The Week in Botany June 23, 2025
There’s a quote from the football manager Ron Atkinson: “I never comment on referees and I’m not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat.” There are things I might have opinions about, but you don’t need to hear them. In fact, a lot of people actively don’t want to hear them because they’re looking at botany to get away from the news.
However, when politics pushes into botanists lives, and botanists are sharing stories about it, it seems wilfully obtuse to ignore it. Fortunately, some of the stories are well worth reading, like the Op-Eds plant scientists are writing about why their research is important. It’s just a pity about the circumstances that make these Op-Eds necessary.
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
Wet Gets Wetter, Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest
As seasons get more extreme in the Amazon, weather patterns will shift across South America, threatening both indigenous communities and economic stability.
David Alors: Exploring Symbiosis, Evolution and the Secrets of Lichens
Botany One interviews Dr David Alors, a Spanish researcher fascinated by the systematics and evolution of lichens.
Why won’t your African Violets stay the same colour?
Your colour-changing African violets aren't misbehaving. They're using sophisticated molecular switches that regulate their genes.
The Best Way to Farm on the Moon Uses Barely Any Fertiliser
Adding tiny amounts of organic waste transforms sterile lunar dust into farmland, but the secret lies in managing competing bacterial communities around plant roots.
…and last’s week’s Week in Botany that had primroses in the rough, plants growing tough, midnight science in the botany lab and more...
News & Views
South American Forests Are Still Missing Their Mastodons 10,000 Years Later
Some environmental catastrophes take a long time to show up.
After controversy, Plant-for-the-Planet focuses on the trees
In recent years, the organization has been plagued by controversy, with news investigations exposing exaggerated planting numbers, poor record-keeping, and plans to invest in controversial real estate development.
University expands gardening mental health support
A Kent university is expanding a garden which aims to help the wellbeing of its students. The Community Oasis Garden at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus is a space for students to spend time, find a sense of community and work on biodiversity projects.
Arctic Gardens: A community gathering place at Georgeson Botanical Garden
On the University of Alaska’s Troth Yeddha campus lies the Georgeson Botanical Garden, spread over eight acres. The garden provides gathering opportunities for visitors and community members, through both its assortment of plants and various events that take place during the growing season.
To Protest Budget Cuts, Young Scientists Try Letters to the Editor
Hundreds of graduate students are writing to their hometown newspapers to defend their research, as the Trump administration drastically reduces science funding.
Op-Ed: What Science Funding Cuts Mean for NC
Recent decisions to slash science funding are threatening to uproot decades of innovation, education, and public health in our state.
U.S. And Europe Face 40% Drop In Food Production, Scientists Warn
The world’s most productive agricultural regions face the greatest losses from climate change, with major farming areas in wealthy nations potentially losing as much as 40% of their maize and wheat production this century, a comprehensive new study has found.
New research aims to unlock stressful plant memories
New research led by Prof Jurriaan Ton aims to uncover how plants adapt and survive in challenging environments with the ultimate goal to create more resilient crops.
Protect transgender scientists
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Institutions have been hesitant to resist, but for many TGnC scientists—especially TGnC individuals of color, immigrants, and those with disabilities—invisibility is not an option.
The US is woefully underprepared for wildfire season, say insiders: ‘The stakes are life and death’
‘Efficiency’ cuts across offices have left teams understaffed, firefighters underpaid and uninsured, and without adequate equipment.
Scientific Papers
Clarifying the definition of common mycorrhizal networks (FREE)
Rillig et al embrace a more inclusive definition of the common mycorrhizal network as a network formed by mycorrhizal fungal genets among roots of different plants, irrespective of the type of connection or interaction, and not limited to direct hyphal linkages. Implicitly, this broader version of the term has been used by many researchers already.
Larger variation in female than male floral allocation in a sexually polymorphic herb Geranium transversale ($)
An underlying assumption for the size-dependent sex allocation (SDS) hypothesis is that the plasticity of bisexual investments in hermaphrodites would be larger in female than in male allocation, but it has rarely been critically evaluated. Among five sexual morphs in a sexually polymorphic desert herb Geranium transversale, gynomonoecious individuals were the largest, and males were the smallest, while hermaphroditic and andromonoecious plants and females did not differ significantly in plant size.
Causes and consequences of experimental variation in Nicotiana benthamiana transient expression (FREE)
In a comprehensive analysis of Nicotiana benthamiana agroinfiltration experiments, Tang et al model sources of variability that affect transient expression. Their findings emphasize the need to validate normalization methods under the specific conditions of each study, as distinct normalization schemes do not always reduce variation either within or between experiments.
