Article
Plant Sciences
Gaochao Cai, Andrea Carminati, Sean M. Gleason, Mathieu Javaux, Mutez Ali Ahmed
Summary: The efficiency-safety tradeoff in plant water transport and stomatal regulation has been studied. Recent research revealed that plants with higher maximum stomatal conductance (g(max)) are more sensitive to stomatal closure during soil drying, resulting in less negative leaf water potential at 50% g(max) (psi(gs50)). This tradeoff can be explained by the effects of soil-plant hydraulics on water movement and plant hydraulic properties, such as conductance and embolism resistance.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Rui Zhu, Tiesong Hu, Fengyan Wu, Yong Liu, Shan Zhou, Yanxuan Wang
Summary: This study investigates the effects of water deficit and flooding stress on rice's intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) and the relationship between iWUE variations and stress-induced physiological changes. The results show that water deficit and flooding stress decrease rice's photosynthetic and water transport capacities, leading to an increase in iWUE. However, improved iWUE cannot prevent yield reduction. Interestingly, the decrease in photosynthetic capacity is significantly correlated with the decline in water transport capacity. This study has important implications for understanding crop physiological responses to environmental stresses.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Qiangqiang Zhang, Wei Tang, Zhuang Xiong, Shaobing Peng, Yong Li
Summary: Stomata in rice panicle are regulated by water and panicle photosynthesis is less sensitive to drought than leaf photosynthesis. Enhancing non-foliar green tissues' photosynthesis is beneficial for increasing crop yield.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Kehu Li, Tongze Zhang, Huanhuan Ren, Wei Zhao, Siqi Hong, Yongyi Ge, Xiaoqiong Li, Harold Corke
Summary: This study systematically investigated the structural and physicochemical properties of two bracken starches. It found that bracken starches have high branching degree and molecular weight, and form softer and stickier gels during gelatinization. These findings provide useful information for the utilization of bracken starch in both food and non-food industries.
FRONTIERS IN NUTRITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Felipe de Jesus Eslava-Silva, Maria Eugenia Muniz-Diaz de Leon, Manuel Jimenez-Estrada
Summary: This study aimed to test the sensitivity, accumulation, and removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr VI) in the fern species Pteridium aquilinum, which has the potential to be used in phytoremediation. The results showed that both gametophytes and sporophytes of Pteridium aquilinum were not sensitive to Cr VI and were able to accumulate and remove this pollutant effectively.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maria Karatassiou, Panagiota Karaiskou, Eleni Verykouki, Sophia Rhizopoulou
Summary: This study compared the leaf hydraulic functionality of co-occurring evergreen and deciduous shrubs grown on Olympus Mountain. The results demonstrated different hydraulic tactics between the deciduous and evergreen shrubs, with higher hydraulic conductance and lower stomatal conductance observed in the deciduous plants. Positive correlations were also found between water potential and transpiration in the deciduous shrubs.
Article
Forestry
Adam G. West, Shonese T. Bloy, Robert P. Skelton, Jeremy J. Midgley
Summary: The hydraulic death hypothesis suggests that fires kill trees by damaging the plant's hydraulic system. The study examines whether hydraulic segmentation within stem xylem may act as a trait for fire survival. The results show that fire-tolerant Eucalyptus trees exhibit higher degrees of hydraulic segmentation compared to fire-sensitive Kiggelaria trees, indicating the importance of hydraulic segmentation for post-fire survival.
Article
Plant Sciences
Vinod Jacob, Brendan Choat, Amber C. Churchill, Haiyang Zhang, Craig V. M. Barton, Arjunan Krishnananthaselvan, Alison K. Post, Sally A. Power, Belinda E. Medlyn, David T. Tissue
Summary: This study investigated the hydraulic vulnerability of grass species and found that they have high resistance to xylem embolism. Reductions in stomatal conductance and leaf hydraulic conductance occurred even under mild water stress. The results suggest that factors other than xylem embolism contribute to reductions in productivity of pasture grasses during drought.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Zhe-Han Zhao, Xian-Yan Ju, Kui-Wu Wang, Xin-Juan Chen, Hong-Xiang Sun, Ke-Jun Cheng
Summary: In this study, a novel polysaccharide (PAP-3) was isolated and identified from P. aquilinum for the first time. PAP-3 showed strong free-radical scavenging activity and significant immunomodulatory activity. These findings are of great significance for further research on the polysaccharides of P. aquilinum and their applications in the food and medical industries.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Tuo Han, Qi Feng, Tengfei Yu, Xiaomei Yang, Xiaofang Zhang, Kuan Li
Summary: This study investigates the characteristics of stomatal conductance and the applicability of the optimal stomatal conductance model in a desert oasis vineyard by combining gas exchange measurements and environmental/biological variables observations. The findings reveal hysteresis loops in the response of stomatal conductance to environmental factors during the daytime. The study highlights the potential bias in using a constant parameter to simulate stomatal conductance and suggests that the water-use strategy of oasis plants may vary throughout the growing season.
