Molecular Plant

Enviromics refers to the characterization of micro- and macroenvironments based on large-scale environmental datasets. By providing genotypic recommendations with predictive extrapolation at a site-specific level, enviromics could inform plant breeding decisions across varying conditions and anticipate productivity in a changing climate. Enviromics-based integration of statistics, envirotyping (i.e., classifying environmental factors), and remote sensing could help unravel the complex interplay of genetics, environment, and management (G × E × M)...

During maize endosperm filling, sucrose not only serves as a source of carbon skeletons for storage-reserve synthesis, but also acts as a stimulus to promote this process. However, the molecular mechanism details about sucrose and endosperm filling are poorly understood. Here, we found that sucrose promoted the expression of endosperm-filling hub Opaque2 (O2), coordinating with storage-reserve accumulation. A protein kinase called SnRK1a1 attenuated O2-mediated transactivation, but sucrose released the suppression...

Macroalgae are multicellular, aquatic autotrophs that play vital roles in global climate maintenance and have diverse applications in biotechnology and eco-engineering, which are directly linked to their multicellularity phenotypes. However, their genomic diversity and the evolutionary mechanisms underlying multicellularity in these organisms remain uncharacterized. In this study, we sequenced 110 macroalgal genomes from diverse climates and phyla, and identified key genomic features that distinguish them from their microalgal relatives...

Beyond their function as structural barriers, plant cell walls are essential elements for the adaptation of plants to environmental conditions. Cell walls are dynamic structures whose composition and integrity can be altered in response to environmental challenges and developmental cues. These wall changes are perceived by plant sensors/receptors triggering adaptative responses during development and upon stress perception. Plant cell wall damage caused by pathogen infection, wounding or other stresses leads to the release of wall molecules, like carbohydrates (glycans), that function as Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs)...

The phytohormone auxin plays a pivotal role in governing plant growth and development. While the TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE1/AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX (TIR1/AFBs) receptors function in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, the mechanism governing the distribution of TIR1/AFBs between these small cellular compartments remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that auxin-mediated oxidation of TIR1/AFB2 is essential for their targeting to the nucleus. Our findings reveal that small active molecules, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO), are indispensable for the nucleo-cytoplasmic distribution of TIR1/AFB2 in trichoblasts and root hairs...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In plants and mammals, non-homologous end-joining is the dominant pathway to repair DNA double strand breaks, making it challenging to generate knock-in events. We identified two groups of exonucleases from the Herpes Virus and the bacteriophage T7 families that conferred an up to 38-fold increase in HDR frequencies when fused to Cas9/Cas12a in a Tobacco mosaic virus-based transient assay in Nicotiana benthamiana. We achieved precise and scar-free insertion of several kilobases of DNA both in transient and stable transformation systems...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Increasing evidence supports the notion that pattern recognition receptor-mediated immunity goes beyond plasma membrane-to-nucleus signaling. With findings of pathways linking plasma membrane and chloroplasts and functions of stromules and perinuclear chloroplast clustering in plant defense, chloroplast immunity has emerged as a cornerstone of plant defense and a target of plant pathogens.

Understanding the underlying mechanisms and links between genome evolution and adaptive innovations stands as a key goal in evolutionary studies. Poplars, among the world's most widely distributed and cultivated trees, exhibit extensive phenotypic diversity and environmental adaptability. In this study, we present a genus-level super-pangenome comprising 19 Populus genomes, revealing the likely pivotal role of private genes in facilitating local environmental and climate adaptation. Through the integration of pan-genomes with transcriptomes, methylomes and chromatin accessibility mapping, we unveil that the evolutionary trajectories of pan-genes and duplicated genes are closely linked to local genomic landscapes of regulatory and epigenetic architectures, notably CG methylation in gene-body regions...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Hormone-activated proteolysis is a recurring theme of plant hormone signaling mechanisms. In strigolactone signaling, the enzyme-receptor DWARF14 (D14) and an F-box protein, MORE AXILLARY GROWTH2 (MAX2), mark SUPPRESSOR OF MAX2 1-LIKE (SMXL) family proteins SMXL6, SMXL7, and SMXL8 for rapid degradation. Removal of these transcriptional corepressors initiates downstream growth responses. The homologous proteins SMXL3, SMXL4, and SMXL5, however, are resistant to MAX2-mediated degradation. We discovered that the smxl4 smxl5 mutant has enhanced responses to strigolactone...

Genomic selection, the application of genomic prediction (GP) models to select candidate individuals, has significantly advanced in the past two decades, effectively accelerating genetic gains in plant breeding. This article provides a holistic overview of the key factors that have influenced GP in plant breeding during this period. We delved into the pivotal roles of training population size and genetic diversity, and their relationship with the breeding population, in determining genomic prediction accuracy...

The infection of host plants by many different viruses causes reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and yellowing symptoms, but the mechanisms through which plant viruses counteract ROS-mediated immunity to facilitate infection and symptom development has not been fully elucidated. Most plant viruses are also transmitted by insect vectors in the field, but the molecular mechanisms underlying virus‒host-insect interactions are unclear. In this study, we investigated the interactions among wheat, barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) and its aphid vector and found that the BYDV movement protein (MP) interacts with both wheat catalases (CATs) and the 26S proteasome ubiquitin receptor PSMD2 to facilitate the 26S proteasome-mediated degradation of CATs, facilitating viral infection, disease symptom development and aphid transmission...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) accompany RNAs from synthesis to decay, mediating every aspect of RNA metabolism and impacting diverse cellular and developmental processes in eukaryotes. Many RBPs undergo phase separation along with their bound RNA to form and function in dynamic membraneless biomolecular condensates for spatiotemporal coordination of RNA metabolism regulation. Increasing evidence suggests that phase-separating RBPs with RNA-binding domains and intrinsically disordered regions play important roles in plant development and stress adaptation...