Undermining the cry for help: The phytopathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae secretes an antimicrobial effector protein to undermine host recruitment of antagonistic Pseudomonas bacteria (FREE)
During pathogen attack, plants recruit beneficial microbes in a “cry for help” to mitigate disease development. Simultaneously, pathogens secrete effectors to promote host colonization through various mechanisms, including targeted host microbiota manipulation. Kraege et al characterize the Av2 effector of the vascular wilt fungus Verticillium dahliae as a suppressor of the cry for help.
CRABS CLAW-independent floral nectary development in Penstemon barbatus (FREE)
To test conservation of the euAGAMOUS/PLENA-CRABS CLAW module and nectar sugar metabolism in P. barbatus, Katzer et al carried out comparative transcriptomics, leveraging Penstemon's unique nectary morphology. Specifically, lateral and ventral stamen filaments develop with and without nectaries at their base, respectively, allowing straightforward differential expression analyses to uncover nectary-specific gene expression.
Monkeyflower (Mimulus) uncovers the evolutionary basis of the eukaryote telomere sequence variation (FREE)
Kumawat et al studied the telomeres in Mimulus by investigating the noncoding telomerase RNA (TR), which is a core component of the telomere maintenance complex and determines the telomere sequence in eukaryotes. We conducted de novo transcriptomics and genome analysis of 18 species, and discovered Mimulus has evolved at least three different telomere sequences: (AAACCCT)n, (AAACCCG)n, and (AAACCG)n.
Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis (FREE)
Herklotz et al analyse haplotype-resolved chromosome-level genome assemblies for three pentaploid dogroses. Subgenome phasing revealed a bivalent-forming subgenome with two highly homozygous chromosome sets and three divergent subgenomes lacking homologous partners, therefore explaining their meiotic behaviour. Comparative analyses of chromosome synteny, phylogenetic relationships and centromere composition indicate that the subgenomes originated from two divergent clades of the genus Rosa.
ERFVIIs as transducers of oxygen-sensing in the evolution of land plant response to hypoxia (FREE)
Dalle Carbonare et al investigated the conservation and divergence of transcriptional responses to hypoxia across major land plant clades. We found that the induction of gene functions associated with glycolysis and fermentation is part of a conserved response across all land plant divisions.
Many transcription factor families have evolutionarily conserved binding motifs in plants (FREE)
The angiosperm Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) contains more than 1,500 annotated transcription factors, each containing a DNA-binding domain that is used to define transcription factor families. Analyzing the binding motifs of 686 and the binding sites of 335 Arabidopsis transcription factors, as well as motifs of 92 transcription factors from other plants, Zenker et al identified a constrained vocabulary of 74 conserved motifs spanning 50 families in plants.
Ectomycorrhizal fungal community succession and fragmentation across forest edges nearly three decades postharvest (FREE)
Forest management for wood products involves the conversion of primary forests to younger plantations. This has an immediate impact on biota such as ectomycorrhizal fungi, a diverse symbiotic fungal community. Alternatives to large clearcuts may be one way to mitigate harvesting effects. Rianhard et al tested this premise by examining ectomycorrhizal fungal communities across forest edges in 1-ha openings at nearly three decades.
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.
Research Assistant (Fixed Term), Cambridge
We are seeking a highly motivated Research Assistant to join an exciting interdisciplinary project at the intersection of ecology and computer science. This collaborative project, involving researchers from the Department of Plant Sciences and Computer Science at the University of Cambridge, focuses on using Geospatial Foundation Modelling to generate a globally consistent high-resolution habitat map.
Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) Position, Plymouth
We are seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) to join the Algal Signalling group led by Dr Glen Wheeler at the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth. The successful candidate will work on an exciting Leverhulme Trust funded project to examine the evolution of cell signalling mechanisms in unicellular algae.
Post-doc (M/F). Architectural Diversity of Trees for Estimating Aboveground Carbon Stocks in Tropical Forests Using Terrestrial LiDAR Data, Montpellier
As part of the One Forest Vision (OFVi) initiative [https://www.oneforestvision.org/] and in connection with the Geo-Trees network [https://geo-trees.org/], we are offering a two-year postdoctoral position to contribute to this research topic. For several years, UMR AMAP and its partners have been collecting terrestrial LiDAR data from monitored and inventoried tropical forest sites, primarily in the Congo Basin (Cameroon, DRC) and Amazonia (French Guiana), covering a range of forest structures and climatic conditions. Thousands of trees, spanning diverse species and functional strategies, have been modeled from this data using Quantitative Structural Models (QSMs) that encode the topology and geometry of entire tree architectures.
