🌻 The Week in Botany November 21, 2022
Welcome to the first email sent via Substack. It’s not as friendly for me to use as Revue was, so if you’re not happy with it you have my sympathy, and there’s the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. The reason for the switch is that while I don’t expect Twitter to disappear before Christmas, it could be unreliable. I’d rather be able to work on sending the email when I can work and not when it’s convenient for Musk for me to work.
Predictably, bugs and features in Twitter dominated discussion on Twitter and Mastodon this week, but there were still plenty of links and jobs posted. I’m hoping that, by the time you receive this, the new design for Botany One will be up. There’ll be a bit more work to do, but it will change how we handle posting jobs. I hope to have more details on that once I’ve fixed it.
With luck I should be able to do a little less coding and a little more writing next week, including another newsletter that should be with you the same time next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
News & Views
This man from Manipur converted barren land into forest with wide variety of plant species in 20 years
Moirangthem Loiya, who hails from Uripok Khaidem Leikai area of the district, started planting trees on the outskirts of Imphal town in the Langol Hill range about 20 years ago.
Subarctic boreal forest, vital for the planet, is at risk
The boreal forest, which is second only to the Amazon in terms of its vital role in ensuring the future of the planet, encircles the Arctic—and it is in just as much danger from climate change as the South American rainforest.
World's 'Most Poisonous Plant' Found In British Garden's Flower Beds
Gardeners frequently employ the castor oil plant in their displays, however it contains the poison ricin, which can be fatal if consumed.
EK Janaki Ammal: The 'nomad' flower scientist India forgot
In March, the magnolias begin blooming at Wisley. For the next few weeks, rows of pink flowers dot the small town in Surrey in the UK, beckoning passers-by to stop and smell them. Few know, however, that many of these blooms have Indian roots.
The most fragrant native plants are just heavenly. Here’s what to plant now
My grandmother grew abundant roses as easily as I grow weeds, and I used to follow her in the garden as she cut huge bucketfuls for the cemetery (never for the living; I never saw a vase of flowers in her home). But as I lugged the buckets behind her, I’d put my nose in the growing bouquet and breathe in all those scents, some spicy, some rosy and some just honey sweet.
New report shows forests have big role to play in climate change fight
A major new report suggests that with a handful of strategies New England's 32 million acres of forests, which cover about three-quarters of the region, could eventually come close to absorbing 100% of all the carbon produced by the six states.
Warmer temperatures are linked to mismatch among forest plants
Many plants are responding to a warming climate by leafing out and flowering earlier in the spring. However, mismatches may occur when species respond at different rates, leading to disruptions in ecological relationships.
Dubai’s new Vertical Forest skyscraper
The climate in Southern Italy is hot and dry. Not unlike the Middle East, and places like Sicily even look like Beirut or the West Bank if you squint hard enough. Arabian influences there hundreds of years ago have left their mark in Sicily. And maybe Stefano Boeri and associates are trying to build a bridge between the two worlds in Dubai?
Oakland trees are dying faster than they can be planted, despite community efforts
Since 2008, the job of tree planting and maintenance has fallen mostly on residents. But the city’s ‘urban forest master plan’ offers some hope.
Saying ‘no’ in science isn’t enough
When women refuse requests to do unrewarded tasks, another female colleague often gets asked instead.
Why This City in Iraq Is Coming Together to Save Its Date Palms
In Karbala, an Iraqi province just south of Baghdad, sun pours down from a cloudless blue sky, cooking the khaki-colored earth in 115°F temperatures. The smallest stirring of air sends dust swirling. Yet, in a patch of desert measuring just under a square mile outside Karbala city, the capital of the province, 70,000 date palms, in dozens of different species, sway quietly above the soil.
Plants use their epigenetic memories to adapt to climate change, scientists say
Animals can adapt quickly to survive adverse environmental conditions. Evidence is mounting to show that plants can, too. A paper publishing in the journal Trends in Plant Science on November 17 details how plants are rapidly adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, and how they are passing down these adaptations to their offspring.
What does plant Si have to do with evolution?
Like all organismal traits and adaptations, plant Si has also played a role in evolution. However, we are unsure about the main drivers of its evolution in plants. Since the 1970s and until less than a decade ago, the leading paradigm was that of grass-grazer coevolution during the past 30 million years. It seemed reasonable that grasses evolved abrasive Si structures to protect themselves from grazers, while grazers evolved sophisticated dentition to overcome this defence. However, as palaeontological and molecular evidence gathered, the picture became less clear.