Article
Plant Sciences
Qiangqiang Zhang, Wei Tang, Shaobing Peng, Yong Li
Summary: Panicle photosynthesis is crucial for grain yield in cereal crops, and this study investigated the limiting factors for panicle photosynthesis in rice genotypes. Leaf and panicle photosynthesis were positively correlated with stomatal conductance and maximum carboxylation rate, while panicle hydraulic conductance was related to the area of bundle sheaths in the panicle neck. The study also observed temporal variations in photosynthesis during grain filling, with a decrease in leaf and panicle photosynthesis from 8 to 9 days after anthesis due to dehydration.
Article
Ecology
Ilgin Akpinar, Josu G. Alday, Emma Cox, H. A. McAllister, Michael G. Le Due, Robin J. Pakeman, Rob H. Marrs
Summary: Pteridium aquilinum is a problematic invasive species in the British uplands, and there is a lack of knowledge on long-term weed control and land improvement. The effects of six control treatments on P. aquilinum were assessed at two acid-grassland sites in Scotland. The results showed different treatment effects for P. aquilinum-performance, agricultural improvement, and species richness in the two experiments.
ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Shuang Li, Abdoul Kader Mounkaila Hamani, Yingying Zhang, Yueping Liang, Yang Gao, Aiwang Duan
Summary: The study revealed a close coordination between leaf anatomical, hydraulic, and economical traits in tomato seedlings under long-term drought, highlighting the importance of leaf anatomy in maintaining the balance between water supply and CO2 diffusion responses to drought.
Article
Agronomy
Daxing Gu, Jiashuang Qin, Longkang Ni, Dennis Otieno, Kechao Huang, Wen He, Yuqing Huang, Ping Zhao
Summary: The study found that eucalyptus maintains its water status under drought conditions by regulating leaf water potential and hydraulic behavior. Throughout the study period, there were significant variations in leaf water potential, but the gradient between roots and leaves remained constant, indicating an isohydrodynamic regulation under drought. As drought intensity increased, both stomatal and whole-tree hydraulic conductance linearly declined, demonstrating a tight correlation between stomatal response to evaporative demand and whole-tree hydraulic conductance.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jun Li, Shunjun Hu, Yu Sheng, Xiran He
Summary: This study examined how Populus euphratica and Tamarix ramosissima seedlings adapt to groundwater variations. It was found that P. euphratica had a greater leaf area-specific water use and higher leaf-specific conductivity, while T. ramosissima was more capable of using deep groundwater.
Article
Plant Sciences
Italo F. Cuneo, Felipe Barrios-Masias, Thorsten Knipfer, Jake Uretsky, Clarissa Reyes, Pierre Lenain, Craig R. Brodersen, M. Andrew Walker, Andrew J. McElrone
Summary: This study investigates the effects of drought stress on grapevine rootstocks using various techniques and finds that drought-resistant rootstocks can rapidly recover growth and water uptake capacity, while drought-susceptible rootstocks exhibit restricted growth during recovery.
Article
Plant Sciences
Sonal Singhal, Adam B. Roddy, Christopher DiVittorio, Ary Sanchez-Amaya, Claudia L. Henriquez, Craig R. Brodersen, Shannon Fehlberg, Felipe Zapata
Summary: This study investigates the rapid diversification and disparification of the woody plant lineage Encelia in the deserts of the Americas, showing that it originated in the hot deserts of North America and diversified rapidly with fast rates of phenotypic evolution and extreme disparity. Multiple instances of gene flow between species were uncovered, highlighting how interspecific gene flow and high trait lability can enable exceptionally fast diversification across steep environmental gradients.
Article
Biology
Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, Adam B. Roddy, J. Mason Earles, Matthew E. Gilbert, Maciej A. Zwieniecki, C. Kevin Boyce, Danny Tholen, Andrew J. McElrone, Kevin A. Simonin, Craig R. Brodersen
Summary: Genome size plays a crucial role in determining the sizes and packing densities of cells in leaf tissues, which in turn affect CO2 diffusion. Smaller cells enable more mesophyll surface area to be packed into the leaf volume, facilitating higher CO2 diffusion. Additionally, the spongy mesophyll layer facilitates gaseous phase diffusion while the palisade mesophyll layer facilitates liquid-phase diffusion.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jeroen D. M. Schreel, Craig Brodersen, Thomas De Schryver, Manuel Dierick, Adriana Rubinstein, Koen Dewettinck, Matthieu N. Boone, Luc van Hoorebeke, Kathy Steppe
Summary: Our study provides evidence of a hydraulic pathway from the leaf surface to the stem xylem following a water potential gradient, but this pathway only exists in functional vessels and does not contribute to embolism repair in beech.
Article
Plant Sciences
Aleca M. Borsuk, Adam B. Roddy, Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, Craig R. Brodersen
Summary: The structure of the spongy mesophyll, a type of photosynthetic tissue in plant leaves, has been examined in 40 species using imaging techniques. It was found that the structure of the spongy mesophyll is associated with factors such as cell size, cell density, and the surface-area-to-volume ratio of leaves.
