Moving abscisic acid transport forward.

Abscisic acid (ABA) transport in plants is necessary to regulate developmental plasticity and responses to environmental signals. Plants use ABA exporter ATP-binding cassette G25 (ABCG25) to control ABA homeostasis. Three recent papers (Huang et al.

Cellular metabolism and hormone signalling: connecting growth and defence.

Plants, as sessile organisms, have developed mechanisms to balance growth and defence strategies against biotic and abiotic stresses. Two recent studies by Hong et al. and Lu et al.

Guard cells and mesophyll: a delicate metabolic relationship.

Understanding cell type-specific metabolism, especially under unfavorable conditions, is paramount. Recent discoveries by Shi et al. and Auler et al.

Functional analysis of the extraplastidial TRX system in germination and early stages of development of Arabidopsis thaliana.

A series of processes occur during seed formation, including remarkable metabolic changes that extend from early seed development to seedling establishment. The changes associated with processes initiated mainly after seed imbibition are usually characterized by extensive modification in the redox state of seed storage proteins and of pivotal enzymes for reserve mobilization and usage. Such changes in the redox state are often mediated by thioredoxins (TRXs), oxidoreductase capable of catalyzing the reduction of disulfide bonds in target proteins to regulate its structure and function.

Ascorbic acid metabolism: New knowledge on mitigation of aluminum stress in plants.

Ascorbic acid (ASC) is an important antioxidant in plant cells, being the main biosynthesis pathway is L-galactose or Smirnoff-Wheeler. ASC is involved in plant growth and development processes, being a cofactor and regulator of multiple signaling pathways in response to abiotic stresses. Aluminum toxicity is an important stressor under acidic conditions, affecting plant root elongation, triggering ROS induction and accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (HO).

The Modulation of Growth and Metabolism in Solanum lycopersicum Contrast With the Leaf-Specific Regulation of Wild Tomato Species.

Plant organs harbour diverse components that connect their physiology to the whole organism. The turnover of metabolites may be higher in some organs than in others, triggering differential growth patterns throughout the organism. We revealed that Solanum lycopersicum exhibits more coordinated growth and physiology across the entire plant compared to wild tomato species.

The genetic basis of prickle loss in the Solanaceae.

In a recent study, Satterlee et al. found that the repeated emergence of prickleless varieties in Solanaceae species is a convergent trait caused by loss of function in the cytokinin-activating enzyme LONELY GUY (LOG). New prickleless forms can be created in wild and domesticated forms using gene editing.

De novo domestication in the Solanaceae: advances and challenges.

The advent of highly efficient genome editing (GE) tools, coupled with high-throughput genome sequencing, has paved the way for the accelerated domestication of crop wild relatives. New crops could thus be rapidly created that are well adapted to cope with drought, flooding, soil salinity, or insect damage. De novo domestication avoids the complexity of transferring polygenic stress resistance from wild species to crops.

Diurnal High Temperatures Affect the Physiological Performance and Fruit Quality of Highbush Blueberry ( L.) cv. Legacy.

In this study, the physiological performance and fruit quality responses of the highbush blueberry () cultivar Legacy to high temperatures (HTs) were evaluated in a field experiment. Three-year-old plants were exposed to two temperature treatments between fruit load set and harvest during the 2022/2023 season: (i) ambient temperature (AT) and (ii) high temperature (HT) (5 °C ± 1 °C above ambient temperature). A chamber covered with transparent polyethylene (100 µm thick) was used to apply the HT treatment.

Differential photosynthetic plasticity of Amazonian tree species in response to light environments.

To investigate how and to what extent there are differences in the photosynthetic plasticity of trees in response to different light environments, six species from three successional groups (late successional, mid-successional, and pioneers) were exposed to three different light environments [deep shade - DS (5% full sunlight - FS), moderate shade - MS (35% FS) and full sunlight - FS]. Maximum net photosynthesis (A), leaf N partitioning, stomatal, mesophile, and biochemical limitations (SL, ML, and BL, respectively), carboxylation velocity (V), and electron transport (J) rates, and the state of photosynthetic induction (IS) were evaluated. Higher values of A, V, and J in FS were observed for pioneer species, which invested the largest amount of leaf N in Rubisco.

