Article
Plant Sciences
Parth Patel, Sandra M. Mathioni, Reza Hammond, Alex E. Harkess, Atul Kakrana, Siwaret Arikit, Ayush Dusia, Blake C. Meyers
Summary: Sequencing of sRNAs from 28 phylogenetically diverse monocots and early-diverging angiosperm lineages revealed differences in miRNA content between grasses and other monocot families. A curated miRNA database was used to identify conservation at specific positions, hypothesized to be signatures of selection. This study provides insights into sRNA diversity in flowering plants and the origins of important phasiRNA biogenesis genes in grasses.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yijie Wang, Huiyan Zhou, Yuanrong He, Xiuping Shen, Sue Lin, Li Huang
Summary: This article provides an overview of the important roles of MYB transcription factors in the male reproductive development of plants, as well as their regulatory interactions with other transcription factors.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Courtney G. Collins, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Robert D. Hollister, Greg H. R. Henry, Karin Clark, Anne D. Bjorkman, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Janet S. Prevey, Isabel W. Ashton, Jakob J. Assmann, Juha M. Alatalo, Michele Carbognani, Chelsea Chisholm, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Chiara Forrester, Ingibjorg Svala Jonsdottir, Kari Klanderud, Christopher W. Kopp, Carolyn Livensperger, Marguerite Mauritz, Jeremy L. May, Ulf Molau, Steven F. Oberbauer, Emily Ogburn, Zoe A. Panchen, Alessandro Petraglia, Eric Post, Christian Rixen, Heidi Rodenhizer, Edward A. G. Schuur, Philipp Semenchuk, Jane G. Smith, Heidi Steltzer, Orjan Totland, Marilyn D. Walker, Jeffrey M. Welker, Katharine N. Suding
Summary: Climate warming has differential effects on the timing and duration of reproductive and vegetative phenology in tundra plants, which may have significant consequences for trophic interactions and ecosystem function.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Ping Qian, Yueliang Bai, Wenwu Zhou, Hang Yu, Zijie Zhu, Guiyao Wang, Md Khairul Quais, Feiqiang Li, Yue Chen, Ye Tan, Xiaoxiao Shi, Xueqin Wang, Xueming Zhong, Zeng-Rong Zhu
Summary: Overuse of insecticides in crop production can negatively impact predators and parasitoids, leading to a decrease in natural insect pest control. Diversified vegetation with flowering plants can enhance natural enemy abundance and diversity, reducing the need for insecticides. The study found that manipulation of habitats surrounding rice fields to provide food and shelter for biological control agents resulted in increased predator densities and diversity, with effective natural control of herbivore pests in the early rice-growing season.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Sebastien Rivest, Brian D. D. Inouye, Jessica R. K. Forrest
Summary: Flowering phenology at fine spatial scales can lead to temporal reproductive isolation among habitats. Climate change can alter flowering synchrony and impact temporal isolation within populations. Warmer springs are associated with more temporal differentiation in flowering peaks and increased potential for temporal isolation.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Andrea C. Ueno, Pedro E. Gundel, Claudio M. Ghersa, Evgenios Agathokleous, M. Alejandra Martinez-Ghersa
Summary: Tropospheric ozone poses a threat to plants and microorganisms, with symbiotic plants showing more severe oxidative damage compared to non-symbiotic plants under high ozone exposure. Additionally, high ozone levels reduce biomass and seed production in symbiotic plants, while low ozone levels result in a number-weight trade-off between endophyte-symbiotic and non-symbiotic plants. Despite the negative effects of ozone on plant-endophyte mutualisms, other benefits mediated by endophytes may compensate for these losses, leading to a high incidence of symbiosis in nature.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Katherine Y. Barragan-Fonseca, Liana O. Greenberg, Gerrit Gort, Marcel Dicke, Joop J. A. Van Loon
Summary: Using black soldier fly exuviae as a soil amendment can enhance the growth, resistance, and seed production of Brassica nigra plants. Compared with plants growing in soil without the addition of exuviae, plants grown in amended soil exhibit better tolerance to herbivores. Additionally, amended soil attracts more pollinators and positively affects plant-pollinator mutualism and seed yield. Therefore, utilizing by-products from insect production as soil amendments contributes to sustainable agricultural practices.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Michal Bogdziewicz, Jakub Szymkowiak, Andrew J. Tanentzap, Rafael Calama, Shealyn Marino, Michael A. Steele, Barbara Seget, Lukasz Piechnik, Magdalena Zywiec
Summary: Masting is a common reproductive strategy in long-lived plants that helps reduce reproduction costs and increase biological fitness. Seed predators select for specific traits in masting plant phenotypes, such as interannual variability and synchrony, supporting individual benefits of mast seeding. However, interactions between seed predators may impose contradictory selective pressures on the benefits of masting.
