🌻 TWiB June 20, 2022
Once again, here's a collection of the top links shared by people following @BotanyOne on Twitter. We seem to be a bit short of news stories this week, but there's a strong showing of papers from bioRxiv. The stories we have also few images, so I've included an extra one that was very popular in the stream this week.
The Annals of Botany job was announced on Monday this week. You can get the details of the job as a PDF or in HTML. The deadline is July 1. This is an Annals job, not Botany One, so you need more details than are in the advert you should contact the Managing Editor, Catherine Hyland (catherine.hyland@plants.ox.ac.uk) or the Social Media Editor, Gabriela Auge (gauge@fbmc.fcen.uba.ar).
There will be a newsletter next week, but I don't know when or how yet. I'll be away for the week in Machynlleth. It's a part of Wales with poor phone signal, so I'll either have to schedule things before I leave on Thursday night, or when I'm back Monday evening.
Until then, take care,
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
In Botany One
The Annals of Botany journal is looking for a Social Media Secretary — botany.one Are you the kind of person who can't stop talking about plants? This may be the post for you.
Why do cats act so strangely around catnip? — botany.one It's not food, so why would cats chew on catnip and silver vine? Scientists have found cats are improving the plants' mosquito repellent by damaging the leaves in a specific way.
Connecting plant phenotyping and modelling communities — botany.one A new study highlights areas of compatibility and strategies to move towards better communication and collaboration.
The AoBP Awards for Emerging Voices in Botany — botany.one Providing early career researchers with a new platform to have their voices heard and to quash the inequity in academic publishing.
Unraveling the mechanisms of producing high quality cotton — botany.one A new study uses computational modelling to determine how and why cotton quality develops.
News & Views
The race against time to breed a wheat to survive the climate crisis Scientists are testing forgotten wheat varieties from across the world to find those with heat- and drought-tolerant traits
Future Treescapes 22 Tickets, Thu 22 Sep 2022 at 09:30 This conference will bring together the teams leading our projects, the key decision-makers and industries involved in treescape expansion and those who will be most affected by the changes to our trees, forests and woodlands.
Goodbye means goodbye — naturanaute.com
How the UK is losing ecologists,
Stanford Biology PhD Preview Program: Navigating the Biology PhD application process Our program aims to provide workshops to build on the strengths of prospective students and encourage students to apply to Biology PhD programs, as well as help students identify programs that fit their goals and interests.
Botanical heatmaps will ensure 'Right Tree, Right Place' - thanks to BSBI's volunteer recorders — bsbipublicity.blogspot.com At BSBI, we are sometimes asked - by those who are new to the Society and our work - how exactly the botanical records that our volunteer members collect help us to fulfil our goal of addressing biodiversity loss and climate change (one of the three goals in our strategic plan). Well, today we can tell you more about one recent initiative which uses the plant records in the BSBI Database to help protect both our wildlife and the sites on which we rely for carbon sequestration.Â
Co-existing mangrove-coral habitats have a new global classification system Corals and mangroves often grow near each other in tropical coastal environments, but finding them sharing the same habitat appeared to be an evolutionary trait that deserved an explanation.
Running Tide is facing scientist departures and growing concerns over seaweed sinking for carbon removal — www.technologyreview.com The venture-backed startup believes kelp could be a powerful tool to combat climate change. But some scientists fear the ecological risks on large scales.
Scientific Papers
Endocytic trafficking promotes vacuolar enlargements for fast cell expansion rates in plants
Dünser et al. show that the cellular and vacuolar size expansions are coordinated. By developing a pharmacological tool, they enabled the investigation of membrane delivery to the vacuole during cellular expansion.
The functional role of ericoid mycorrhizal plants and fungi on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forests Ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) shrubs commonly occur in forest understories and could therefore alter arbuscular (AM) and/or ectomycorrhizal (EcM) tree effects on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Specifically, ErM fungi have extensive organic matter decay capabilities, and ErM plant and fungal tissues have high concentrations of secondary compounds that can form persistent complexes in the soil. Together, these traits could contribute to organic matter accumulation and inorganic nutrient limitation.
Lindbäck et al. show that in Arabidopsis, UBP12 and UBP13 deubiquitinases physically interact with CRY2 in light. UBP12/13 negatively regulates CRY2 by promoting its ubiquitination and turnover to modulate hypocotyl growth. Growth and development were explicitly affected in blue light when UBP12/13 were disrupted or overexpressed, indicating their role alongside CRY2.
