🌻 The Week in Botany June 19, 2023
I’ve put this issue together slowly, as the air is full of a storm that isn’t quite arriving and leaving my head fuzzy. There might be some interesting typos in the email this week. Something that isn’t a typo below is ten thousand. This is ten thousand, as in, someone conducting an insect survey in Japan has found a pond with ten thousand endangered plants in it. I’m surprised that no paper has picked this story up. From a botanical point of view, it shows the power of natural seed banks for habitat restoration. However, I’m staggered that a plant found in just 50 places in the wild suddenly appears like a legion in a Japanese pond.
Next week, I’m hoping we get out an article on pollination syndromes, which are traits plants have to attract specific pollinators, and another on the plant sense of smell. There should also be another email with you at the same time next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
How do Syntrichia mosses carry water when they’ve nothing to carry it in?
Syntrichia mosses, masters of water management, exhibit a range of diverse strategies for conducting and storing water.
Beavers have a taste for forest management in Central Europe
When hungry Hungary beavers choose their meal, they’re shaping future forests too.
The Roots of Western European Cork Trees Can Be Found in East Asia
Research explores how these trees braved climatic shifts, morphological changes, and geographical hurdles to shape modern-day Western Eurasian oak communities.
Mediterranean Vegetation Facing Intensified Climate Change Effects at Low Altitudes
Southern France’s flora is on the move, with vegetation at lower altitudes reacting more rapidly to warming trends and shifts in water balance.
Unexpected Discovery of Endangered Aquatic Plant in Japan
A pond in Ishikawa Prefecture has suddenly produced nearly ten thousand globally endangered carnivorous plants, challenging prior beliefs that the species was extinct in the wild in Japan.
Curious about plants? Let’s have a word (or two… hundred and fifty)
Nigel Chaffey reviews Plant Words: A book of 250 curious words for plant lovers by Joe Richomme & Emma Wayland.
Unlocking the Sweet Potato’s Underground Secrets Will Boost Food Security
Sarah Mathura’s new study charts a vital path to understanding sweet potato growth and boosting its yield, potentially revolutionising food security in developing countries.
News & Views
Oxburgh Hall's Victorian garden adapted for climate change
A 19th Century garden belonging to a Grade I-listed 15th Century manor house is to be adapted to help it cope with the effects of climate change.
In burned-out groves of giant sequoias, crews plant seeds of hope. Will they survive?
The worker stabbed the loamy soil with a hoedad, dropped in a delicate sequoia seedling and tamped the dirt tight around it. As he moved on to the next spot, and then the next, the hillside of the Alder Creek Grove slowly filled with small clumps of green needles.
Plant ecology study shows dominant influence of climate on vegetation
For several years, ecological research has argued that climate often has no determining influence on the distribution of forests and savannas in tropical regions. However, an international research team led by Prof. Dr. Steven Higgins at the University of Bayreuth has now succeeded in proving that it depends mostly on climatic factors whether regions in Africa are covered by forest or savanna. The study, published in Science, thus confirms the dominant role of climate in the formation of global vegetation patterns.
Trees as old as time: Using tree resin to reconstruct million-year old ecosystems
Fossil tree resins open a window into the deep past as their organic compounds, termed biomarkers, can be used to identify the botanical provenance of these ancient trees, as well as the paleoenvironmental conditions in which they grew. Amber, one such resin, is a prized gemstone, but can also preserve plants and insects living on the tree at the time of resin exudation in immaculate detail.
Team uncovers plant remediation effects on petroleum contamination
Initial choices about fertilization and grass seeding could have a long-lasting effect on how plants and their associated microbes break down pollution in petroleum-contaminated soils, a research team led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor recently reported.
Longleaf pine forests in Alabama are making a comeback—thanks to fire
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians burns a rare ecosystem to heal it, a few dozen acres at a time.
Ancient Egyptian followers of a deity called Bes may have used hallucinogens
Blue water-lily acts as a sedative, while Syrian rue induces dream-like visions.
We love our urban trees and thought we’d won the battle to save them. How wrong we were
I’ve seen trees around the UK threatened by development, bulldozers and chainsaws. Now it is happening on my doorstep.
Part-time botanist documents unique plants only found on San Bruno Mountain
Brian Hackney reports on two friends who wrote a book documenting the unique plants that only grow on San Bruno Mountain.
Frosts may be slowing plant growth but not the workload in this garden
Matahiwi Forest Garden, in the foothills of the Tararuas, Wairarapa, has just had its first two real frosts in a row, slowing growth in the vegetable patch, and also the grass, much to the relief of Garry and Ali Foster. It means they’ll be able to park the mower for a while and focus on getting ready for spring.
