🌼 The Week in Botany April 29, 2024
The diffusion of social media means it’s easy to overlook interesting conversations if you’re not on the same network. This thread from Bluesky by Mark Peifer is an interesting discussion of the importance of herbaria.
The next couple of weeks will be busy for me with visits out of the office, so I’ll be changing around how I work. However, there’ll still be an email of what's getting shared on Mastodon, Bluesky, Twitter and LinkedIn at the same time next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
In Botany One
Researchers shine a light on iridescent leaves
Some plant leaves are blue, but have no blue pigments. How does that work?
How an Italian butterfly is navigating the Anthropocene
A new study reveals that endangered butterflies can find unlikely refuge in cities, if urban greenspaces are managed with connectivity in mind.
Symphony of Insights: Transforming Crop Simulation with Sound and Music
Revolutionizing scientific communication and insight through auditory and visual representations.
Forest Loss Leads to Less Diverse Diets for Orchid Bees
Orchid Bees are thought to have generalist diets, but take forest plants from the menu, and they become a lot less successful.
A Universal Theory of Sex
Plants and animals overwhelmingly reproduce sexually, but why gamble with the DNA like that?
In AoBC Journals
News & Views
'Father of Maltese botany deserves better than derelict garden in Attard'
Cassola, social media users, natural history experts call for better way to keep John Borg's legacy alive.
Earth Day: Meet the botanist on a quest to save the world's largest flower from extinction
Dr Chris Thorogood is trying to save the Rafflesia — one of the rarest, and largest flowers in the world. This Earth Day, he tells us why our flora are so key and we get an exclusive extract of his new book Pathless Forest.
Mother trees and socialist forests: is the ‘wood-wide web’ a fantasy?
In the past 10 years the idea that trees communicate with and look after each other has gained widespread currency. But have these claims outstripped the evidence?
Doncaster planting spree sparks 'Tree City' status
A South Yorkshire city has been named as one of only 200 around the globe to be judged as a Tree City of the World.
Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying EU trees and crops
From ancient olive groves to root vegetables, foreign pests introduced via the bloc’s open import system are causing damage worth billions – and outbreaks are on the rise.
Why companion planting in the garden creates more effective growth
Companion planting is a method of gardening that involves placing plants close together for mutual benefit. It’s a permaculture tactic and a practice as old as agriculture itself. Using this method can vastly improve your harvests while also protecting soil health.
Understanding of Earth's flowering plants blossoms in genome study
Flowering plants - from corn, wheat, rice and potatoes to maple, oak, apple and cherry trees as well as roses, tulips, daisies and dandelions and even the corpse flower and voodoo lily - are cornerstones of Earth's ecosystems and essential for humankind.
See also: New Scientist.
The Netherlands Is Losing Its Insect-Pollinated Flowers
A wide range of plant species rely on insects for pollination, but the diversity of these insect-pollinated plants have decreased dramatically in recent decades.
NASA Finds New Homes for Artemis Generation of ‘Moon Trees’ Across US
After careful review of hundreds of applications, NASA has selected organizations from across the country to receive ‘Moon Tree’ seedlings that flew around the Moon on the agency’s Artemis I mission in 2022, to plant in their communities. Notifications to selected institutions will be made in phases, with the first beginning this spring, followed by notifications in fall 2024, spring 2025, and fall 2025.
What’s in a name?
Elizabeth Haswell reviews Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science by Erin Zimmerman
ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/dF2By
Iconic Mediterranean plants
Nigel Chaffey reviews Botanical icons: Critical practices of illustration in the premodern Mediterranean by Andrew Griebeler.
Scientific Papers
Nitrogen-fixing organelle in a marine alga ($)
Studying a marine alga with a cyanobacterial endosymbiont, Coale et al. used soft x-ray tomography to visualize cell morphology and division of the alga, revealing a coordinated cell cycle in which the endosymbiont divides and is split evenly, similar to the situation for plastids and mitochondria in these cells.