Article
Plant Sciences
Santiago Trueba, Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, J. Mason Earles, Thomas N. Buckley, David Love, Daniel M. Johnson, Craig Brodersen
Summary: The study identified leaf vein volume as a crucial factor influencing water use efficiency in coniferous plants. Needle-like leaves of Pinus exhibited lower mesophyll porosity, leading to increased ratios of stomatal pore number per mesophyll or intercellular airspace volume, which effectively predicted stomatal conductance and water use efficiency.
Article
Plant Sciences
Mina Momayyezi, Aleca M. Borsuk, Craig R. Brodersen, Matthew E. Gilbert, Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, Daniel A. Kluepfel, Andrew J. McElrone
Summary: Contrasting leaf anatomy of walnut species can provide insights into the links between structure and function. The experiment with two walnut species under stressed and drought conditions showed that leaf structure affects gas exchange, light absorption, and photosynthetic capacity, and drought-induced changes in leaf structure impact performance.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Carola Pritzkow, Matilda J. M. Brown, Madeline R. Carins-Murphy, Ibrahim Bourbia, Patrick J. Mitchell, Craig Brodersen, Brendan Choat, Timothy J. Brodribb
Summary: This study found that embolism under natural drought conditions is likely propagated by air spreading in a circumferential pattern from embolized conduits to neighboring conduits in field-grown trees. This pattern offers the possibility to understand the temporal aspects of embolism occurrence by examining stem cross-sections.
Article
Plant Sciences
Ana Clara Fanton, Morgan E. Furze, Craig R. Brodersen
Summary: Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is a bacterial pathogen that causes Pierce's Disease (PD) in grapevines and other diseases in important agricultural and ecological species. This study investigates the underlying mechanisms of Xf-induced mortality in grapevines and finds that susceptible genotypes show a coordinated decline in photosynthesis, starch storage, and stem hydraulics, while resistant genotypes do not show changes in starch and stem hydraulics. The results support the theory that hydraulic failure and carbon starvation are responsible for plant mortality resulting from PD.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Carl Procko, Travis Lee, Aleca Borsuk, Bastiaan O. R. Bargmann, Tsegaye Dabi, Joseph R. Nery, Mark Estelle, Lisa Baird, Carolyn O'Connor, Craig Brodersen, Joseph R. Ecker, Joanne Chory
Summary: Leaf cell sorting and scRNA-seq approaches were used to transcriptomically profile the palisade mesophyll layer, revealing that despite their unique morphology, palisade cells are transcriptionally similar to other photosynthetic cell types. However, certain phenylpropanoid genes in the palisade have enriched expression and are light-regulated, contributing to the production of UV protectant sinapoylmalate.
Article
Entomology
Nabil Killiny, Craig R. Brodersen
Summary: This study presents a non-destructive method using high-resolution micro-computed X-ray tomography (microCT) to investigate the structure of the anterior gut of the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS). This method eliminates the need for destructive dissection and allows for three-dimensional visualization.
Review
Plant Sciences
Frederic Lens, Sean M. Gleason, Giovanni Bortolami, Craig Brodersen, Sylvain Delzon, Steven Jansen
Summary: Studying hydraulic failure in plants is crucial for understanding reduced productivity and mortality. There is a need to reevaluate the relationship between vessel diameter and vulnerability caused by drought-induced embolism. Nanoscale biophysical processes play a key role in determining the formation and spread of embolism.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Martin Bouda, Brett A. Huggett, Kyra A. Prats, Jay W. Wason, Jonathan P. Wilson, Craig R. Brodersen
Summary: Researchers found that the complexity of xylem network organization is related to plant evolution and drought resistance. Incremental changes in the morphology of xylem network organization allow plants to gradually enhance their drought resistance.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul E. Verslues, Julia Bailey-Serres, Craig Brodersen, Thomas N. Buckley, Lucio Conti, Alexander Christmann, Jose R. Dinneny, Erwin Grill, Scott Hayes, Robert W. Heckman, Po-Kai Hsu, Thomas E. Juenger, Paloma Mas, Teun Munnik, Hilde Nelissen, Lawren Sack, Julian Schroeder, Christa Testerink, Stephen D. Tyerman, Taishi Umezawa, Philip A. Wigge
Summary: This article presents unresolved questions in plant abiotic stress biology from 15 research groups. These questions include understanding how plants detect water availability, temperature, salinity, and rising CO2 levels, as well as the interaction between environmental and endogenous signaling and development, and the control of downstream responses. Adaptation to changing environments involves tradeoffs that limit ecological distribution and crop resilience. Exploring plant diversity can help identify fundamental limits and new trait combinations.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
John D. Treado, Adam B. Roddy, Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, Liyong Zhang, Chris Ambrose, Craig R. Brodersen, Mark D. Shattuck, Corey S. O'Hern
Summary: The spongy mesophyll is a complex and porous tissue found in plant leaves that plays a role in carbon capture and mechanical stability. Researchers have developed a mechanical model using computer simulations to explain the development of this tissue. They found that the generation of pore space in the spongy mesophyll requires a balance of cell growth, adhesion, stiffness, and tissue pressure to maintain mechanical stability.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2022)