March 14, 2022

🌻 TWiB March 14, 2022

Here's another collection of links shared by people following @BotanyOne on Twitter. It's been another slim week, as understandably people's attention is elsewhere. This week's email has also been put together in much less time than usual as I had an unexpected opportunity to see my family for Christmas. If you're thinking that's an odd date for Christmas, that's one of the reasons it was unexpected.

While the news is grim, there's a list of labs supporting Ukrainian scientists and it's proven so successful it's had to be moved to a Google spreadsheet to expand it. If you'd like to add to the list, there's a form here.

That's not an option for everyone, but there is an opportunity to make the world better in another way. The Royal Society of Biology has funding available for plant health researchers to host paid studentships this summer. They're inviting proposals from researchers to host projects either in-person or remotely, with a deadline of 27 March 2022.

I should be back the same time next week with more stories to share, unless I'm invited somewhere to celebrate New Year. In the meantime, take care.

Alun (webmaster@botany.one)

In Botany One

Study in Sydney reveals that preserving pollination is more complex than boosting bees — www.botany.one An Australian team has been studying how to best grow vegetables by experimenting with pak choi in urban gardens. They found that canopy cover and garden richness, rather than pollinator visits are the key factors in improving yield.

How can botanists improve rice's ability to use phosphorus? — www.botany.one Botanists show for the first time that reduced phosphorus investment in lipids in plants improves phosphorus use efficiency in rice without reducing photosynthesis.

Weeds with a bad reputation have value for pollinators and biodiversity — www.botany.one Ecologists have found that weeds are far more valuable in supporting biodiversity than we give them credit for.

How does a plant vary across its range? — www.botany.one A French-US team studied whether Arabidopsis in its natural range varies by latitude or from a core to the periphery.

More plants will be 'losers' than 'winners' in the future, thanks to human activity — www.botany.one Fait vos jeux, but while there will be some winners, the odds are stacked against most plants doing well in the future.

News & Views

Why an East Harlem Street Is 31 Degrees Hotter Than Central Park West — www.nytimes.com If you want to map inequality in New York, you can just count trees.

This Map Shows Where Biodiversity Is Most at Risk in America - The New York Times — www.nytimes.com New maps provide a valuable tool to officials and scientists scrambling to protect threatened species.

Indigenous-led report warns against ‘simplistic take on conservation’ To deal with climate change and biodiversity loss effectively and equitably, conservation needs to adopt a human rights-based approach, according to a new report co-authored by Indigenous and community organizations across Asia.

‘Fast fashion’ gardens rely on pesticides for instant results - grow from seed for a greener plot, says expert Too many people are treating their gardens like “fast fashion”, swapping plants in and out for an “instant makeover” that is doing little to help British wildlife, a leading garden designer has warned.

A Plant Root Atlas for Tracking Developmental Trajectories A collaborative team led by Geoffrey Schiebinger at the University of British Columbia, Philip Benfey at Duke University and Uwe Ohler at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin has developed an atlas that maps gene expression patterns in the Arabidopsis root, profiling nearly 100,000 single root cells and combining the information with previously published datasets.

Death to the hybrids — cancelling plant breeding technologies — kamounlab.medium.com Plant breeding has always been fraught with politics. But, it is still baffling to plant scientists why some technologies are readily adopted while others are rejected.

Northern Cape’s rare succulents are being stolen for the international illegal market — www.dailymaverick.co.za Plant poaching is on the increase, say police. The SA National Biodiversity Institute estimates that more than 1,5 million dwarf succulents have been removed from the Succulent Karoo over the past three years, many of them red-listed.

Plants humans don’t need are heading for extinction, study finds Bleak picture for biodiversity as analysis of over 80,000 species forecasts more losers than winners

eLife Latest: Applications open for new Reviewing Editors from Latin America and the Caribbean | Inside eLife | eLife eLife is looking to recruit researchers from these regions with an open call for self-nominations to its editorial board.

Evolution of carnivorous plants — knowablemagazine.org Carnivorous plants fascinate as much now as when their gruesome diet was first discovered. Molecular biology is helping botanists trace the origins of their predatory ways.

Scientific Papers

Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest resilience since the early 2000s — www.nature.com

Boulton et al. quantify changes of Amazon resilience by applying established indicators (for example, measuring lag-1 autocorrelation) to remotely sensed vegetation data with a focus on vegetation optical depth (1991–2016). They find that more than three-quarters of the Amazon rainforest has been losing resilience since the early 2000s, consistent with the approach to a critical transition.

Mycorrhizal mediation of sustainable development goals

This special issue, brought together during a time of unprecedented global change, represents a unique collection of papers that shed light on the current and future significance of mycorrhiza-forming fungi in the human world. Across this selection of papers, Field et al. explore the significance and potential of mycorrhizal fungi to contribute towards our achievement of global change goals of improved sustainability, food security and conservation as well as how we might best implement mycorrhizal knowledge and technologies to achieve these outcomes in modern societies.

