đ± TWiB June 21, 2021
The big news in the office this week was the launch of a new section of AoB PLANTS, Molecular Function and Environment. I'll be interested to see what comes out of this as often I see papers focused on one or the other. I think connecting molecular biology to field conditions will lead to papers in AoBP throwing up some unexpected insights.
In other news, it seems I've found a few more jobs than usual. One reason is I'm now scanning the #PlantSciJobs hashtag on Twitter, but I'm also looking in a few other places. As a shortcut, you could try following @PlantPostdocs or @AcademicAgJobs who post jobs on a rapid basis.
I'll be back the same time next week, with more news, papers and jobs. Until then take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
In Botany One
Drought response of European beech trees is not straight forward â www.botany.one Dr Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio from INRAE and colleagues from Sorbonne University and local nature reserves investigated the relationship between tree growth, reproductive success (fecundity) and defoliation over a decade of European beech populations in Southern France.
Solar panels might be good for cities â but what about the plants living underneath? â www.botany.one
The Mojave Desert is attracting solar infrastructure. Now, researchers are interested in knowing the impact this will have on plant dwellers.
When the wind blows, what happens to wheat? â www.botany.one A reduction in height but an increase in tillers suggests that wheat may benefit from a little mechanical stress.
New AoBP section, Molecular Function and Environment â www.botany.one The new section of the open-access non-profit journal AoBP will focus on molecular functioning of plants in their natural environment.
A new edition of an iconic ethnobotany text â www.botany.one Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany, 2nd edition by Michael J Balick and Paul Alan Cox 2021. CRC Press
News & Views
Indigenous people are the worldâs biggest conservationists, but they rarely get credit for it More than 30 percent of the Earth is already conserved. Thank Indigenous people and local communities.
Our Response to Climate Change Is Missing Something Big, Scientists Say Yes, planting new trees can help. But intact wild areas are much better. The world needs to treat warming and biodiversity loss as two parts of the same problem, a new report warns.
The beauty of native wildflowers â in pictures Photographer Kathryn Martin started working with wildflowers when she lived in London. Inspired by the copperplate engravings in 18th-century botanist William Curtisâs eight-volume Flora Londinensis, she digitally photographs native wildflowers against graph paper.
Vegetables Are Made Up : Short Wave After hearing a vicious rumor on the internet that vegetables aren't real, Maddie goes looking for answers
Rare orchids found in City of London bank's rooftop garden â www.bbc.co.uk A colony of rare orchids has been discovered growing on the rooftop of an office building in the City of London.
LGBTQI+ allyship in academia Come out, come out, wherever you are: the geosciences need LGBTQI+ allies, says Anson Mackay.
Passion Flowers: Ignite your senses â www.kew.org Discover the beautiful blooms and delicious delights of Passion Flowers.
New organ found in worldâs best-studied plant After a decade of work, a biologist has shown that a horizontal offshoot of the thale cress plant is a body part all its own: the cantil.
When his suspicions went unanswered, this biologist decided to disavow his own study â www.sciencemag.org
A scientistâs first academic paper is usually a career milestone as well as a source of pride. For evolutionary biologist Ken Thompson of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, itâs neither. Instead, it has become a case study in the frustrations facing a would-be whistleblower.
âOrchideliriumâ: how a modern-day flower madness is fuelling the illegal trade With traffickers taking species from the wild before they are even recorded, one of the UKâs oldest constabularies is on guard at Kew Gardens
Scientific Papers
People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years
Ellis et al. combine global maps of human populations and land use over the past 12,000 y with current biodiversity data to show that nearly three quarters of terrestrial nature has long been shaped by diverse histories of human habitation and use by Indigenous and traditional peoples. With rare exceptions, current biodiversity losses are caused not by human conversion or degradation of untouched ecosystems, but rather by the appropriation, colonization, and intensification of use in lands inhabited and used by prior societies.
Plant chemistry and food web health
Schlaeppi et al. highlight the role of bioactive phytochemicals in linking soils, plants, animals and humans and discuss their contributions to systems health. The analysis of connections among food web components revealed an underexplored potential of phytochemicals to optimize food web health and productivity.
Utilizing the highly efficient multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing system, Hu et al. created single- and multiple-knockout mutants for all nine DNA methyltransferases in rice (Oryza sativa) and profiled their whole-genome methylation status at single-nucleotide resolution.
Siberian plants shift their phenology in response to climate change
Rosbakh et al. use a unique dataset from the Russian âChronicles of Natureâ network to analyse long-term (1976-2018) phenological shifts in leaf out, flowering, fruiting and senescence of 67 common Siberian plant species. They find that Siberian boreal forest plants advanced their early-season (leaf out and flowering) and mid-season (fruiting) by 2.2, 0.7 and 1.6 days/decade, and delayed the onset of senescence by 1.6 days/decade during this period.