Edge-based growth control in Arabidopsis involves two cell wall-associated Receptor-Like Proteins
Elliott et al. describe two Receptor-Like Proteins, RLP4 and RLP4-L1, which occupy a unique polarity domain at cell edges established through a targeted secretory transport pathway. They show that at cell edges, RLP4s associate with the cell wall via their extracellular domain, and contribute to directional growth control in Arabidopsis.
Gupta et al. simultaneously sequenced three P. pachyrhizi genomes uncovering a genome up to 1.25 Gb comprising two haplotypes with a transposable element (TE) content of ~93%. The proliferation of TEs within the genome occurred in several bursts and correlates with the radiation and speciation of the legumes. They present data of clear de-repression of TEs that mirrors expression of virulence-related candidate effectors.
Acquisition of a complex root microbiome reshapes the transcriptomes of rice plants
Santos-MedellÃn et al. developed an experimental system by which rice plants grown under axenic conditions can acquire a defined endosphere microbiome. Using this setup, we performed a cross-sectional characterization of plant transcriptomes in the presence or absence of a complex microbial community.
Vegetation-based ecosystem service delivery in urban landscapes: A systematic review
Strou et al. provide a systematic review of the literature to characterise the current state of research on ecosystem service provision by urban blue and green space.
Epigenetic features drastically impact CRISPR-Cas9 efficacy in plants
Weiss et al. leveraged the wealth of high-resolution epigenomic resources in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) to address the impact of chromatin features on CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis using stable transgenic plants. Their results indicated that DNA methylation and chromatin features could lead to substantial variations in mutagenesis efficiency by up to 250-fold.
An oxygen-sensing mechanism for angiosperm adaptation to altitude — www.nature.com
Abbas et al. investigated the relationship between altitude and oxygen sensing in relation to chlorophyll biosynthesis—which requires molecular oxygen3—and hypoxia-related gene expression. They show that in etiolated seedlings of angiosperm species, steady-state levels of the phototoxic chlorophyll precursor protochlorophyllide are influenced by sensing of atmospheric oxygen concentration.
Toward a general theory of plant carbon economics
Castorena et al. synthesize two optimality theories to offer a general theory of plant carbon economics, named as Gmax theory, that shows how life-history variation is limited to phenotypes that have an approximately similar lifetime net carbon gain per body mass. In consequence, fast–slow economics spectra are the result of trait combinations obtaining similar lifetime net carbon gains from leaves and similar net carbon investment costs in stems, roots, and reproductive organs.
Primula xinningensis (Primulaceae), a new species from karst caves in Hunan, China — phytokeys.pensoft.net
Primula xinningensis Wei Zhang bis & J.W.Shao, a new species from Hunan Province, China, is described. Its leaf morphology is similar to the P. merrilliana complex and flower morphology similar to P. cicutariifolia, but it can be distinguished from the former by the black pollen sac, corolla lobes apex obviously emarginate and can be differed from the latter by cotyledon triangular obovate, plants densely covered with glandular hairs and special habitat (karst caves).
Mielke et al. quantified soil respiration driven by the pine canopy and the ericaceous shrub understorey over 3 years, using a factorial pine root exclusion and shrub removal experiment in a mature Pinus sylvestris forest. Soil temperature and moisture-related responses of respiration attributed to autotrophs (shrubs, pine roots) and heterotrophs were compared.
Tools and targets: The dual role of plant viruses in CRISPR–Cas genome editing
Uranga and Daròs review recent advances for improving the VIGE toolbox with a special focus on strategies to achieve tissue-culture-free editing in plants. We also explore the utility of CRISPR–Cas technology to enhance biotic resistance with a special focus on plant virus diseases.
Feehan et al. investigated how the helper NLR NRG1 supports TNL-initiated immunity with EDS1 and SAG101. We find that NRG1 associates with EDS1 and SAG101 at the plasma membrane and in the nucleus, but only self-associates at the plasma membrane.
Careers
PhD Positions for University of Plymouth-University College Cork Climate and Sustainability Doctoral Training Partnership — www.ucc.ie Within University College Cork successful candidates will be awarded a studentship for 3 years which covers fees, stipend (non-taxable stipend of €18,500 per year) and funding to cover research costs (€4000). A discrete annual travel/collaboration budget between UCC-UoP will also be available.