Scientific Papers
Targeting of plasmodesmal proteins requires unconventional signals
Robles Luna et al. report that PDLP5 and its closely related proteins carry novel targeting signals comprising short stretches of amino acid residues. As for PDLP5, it contains two non-redundant, tandemly arranged signals, either of which is sufficient for both localization and biological function regulating viral movement. Strikingly, plasmodesmal targeting signals exhibit little conservation in sequence but are located similarly proximal to the membrane. These novel unconventional features appear to be a common theme in plasmodesmal targeting.
Extension of the short wavelength side of fluorescent proteins using hydrated chromophores, and its application
Sugiura & Nagai report the development of Sumire, a fluorescent protein emitting 414 nm violet fluorescence from a hydrated chromophore. The Sumire’s fluorescence property allows for the creation of FRET probes that can be used simultaneously with CFP-YFP based FRET probes for multi-parameter analysis.Title
Description
Sustained productivity and agronomic potential of perennial rice
Zhang et al. report the successful breeding of perennial rice and assess its performance and potential. Domesticated, annual Asian rice (Oryza sativa) was hybridized with its perennial African relative Oryza longistaminata. From a single planting, irrigated perennial rice produced grain for eight consecutive harvests over four years, averaging 6.8 Mg ha−1 harvest−1 versus the 6.7 Mg of replanted annual rice, which required additional labour and seed.
Unearthing modes of climatic adaptation in underground storage organs across Liliales
Tribble et al. extend existing phylogenetic comparative methods to test for links between the hierarchical discrete morphological traits associated with underground storage organs (USOs) and adaptation to environmental variables, using a phylogeny of 621 species in Liliales. They found that plants with different USO type do not differ in climatic niche more than expected by chance, with the exception of root morphology, where modified roots are associated with lower temperature seasonality.
Linking herbivory and ecosystem services in urban forests
Urban forests provide important benefits for humans. Species interactions, in particular herbivory, can alter their function and ultimately threaten their ecosystem service provisioning. Moreira & Abdala-Roberts call for research that identifies herbivory drivers in urban forests and tests for links between herbivory and forest services. Knowledge gained can inform management of urban ecosystems.
Abscisic acid regulates stomatal production by imprinting a SnRK2 kinase-mediated phosphocode on the master regulator SPEECHLESS
Stomata, the epidermal pores for gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere, are the major sites of water loss. During water shortage, plants limit the formation of new stoma via the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) to conserve water. However, how ABA suppresses stomatal production is largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that three core SnRK2 kinases of ABA signaling inhibit the initiation and proliferation of the stomatal precursors in Arabidopsis. Yang et al. show that the SnRK2s function within the precursors and directly phosphorylate SPEECHLESS (SPCH), the master transcription factor for stomatal initiation.
Icacinaceae fossil provides evidence for a Cretaceous origin of the lamiids
Today the asterids comprise over 80,000 species of flowering plants; however, relatively little is known about the timing of their early diversification. This is particularly true for the diverse lamiid clade, which comprises half of asterid diversity. Here, a lamiid fossil fruit assigned to Icacinaceae from the Campanian of western North America provides important macrofossil evidence indicating that lamiids diverged at least 80 million years ago and sheds light on potential Cretaceous rainforest-like ecosystems. ReadCube: rdcu.be/cZH4p
The B-box transcription factor IbBBX29 regulates leaf development and flavonoid biosynthesis in sweet potato
Plant flavonoids are valuable natural antioxidants. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) leaves are rich in flavonoids, regenerate rapidly, and can adapt to harsh environments, making them an ideal material for flavonoid biofortification. Gao et al. demonstrate that the B-box (BBX) family transcription factor IbBBX29 regulates the flavonoid contents and development of sweet potato leaves.
Breeding crops for drought-affected environments and improved climate resilience
Breeding climate-resilient crops with improved levels of abiotic and biotic stress resistance as a response to climate change presents both opportunities and challenges. Applying the framework of the “breeder’s equation,” which is used to predict the response to selection for a breeding program cycle, Cooper & Messina review methodologies and strategies that have been used to successfully breed crops with improved levels of drought resistance, where the target population of environments (TPEs) is a spatially and temporally heterogeneous mixture of drought-affected and favorable (water-sufficient) environments.
