š» The Week in Botany March 27, 2023
The French version of the site is now live at https://fr.botany.one/. I plan to launch another language this week, but Iām waiting to see what comes out on top in the vote on Twitter.
Once the languages are live, the next big project will be the Summer Report for the Annals of Botany Company, who fund Botany One. Itās an early meeting this year, so Iāll be aiming to finish the report by the end of April. If thereās something you think I should be doing, now is an excellent time to send an email.
Iām going to unexpectedly have the week off now, as Iāve finished writing this email up on Friday afternoon for the first time in a long while. The next email will be with you at the usual time. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
A Bounty of Wasted Pollen and Nectar Poses New Questions for Pollinator Conservation
A study finds that almost 60% of nectar produced by ivy in autumn goes uncollected by pollinators.
Unlocking the secret to breeding high yielding protein-rich wheat
Models enable the optimization of multiple trait trade-offs.
Botany ā but not just for gardeners!
Nigel Chaffey takes a deep dive in Scott Zonaās new book that explains to gardeners what it is that their plants are doing.
MIT Researchers Develop Silk-Based āUnclonableā Tags to Combat Counterfeit Seeds
New system harnesses randomness and provides a unique code that cannot be duplicated, bringing hope to farmers plagued by fake seeds.
Daisyās Intricate Fly Decoy Attracts Pollinators with Ingenious Gene Repurposing
A flower has found a shortcut to attracting males through sexual deception.
Unique Evolutionary Histories in Marginal Habitats of the Atlantic Forest Uncovered
Marginal habitats, previously thought to be subsets of the rain forest, have distinct evolutionary paths, challenging our understanding of the Atlantic Forestās diversity.
News & Views
Great Urban Trees of Britain and Ireland ā A Milestone
Over the last two years, Iāve been researching, and writing up, accounts of great trees in Britain and Ireland. Iām very relieved to say that Iāve finally completed this task, and the manuscript is now with the publishers.
ā»ļø Jamie Taggart, missing plant hunter: Father speaks of his heartache
A feature on the TV show Gardenerās World led to this sad tale being re-shared this week.
Readers reply: how big a garden would you need to be self-sufficient for a family of four?
A common trope is that the poor would be better off if they learned how to garden. It seems the poor would have to own quite a lot of land.
Hearing the Imperceptible as Laraaji Collaborates With Plants in a Church
Welcome to the most curious performance of SXSW Music 2023
Guidance for LGBTQIA+ inclusion during ecology fieldwork
A recent paper describes best practices for LGBTQIA+ inclusion during ecology fieldwork, including previously overlooked guidance on physical safety.
Healthy forests, healthy planet, healthy humans
Forests are often called the lungs of the planet, because they absorb harmful carbon dioxide and produce life-giving oxygen so itās no exaggeration to equate healthy forests with healthy people, the theme of this yearās International Day of Forests.
Lush forests mean healthy people
Today, more than half of the world's population live in urban areas. By 2050, this is expected to increase to almost 70%. Yet even people living in cities have begun to realise how vital access to forests, urban parks and green spaces is for our mental health and well-being.
ā»ļø The story of the purple tomato ā and why its success is a win for GM foods
Iām not clear why this post on the Conversation from last year got retweeted this week.
Bypass threatens to destroy Cambridge farmland rich in wildlife
The Coton Orchard is the eighth largest traditional orchard left in the UK, its owner Anna Gazeley is proud to say. āNot because weāre huge but because 80% have gone since the 1900s,ā she said.
Single-cell and spatial omics technologies in plant science
Recent technological advances in single-cell and spatial omics have revolutionised how we study biology by enabling researchers to see what used to be hidden behind the heterogeneity within the tissue. Such technologies have been readily applied to study plants recently. Click āWatch Videoā.
This hidden garden is bursting with native plants. Hereās how to get inside
In 1995, when most people considered native plants little more than weeds (if they considered them at all), desert devotee Mike Letteriello peered through a chain-link fence at a patch of bare ground and dreamed up a fragrant, vibrant tribute to Californiaās diverse native plant communities.
āA living pantryā: how an urban food forest in Arizona became a model for climate action
A decades-old neighborhood project in Tucson provides food to residents as well as shade to cool streets in the third-fastest warming city in the US.