What you should know about indicator plants in your garden
Just the other day, at the base of the trunk of my neighbor’s eucalyptus tree, I spotted a laurel sumac (Malosma laurina) seedling that had only recently sprouted. I have frequently seen volunteer seedlings of Mexican fan palm, Shamel ash, mulberry, Brazilian pepper, and fig trees in my neighborhood, but never a laurel sumac.
Gardens founded by TV presenter Geoff Hamilton turn 40
Several gardens planted by popular Gardeners' World presenter Geoff Hamilton, who died in 1996, are due to mark their 40th birthday. BBC News speaks to Geoff's son Nick about continuing his father's legacy.
Ancient plant's leaves didn't follow golden rule as modern ones do
Most modern plants grow leaves in a pattern that follows the Fibonacci sequence, but a reconstruction of a 400-million-year-old plant reveals that its leaves grew much more chaotically.
Scientific Papers
Single-photon absorption and emission from a natural photosynthetic complex
Li et al. use single photons to excite under ambient conditions the light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complex of the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, comprising B800 and B850 rings that contain 9 and 18 bacteriochlorophyll molecules, respectively. Using a heralded single-photon source along with coincidence counting, they establish time correlation functions for B800 excitation and B850 fluorescence emission and demonstrate that both events involve single photons.
Reconciling fossils with phylogenies reveals the origin and macroevolutionary processes explaining the global cycad biodiversity
Combining molecular data for extant species and leaf morphological data for extant and fossil species, Coiro et al. study the origin of cycad global biodiversity patterns through Bayesian total-evidence dating analyses. We assess the ancestral geographic origin and trace the historical biogeography of cycads with a time-stratified process-based model.
Multiplexed single-cell 3D spatial gene expression analysis in plant tissue using PHYTOMap
Nobori et al. present PHYTOMap (plant hybridization-based targeted observation of gene expression map), a multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization method that enables single-cell and spatial analysis of gene expression in whole-mount plant tissue in a transgene-free manner and at low cost. They applied PHYTOMap to simultaneously analyse 28 cell-type marker genes in Arabidopsis roots and successfully identified major cell types, demonstrating that our method can substantially accelerate the spatial mapping of marker genes defined in single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets in complex plant tissue.
Interdisciplinary approaches to advancing anti-racist pedagogies in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology
Racism permeates ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. Meaningfully advancing equity, inclusion, and belonging requires an interdisciplinary anti-racist pedagogical approach to educate our community in how racism shaped our field. HĂ et al. apply this framework, highlight disparities and interdisciplinary practices across institutions globally, and emphasize that self-reflection is paramount before implementing anti-racist interventions.
Crop–pollinator interactions in urban and peri-urban farms in the United Kingdom
Urban food production could contribute towards sustainable food provision and would also deliver benefits to biodiversity and the health of urban residents. Many crops rely on insect pollination, but urban pollinator populations are under-studied. In this study, crop–pollinator interactions and pollination quality were quantified in urban allotments in the United Kingdom.
The saponin bomb: a nucleolar-localized β-glucosidase hydrolyzes triterpene saponins in Medicago truncatula
Via co-expression analysis with public transcriptomes, Lacchini et al. determined that the model legume Medicago truncatula has evolved a two-component system composed of a β-glucosidase, denominated G1, and triterpene saponins, which are physically separated from each other in intact cells.
Commentary: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.18899
♻️ Why do plants blush when they are hungry?
Foliar anthocyanins, as well as other secondary metabolites, accumulate transiently under nutritional stress. A misconception that only nitrogen or phosphorus deficiency induces leaf purpling/reddening has led to overuse of fertilizers that burden the environment. Jezek et al. emphasize that several other nutritional imbalances induce anthocyanin accumulation, and nutrient-specific differences in this response have been reported for some deficiencies.
A tripartite rheostat controls self-regulated host plant resistance to insects
Plants deploy receptor-like kinases and nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors to confer host plant resistance (HPR) to herbivores. These gene-for-gene interactions between insects and their hosts have been proposed for more than 50 years. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie HPR have been elusive, as the identity and sensing mechanisms of insect avirulence effectors have remained unknown. Guo et al. identify an insect salivary protein perceived by a plant immune receptor.
Whole-mount smFISH allows combining RNA and protein quantification at cellular and subcellular resolution
Zhao et al. present a simple method based on single-molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization to visualize and count the number of mRNA molecules in several intact plant tissues. In addition, with the use of fluorescent protein reporters, their method also enables simultaneous detection of mRNA and protein quantity, as well as subcellular distribution, in single cells.
