š» The Week in Botany, February 12 2024
š» The Week in Botany, February 12 2024
If you're receiving this, then the move to Buttondown went well. One reason for moving is that I hope in the longer term that the email will prove quicker to edit. If you find that the new email address is intolerable, there should be an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
The aim is to keep the mix of news stories and scientific papers that you're sharing on social media. I'm hoping to add BlueSky to the list of sites we're tracking for that this week. You'll be able to follow us there @botany.one.
There should be another email with you at the same time next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
The Expedition Continues, Colombia
Patrick Gibson reviews a book about JosĆ© Celestino Mutisās botanical expedition to what is now Colombia, as well as his scientific and artistic legacy.
Roses Are Red, and Violets Are Blue, but Where Does the Colour of the Flowers Come From?
From its captivating origins to the macroevolutionary changes that produce a breathtaking array of hues, Kellenberger and Glover explore the enchanting world of flower colour diversity.
Women in Science: 6 Pioneers in Plant Photobiology
To celebrate the āInternational Day of Girls and Women in Scienceā, Botany One highlights six exceptional female researchers who greatly contributed to shed new light on Plant Photobiology ā a scientific discipline that studies the effects of light on biological processes in green organisms.
In AoBC Journals This Week
News & Views
A genetically modified purple tomato is now available to home gardeners
As home gardeners in the U.S. page through seed catalogs and pick out their favorite heirlooms, there's a new seed that has never been available to them before: a tomato the color of a concord grape with plum-colored flesh. It looks otherworldly, maybe Photoshopped. But it's not.
Tragedy, Resilience and a Miracle at Chileās Burned Botanical Garden
Wildfires destroyed 98 percent of Chileās national botanical garden and killed a worker and her family. But there were signs of hope in the ashes.
Second Cambridge moonflower blooms for lucky visitors
The "rare and unusual" cactus flower delights Cambridge visitors by blooming at Sunday lunchtime.
Prehistoric peatland plants and bugs found in UK ātime capsuleā
Frozen snapshot could help revive ancient Exmoor woodland and protect against ravages of climate change.
Will Plants Ever Fertilize Themselves?
Biologists aim to engineer crops that can eat nitrogen straight from the air.
This Portland botanical garden has been nominated for best in the U.S.
The Pacific Northwest is known for its breathtaking scenery and wild places, but our tamed natural spaces are pretty great, too.
'Square Foot' Gardening Is a Shortcut to Spring Planting
If you're freaking out about what to plant and where, these pre-planned garden grids can take the guesswork out of the process.
Air pollution is changing the scent of flowers and confusing insects
Insects may be finding it harder to locate flowers because the scent molecules released by the flowers smell different after they react with pollutants in the air
Light duty: Distinct molecular pathways control growth, flowering in plants
In a new study, a Yale-led research team uncovers the mechanism behind why plant growth and flowering sometimes occur in different seasons.
AI helps reveal the ancient origin story of floral colors
New research led by Monash University experts used computer simulations to reveal the ancient link between bees and the evolution of colors in flowers. The research, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, simulated the landscape of the first flowering plants from many tens of millions of years ago, to test their visibility to pollinators like bees and birds.
And former Botany One blogger Nigel Chaffey has been taking a deep dive into chewing gum and found some botanical results.
Scientific Papers
The evolution of arborescence in Devonian plants, followed by their architectural radiation in the Carboniferous, is a transition fundamental to Earth-system processes and ecological development. However, this evolutionary transition in trees is based on preserved trunks, of which only a few known specimens possess crowns. Gastaldo et al. describe Mississippian-aged (Tournaisian) trees with a unique three-dimensional crown morphology from New Brunswick, Canada.
A plant virus manipulates the long-winged morph of insect vectors ($)
Wing dimorphism is a typical phenotypic plasticity in insects. Most cases reported previously involve indirect regulation of plant viruses to wing dimorphism of insect vectors through host plants. Yu et al. reveal that a plant virus directly induces a long-winged morph in male insect vectors.
A guide to photosynthetic gas exchange measurements: Fundamental principles, best practice and potential pitfalls (OA)
Busch et al. outline the biochemical and biophysical parameters of photosynthesis that can be investigated with gas exchange measurements and they provide step-by-step guidance on how to reliably measure them. They advise on best practices for using gas exchange equipment and highlight potential pitfalls in experimental design and data interpretation.
