The Week in Botany Jun 9, 2025
I hope you’re all well. It’s a late night for me here because as well as writing the email for Buttondown, where most of you will see it, it then gets transferred to WordPress. It’s nowhere near double the work, but it’s not entirely simple either. However, progress is being made. This week on the blog you should see sign-up boxes for newsletter. This is the next step of testing. Once I think I can transfer you across from the Buttondown system to the WordPress system - without bombarding you with every post as it happens - then I’ll move to the new system and find something else to grumble about.
This week I plan to sign up for Apple News+. This will help me round a few paywalls. The relevance for you is that there’ll be a few more stories like the Mass Extinction post below. This links to a New Scientist story behind a paywall, and it’s a good one. I could just link to it, but the title alone doesn’t tell you a lot, and a link like that could be frustrating. I can’t link to one of the ways of breaking the paywall, that’s not reasonable. So, instead the post is an extended description in an attempt to get the spirit of the story without plagiarising it entirely.
I also plan link to relevant scientific papers from this kind of post for context - though in this case the story author had connected his article to pretty much every plant paper I’d want to link to.
There will be another email of the papers and the news stories you’re sharing on Mastodon and Bluesky next week. Until next time, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
The search for gold risks losing treasure
Amazon gold mining leaves forests unable to heal for centuries, because miners carelessly turn the landscape into a giant sieve.
How Heliamphora turns a first date into a last meal
Researchers at Colorado State University have found the genetic basis of attraction - if you’re a carnivorous plant seeking prey.
Is it time to kill the “Mass Extinction” concept?
A story popular in New Scientist at the moment questions what we know of the deep past, and it has a plant twist.
Gehan Jayasuriya: “Pursue Plant Science with Passion and Dedication”
Botany One interviews Dr Gehan Jayasuriya, one of the pioneers of seed ecology in Sri Lanka.
The hidden complexity of pollinator networks in gardens
What might appear to be one network of plants and pollinators may in fact be many.
…and last’s week’s Week in Botany that had a plant whose drinking habit fooled botanists for decades, chaos inside orderly cells, and more...
News & Views
Be Bold Or Just Don’t Do It
As a young plant scientist, Joanne Chory shook up the research establishment with her unconventional approach to figuring out how plants work. Her methods and success changed the field, and led her to her biggest project yet—tackling climate change, with the help of millions of plants.
Gender equality in research publishing is a responsibility for everyone
A concerted effort is needed to support women in their choice of journal when submitting their manuscript.
U.S. Scientists Warn That Trump’s Cuts Will Set Off a Brain Drain
As the United States cuts budgets and restricts immigration, China and Europe are offering researchers money and stability.
Revealed: 5,000 English nature sites at risk under Labour’s planning proposals
Planning bill includes mechanism for developers to ‘pay to pollute’ valuable ecosystems, experts warn.
US science is being wrecked, and its leadership is fighting the last war
Facing an extreme budget, the National Academies hosted an event that ignored it.
Ergot on Barley
Ink painting/drawing of ergot on barley, caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea.
Marchantia Pangenome Highlights Adaptive Nature of Plant Lineages
Understanding the shared genetic toolkit of ancestral and present-day plants.
America is ceding the lead in creating the future
The renowned American management consultant and author Peter Drucker is often credited as saying that “the best way to predict the future is to create it”—a view that applies to science as much as to the business world. As the Trump administration continues to drastically defund and dismantle basic science in America, the United States is presenting other countries with opportunities to take the lead in seeing farther ahead, anticipate where scientific and technological prowess is going, and create the future, while the United States stands on the sidelines.
Carnivorous Plants Have Been Trapping Animals for Millions of Years. So Why Have They Never Grown Larger?
Plants that feed on meat and animal droppings have evolved at least ten times through evolutionary history.
U.S. college is first to decline federal science grants because of new DEI language
Williams College says NSF and NIH requirement related to discrimination “undermines” academic freedom.
California plan to ban most plants within 5 feet of homes for wildfire safety overlooks some important truths about flammability
Research into how vegetation can reduce fire risk is a relatively new area of study. However, the findings from plant flammability studies and examination of patterns of where vegetation and homes survive large urban fires highlight its importance.
