The Week in Botany September 22, 2025
I hope you’re having a good week. My busy September continues. This week I found out that I didn’t have cancer again, after a routine screening produced results that were a little over-excited. This week I’m away for much of the week again on family business, but this should be the last of it for a while.
I’ll be glad to get more time for work during the week, as sitting down and reading papers is a great escape from the news. If you’re wondering why a story about H1-B visas is listed below, that’s the visa people taking up academic positions in Botany departments would use, if they wanted to work in the USA. Whether or not it’s a good idea to exclude talented people from your country is left to the reader to decide.
There will be another email of the papers and the news stories you’re sharing on Mastodon and Bluesky at the same time next week. Until next time, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
When your bodyguard keeps lovers away
New research reveals how ant bodyguards can scare off pollinators yet still sustain plant reproduction.
Gláucia Silva: “Show Plants with Kindness, Respect and Interest”
Botany One interviews Gláucia Silva, a Brazilian PhD Student passionate for passion fruits and sparking the botanical interest of their students.
Spikelet morphology in Restionaceae is more diverse than previously thought
Scientists have studied the morphology of male and female Leptocarpus denmarkicus spikelets, offering new insights into the evolutionary plasticity of flower development and seed dispersal within the Poales.
The Global Shift To Keep Holotypes Closer to Home
By tracing where the world's most valuable specimens are stored, scientists uncover a story of colonial history and, hopefully, a more inclusive future for botany.
…and last’s week’s Week in Botany with extraordinary fungal knowledge, violas that survive arsenic, and Ramiro Aguilar on the importance of observation.
News & Views
The Autumn Science Lecture Series
A series of five talks on Palaeobotany, starting October 9 with Dr Sandy Hetherington “Windows into Prehistoric Ecosystems: exceptionally preserved plant fossils from the UK“.
Oscar Alejandro Pérez-Escobar
A profile in New Phytologist on the author of a recent orchid study.
Peer-review, a BES guide
This guide provides a succinct overview of the many aspects of reviewing, from hands-on practical advice about the actual review process to explaining less tangible aspects, such as reviewer ethics.
Delays, uncertainty plague NSF fellowship for graduate students
After an unusual award process this year, applicants for next year are waiting for overdue guidelines.
USDA funding delays under Trump compromise agricultural research
Sharp drop in grant awards leaves researchers frustrated.
The island that banned hives: can honeybees actually harm nature?
On a tiny Italian island, scientists conducted a radical experiment to see if the bees were causing their wild cousins to decline.
A botanical breakthrough: OHIO undergraduate and professor discover several new species of violets in the mountains of Virginia
OHIO senior Collin Thacker, under the mentorship of professor Harvey Ballard, discovered four new species of violets in the mountains of Virginia, including two tucked away in Shenandoah National Park. What started as a summer research job turned into a blooming opportunity to make a lasting mark on botanical science and Thacker's career.
Trump administration to add $100,000 fee for H-1B visas
The Trump administration is adding $100,000 to the existing fee for H-1B visa applications, taking aim at a program that is used to attract highly skilled workers to the U.S.
‘It’s resurrection’: 1,000-year-old seeds could grow ancient plants in England’s ice-age ghost ponds
An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’.
Animals that spread seeds are critical for climate solutions
The study found that 81% of tropical trees rely on animals to disperse their seeds, establishing an ancient partnership now threatened by human activities such as deforestation, road construction, and hunting.
Botanists unlock the Chilean medical marvel that Charles Darwin missed
Vaccine properties of the soapbark tree to be cultivated in days rather than years by new process.
This Week in Botany
5 Years Ago: Greater Eucalyptus hybridisation on younger, more disturbed landscapes
10 Years Ago: Weed anatomy in the spotlight
15 Years Ago: Wood-destroyer sequenced
Scientific Papers
Co-occurrence of chloroplastic ROS production and salicylic acid induction in plant immunity (FREE)
Chloroplasts are important sites of metabolite biosynthesis, including precursors of the defense-related phytohormone salicylic acid (SA). Chloroplastic reactive oxygen species (cROS) have previously been shown to contribute significantly to disease resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana L. (Heyn). To understand the function of cROS in plant immunity, Roussin-Léveillée et al coupled confocal cROS imaging with gene expression, mass spectrometry, and hyperspectral imaging analysis.
Agricultural disturbance reduces arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity and biomass by excluding specialist species ($)
Utilizing niche concepts, Vahter et al show that the AM fungal communities in intensively managed soils exhibited larger niche volumes and an increased proportion of culturable taxa, which negatively impacted biomass production. This process was primarily driven by the reduction in specialist taxa, indicating a functional homogenization of the community.
The Spectrum of Diverse Disease-Resistance Genes Cloned and Characterized in the Triticeae Tribe (FREE)
This review provides an overview of the diverse R genes cloned from Triticeae and their evolutionary origins, modes of action, and application in resistance breeding.
Common mycorrhizal networks facilitate plant disease resistance by altering rhizosphere microbiome assembly ($)
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can interconnect the roots of individual plants by forming common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs). These symbiotic structures can act as conduits for interplant communication. Despite their importance, the mechanisms of signal transfer via CMNs and their implications for plant community performance remain unknown. Zhang et al demonstrate that CMNs act as a pathway to elicit defense responses in healthy receiver plants connected to pathogen-infected donors.