Temperatureāsmart plants: A new horizon with omicsādriven plant breeding (OA)
This review explores the potential of an integrated omics-driven approach to understanding how plants adapt and tolerate extreme temperatures. By leveraging cutting-edge omics methods, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, miRNAomics, epigenomics, phenomics, and ionomics, alongside the power of machine learning and speed breeding data, we can revolutionize plant breeding practices.
In pursuit of purple: anthocyanin biosynthesis in fruits of the tomato clade (OA)
Menconi et al. explore the genetic mechanisms that have been characterized to date, and detail the various wild relatives of the tomato, which have been crucial for recovering ancestral traits that were probably lost during evolution from green-purple to yellow and red tomatoes. This knowledge should help developing strategies to further enhance the status of the commercial tomato lines on sale, based on both genome editing and breeding techniques.
Nuclear phylogenomics of angiosperms and insights into their relationships and evolution (OA)
Following the great successes of phylogenetic analyses using plastid sequences, dozens to thousands of nuclear genes from next-generation sequencing have been used in angiosperm phylogenomic analyses, providing well resolved phylogenies and new insights into the evolution of angiosperms. In this review Zhang & Ma focus on recent nuclear phylogenomic analyses of large angiosperm clades, orders, families, and subdivisions of some families and provide a summarized Nuclear Phylogenetic Tree of Angiosperm Families. The newly established nuclear phylogenetic relationships are highlighted and compared with previous phylogenetic results.
Mechanistic links between physiology and spectral reflectance enable previsual detection of oak wilt and drought stress ($)
Sapes et al. developed remote sensing tools to detect oak wilt and drought before visual symptoms appear and differentiate these dual stresses by integrating anatomical, physiological, and spectroscopic information from cellular to canopy levels. Previsual detection of oak wilt when followed by rapid treatment response will reduce incidence, spread, and impact of oak wilt in forest landscapes.
Crop traits and production under drought ($)
Increasing plant tolerance to moderate drought is a key target for adaptation and management, but efforts to understand and increase drought tolerance often focus on more extreme drought that causes complete crop failure and only consider crop genetics. Vadez et al. discuss the influence of moderate drought on crop productivity and the role of physiological traits in drought tolerance and adaptation.
ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/dymAu
WRKY48 negatively regulates plant acclimation to a combination of high light and heat stress (OA)
Plants growing under natural conditions experience high light (HL) intensities that are often accompanied by elevated temperatures. These conditions could affect photosynthesis, reduce yield, and negatively impact agricultural productivity. The combination of different abiotic challenges creates a new type of stress for plants by generating complex environmental conditions that often exceed the impact of their individual parts. Transcription factors (TFs) play a key role in integrating the different molecular signals generated by multiple stress conditions, orchestrating the acclimation response of plants to stress. BalfagĆ³n et al. show that the TF WRKY48 negatively controls the acclimation of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to a combination of HL and heat stress (HLā+āHS), and its expression is attenuated by jasmonic acid under HLā+āHS conditions.
Zeltnera fonsecae (Gentianaceae, Chironieae, Chironiinae), a new gypsophilous species endemic from Oaxaca, Mexico ($)
During a recent study of the gypsicolous flora of the municipality of San Juan Teita, Oaxaca, a new species of Zeltnera was identified. Sandoval GutiƩrrez et al. revised several herbarium collections, protologues and types, and they concluded that this does not belong to any of the previously described species.
Careers
Lecturer - Wildlife and Environmental Conservation, South Carolina
Come join a team of faculty and staff committed to inclusive excellence and to providing the best possible learning experience for its students. Clemson Universityās Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation (FEC) invites applications for the position of Lecturer in Wildlife and Environmental Conservation with expertise in wildlife ecology and conservation, wildlife management, wildlife-habitat interactions, or similar disciplines. This is a full-time, nine-month, non-tenure track teaching position with promotion potential.
Plant Science Fellow, Morris Arboretum, Pennsylvania
The Plant Science Fellow is a joint position held between the Morris Arboretum & Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania and The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The Plant Science Fellow receives training and work experience in many aspects of managing both physical and virtual herbarium collections, and an opportunity to gain experience in botanical research. This Fellowship requires a dedication to building a professional career in botany. This position is supported by the Eli Kirk Price Endowment.
