đ± TWiB June 14, 2021
In the garden we're clearly shifting from spring to summer. It's gone from being too wet to work to being to hot to work. I am hoping to get out to a few botanic gardens this summer. I'd like to saw that I'll be looking for examples of science communication, but more likely I'll be looking for ice cream and shade.
I saw a terrific tweet from Marko Kaksonen this week, who was at Geneva Botanical Garden. So this week there's a 'photo of the week'. I don't know if they'll be one every week, but I thought this photo deserved a wider audience.
I'll be back with more of the links you're sharing online, at the same time next week.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
Marko Kaksonen on Twitter â twitter.com
There's a fantastic plant phylogenetic tree display at the Geneva Botanical Garden with live examples growing at the tips of the evolutionary branches!
In Botany One
The âsocial networksâ of plant mitochondria â www.botany.one
Plant mitochondria interact with each other using social networks to share crucial information for their proper functioning.
The wonders of leaf hydraulics: efficiency-safety trade offs in woody plants â www.botany.one A high biomechanical resistance was found to be associated with considerable hydraulic safety
Human assistance is still needed for measuring trees with laser scans â www.botany.one
Dr Olivier Martin-Ducup and colleagues compared automatic and human-associated tree measurements in a one hectare plot in the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon.
The importance of soil seed banks to invasive plant species â www.botany.one Can soil seed banks contribute to the success of invasive plant species?
Carex angustisquama's extreme life style keeps it a distinct species â www.botany.one
It's the hostile habitat that keeps these Carex plants together as a species.
News & Views
A Short History of Plant Light Microscopy
When the microscope was first introduced to scientists in the 17th century it started a revolution. Suddenly a whole new world, invisible to the naked eye, opened up to curious explorers. In response to this realization Nehemiah Grew, one of the early microscopists, noted in 1682 âthat Nothing hereof remains further to be known, is a Thought not well Calculated.â And indeed, with ever increasing resolution, there really does not seem to be an end to what can be explored with a microscope.Â
Build a âbeetle bankâ to help insects this summer, conservationists urge â inews.co.uk Beetles might be struggling this summer after a cold April and wet May, insect experts fear
"A National Conservation Area is no place for a highway": Environmental group files suit against Northern Corridor The plan to pave a 4-lane, 4.5 mile road across land that had been designated as protected habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise was approved late in the Trump administration, in what environmentalists say was a rushed and illegal move.
A North American Lily-of-the-Valley? â www.indefenseofplants.com
"The flora of the southern Appalachian Mountains will never cease to amaze me. Every time I visit this region of the world, I am blown away by the sheer number of plant species that grow on and around these ancient peaks."
Royal family urged to lead rewilding efforts and transform estates âMassive biodiversity gainsâ to be made, says letter signed by academics and public figures
Terpen-tales: The mystery behind the unique fragrance of the lovely lavender - The Global Plant Council â globalplantcouncil.org
Even the mention of lavender evokes the distinct fragrance of the flower. What makes this flower so special?
Special Issue of Annals of Botany âPolyploidy and Evolution in Plantsâ: Open call for papers If you would like to discuss your manuscript submission for inclusion in the Special Issue, please send an outline of your paper (authors, title, and key message) to office@annbot.com.  The deadline for manuscript submission is 30th October 2021.
Scientific Papers
Color signals of beeâpollinated flowers: the significance of natural leaf background
Using bee-pollinated Fabaceae species as a model, Martins et al. analyzed flower color diversity and compared flower color signals considering both the standard green and the natural leaf background of two tropical seasonally dry vegetationsâa mountain rupestrian grassland (campo rupestre) and a woody savanna (cerrado)âcompared to a nontropical Mediterranean shrubland.
The bacterial effector HopZ1a acetylates MKK7 to suppress plant immunity
RufiĂĄn et al. demonstrate the AtMKK7 contribution to immune signalling showing MKK7-dependent flg22-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst, MAP kinas (MAPK) activation and callose deposition, plus AvrRpt2-triggered MKK7-dependent signalling.
Previously, Mohanasundaram et al. have reported Tnt1 insertional mutants of moss defective in gametophore development. Now they report a mutant (short-leaf; shlf) having two-fold shorter leaves, reduced apical dominance, and low plasmodesmata frequency
The Streptochaeta genome and the evolution of the grasses
Seetharam et al. sequenced and annotated the genome of Streptochaeta angustifolia, one of two genera in the grass subfamily Anomochlooideae, a lineage sister to all other grasses. The final assembly size is over 99% of the estimated genome size, capturing most of the gene space.
Veronica aragonensis (Plantaginaceae) is a tetraploid species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula that survived the climatic oscillations of the Quaternary. This species is adapted to cold environments and is included in several regional Red Lists due to its small and disjunct distribution range in high-mountain habitats (Pyrenees, Pre-Pyrenees and Baetic System). With the aim of deciphering the phylogeographical processes that underlie the presently disjunct distribution pattern of V. aragonensis and to evaluate its conservation status, Padilla-GarcĂa et al. used 9 microsatellite loci to genotype 324 individuals from 12 populations representing the three disjunct areas where the species is distributed.
ReadCube link: rdcu.be/cl7Hv
Growthâdefense tradeâoffs and yield loss in plants with engineered cell walls
Man Ha et al. discuss recent data on transcriptional reprogramming in plants with modified lignin content and their corresponding suppressor mutants, and evaluate growth-defense trade-offs as a factor underlying the growth phenotypes.
High tree diversity enhances light interception in tropical forests â besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Melo Duarte et al. assessed intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (iPAR) over horizontal grids and vertical transects (up to 5Â m high in Sardinilla and up to 4Â m high in Anhembi), in plots containing different richness levels and combinations of species.
Cell size controlled in plants using DNA content as an internal scale
In the Arabidopsis meristem, cell sizes are regularized despite asymmetric cell divisions. D'Ario et al. describe a balanced regulatory system that controls the duration of the growth phase of the cell cycle preceding DNA synthesis.
Seed microbiota revealed by a large-scale meta-analysis including 50 plant species
Simonin et al. performed a meta-analysis on 63 seed microbiota studies covering 50 plant species to synthesize knowledge on the diversity of this habitat.
Careers
Scientist (rank commensurate with experience) Responsible for conducting botanical research in the Africa and Madagascar Department, Science and Conservation Division.
Postdoc Associate in Calcium Signaling and Environmental Response in Ithaca, NY for Jian Hua â jobs.plantae.org Exciting opportunity in Ithaca, NY for Jian Hua as a Postdoc Associate in Calcium Signaling and Environmental Response
Research Technologist I The successful candidate will participate in research, focused on identifying physiological and genetic differences between weedy and domesticated populations of proso millet
Graduate Opportunity: Fundamentals of Ecosystem Ecology (FEE) Applications for the 2022 class will be accepted until 1 November 2021 or until the class is filled.
Research Assistant in Synthetic Biology (Fixed Term) A position is open for a research assistant based at the OpenPlant Laboratory in Cambridge in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and directed by Prof. Jim Haseloff.
PhD position in Plant Developmental Plasticity (1.0 FTE) We are looking for an enthusiastic, communicative, and highly motivated PhD student with experience in plant molecular biology.
Herbarium Collections Manager This position has broad responsibilities, including but not limited to, collections curation and management, specimen processing, overseeing of volunteers and students, loan management, database maintenance and digitization efforts, grant writing and administration, collections-based research, and public outreach activities
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