Metabolic control of seed germination in legumes.

Seed development, dormancy, and germination are connected with changes in metabolite levels. Not surprisingly, a complex regulatory network modulates biosynthesis and accumulation of storage products. Seed development has been studied profusely in Arabidopsis thaliana and has provided valuable insights into the genetic control of embryo development.

Differential content of leaf and fruit pigment in tomatoes culminate in a complex metabolic reprogramming without growth impacts.

Although significant efforts to produce carotenoid-enriched foods either by biotechnology or traditional breeding strategies have been carried out, our understanding of how changes in the carotenoid biosynthesis might affect overall plant performance remains limited. Here, we investigate how the metabolic machinery of well characterized tomato carotenoid mutant plants [namely crimson (old gold-og), Delta carotene (Del) and tangerine (t)] adjusts itself to varying carotenoid biosynthesis and whether these adjustments are supported by a reprogramming of photosynthetic and central metabolism in the source organs (leaves). We observed that mutations og, Del and t did not greatly affect vegetative growth, leaf anatomy and gas exchange parameters.

Memories of heat: autophagy and Golgi recovery.

Fluctuations in temperature severely impact crop yield and trigger various plant response mechanisms. In a recent study, Zhou et al. discovered a non-canonical role of autophagy in mediating Golgi apparatus restoration after short-term heat stress (HS).

Two-for-one: root microbiota orchestrates both soil pH and plant nutrition.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a crucial limiting factor for crop growth in acid soils. Recently, Liu et al. demonstrated that the root microbiota of rice modulates the responses to Al toxicity and phosphorus limitation, offering intriguing insights into microbiome function and opening new research opportunities.

Dynamic shifts in primary metabolism across fruit development stages in Capsicum chinense (cv. Habanero).

The development of fleshy fruits involves changes in size and mass, followed by cell differentiation, which is associated with anatomical and histological changes. Parallel to these changes, metabolic alterations lead to the production of osmolytes and energy that modify cell turgor pressure, thereby promoting cell expansion and fruit growth. Detailed information is known about these processes in climacteric fruits (e.

Physiological and metabolic changes in response to Boron levels are mediated by ethylene affecting tomato fruit yield.

Boron (B) is an essential nutrient for the plant, and its stress (both deficiency and toxicity) are major problems that affect crop production. Ethylene metabolism (both signaling and production) is important to plants' differently responding to nutrient availability. To better understand the connections between B and ethylene, here we investigate the function of ethylene in the responses of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants to B stress (deficiency, 0 μM and toxicity, 640 μM), using ethylene related mutants, namely nonripening (nor), ripening-inhibitor (rin), never ripe (Nr), and epinastic (Epi).

Beyond photorespiration: the significance of glycine and serine in leaf metabolism.

The elucidation and removal of photorespiratory metabolic constraints will be necessary to improve crop yield in the next agricultural revolution. Fu et al. studied metabolic fluxes in the photorespiratory pathway and report that serine is the major export, whereas dynamic alterations in glycine pools orchestrate CO assimilation during the induction and relaxation of photorespiration.

Does day length matter for nutrient responsiveness?

For over 2500 years, considerable agronomic interest has been paid to soil fertility. Both crop domestication and the Green Revolution shifted photoperiodism and the circadian clock in cultivated species, although this contributed to an increase in the demand for chemical fertilisers. Thus, the uptake of nutrients depends on light signalling, whereas diel growth and circadian rhythms are affected by nutrient levels.

On the Significance of the ADNT1 Carrier in under Waterlogging Conditions.

Among the adenylate carriers identified in , only the AMP/ATP transporter shows increased expression in roots under waterlogging stress conditions. Here, we investigated the impact of a reduced expression of in plants submitted to waterlogging conditions. For this purpose, an T-DNA mutant and two antisense lines were evaluated.

Urea as a source of nitrogen and carbon leads to increased photosynthesis rates in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under mixotrophy.

Microalgae is a potential source of bioproducts, including feedstock to biofuels. Urea has been pointed as potential N source for microalgae growth. Considering that urea metabolism releases HCO to the medium, we tested the hypothesis that this carbon source could improve photosynthesis and consequently growth rates of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.