Scientists See Photosynthesis Happening in Detail, Thanks to New Laser Technique
New research sheds light on the little-known processes of photosynthesis and could lead to better solar power.
British Ecological Society calls for greater funding for ecological research and sets out research agenda
Two landmark reports published today (23 March) by the British Ecological Society reveal that ecological sciences are losing out on funding compared to other sciences. The reports also set out a research agenda for ecology over the next 25 years.
Rehabilitation centre branches out with Ireland's first Tiny Forest
There was a festival atmosphere at the Tolka River Project as the community, clients, and other supporters of a rehabilitation centre in Mulhuddart in Dublin turned up in large numbers to embrace nature and plant the first so-called Tiny Forest in Ireland.
The ability to identify plants is declining, but natural history skills have never been so necessary
The recently released Plant Atlas 2020 shows changes in plant species over the past 90 years.
āIt couldnāt beā: The un-extinction of the Mendocino bush-mallow
While out on a walk near Lake Mendocino one night in 2016, Jim Xerogeanes had no idea that his dog taking off after a deer would lead him to find a Mendocino County plant that hadnāt been seen since 1939. A few years later, that plant would no longer be presumed extinct, following the PhD work of a fellow California botanist.
Scientists, avoid workplaces that donāt value you
Many scientists and academics have been in the unfortunate position of weighing whether to work for an organization that doesnāt truly value what they bring to the table.
Scientific Papers
Lithocarpus dahuensis (Fagaceae), a new species from Fujian Province based on morphology and genomic data
Lithocarpus dahuensis, a new Fagaceae species from Fujian Province, China, is described and illustrated. The new species is morphologically similar to L. konishii, but its oblanceolate leaf blade has more pairs of acute teeth on the margin, denser lateral veins, smaller cupules enclosing up to 1/4ā1/3 of the nut, and its nut is only half as long as those of L. konishii.
Interspecific plant interaction via root exudates structures the disease suppressiveness of rhizosphere microbiome
Zhou et al. studied the mechanism by which plant root exudates affect the recruitment of the rhizosphere microbiome in adjacent plants ā with implications for plant protection ā using a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)-potatoonion (Allium cepa var. agrogatum Don.) intercropping system.
Atg8 family proteins, LIR/AIM motifs and other interaction modes
Rogov et al. review the structural and functional features of Atg8 family proteins and their protein-protein interaction modes in model organisms such as yeast, Arabidopsis, C. elegans and Drosophila to humans. Although varying in number of homologs, from one in yeast to seven in humans, and more than ten in some plants, there is a strong evolutionary conservation of structural features and interaction modes. The most prominent interaction mode is between the LC3 interacting region (LIR), also called Atg8 interacting motif (AIM), binding to the LIR docking site (LDS) in Atg8 homologs.
Biomolecular condensation orchestrates clathrin-mediated endocytosis in plants
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is an essential cellular internalisation pathway involving the dynamic assembly of clathrin and accessory proteins to form membrane-bound vesicles. In plants, the evolutionarily ancient TSET/TPLATE complex (TPC) plays an essential, but not well-defined role in CME. Dradwidge et al. show that two highly disordered TPC subunits, AtEH1 and AtEH2 function as scaffolds to drive biomolecular condensation of the complex.
Forest microbiome and global change
Baldrian et al. describe the impact of global change on the forest ecosystem and its microbiome across different climatic zones. We propose potential approaches to control the adverse effects of global change on forest stability, and present future research directions to understand the changes ahead.
The Amsterdam petunia germplasm collection: A tool in plant science
Petunia hybrida is a plant model system used by many researchers to investigate a broad range of biological questions. Strazzer et al. report on the origin of petunia-based research and describe the collection of petunia lines housed in the University of Amsterdam, where many of the existing genotypes are maintained.
Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide
Increasing the number of environmental stressors could decrease ecosystem functioning in soils. Yet this relationship has not been globally assessed outside laboratory experiments. Using two independent global standardized field surveys, and a range of natural and human factors, Rillig et al. test the relationship between the number of environmental stressors exceeding different critical thresholds and the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services across biomes.
From primordial clocks to circadian oscillators
Pitaswong et al. investigate the primordial circadian clock in Rhodobacter sphaeroides, which contains only KaiBC, to elucidate its inner workings despite missing KaiA. Using a combination of X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy, we find a new dodecameric fold for KaiC, in which two hexamers are held together by a coiled-coil bundle of 12 helices.