Scientist, Wisconsin
The individual hired for this position will use gene editing approaches to produce carrot plants carrying targeted mutations in the CENH3 gene. They will also characterize the resulting carrot plants at the phenotypic and molecular levels to evaluate their ability to serve as haploid-inducer lines. This individual will be responsible for planning, carrying out, and documenting their research. The individual is expected to have experience with the following experimental techniques: carrot plant protoplast isolation and transformation; gene editing in plants using Cas9 RNPs; plant tissue culture; molecular cloning; and plant transformation.
Horticulturist II (First Impressions), Utah
Red Butte Garden is seeking a Horticulturist II for the First Impressions (Entrance drive/Parking lot, Visitor Center, Courtyard and Four Season's) Gardens. Performs high-level horticultural maintenance and supports the supervisor with ensuring the same in assigned garden areas, including the living plant collections held within. Must work as a functional team with assigned supervisor to identify and implement all maintenance and preservation needs in assigned areas, ensuring maintenance activities are performed safely and without impact to Garden or private events by coordinating special projects with appropriate personnel and departments as needed. Supports the supervisor in providing leadership and training to seasonal staff and volunteers.
Research Assistant (fixed-term), Bath
As a skilled and experienced bioinformatician, you will be contributing to consortium training in bioinformatics and perform a meta-analysis and comparison of existing bioinformatic tools for managing epigenetic data sets irrespective of the source species. You will also contribute to the writing of a review article on plant epigenetics and grant proposals and to the creation of new bioinformatics procedures dedicated to the analysis of epigenetics in complex genomes.
Head of Science Services, Kew
We are now looking to appoint a new Head of Science Services. The focus of this role is to deliver RBG Kewās mission by overseeing and managing the delivery of the Science Services function in the Science Directorate through effective liaison with the leadership team and stakeholders across the organisation. Reporting to the Deputy Director of Science (Operations) and deputising for them as required, the Head of Science Services is responsible for the strategic development of administration and governance; science policy; communications and engagement; laboratories; and health & safety and estates liaison to support the delivery of the Science Strategy.
Plant Microscopist, Dundee
Pectobacterium atrosepticum (Pba) is one of the most economically damagingĀ bacterial plant pathogens in the UK, causing blackleg disease of potato plants and soft rot of tubers. Our main aim is to identify new ways to control blackleg disease and then to use data from them, combined with other unique datasets, to develop a decision support tool(s) for use by industry. As part of this project we are developing new methods for the manipulation and imaging of the rhizosphere. We do this through a combination of lightsheet microscopy development, laser ablation and optical trapping. We are seeking an experienced person with experience of working in both novel microscopy development and plant science.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oxford
The Department of Biology is seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate for 3 years. This post is financially supported by funds from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council awarded to Prof Francesco Licausi. The work is to be conducted in his lab in the Department of Biology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB. The postholder will study the role of O2 sensing mechanisms in nodule development and physiology. We plan to useĀ M. truncatulaĀ and its symbiontic rhizobiumĀ Sinorhyzobium melilotiĀ as models to investigate the role of O2 as signaling molecule during root infection by rhizobia and nodule establishment. We plan to investigate this in conditions of sufficient oxygenation and in case of plant submergence or soil waterlogging.
JIF Internship in Plant Data Science, Norwich
The Predoctoral Intern will join the Engineering Biology group at the Earlham Institute, particularly the group composed of members of Patron group and of the nascent Guiziou group.Ā The Guiziou group aims to elucidate and engineer plant development and plant-microbe interactions for sustainable agriculture. The groupās research fits into the Earlham instituteās scientific focus on engineering biology. The internās research will contribute to one of the groupās projects on engineering plant root architecture using integrase-based technology.
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant Biology, Durham
Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate position on an industrially funded project in which we seek to understand how photosynthetic organisms use a newly discovered light-operated metabolite ājunction boxā to deflect or amplify external stress signals. This exciting stress response regulatory system plays a central role in biomass productivity and governs adaptation of photosynthetic organisms to their environments. We are using cyanobacteria, microalgae and higher plants to identify the structural components of this molecular machinery and to study how it is regulated by light.