High contiguity de novo genome sequence assembly of Trifoliate yam (Dioscorea dumetorum) using long read sequencing
Trifoliate yam (Dioscorea dumetorum) is one example of an orphan crop, not traded internationally. Post-harvest hardening of the tubers of this species starts within 24 hours after harvesting and renders the tubers inedible. Genomic resources are required for D. dumetorum to improve breeding for non-hardening varieties as well as for other traits. Siadjeu et al. sequenced the D. dumetorum genome and generated the corresponding annotation.
Careers
Professorship of Plant Development - University of Cambridge
The Professorship is an established position that will contribute to the scientific leadership of the Institute. We are interested in scientists with imaginative research ideas that will contribute to our understanding of multiscale events in plant development using any appropriate study system.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Data Science - University of Virginia
We seek applicants whose research and teaching focus on advancing knowledge of environmental systems and solving problems of societal relevance using novel approaches to the data cycle. Approaches of interest include, but are not limited to, data acquisition, analytical workflows, and data-driven computational methods (e.g. machine-learning, statistical or simulation approaches).
Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant Genomics - University of Lausanne
The candidates will join a highly-motivated and diverse group of researchers who study the genetics and genomics of crop domestication using tomato and related species as model system. The successful candidate will perform research on a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation to investigate variation in gene regulatory sequences in the context of crop domestication. More specifically, the candidate will identify genome-wide changes in regulatory sequences that affected flowering during tomato domestication and engineer novel regulatory sequence variation by genome editing.
IMPRS Application - Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
As a highly international program, we encourage students from all countries to apply. Successful applicants will be enrolled at a German University, which is typically the University of Cologne (UoC). To be considered for selection, you must hold a Master’s degree or comparable and have completed 4 to 5 years of university studies in subjects relevant to the individual projects.
Doctoral Training Partnership - John Innes Centre
This PhD is a very exciting opportunity to conduct pioneering research into circadian rhythms in non-photosynthetic bacteria. In this project, you will focus on the role of circadian rhythms in a non-photosynthetic rhizosphere bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens. P. fluorescens has important roles in plant health and disease suppression. You will investigate the characteristics and mechanisms of its circadian rhythms, and how they affect its interactions with Arabidopsis plants. Arabidopsis provides an incredibly powerful system for the study of circadian rhythms.
PhD position plant molecular and cellular physiology on stomatal function - Wageningen University
In this project we will make use of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the ornamental species Chrysanthemum to identify the mechanism and genetic variation causal for stomatal malfunction after long exposure to high humidity. For this, we will make use of a combination of high throughput phenotyping, physiological measurements, genetic mapping, and genomic analyses.
PhD: Build or destroy? Investigating how plants connect protein synthesis and degradation to ensure protein quality control - University of Birmingham
We recently identified a family of E3 ubiquitin ligases in Arabidopsis that function at the interface of mRNA translation and protein destruction. Here, we will investigate the hypothesis that these ligases are components of an expanded and plant-specific “toolkit” that provides dynamic and stress-responsive functions in translational quality control.
Senior and Principal Ecologists- UK
Binnies are recruiting for a number experienced Ecologists to provide technical and mentoring support to our growing team of ecologists and projects.
Lecturer - University of Sheffield
Following a review of research strategy, we are looking to recruit a number of lecturers. We will appoint excellent researchers and teachers, and have identified the following priority areas: Food Security, Antimicrobial Resistance, Biodiversity, Understanding how tissues and organs are formed in the developing embryo, and unlocking their potential for repair following disease, injury or ageing, are crucial to promoting a healthy lifespan, Omics approaches to understanding disease and development
Postdoc Plant stress resilience - Wageningen University
We are looking for two members to strengthen the developmental plasticity team, a PhD student (see other vacancy) and a post-doctoral researcher (this vacancy). Within the Vici project “Plant Stress Resilience; Think global, act local” we investigate novel molecular pathways that are activated by salinity and drought to steer root architecture and timing of flowering.
PhD student Plant stress resilience - Wageningen University
We are looking for two members to strengthen the developmental plasticity team, a PhD student (this vacancy) and a post-doc (see other vacancy). Within the Vici project “Plant Stress Resilience; Think global, act local” we investigate novel pathways that are activated by salinity and drought to steer root architecture and timing of flowering.
Professor of Plant Pathology - University of Hertfordshire
The successful candidate will contribute to research in plant pathology, agriculture and climate change. The successful candidate will be expected to develop their career by contributing to the School’s research and consultancy outputs, leading the Crop Protection and Climate Change group and acting as joint head of the UH Research Centre for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Management.