of the tested individuals.

Results: Here, we present a simple, instantaneous, and non-invasive method to estimate the survival probability of Arabidopsis thaliana plants after severe drought treatments.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa LasI-dependent plant growth promotion requires the host nitrate transceptor AtNRT1.1/CHL1 and the nitrate reductases NIA1 and NIA2.

In P. aeruginosa, mutation of the gene encoding N-acyl-L-homoserine lactone synthase LasI drives defense and plant growth promotion, and this latter trait requires adequate nitrate nutrition. Cross-kingdom communication with bacteria is crucial for plant growth and productivity.

Multi-omic analyses reveal the unique properties of chia (Salvia hispanica) seed metabolism.

Chia (Salvia hispanica) is an emerging crop considered a functional food containing important substances with multiple potential applications. However, the molecular basis of some relevant chia traits, such as seed mucilage and polyphenol content, remains to be discovered. This study generates an improved chromosome-level reference of the chia genome, resolving some highly repetitive regions, describing methylation patterns, and refining genome annotation.

Comparative genomics of the medicinal plants Lonicera macranthoides and L. japonica provides insight into genus genome evolution and hederagenin-based saponin biosynthesis.

Lonicera macranthoides (LM) and L. japonica (LJ) are medicinal plants widely used in treating viral diseases, such as COVID-19. Although the two species are morphologically similar, their secondary metabolite profiles are significantly different.

Development of High-Quality Nuclei Isolation to Study Plant Root-Microbe Interaction for Single-Nuclei Transcriptomic Sequencing in Soybean.

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (sNucRNA-seq) is an emerging technology that has been rapidly adopted and demonstrated to be a powerful tool for detailed characterization of each cell- and sub cell-types in complex tissues of higher eukaryotes. sNucRNA-seq has also been used to dissect cell-type-specific transcriptional responses to environmental or developmental signals. In plants, this technology is being utilized to identify cell-type-specific trajectories for the study of several tissue types and important traits, including the single-cell dissection of the genetic determinants regulating plant-microbe interactions.

Back to primary endosymbiosis: from plastids to artificial photosynthetic life-forms.

Throughout evolution, only two known primary photosynthetic endosymbiosis occurred, which originated the Archaeplastida and the Paulinella spp. Fundamental questions regarding primary endosymbiosis remain unsolved, but may now be addressed with the recent development of chimeric photosynthetic life-form. Cournoyer et al.

Bacterial community and root endodermis: a complementary relationship.

There are feedforward and feedback loops along the microbiota-root-shoot axis to maintain plant growth or defense under environmental stresses. Here, we highlight a reciprocal interaction between the endodermis and the plant-bacterial community, which stabilizes the diffusion barriers to maintain nutrient homeostasis under nutritional stress.

Engineering microalgae for water phosphorus recovery to close the phosphorus cycle.

As a finite and non-renewable resource, phosphorus (P) is essential to all life and crucial for crop growth and food production. The boosted agricultural use and associated loss of P to the aquatic environment are increasing environmental pollution, harming ecosystems, and threatening future global food security. Thus, recovering and reusing P from water bodies is urgently needed to close the P cycle.

Strigolactones positively regulate Verticillium wilt resistance in cotton via crosstalk with other hormones.

Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae is a serious vascular disease in cotton (Gossypium spp.). V.

Assembly and annotation of the Gossypium barbadense L. 'Pima-S6' genome raise questions about the chromosome structure and gene content of Gossypium barbadense genomes.

Background: Gossypium barbadense L. Pima cotton is known for its resistance to Fusarium wilt and for producing fibers of superior quality highly prized in the textile market. We report a high-quality genome assembly and annotation of Pima-S6 cotton and its comparison at the chromosome and protein level to other ten Gossypium published genome assemblies.

Nanocarrier spray: a nontransgenic approach for crop engineering.

Genetic modification allows engineering of important traits in crops through expensive and tedious procedures to alter their genetic background. Recently, Thagun et al. developed a nanocarrier-based foliar spray method to translocate bioactive molecules of interest into plant cells to engineer important traits without introducing a transgene.

Twisting development, the birth of a potential new gene.

Evolution has long been considered to be a conservative process in which new genes arise from pre-existing genes through gene duplication, domain shuffling, horizontal transfer, overprinting, retrotransposition, etc. However, this view is changing as new genes originating from non-genic sequences are discovered in different organisms. Still, rather limited functional information is available.

High-temperature adaptation of an allele is thermoregulated by small RNAs.

Climate change negatively affects crop yield, which hinders efforts to reach agricultural sustainability and food security. Here, we show that a previously unidentified allele of the nitrate transporter gene is required to maintain high yield and high nitrogen use efficiency under high temperatures. We demonstrate that this tolerance to high temperatures in rice accessions harboring the HTNE-2 (high temperature resistant and nitrogen efficient-2) alleles from enhanced translation of the mRNA isoform and the decreased abundance of a unique small RNA (sNRT2.