A surprise find in Michigan shows the extent of ancient Native American agriculture
Archeologists studying a forested area in northern Michigan say they've uncovered what is likely the largest intact remains of an ancient Native American agricultural site in the eastern half of the United States.
Forever PRIDE: Not going back
June is Pride month, which brings me both joy and sadness. This June these feelings are stronger than ever because of the shameful government attacks on the trans community. I’m sharing my story to encourage everyone to participate in and celebrate Pride month. All our voices are needed to protect diversity and support the queer community.
Scientific Papers
Quercus zhekunii M.Deng & J.Huang, a new sclerophyllous oak from Guangxi, southwest China ($)
Asian (sub)tropical karst regions harbor high endemism and species diversity of sclerophyllous oaks. In this study, Quercus zhekunii, a new species from Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated.
Ecological and evolutionary consequences of changing seasonality ($)
Hernández-Carrasco et al. synthesized ways that seasonal shifts can span biological levels from individuals to populations and whole ecosystems. The authors highlight the roles that demographic responses to the environment, species specialization to seasonal trends, and evolutionary constraints play in ecological responses to changing seasonality.
Gene editing of the E3 ligase PIRE1 fine-tunes reactive oxygen species production for enhanced bacterial disease resistance in tomato (FREE)
Castro et al identified 170 PIRE homologs, which emerged in tracheophytes and expanded in angiosperms. They investigated the role of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) PIRE homologs in regulating ROS production, RBOH stability, and disease resistance.
Maternal control of RNA decay safeguards embryo development (FREE)
Del Toro-De León et al show that secondary small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) generated upon exosome impairment lead to embryo abortion through a maternal sporophytic eYect. Depletion of the core subunit of the RNA-processing exosome RRP45B (CER7) causes globular embryo arrest connected to ectopic post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS).
Thresholds of functional trait diversity driven by land use intensification ($)
Le Bagousse-Pinguet et al assess how the functional structure, diversity and temporal stability of 150 agricultural grasslands responded to large variations in land use intensification, namely, different intensities of fertilization, grazing and mowing. Using multi-site time series (2008–2020) of plant trait distributions, their identify two thresholds where the functional structure, diversity and stability of grasslands changed dramatically.
Read free via ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/ep0Jb
A single domestication origin of adzuki bean in Japan and the evolution of domestication genes ($)
Adzuki beans are an important East Asian legume given the frequent use of red bean paste in many confections. However, the history and domestication of this plant has been fraught with contradicting evidence. Chien et al. analyzed genomic data from 693 wild and cultivated adzuki bean accessions.
A timeline of discovery and innovation in Arabidopsis (FREE)
To celebrate this Focus Issue on Translational Research from Arabidopsis to Crop Plants and Beyond, we present a timeline highlighting some of the exceptional discoveries, innovations, and community milestones in Arabidopsis research over the past 150+ years.
Performance of deep-learning-based approaches to improve polygenic scores (FREE)
Neural-network based deep-learning has emerged as a method of intense interest to model complex, nonlinear phenomena, which may be adapted to exploit gene-gene and gene-environment interactions to potentially improve polygenic scores. Kelemen et al fit neural-network models to both simulated and 28 real traits in the UK Biobank.
Leaf venation network evolution across clades and scales ($)
Leaf venation architecture varies greatly among living and fossil plants. However, we still have a limited understanding of when, why and in which clades new architectures arose and how they impacted leaf functioning. Using data from 1,000 extant and extinct (fossil) plants, Matos et al reconstructed approximately 400 million years of venation evolution across clades and vein sizes.
Read free at https://rdcu.be/ep0Sd
Cones and consequences: the false dichotomy of conifers vs broad-leaves has critical implications for research and modelling (FREE)
Johnson et al highlight the likely origins and impacts of misusing conifer-related terminology, the misinterpretation that ensues and its implications. They identify the issue of a focus on Pinaceae and coin the term ‘Pinaceae panacea’ to describe this.
Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition (FREE)
Iron acquisition is a critical challenge for plants, especially in iron-deficient soils. Recent research underscores the importance of root-exuded coumarins in modulating the root microbiome community structure and facilitating iron uptake. However, interactions between root-associated fungi and coumarins in plant iron nutrition remain unknown. Van Dijck et al investigated the mechanism by which a fungal endophyte, Macrophomina phaseolina (F80), enhances Arabidopsis iron nutrition.
In AoBC Publications
Careers
Note: These are posts that have been advertised around the web. They are not posts that I personally offer, nor can I arrange the visa for you to work internationally.
Postdoctoral Researcher and Innovation Assistant, London
Are you enthusiastic about undertaking fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon and contributing to understanding historical processes of socio-biodiversity in the face of the challenges of the Anthropocene? Birkbeck, University of London, is looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher and Innovation Assistant to join a dynamic, international transdisciplinary research project on a full-time, fixed-term contract of £45,934 per year.
Senior Research Technician (Plant and Bacterial Lab Technician), Warwick
We are seeking a Plant and Microbial Lab Technician to support an ARIA-funded project towards the development of a novel crop transformation technology. The successful candidate will join the lab of Prof George Bassel, University of Warwick as an ARIA R&D Creator, working in a team to overcome the transformation bottleneck in crop biotechnology.
Research Fellow (Plant Genome Engineer), Warwick
We are seeking a Plant Genome Engineer to work on an ARIA-funded project towards the development of a novel crop transformation technology. The successful candidate will join the lab of Prof George Bassel, University of Warwick as an ARIA R&D Creator, working in a team to overcome the transformation bottleneck in crop biotechnology.
The Plant Cell is accepting applications for Assistant Features Editors
Are you an early career researcher passionate about plants and science communication? The Plant Cell is accepting applications for new Assistant Features Editors (AFEs) to begin in 2026 and 2027. AFEs provide a valuable service to the journal, our authors, and the scientific community. In return, AFEs join our editorial board and receive training and experience in writing and communicating scientific findings to a wide audience, as well as networking opportunities and editor training through participating in activities of The Plant Cell editorial board.
Postdoctoral researcher in fungus-microbiota interactions (f/m/x), Cologne
The Evolutionary Microbiology group aims to gain fundamental understanding of how fungal pathogens cause
disease on plant hosts. To this end, we study mechanisms of pathogenicity (and how they evolved). This research is performed in the context of the plant as a “holobiont”; an assemblage of the host and its associated microbes that contribute to its functioning. We currently invite applications from candidates interested in studying interactions between fungi and the microbiota in their environment, either in the context of interactions with plant hosts or inter-organismal interactions in the soil. Researchers with a wet-lab profiles as well as bioinformaticians are equally encouraged to apply.
PhD Position on Decoding Plant Microbiota–Host Specificity Using AI, Utrecht
In this MICROP project, we aim to develop predictive AI models to decode plant–microbiota host specificity, with the ultimate goal of forecasting the success of microbial introductions—ranging from single bioinoculants to complex synthetic microbial communities (SynComs). Join us as PhD candidate and contribute to a multidisciplinary effort at the intersection of microbiome ecology, genomics, and data science.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in terrestrial carbon cycle modelling, Oslo
The postdoc will work on improving and applying the land surface model CLM (Community Land Model) that is used in the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM). In the project, the CLM model will be using the FATES (Functionally-Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator) terrestrial ecosystem model and the MIMICS+ module for soil carbon decomposition. FATES simulates and predicts growth, death, and regeneration of plants and subsequent tree size distributions by tracking natural and anthropogenic disturbance and recovery.
U.S. Doctoral Recruitment Initiative, Ontario
Queen’s University is a globally engaged, research-intensive institution dedicated to attracting and supporting exceptional PhD students who will significantly advance our research mission. In response to recent funding cuts in the United States, Queen’s has launched the Special U.S. Doctoral Recruitment Initiative. This initiative provides support for 20 doctoral students whose offers from top U.S. schools have been rescinded or who are reconsidering their acceptance to a U.S. school for the 2025/26 academic year.
Apply for a JEDI-Award
These awards are offered quarterly to scientists facing unfair obstacles to career progression, including but not limited to barriers based on gender, race, ethnicity, caregiving responsibilities, illness, ability, sexual orientation, low socioeconomic background, as well as people in a low or lower middle income country.