Commentary https://rdcu.be/deDvs
Tissue-specific regulation of volatile emissions moves predators from flowers to attacked leaves
How plants fine-tune their mutualistic interactions with the predators they recruit remains poorly understood. In the wild potato (Solanum kurtzianum), predatory mites, Neoseiulus californicus, are recruited to flowers of undamaged plants but rapidly move downward when the herbivorous mites, Tetranychus urticae, damage leaves. This “up-down” movement within the plant corresponds to the shift of N. californicus from palynivory to carnivory, as they change from feeding on pollen to herbivores when moving between different plant organs.
Commentary https:/rdcu.be/deDvN
Leaves and sporangia developed in rare non-Fibonacci spirals in early leafy plants
Aerial parts of plants arrange their organs around stems, and this arrangement defines their structure. In most existing plant species, organs emerge at 137.5° from the previous organ. This results in continuous spirals of organs, with the number of clockwise and anticlockwise spirals forming consecutive numbers in a Fibonacci sequence. Reconstructing early lycophyte phyllotaxis from Rhynie Chert fossils, Turner et al. found alternative leaf arrangements suggesting that Fibonacci-style patterning was not ancestral to living land plants.
Uniting Experiments and Big Data to advance ecology and conservation
McCleery et al. outline an integrated framework that can address a range of conservation problems, including forecasting, ecological novelty, scaling, and generalization of conservation actions.
A phloem-localized Arabidopsis metacaspase (AtMC3) improves drought tolerance
Increasing drought phenomena pose a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Although plants have multiple ways to respond to the complexity of drought stress, the underlying mechanisms of stress sensing and signaling remain unclear. The role of the vasculature, in particular the phloem, in facilitating inter-organ communication is critical and poorly understood.
A new remarkable Vanilla Mill. (Orchidaceae) species endemic to the Espinhaço Range, Brazil: its phylogenetic position and evolutionary relationships among Neotropical congeners
During surveys conducted on Neotropical Vanilla, a new endemic species was found in the Brazilian campos rupestres of the Espinhaço Range. Here, this new remarkable Vanilla species, namely V. rupicola Pansarin & E.L.F. Menezes, is described and illustrated.
CRISPR/Cas-mediated plant genome editing: outstanding challenges a decade after implementation
Climate change and the diversity of consumer needs require innovative methods to continuously and rapidly modify existing crops for the development of new varieties. In the past decade genome editing by CRISPR/Cas and derivatives has emerged as a novel and effective technology for functional studies and gene discovery as well as for breeding new traits and genotypes. The development of novel CRISPR/Cas platforms, methods for the delivery of editing reagents, and methods for controlling gene regulation and detection of mutants have all expanded the scope of genome editing and other CRISPR/Cas-based approaches.
The evolution of extant South American tropical biomes
This review explores the evolution of extant South American tropical biomes, focusing on when and why they developed.
A comparison of freezer-stored DNA and herbarium tissue samples for chloroplast assembly and genome skimming
The use of DNA from herbarium specimens is an increasingly important source for evolutionary studies in plant biology, particularly in cases where species are rare or difficult to obtain. McAssey et al. compare the utility of DNA from herbarium tissues to their freezer-stored DNA counterparts via the Hawaiian Plant DNA Library.
Careers
Senior Research Officer, Life Sciences, Essex
We are now looking for a Senior Research Officer to undertake research in the laboratory of Professor Christine Raines on the project Realising Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) https://ripe.illinois.edu in the School of Life Science. This research work is funded by the Gates Agricultural Innovation. You will undertake or manage practical elements of research such as setting up and conducting experiments, developing questionnaires and conducting fieldwork, recording data and identifying trends or patterns and engage in individual and/or collaborative research activity resulting in internationally excellent publications that is in keeping with Research Excellence Framework (REF) criteria.
Postdoc Research Associate (Fixed Term), Cambridge
The Pellegrini Lab (https://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/directory/adam-pellegrini) is recruiting a postdoctoral research associate (2 years) to work on modelling carbon and nitrogen cycling in both natural and agricultural settings. We aim to estimate carbon and nitrogen storage potential under a range of land use and land cover change scenarios, benchmarked against our own empirical data.