Genomic Selection in an Outcrossing Autotetraploid Fruit Crop: Lessons From Blueberry Breeding â www.frontiersin.org
Motivated by applying molecular markers for a more accurate selection in the early stages of breeding, FerrĂŁo et al. performed pioneering genomic selection studies and optimization for its implementation in the blueberry breeding program. They have also addressed some complexities of sequence-based genotyping and model parametrization for an autopolyploid crop, providing empirical contributions that can be extended to other polyploid species.
An Arabidopsis expression predictor enables inference of transcriptional regulators for gene modules
Geng et al. developed a computational approach, named EXPLICIT (Expression Prediction via Log-linear Combination of Transcription Factors), to construct a universal predictor for Arabidopsis to predict the expression of 29â 182 non-TF genes using 1678 TFs. When applied to RNA-Seq samples from diverse tissues, EXPLICIT generated accurate predicted transcriptomes correlating well with actual expression, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.986.
Time to retire? A lifeâchanging decision made by NAC transcription factors
Commentary on VviNAC33 promotes organ de-greening and represses vegetative growth during the vegetative-to-mature phase transition in grapevine.
The nearly complete genome of Ginkgo biloba illuminates gymnosperm evolution â www.nature.com
Liu et al. report a nearly complete genome assembly for Ginkgo biloba with a genome size of 9.87âGb, an N50 contig size of 1.58âMb and an N50 scaffold size of 775âMb. They were able to accurately annotate 27,832âprotein-coding genes in total, superseding the inaccurate annotation of 41,840âgenes in a previous draft genome assembly.
ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/cmFrs
Careers
Scientist (rank commensurate with experience) Responsible for conducting botanical research in the Africa and Madagascar Department, Science and Conservation Division.
Plant Direct: Editor-in-Chief vacancy â onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The Editor-in-Chief will be supported by a strong Editorial Team of Supervising Editors, Academic Editors and an Editorial Office team, as well as representatives from ASPB, SEB and Wiley.Â
Ecological Information Specialist - Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Forestry, is seeking a skilled professional with botanical and ecological expertise as the Ecological Information Specialist to provide technical guidance and outreach to state land managers, foresters, DCNR planners and policy makers and private landowners.
Research Fellow - Regina Baucom Lab A postdoctoral position focusing on plant adaptation is available in the laboratory of Dr. Regina Baucom in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan.
Call for Applications 2021 AJB is seeking a new Reviews Editor and member of the Editorial Board. This position offers a unique opportunity to help shape the direction and success of AJB and ensure representation of a diversity of voices and topics in the AJBReviews section, and it includes the bonus of working with a friendly and support team to advance botanical research and support the scientists who do it!Â
Quantitative ecologist This is a unique opportunity for individuals interested in applied ecology and conservation. The work entails ecological forecasting, data science, and spatial ecology.
3-year PhD position to study the formation of defense metabolites in wheat â www.ice.mpg.de As part of a joint research project with two partner groups in Israel (Dr. Vered Tzin at Ben Gurion University and Prof. Assaf Distelfeld at Haifa University), we will investigate the formation and regulation of benzoxazinoids in wheat.
Senior Specialist - Fungi and Lichen â www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk As our Senior Specialist in Fungi and Lichen you will proactively lead and provide national expertise on the conservation and management of Lichens and Fungi in England.
Postdoctoral Research Scholar - PMB The Hawkes Lab has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher to work on the role of fungal endophytes in switchgrass nutrient acquisition and stress resilience.
Research Geneticist (Plants) The incumbent will be a Research Geneticist in the Crop Diseases, Pests, and Genetics Research Unit (CDPGRU) at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (SJVASC) in Parlier, California. The project's mission is to advance grapevine and stone fruit production through interdisciplinary research, breeding, and technology transfer.
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Nimchuk) The Nimchuk lab is looking for a motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our thriving group on NSF and NIH funded projects on development and peptide signaling in plants. Specific available projects include exploring new peptide mediated control of root cell cycle regulation, dissection of new signaling pathway components in stem cell regulation, or the function of new transcriptional effectors of peptide mediated stem cell regulation.
Ph.D. position in Plant Vascular and Root system Development at University of Lausanne A fully funded Ph.D. position will be available (starting 06/2022 or after) in the lab of Prof. Christian Hardtke at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.Â
Assistant Professor in Data-driven Evolution and Biodiversity The DDLS program will focus on four strategic areas of data-driven research: cell and molecular biology, evolution and biodiversity, precision medicine and diagnostics, and epidemiology and infection biology. We are now looking for the first 20 junior group leaders to join us as DDLS Fellows.
Associate Professor in Biology, especially Plant Ecology The ideal candidate conducts research related to plant population and community ecology and complements current research at the program, which ranges from evolutionary genetics to community ecology.
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