2-year Postdoctoral Position in Functional Ecology (M/F), Montpellier
This postdoctoral project aims to test two complementary hypotheses:
1. A minority of species account for the majority of ecosystem functioning, in line with the Pareto principle;
2. Functionally original species - i.e. those with unique combinations of traits - have disproportionate effects on certain ecosystem processes.
H/F Technicien-ne en expérimentation et production végétales, Montpellier
Le-la technicien-ne aura pour principale mission de travailler en équipe pour la mise en place et le suivi technique de l'expérience (Asset) dont l’objet d’étude est l’impact du biochar et du basalte sur une rotation de culture agricole.
PhD position, Lille
The PhD project takes place in a cross disciplinary project which goal is to understand the evolution of protein interactions. The project investigates how evolutionary changes in protein interactions drive speciation and major innovations in molecular, metabolic, and morphological traits through co-evolutionary processes. This requires large-scale scanning of protein 3D structures and their interactions, both of which remain challenging despite recent advancements in computational structure prediction.
Doctoral Researcher (PhD Student) in the field of plant-pathogen interactions, Hannover
This position involves analysing the role of virulence factors (TALEs) from plant-pathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria and identifying and characterising TALE targets in rice and cotton plants. The role includes performing infection studies on transgenic and genome-edited rice plants, constructing CRISPR/Cas rice mutants, and characterising evolutionary mechanisms in rice- and cotton-pathogenic Xanthomonas using RNAseq and Oxford Nanopore sequencing technologies.
Research Assistant (65%) - Experimental Plant Ecology, Greifswald
The Experimental Plant Ecology working group at the University of Greifswald’s Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology works on various topics of peatland research and wet land use. We combine basic with applied research and practical relevance. Our strength lies in the breadth and integration of research with the implementation of rewetting and peatland restoration.
The aims of the MoorPower research project are to comprehensively investigate the technical, ecological and socio-economic effects and legal issues of the combination of peatland rewetting and photovoltaics (peatland PV) for the first time and to derive recommendations for the specific implementation of peatland PV in Germany.
Researcher position available at Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå
A researcher position is available in the Niittylä group at the Umeå Plant Science Center, Sweden to combinedly study fluxes of energy and matter in hybrid aspen as the model system. Trees represent the single most important carbon sink on the planet. An incomplete mechanistic understanding of carbon sequestration in trees limits our ability of predicting the capacity of trees to assimilate CO2 and optimise the production of sustainable wood derived materials and fuels.
Doctoral position on Small-RNAs role in Plant –Microbe Interactions
This position offers a unique opportunity to work at the interface of RNA biology and plant pathology, in close collaboration with leading experts in both fields. You will also have the chance to build a strong professional network by engaging with researchers from diverse disciplines and stakeholders, through seminars, workshops, and events organized by SLU.
Full-time Postdoctoral Researcher - Center for Plant Biotechnology, Incheon
Ghent University Global Campus (GUGC) is recruiting a highly qualified and motivated candidate to join our team as a post-doctoral research scientist in plant biotechnology. The ideal candidate will have a PhD degree in Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Molecular Biotechnology, Crop science, or a related field. The selected candidate will have a strong publication record in the field of plant molecular biology, along with substantial knowledge of plant stress signaling pathways. Practical laboratory experiences in the production of transgenic plants and fundamental skills in molecular biology—including cloning, construction, qRT-PCR, protein purification, and enzymatic analyses—are preferred.
Responses of tropical forest trees to rising carbon dioxide - conifers versus angiosperms, Cairns
We are seeking an enthusiastic PhD student to join an international research team investigating how tropical conifers and angiosperms differ in their responses to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. This project explores whether tropical conifers—which trace their evolutionary roots to high-CO₂ eras—retain physiological traits that will give them an advantage in a high-CO₂ future.
Research Integrity Specialist, Canada
The Research Integrity Specialist is responsible for delivering on strategies to promote research integrity and publishing ethics across CSP journals. They manage and track ethics cases, correct the public record as needed, and contribute to the development and delivery of policies, guidelines, resources, and workflows to ensure the rigour and trustworthiness of published science.