Time-resolved reprogramming of single somatic cells into totipotent states during plant regeneration (FREE)
Totipotency enables single cells to regenerate an organism, yet how differentiated somatic cells reacquire this potential remains unclear. Tang et al show that LEAFY COTYLEDON2 (LEC2) reprograms SPEECHLESS (SPCH)-expressing meristemoid mother cells (MMCs) away from stomatal-lineage progression, driving their conversion into totipotent somatic embryo founder cells (SEFCs) in Arabidopsis cotyledons.
Neofunctionalized RGF pathways drive haustorial organogenesis in parasitic plants (FREE)
Parasitic plants will initiate rapid de novo organogenesis of a specialized feeding structure called a haustorium upon contact with their hosts. Currently, little is known about the internal signals regulating haustorium development. Fishman et al identify root meristem growth factor (RGF) peptides in Phtheirospermum japonicum as endogenous inducers of prehaustorium formation.
Transposable elements are vectors of recurrent transgenerational epigenetic inheritance ($)
DNA methylation loss at transposable elements (TEs) can affect neighboring genes and be epigenetically inherited in plants, yet the determinants and significance of this additional system of inheritance are unknown. Baduel et al demonstrate in Arabidopsis thaliana that transgenerational stability of experimentally-induced hypomethylation at TE loci is constrained by small RNAs derived from related copies.
A critical reassessment of the novel weapons hypothesis and allelopathy as an adaptive strategy that facilitates plant invasion (FREE)
Plants have evolved an assortment of chemical adaptations that integrate environmental cues with developmental processes to regulate growth and reproduction. A subset of these phytochemicals may be considered allelopathic adaptations if they enhance fitness by suppressing competition for limiting resources. Despite compelling critiques by John Harper almost a half century ago, research on allelopathy nonetheless experienced a revival at the turn of the 21st century that gave rise to a ‘novel weapons hypothesis’ (NWH) to explain plant invasions. Colautti & Madeira Antunes briefly review the storied history of allelopathy and apply a systematic literature review to scrutinize the NWH from an eco-evolutionary perspective.
NRT1.1B acts as an abscisic acid receptor in integrating compound environmental cues for plants ($)
Abscisic acid (ABA) is the most crucial phytohormone for plants in adapting to environmental conditions. While the ABA signaling network in plants has been extensively explored, our understanding of the diverse ABA sensing systems remains limited. Ma et al found that the transcriptional response to ABA is suppressed under high-nitrate conditions but substantially increases under low-nitrate conditions, suggesting a tight integration of ABA signaling with nutrient conditions.
Coordination of cortex modifications in time, space, and under stress (FREE)
Understanding how cortex modifications coexist, synergize to influence plant fitness, or compensate for each other remains a challenge. Future research should focus on their combined effects across root types to reveal trade-offs and optimize stress protection.
Molecular architecture of thylakoid membranes within intact spinach chloroplasts (FREE)
Wietrzynski et al reveal the molecular architecture of thylakoids within intact chloroplasts isolated from spinach (Spinacia oleracea). They visualize the fine ultrastructural details of grana membranes, as well as interactions between thylakoids and plastoglobules.
In AoBC Publications
What are grana in chloroplasts of vascular plants good for? (FREE)
Seed fatty acid composition and physical dormancy in fire-prone ecosystems (FREE)
Spinning together agricultural and evo-devo research for Gynandropsis gynandra (spider plant) (FREE)
Seed dispersal as a backup system to resprouting and seeding during post-fire regeneration ($)
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.
Associate Professor (or Professor) in Plant Sciences, Oxford
We are seeking a researcher and teacher with outstanding potential to bring exciting new perspectives in the area of molecular plant biology at the University of Oxford. This is a unique opportunity to join a dynamic new Department with a culture that values, innovation, collegiality, and scholarship. The successful candidate will start 1 September 2026.
Technician: Research, Sheffield
This post is for a Technician to work within Theme 2, ‘Food systems and environmental restoration’, of the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre (SYSC). You will support the research team on a project focused on understanding carbon sequestration potential across South Yorkshire to support the South Yorkshire Natural Capital assessment and the upcoming Local Nature Recovery Strategy. The project investigates how soil management influences soil carbon stocks and in this role you will be responsible for planning fieldwork and processing soil samples in the lab.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Edinburgh
We are looking for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate to characterise genes controlling cell death and breakdown of the embryo-surrounding maternal tissues of the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha and several other non seed plant models. The post is in the group of Prof. Justin Goodrich in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences and will be supported by a full time RA.
PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science, Aarhus
The Plant-PATH Center for Active Transport of Plant Hormones is seeking a motivated PhD student to join Bjørn Panyella Pedersen’s lab. This is a unique chance to study the molecular mechanisms of transmembrane hormone and sugar transport in plants and explore how these processes could contribute to more sustainable agriculture.
Biologisch-technische*r Assistent*in (w/m/d), Gatersleben
The working group investigates new methodological approaches in plant biotechnology, in particular precise genome editing, to make the genetic diversity of cultivated plants more useable. In German, so I may have mistranslated that.
Three postdoc positions on ecological synthesis, Darmstadt
1-2 open positions for synthesis in the Infrastructure Priority Programme Biodiversity Exploratories (3 years)*
1 open position for synthesis in the Research Unit Reassembly (Ecuador) (4 years)*
Tenure Track Assistant Professor towards Associate Professor at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Lausanne
The Department of Plant Molecular Biology (DBMV) is opening a position in Plant-organism interactions. This profile includes the study of plants interacting insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses or plants.
Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics, Montréal
The Department of Biological Sciences at the Université de Montréal is seeking applications for a full-time tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor to develop an innovative and internationally competitive research program in Plant Molecular Genetics. The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Institute for Research in Plant Biology (IRBV).