Review
Plant Sciences
Vicente Balanza, Paz Merelo, Cristina Ferrandiz
Summary: All flowering plants adjust their reproductive period for successful reproduction. Flower initiation is controlled by various studied factors, while the end of flowering is a less understood process at the genetic or molecular level. Recent progress in understanding the regulation of the end of flowering is presented, highlighting missing aspects for future research and potential biotechnological avenues in crop yield improvement in annual plants.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Mingjie Liu, Shaochun Xu, Shidong Yue, Yongliang Qiao, Yu Zhang, Xiaomei Zhang, Yi Zhou
Summary: This study proposes a method to evaluate the seed provision efficacy of detached eelgrass reproductive shoots. Mature seeds were collected from detached eelgrass reproductive shoots in Swan Lake, China, using in situ net cages. The results showed that each detached reproductive shoot produced an average of 50 viable seeds, and the potential seed yield overestimated the actual seed yields. The simplest treatment (a single reproductive shoot) was convenient and robust for this method, indicating its potential for improving the efficiency of seed use in restoration projects.
Review
Agronomy
Danish Ibrar, Rafiq Ahmad, Zuhair Hasnain, Safia Gul, Afroz Rais, Shahbaz Khan
Summary: Plants use epigenetic regulation to process environmental signals and respond to variations in photoperiod and cold exposure through chromatin remodeling and small RNAs. Key flowering regulators undergo chromatin remodeling in response to seasonal cues. Methylation plays a critical role in embryogenesis. This review explores the regulation of flowering mechanisms in response to day-length variations, cold exposure, and seed development in plants.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hayley Schroeder, Heather Grab, Katja Poveda
Summary: The conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture is a major cause of biodiversity loss worldwide, and wild plants in heavily modified landscapes are responding to this landscape change. In this study, the effect of increasing agricultural landscape modification on defensive and reproductive traits in three commonly occurring Brassicaceae species was tested. The results showed that plants from agriculturally dominant landscapes had reduced flower size and herbivore leaf consumption, and one species also exhibited reduced fitness associated with increasing agricultural landscapes. These findings suggest that the conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture has consequences for wild plant evolution.
Article
Agronomy
Azam Nikzad, Berisso Kebede, Swati Megha, Miles Buchwaldt, Isobel Parkin, Habibur Rahman
Summary: A GWAS was conducted using a B. napus population developed from interspecific crosses and SNP markers to identify QTLs for agronomic and seed quality traits. The heritability of these traits ranged from 52.9% to 84.1%. The majority of the SNPs were located on the C genome chromosomes, indicating little genetic variation in the A genome. Several novel QTL regions and potential candidate genes were discovered, highlighting the utility of the B. oleracea gene pool for breeding and QTL identification in B. napus.
Article
Plant Sciences
Hajar Salehi, Abdolkarim Chehregani Rad, Hamidreza Sharifan, Ali Raza, Rajeev K. Varshney
Summary: The use of zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) can negatively impact the development of reproductive components in plants, leading to histological defects in reproductive systems, abnormal microspore development, and reduced seed yield. Higher levels of nZnO exposure also resulted in altered protein expression patterns.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Alexandria M. Thomsen, Mark K. J. Ooi
Summary: The season of fire has clear impacts on plant vigor and reproductive response, with autumn fires promoting flowering and fire severity driving vegetative growth. Fire season and severity can have independent as well as interacting effects on post-fire plant traits.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Brian D. Rutter, Thi-Thu-Huyen Chu, Jean-Felix Dallery, Kamil K. Zajt, Richard J. O'Connell, Roger W. Innes
Summary: This study purified EVs from Colletotrichum higginsianum and identified more than 700 associated proteins. By selecting SNARE proteins and 14-3-3 proteins as EV markers and conducting transgenic experiments, the localization of these markers during infection was revealed.
JOURNAL OF EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Blake C. Meyers
Article
Plant Sciences
Chuanlin Shi, Jie Zhang, Bingjin Wu, Rachel Jouni, Changxiu Yu, Blake C. Meyers, Wanqi Liang, Qili Fei
Summary: In this study, the researchers investigated the role of the rice AGO1d protein in phasiRNA biogenesis and function. They found that AGO1d is specifically expressed in anther wall cells and associates with miR2118 and miR2275 to mediate phasiRNA production. Depletion of AGO1d resulted in a reduction of phasiRNAs and temperature-sensitive male sterility in rice. These findings highlight the essential role of AGO1d in anther development and demonstrate the coordination of AGO proteins in reproductive phasiRNA processes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Junpeng Zhan, Lily O'Connor, D. Blaine Marchant, Chong Teng, Virginia Walbot, Blake C. Meyers
Summary: The phased, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs) enriched in anthers play essential roles in maintaining male fertility in grass species. This study identified coexpression networks associated with anther development in maize and found two modules highly enriched for the phasiRNA loci. It revealed the timing of transcription factors (TFs) in phasiRNA biogenesis and showed that certain TFs can activate phasiRNA pathway genes but not specific PHAS loci.