NAC1 regulates root ground tissue maturation by coordinating with the SCR/SHRāCYCD6;1 module in Arabidopsis
Precise spatiotemporal control of the timing and extent of asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) is essential for plant development. In the Arabidopsis root, ground tissue maturation involves an additional ACD of the endodermis that maintains the inner cell layer as the endodermis and generates the middle cortex to the outside. Through regulation of the cell cycle regulator CYCLIND6;1 (CYCD6;1), the transcription factors SCARECROW (SCR) and SHORT-ROOT (SHR) play critical roles in this process. Xie et al. found that loss of function of NAC1, a NAC transcription factor family gene, causes markedly increased periclinal cell divisions in the root endodermis.
Itās only natural: plant respiration in unmanaged systems
Schmiege et al. review respiration from the perspective of plants that grow in their natural habitat and how it is influenced by wide-ranging elements of different scales, from metabolic substrate availability to shifts in climate. Decades of field-based measurements have honed our understanding of the biological and environmental controls on leaf, root, stem, and whole-organism respiration. Despite this effort, there remain gaps in our knowledge within and across species and ecosystems, especially in more challenging-to-measure tissues like roots.
Non-White scientists appear on fewer editorial boards, spend more time under review, and receive fewer citations
Empirical evidence suggests that non-White scientists experience various forms of inequality, creating barriers to their entry and participation in academic research. Liu et al. contribute to this literature by examining disparities in i) editorial board representation, ii) time spent under review, and iii) citation rates.
CRISPR-targeted transposable element insertion for efficient plant genome engineering
The current technologies to place new DNA into specific locations in plant genomes are low frequency and error-prone, and this inefficiency hampers genome editing approaches to develop improved crops. Often considered genome āparasitesā, transposable elements (TEs) evolved to insert their DNA seamlessly into genomes. TEs select their site of insertion based on preferences for chromatin contexts, which differ for each TE type. Liu et al. developed a genome engineering tool that controls the TE insertion site and cargo delivered, taking advantage of the TEās natural ability to precisely insert into the genome.
Careers
PostDoctoral Research Associate Job (Fixed Term) in Bacteria-Plant Interactions, Cambridge
The Chung Lab at the University of Cambridge, Department of Pathology is seeking a Post-doctoral Research Associate to dissect the detailed molecular mechanisms of novel translational sensors that we recently discovered that drive rapid translational responses during host:bacterial interactions.
One PhD position in plant science with a focus on cell wall dynamics, UmeƄ
We are searching for a highly motivated and talented PhD student to join our research group, which focuses on investigating the dynamic behavior of plant cell walls, specifically the role of the cell wall integrity (CWI) monitoring system in response to environmental changes. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on a cutting-edge research program that aims to overcome limitations in our understanding of the CWI monitoring system using innovative techniques such as Brillouin microscopy, gene editing, and computational modelling. Depending on the interests of the successful candidate, different research directions, from biophysics to molecular biology, are available for exploration.
PhD candidate in agroforestry, Gƶttingen
The Soil Science (PTS) group at the Georg-August-UniversitƤt Gƶttingen is offering the position of a PhD candidate in agroforestry (all genders welcome) in the collaborative research project Chances and hurdles for the establishment and performance of different agroforestry systems in Lower Saxony - ELAN, funded by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of Lower Saxony, Germany.
Research Associate in Chemical Ecology, Keele
This post represents an exciting opportunity for a well-motivated individual to join a team of staff in Keele Universityās School of Life Sciences to conduct research on insect-plant interactions and crop protection with plant defence activator treatments. This is for a BBSRC funded research project in which we are collaborating with the agronomy company Agrii.
Become an F2 Fellow! USA and similar time zones
PlantingScience is seeking 30 early-career scientists to participate in our Digging Deeper F2Ā research project with high school teachers and their students this summer and fall. This project is a replication of our Digging Deeper research done in 2016 and 2017, which evaluated how effective student-teacher-scientist partnerships (STSPs) like PlantingScience are at promoting student mastery of desired content and at positively influencing how student participants think and feel about scientists in general.
Postdoctoral scholarship, 2 years, in molecular plant physiology, UmeƄ
To be eligible as a postdoctoral fellow, a completed doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree is required. This eligibility requirement must be met at the latest at the time when the decision on scholarship recipients is made. Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior.