Environmental drivers of increased ecosystem respiration in a warming tundra (OA)
Maes et al. synthesize 136 datasets from 56 open-top chamber in situ warming experiments located at 28 arctic and alpine tundra sites which have been running for less than 1 year up to 25 years.
Exposing belowground plant communication ($)
Root exudation could be harnessed for ecological and applied research.
Tree water uptake patterns across the globe (OA)
knowledge of how the distribution of water uptake depth (WUD) varies across species, climates, and seasons is scarce relative to our knowledge of aboveground plant functions. With a global literature review, Bachofen et al. found that average WUD varied more among biomes than plant functional types (i.e. deciduous/evergreen broadleaves and conifers), illustrating the importance of the hydroclimate, especially precipitation seasonality, on WUD.
S-Alk(en)ylcysteine sulfoxides in the genus Allium: proposed biosynthesis, chemical conversion, and bioactivities (OA)
This review summarizes the current understanding of the occurrence, biosynthesis, and alliinase-triggered chemical conversion of S-alk(en)ylcysteine sulfoxides in Allium plants as well as the impact of S-alk(en)ylcysteine sulfoxides and their derivatives on medicinal, food, and agricultural sciences.
Two lineages of Lemna aequinoctialis (Araceae, Lemnoideae) based on physiology, morphology, and phylogeny ($)
Lee et al. conducted physiological and morphological analyses by inducing flowering, and molecular analysis was done based on the two chloroplast DNA loci (matK, atpF−atpH intergeneric spacer) of L. aequinoctialis sensu Landolt (1986) from 70 strains found in 70 localities in Japan, Korea, Thailand, and the US.
ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/dF4iL
Imaging of labile Fe2+ and Fe3+ in living Arabidopsis thaliana roots (OA)
Xiong et al. selected two fluorescent probes, SiRhoNox-1 and MPNBD, which they used to image labile Fe2+ and Fe3+, respectively, in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) roots.
A phase-separated protein hub modulates resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat ($)
He et al. show that TaHRC alleles distinctly drive liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) within a proteinaceous complex, determining FHB susceptibility or resistance. TaHRC-S (susceptible) exhibits stronger LLPS ability than TaHRC-R (resistant), and this distinction is further intensified by fungal mycotoxin deoxynivalenol, leading to opposing FHB symptoms.
Nitrogen and Nod factor signaling determine Lotus japonicus root exudate composition and bacterial assembly (OA)
Tao et al. use plant and bacterial mutants to address the role of Nod factor signaling on Lotus japonicus root microbiota assembly. They find that Nod factors are produced by symbionts to activate Nod factor signaling in the host and that this modulates the root exudate profile and the assembly of a symbiotic root microbiota.
Evolution of endosymbiosis-mediated nuclear calcium signaling in land plants (OA)
Lam et al. explored the functional conservation of symbiont-induced nuclear calcium signals between the liverwort Marchantia paleacea and the legume Medicago truncatula.
Careers
Research Fellow, Plant Immunity, Warwick
A fixed term contract BBSRC funded Research Fellow position is available in the Grant laboratory. We seek a highly motivated cell/molecular biologist, ideally with some experience in plant immunity to work on understanding the function of novel cyclic ADP ribose derivatives generated by the Toll-Interlukin 1 (TIR) class of plant disease resistance proteins.
Plant Science Research Assistants (Two Posts) - Crop Science and Production Systems, Kent
The purpose of the role is to provide technical support to research and commercial projects within the Crop Science and Production Systems Department. Working in the Research and Development vineyard, in our soft fruit polytunnels, in our controlled environment rooms, and in our new total controlled environment agriculture (Total Controlled Environment Agriculture units), the role is focused on helping to develop new growing practices and systems that utilise resources more efficiently, reduce waste and emissions to land air, and water, and improve productivity and product quality.
Garden Programs Educator, Utah
During the school year, this position will primarily work with schools. During the summer, this position will primarily work with summer camps. Educators will acquire and strengthen skills in communication, teaching, curriculum development, classroom management, and more.