Nature Plants

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Plant genomes provide essential and vital basic resources for studying many aspects of plant biology and applications (for example, breeding). From 2000 to 2020, 1,144 genomes of 782 plant species were sequenced. In the past three years (2021-2023), 2,373 genomes of 1,031 plant species, including 793 newly sequenced species, have been assembled, representing a great leap. The 2,373 newly assembled genomes, of which 63 are telomere-to-telomere assemblies and 921 have been generated in pan-genome projects, cover the major phylogenetic clades...

Photosystem I (PSI) is one of two large pigment-protein complexes responsible for converting solar energy into chemical energy in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. The PSI supercomplex consists of the PSI core complex and peripheral light-harvesting complex I (LHCI) in eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms. However, how the PSI complex assembles in land plants is unknown. Here we describe PHOTOSYSTEM I BIOGENESIS FACTOR 8 (PBF8), a thylakoid-anchored protein in Arabidopsis thaliana that is required for PSI assembly...

The plant DNA damage response (DDR) pathway safeguards genomic integrity by rapid recognition and repair of DNA lesions that, if unrepaired, may cause genome instability. Most frequently, DNA repair goes hand in hand with a transient cell cycle arrest, which allows cells to repair the DNA lesions before engaging in a mitotic event, but consequently also affects plant growth and yield. Through the identification of DDR proteins and cell cycle regulators that react to DNA double-strand breaks or replication defects, it has become clear that these proteins and regulators form highly interconnected networks...

Maize mutants of the centromeric histone H3 (CENP-A/CENH3) gene can form haploids that inherit only chromosomes of the pollinating parent but the cytoplasm from the female parent. We developed CENH3 haploid inducers carrying a dominant anthocyanin colour marker for efficient haploid identification and harbouring cytoplasmic male sterile cytoplasm, a type of cytoplasm that results in male sterility useful for efficient hybrid seed production. The resulting cytoplasmic male sterility cyto-swapping method provides a faster and cheaper way to convert commercial lines to cytoplasmic male sterile compared to conventional trait introgression...

Heterosis utilization in a large proportion of crops depends on the use of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) tools, requiring the development of homozygous fertile lines and CMS lines1 . Although doubled haploid (DH) technology has been developed for several crops to rapidly generate fertile lines2,3 , CMS lines are generally created by multiple rounds of backcrossing, which is time consuming and expensive4 . Here we describe a method for generating both homozygous fertile and CMS lines through in vivo paternal haploid induction (HI)...

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.

Pesticide risk reduction is a priority in European agricultural policies, but how to reach these targets remains an open question. Against this background, a novel approach for transforming pest management practices is currently gaining momentum in Europe: pesticide-free, non-organic production systems. These involve the non-use of pesticides in parts of crop rotations or entire crop rotations but do not comply with other organic farming regulations. Here we present insights into the first real-world examples of such systems, in Switzerland and Germany...

Scientific testing including stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) and trace element analysis (TEA) is critical for establishing plant origin, tackling deforestation and enforcing economic sanctions. Yet methods combining SIRA and TEA into robust models for origin verification and determination are lacking. Here we report a (1) large Eastern European timber reference database (Betula, Fagus, Pinus, Quercus) tailored to sanctioned products following the Ukraine invasion; (2) statistical test to verify samples against a claimed origin; (3) probabilistic model of SIRA, TEA and genus distribution data, using Gaussian processes, to determine timber harvest location...

Pressurized cells with strong walls make up the hydrostatic skeleton of plants. Assembly and expansion of such stressed walls depend on a family of secreted RAPID ALKALINIZATION FACTOR (RALF) peptides, which bind both a membrane receptor complex and wall-localized LEUCINE-RICH REPEAT EXTENSIN (LRXs) in a mutually exclusive way. Here we show that, in root hairs, the RALF22 peptide has a dual structural and signalling role in cell expansion. Together with LRX1, it directs the compaction of charged pectin polymers at the root hair tip into periodic circumferential rings...

High interannual variation in seed production in perennial plants can be synchronized at subcontinental scales with wide consequences for ecosystem functioning, but how such synchrony is generated is unclear1-3 . We investigated the factors contributing to masting synchrony in European beech (Fagus sylvatica), which extends to a geographic range of 2,000 km. Maximizing masting synchrony via spatial weather coordination, known as the Moran effect, requires a simultaneous response to weather conditions across distant populations...

Morphogenesis of multicellular organs requires coordination of cellular growth. In plants, cell growth is determined by turgor pressure and the mechanical properties of the cell wall, which also glues cells together. Because plants have to integrate tissue-scale mechanical stresses arising through growth in a fixed tissue topology, they need to monitor cell wall mechanical status and adapt growth accordingly. Molecular factors have been identified, but whether cell geometry contributes to wall sensing is unknown...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Dense branching and spines are common features of plant species in ecosystems with high mammalian herbivory pressure. While dense branching and spines can inhibit herbivory independently, when combined, they form a powerful defensive cage architecture. However, how cage architecture evolved under mammalian pressure has remained unexplored. Here we show how dense branching and spines emerged during the age of mammalian radiation in the Combretaceae family and diversified in herbivore-driven ecosystems in the tropics...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The formation of a flat and thin leaf presents a developmentally challenging problem, requiring intricate regulation of adaxial-abaxial (top-bottom) polarity. The patterning principles controlling the spatial arrangement of these domains during organ growth have remained unclear. Here we show that this regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana is achieved by an organ-autonomous Turing reaction-diffusion system centred on mobile small RNAs. The data illustrate how Turing dynamics transiently instructed by prepatterned information is sufficient to self-sustain properly oriented polarity in a dynamic, growing organ, presenting intriguing parallels to left-right patterning in the vertebrate embryo...