PhD position in Palaeogenomics of Grape and Olive (M/W) (H/F), Toulouse
Grapes and olives are emblematic crops cultivated for thousands of years around the Mediterranean basin. Their origins are still subject to debate, and the genetic variation underlying their domestication, diffusion and diversification remains poorly known. The primary aim of the project is to reconstruct whole grapevine and olive ancient genomes by using next generation sequencing, whole genome sequencing and targeted enrichment techniques. The project is aimed at exploring spatio-temporal patterns of population structure and genomic variation in archaeobotanical grape seeds and olive endocarps in relation to climate variations. The analyses will use state-of-the-art genomic and palaeogenomic methods with focus on recovering ancient DNA from waterlogged seeds and fruits collected from ca 4000 to 1000 years old archaeological sites in the Western Mediterranean and Europe. The primary focus of the project will be to investigate climate adaptation (phenology, water use efficiency) related genes. The PhD candidate should have a background in evolutionary biology, molecular genetics and palaeogenomics or a related field. Knowledge in bioinformatics and statistical analyses and basic experience in a molecular biology laboratory is expected, as well as an interest in archaeology and archaeobotany.
PhD student Plant abiotic stress responses, cadmium, ACC, redox, Hasselt, Belgium
You investigate cellular plant responses to abiotic stress conditions (a.o. cadmium exposure and hypoxia as a consequence of flooding) with a focus on the role of the signal molecule 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), which also serves as the precursor for the phytohormone ethylene. You use a combination of molecular, genetic and biochemical methods in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. The main goal of the project is to study the connection between ACC signalling and redox processes. In the long term, the results of this project contribute to the development of strategies to improve plant growth and crop yield under stress conditions.Â
Teaching Leader - Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, Diversity and Conservation, Kew
This role will work closely with academics from QMUL and Kew’s own 450 science staff to continually improve this world-class curriculum. Leading on academic excellence for the course at Kew, we’re looking for someone who’s passionate about postgraduate teaching and supervision, who is experienced in developing and delivering postgraduate courses, and who’s knowledge of plant and fungal taxonomy can help to create a learning environment for students that enables them to develop all the skills they need to become experts in their chosen field.
Doctoral researcher in Macroevolution and Palaeoecology, Helsinki
Faculty of Science invites applications for a DOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN MACROEVOLUTION AND PALAEOECOLOGY starting from September 2023, or as agreed. The Doctoral Researcher will be offered up to 4-year fully funded contract. This is a joint position between the Department of Geosciences and Geography and the Department of Computer Science. This project investigates how functioning of terrestrial ecosystems change over long times. We will integrate and analyse the mammalian and plant fossil record of the Turkana Basin in East Africa over the last 30 million years including the present-day ecosystems of the Turkana Basin to answer how terrestrial communities change over time, and if they do, whether certain kinds of functional relationships are more persistent than others. This will help to understand what kind of terrestrial ecosystems are viable in general and sustainable in the future.
Research Assistant, Biological Sciences, Singapore
The successful candidate will work with Project Investigator on the shelf-life extension of leafy greens under a project on Sustainable Urban Food Production.Â
Research Assistant or Research Fellow in Environmental Science, Cranfield, UK
This Research Fellowship, funded by NERC, will answer fundamental questions about the key drivers of methane dynamics from Central African and South American peatlands. Atmospheric methane concentrations are rising across South America and Central Africa, partly caused by increasing emissions from peatlands. However, the underlying ecological drivers remain unclear. This represents a significant gap in the global methane budget. To address this you will undertake new field-based measurements of methane fluxes across Amazonian peatlands, integrated with environmental and ecological monitoring, working closely with a network of UK and South American collaborators.
Postdoctoral Fellow in Peptide Sequence Motifs for Targeting Pathogens, Brno
This ERC funded project aims to identify peptide sequence motifs that are responsible for targeting pathogens, while maintaining minimal toxicity towards human cells. In conjunction with the lipid composition of membranes, we will investigate the impact of membrane local curvature. The main tool will be Molecular dynamics simulations with free energy calculations using Gromacs program package. These simulations will be complemented by in-house experiments providing crucial verification and feedback on peptide-membrane affinity. The acquired knowledge will guide the design of de novo peptides with enhanced pathogen-targeting specificity.
Post-doctoral Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, Hong Kong
The Integrative Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research group (iBEER Lab) at the University of Hong Kong is seeking applications for highly motivated postdoctoral fellows with experience and interest in seagrass ecology and restoration. The PDF will contribute to ongoing research projects on coastal wetland restoration and ecosystem functioning. The successful candidate will be responsible for the development and implementation of seagrass restoration techniques. The PDF in this position will collaborate with local NGOs, other research groups and private sector partners developing large-scale manipulative experiments and interventions of seagrass meadows. The research will involve fieldwork and laboratory experiments in Hong Kong, with possibilities to expand this to tropical and sub-tropical regions in Asia.Â