Harnessing Microbes to Boost Drought Tolerance in Grasses The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE)(opens in new window) within Western Sydney University is seeking an ambitious candidate for a 3-year PhD program of research to commence in 2022 in the multi-disciplinary and fast-developing field of plant-microbial interactions.
Teaching & Scholarship Lecturer in Conservation Applications are invited for this temporary, full-time Lectureship (Teaching and Scholarship) in Conservation Science. The successful candidate will be a motivated Lecturer who will contribute to teaching at undergraduate and Masters level.
Postdoctoral Researcher - Prima Quinoa Project Dr. Raquel Iglesias Fernandez from CBGP (UPM-INIA) is seeking for a motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to work in the project QUINOA4MED:Â Quinoa as a climate-smart crop diversification option for higher income generation from marginal lands in the Mediterranean.
Post-doctoral Researcher in Forest Conservation Genetics The successful applicant will form an integral part of a new project within the Center for Forest Protection, aiming to evaluate genetic bottlenecks in planted and natural colonised young woodlands in the UK.
Post doctoral Research Associate: Crop Domestication Genomics This role coincides with a major new collaboration between Kew and the UCL Institute of Archaeology as we apply novel approaches combining genomics and archeobotany.
Assistant Forum Editor The New Phytologist Foundation is seeking an enthusiastic and proactive individual to join our team as Assistant Forum Editor for New Phytologist. This post holder will support the Forum Editor by aiding in all aspects of the reimaging and delivery of the New Phytologist Forum as a community hub for those with a fascination for plants and their role in society and the natural world.
Postdoc Researcher The Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) is looking for a Postdoc Researcher to be part of the group working on Plant cell wall remodeling and adaptation led by Dr. Robertas Ursache.
CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Plant-Microbiome Interactions
We are seeking an early career scientist to join our dynamic Plant-Microbe Interactions team. As part of this team, the CERC Fellow will use their plant and soil microbiology skills to lead the initiation, design and execution of lab and field experiments to develop integrated strategies targeting-bio-amendments for the sustainable control of stubble-borne diseases of economically important crops. We would particularly welcome candidates with a research interest in applied microbiology and microbial ecology.
Post-Doctoral Research Associate The Quantitative Life Sciences Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) is seeking applications for a highly motivated and enthusiastic post-doctoral research associate. This is a 12-month (calendar year), special appointment with 100% research apportionment. This position will be located in Lincoln, Nebraska.
PhD Studentship on studying recurrent flowering at New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited We have an exciting opportunity for a PhD student to join our world class Molecular and Digital Breeding research programme and to study recurrent flowering as the subject of a PhD project.
PhD fellowship in Arctic plant diversity and pollination networks at University of Copenhagen We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate interested in exploring the biodiversity of plants and pollinators in Arctic environments. Applicants will have a background in the areas of ecology, molecular ecology or biodiversity conservation, ideally with some experience of molecular analyses, bioinformatics and fieldwork. Â
Senior Ecologist We are seeking a skilled and experienced ecologist or bio-diversity specialist to join our team to work on a diverse, exciting mix of projects. The successful applicant will work not just on traditional ecological services such as surveys and impact assessment but will also have the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects involving designated site conservation management, Natural Capital and Biodiversity Net Gain.
Conservation Assistant Officer (IPSN) BGCI is looking to recruit an Conservation Assistant Officer (IPSN) to support the International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN), and to carry out research into the exchange of plant material between botanic gardens as part of a Darwin Initiative project.
Post-doc position on Soil Health and Monitoring The successful candidate will co-develop a soil monitoring framework for the assessment of soil health and multifunctionality with a range of users and scales in mind (farm scale, value chains to national and international policy/governance objectives) The framework will bring together the best scientific knowledge on the role of soil biodiversity in tandem with chemical and physical conditions to understand multifunctionality.
Postdoc in modelling carbon fixation in plants — employment.ku.dk The Niels Bohr Institute invites applicants for a 2-year Postdoctoral fellowship in modeling carbon fixation in plants. The project is a part of the DIRECT ( Data science driven leaf architecture optimization) collaboration with plant-scientists and computational biologists and will be led by Associate Professor Ala Trusina.
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