Article
Plant Sciences
Reza K. Hammond, Pallavi Gupta, Parth Patel, Blake C. Meyers
Summary: Plant miRNAs are small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression and play important roles in development, growth, and stress responses. Accurately identifying miRNAs in plant populations is challenging but crucial. In this study, we present miRador, a fast and accurate tool for miRNA identification in plants, which outperforms other commonly used prediction tools. miRador utilizes the most up-to-date criteria for miRNA annotation and combines target prediction and PARE data for improved precision. This tool will be valuable for the plant community in identifying and annotating miRNAs in plant genomes.
Review
Plant Sciences
Junpeng Zhan, Blake C. Meyers
Summary: Plant cells accumulate small RNA molecules that regulate plant development, genome stability, and environmental responses. These small RNAs fall into three major classes-microRNAs, heterochromatic small interfering RNAs, and secondary small interfering RNAs-plus several other less well-characterized categories, and their biogenesis mechanisms, targets, modes of action, and functions have been extensively studied in Arabidopsis and other plant species, contributing to a better understanding of plant small RNA biology.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nancy A. Eckardt, Michael J. Axtell, Andrea Barta, Xuemei Chen, Brian D. Gregory, Hongwei Guo, Pablo A. Manavella, Rebecca A. Mosher, Blake C. Meyers
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sebastien Belanger, Marianne C. Kramer, Hayden A. Payne, Alice Y. Hui, R. Keith Slotkin, Blake C. Meyers, Jeffrey M. Staub
Summary: Plastid-expressed double-strand RNA can escape the organelle and trigger gene silencing in the nucleus through phasiRNA biogenesis. This study demonstrates that plastid-encoded transgenes affect nuclear gene silencing, providing evidence for RNA escape from plastids. Furthermore, this research opens up new possibilities for studying plastid development and small RNA biogenesis.
Article
Plant Sciences
Sebastien Belanger, Junpeng Zhan, Blake C. Meyers
Summary: This study provides curated annotations and phylogenetic analyses of seven protein families involved in plant small RNA (sRNA) biogenesis and function. The results reveal the evolutionary relationships among these protein families and shed light on the regulatory roles of diverse AGOs. The study also traces the origin of specific sRNA-associated proteins and provides insights into the evolution of major sRNA pathways.
Article
Agronomy
Sarinthip Pannak, Samart Wanchana, Wanchana Aesomnuk, Mutiara K. Pitaloka, Watchareewan Jamboonsri, Meechai Siangliw, Blake C. Meyers, Theerayut Toojinda, Siwaret Arikit
Summary: In this study, a QTL associated with BPH resistance at the early seedling stage was identified on chromosome 3 using QTL-seq analysis. Bph14 was identified as a potential candidate gene based on gene expression and sequence variation differences compared with the parents. This functional gene of Bph14 from RH is important for BPH resistance at the early seedling stage and could be used in breeding programs to enhance BPH resistance in rice at both early and later growth stages.
THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Nicole Szeluga, Patricia Baldrich, Ryan DelPercio, Blake C. Meyers, Margaret H. Frank
Summary: Hybrid breeding has been used to increase agricultural outputs without higher inputs. However, soybean has been limited in exploiting hybrid vigor due to self-pollination. This study demonstrates the successful use of the barnase/barstar system to produce hybrid seeds in soybean and rescue male fertility. Importantly, the dosage of barnase and barstar is critical in achieving successful rescue.
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hao Wu, Mary Galli, Carla J. Spears, Junpeng Zhan, Peng Liu, Ramin Yadegari, Joanne M. Dannenhoffer, Andrea Gallavotti, Philip W. Becraft
Summary: The maize transcription factors NKD1, NKD2, and O2 interact and regulate a dynamic gene network that inhibits cellular development and promotes storage compound accumulation during grain filling. The regulatory interrelationships and genetic interactions among these factors are dynamic and play a crucial role in directing cellular development and controlling the biosynthesis and storage of starch, proteins, and lipids in maize endosperm.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nancy A. Eckardt, Blake C. Meyers