Postdoctoral fellow, Ghent
CAVElab is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to work on a newly funded project by FWO: āQuantifying changes in forest structure and their impact on microclimate across spatial and temporal scales by integrating ground- and satellite-based remote sensing.ā
Research Fellow in Ecosystems and Biodiversity, London
In the post, you will link the analyses of ecosystem and biodiversity impacts with assessments of food systems and dietary change. A particular focus for your post is to analyse and economically value the impacts food production and consumption have on ecosystem services at a global level. Your work will contribute to better represent ecosystems and biodiversity impacts in project appraisals and cost-benefit analyses.
PhD Studentship in Plant Molecular Biology - Molecular Responses of Developing Seeds to Heat Stress, Newcastle UK
The aim of this project is to discover the molecular processes underpinning the responses to HS of developing seeds of the model plantĀ Arabidopsis thaliana. We will adopt methodologies for tissue-specific transcriptomics, combined with molecular biology, biochemistry and bioimaging to identify and characterise tissue-specific cellular processes affected by HS in developing Arabidopsis seeds, leading to perturbed development and loss of seed viability.
Senior Lecturer in Conservation Science, Bristol
We have a vacancy to join the School of Applied Sciences as a Senior Lecturer in Conservation Science. The post holder will support students on our conservation and environmental science programmes, by contributing to teaching and learning, and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate research projects across the discipline.
Postdoctoral Research Associate or Fellow, Cornwall
The Centre for Ecology and Conservation wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate or Fellow to conduct research into marine forest assemblages. The successful candidate will review existing knowledge on a range of marine forest assemblages, anthropogenic-induced changes, and the ecosystem services they provide. This information will be distributed to project partners as metadata to inform knowledge gaps and research needs.
Faculty- Biology Instructor, Michigan
Muskegon Community College seeks someone with a Masterās Degree in Biology or closely related field with a minimum of two yearsā relevant teaching experience preferably in higher education with emphases in environmental science, natural resources, botany, and general biology. This person would also collaborate with courses designed to partner with outside universities and institutions. The candidate has the potential to develop experiential courses in their area(s) of expertise.
Biological Sciences Instructor, California
Under the general direction of a dean, an Instructor provides comprehensive classroom instruction to students from diverse backgrounds for the purpose of facilitating the attainment of their academic or vocational objectives. There is currently one full time, tenure-track position at Moorpark College that will begin during the Fall 2023 semester.
Faculty, Horticulture, Illinois
Joliet Junior College seeks someone to teach courses in the Horticulture Program. These may include but not limited to: Introduction to horticulture, turfgrass management, arboriculture/urban forestry, pest management in horticultural commodities (insects, diseases, weeds and invasive species of plants), nursery production and management, woody plant identification and plant propagation, specialty crop production, greenhouse production and management, applied botany, and Introduction to soils.
Research Assistant (Biological Sciences), Singapore
A Research Assistant position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Eunyoung Chae at the National University of Singapore, Department of Biological Sciences. The Chae lab studies natural variation in the plant immune system using genetic, genomic and biochemical approaches. The successful candidate will have an opportunity to work in a stimulating academic environment and to gain practical experiences in biological sciences.
Research Assistant (Biological Sciences) 1, Singapore
We are looking for a Research Assistant for a research project to study plant-microbial-insect interactions. We seek a highly motivated applicant with some background and/or interest in working with environmental and plant related microbiomes. Applicant should also possess basic laboratory skills. Prior demonstrated experience in molecular/microbiology is highly desirable. The position is within a multi-disciplinary research team, which broadly pursues microbial diversity and physiological investigations in plant holobionts. The team consists of Post-doctoral fellows, PhDs and other Research Assistants. The full-time research assistant will be expected to actively participate in ongoing research projects and fulfil any other ad-hoc research.
Research Fellow, Biological Sciences, Singapore
This is one of the three open positions for Postdoctoral Fellows (Research Fellows) in the lab of Yuchen Long. The successful candidate will work on an interdisciplinary project on the biomechanical regulations in plant development. Our lab is interested in how biomechanical inputs, particularly tissue mechanics and hydraulics, contribute to the developmental processes in the plant meristematic tissues.