Mechanosensory trichome cells evoke a mechanical stimuli–induced immune response in Arabidopsis thaliana — www.nature.com

Matsumura et al. report that trichomes, hair-like structures on the epidermis, directly sense external mechanical forces, including raindrops, to anticipate pathogen infections in Arabidopsis thaliana. Exposure of leaf surfaces to mechanical stimuli initiates the concentric propagation of intercellular calcium waves away from trichomes to induce defence-related genes. Propagating calcium waves enable effective immunity against pathogenic microbes through the CALMODULIN-BINDING TRANSCRIPTION ACTIVATOR 3 (CAMTA3) and mitogen-activated protein kinases.

Continuous seasonal monitoring of nitrogen and water content in lettuce using a dual phenomics system — academic.oup.com

The collection and analysis of large amounts of information on a plant-by-plant basis contributes to the development of precision fertigation and may be achieved by combining remote-sensing technology with high-throughput phenotyping methods. Weksler et al. grew lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa) under optimal and suboptimal nitrogen and irrigation treatments from seedlings to harvest. A Plantarray system was used to calculate and log weights, daily transpiration, and momentary transpiration rates throughout the experiment. From 15 d after planting until experiment termination, the entire array of plants was imaged hourly (from 09.00 h to 14.00 h) using a hyperspectral moving camera.

Genomes within genomes: nested symbiosis and its implications for plant evolution Many important plant traits are products of nested symbiosis: mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are nested within microbes, which in turn, are nested within plants. Plant trait variation is therefore not only determined by the plant’s genome, but also by loci within microbes and MGEs. Yet it remains unclear how interactions and coevolution within nested symbiosis impacts the evolution of plant traits.

Mix-and-match: an improved, fast and accessible protocol for hypocotyl micrografting of Arabidopsis seedlings with systemic ACC responses as a case study Grafting is a technique widely used in horticulture that also has been applied in agriculture. In plant physiology, grafting facilitates the elucidation of mechanisms underlying growth and developmental processes, through the construction of chimeric plants with organs of different genotypes. Despite its small size, the model species Arabidopsis thaliana is very amenable for grafting, which can be useful to investigate transport of nutrients, amino acids or secondary metabolites between different tissues, or to investigate developmental processes depending on root-to-shoot communication, such as shoot branching, root and shoot plasticity upon shade avoidance, or disease resistance.

Plant–microbiome interactions under a changing world: responses, consequences and perspectives

Climate change is increasing global temperatures and the frequency and severity of droughts in many regions. These anthropogenic stresses pose a significant threat to plant performance and crop production. The plant-associated microbiome modulates the impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses on plant fitness. However, climate change-induced alteration in composition and activities of plant microbiomes can affect host functions. Trivedi et al. highlight recent advancements in our understanding of the impact of climate change (warming and drought) on plant–microbiome interactions and on their ecological functions from genome to ecosystem scales. We identify knowledge gaps, propose new concepts and make recommendations for future research directions. It is proposed that in the short term (years to decades), the adaptation of plants to climate change is mainly driven by the plant microbiome, whereas in the long term (century to millennia), the adaptation of plants will be driven equally by eco-evolutionary interactions between the plant microbiome and its host.

A synthesis of methane emissions from shallow vegetated coastal ecosystems Vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCEs; i.e., mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses) play a critical role in global carbon (C) cycling, storing 10× more C than temperate forests. Methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, can form in the sediments of these ecosystems. Currently, CH4 emissions are a missing component of VCE C budgets. This review summarizes 97 studies describing CH4 fluxes from mangrove, salt marsh, and seagrass ecosystems and discusses factors controlling CH4 flux in these systems.

Development and Carotenoid Synthesis in Dark-Grown Carrot Taproots Require PHYTOCHROME RAPIDLY REGULATED1

Light stimulates carotenoid synthesis in plants during photomorphogenesis through the expression of PHYTOENE SYNTHASE (PSY), a key gene in carotenoid biosynthesis. The orange carrot (Daucus carota) synthesizes and accumulates high amounts of carotenoids in the taproot that grows underground. Contrary to other organs, light impairs carrot taproot development and represses the expression of carotenogenic genes, such as DcPSY1 and DcPSY2, reducing carotenoid accumulation. By means of RNA-seq, in a previous analysis Arias et al. observed that carrot PHYTOCHROME RAPIDLY REGULATED1 (DcPAR1) is more highly expressed in the underground grown taproot compared to those grown in light.

Careers

Plants on the edge: examining the resilience of the vegetation to climate extremes The student will seek to uncover the underlying resilience of plants by integrating ecosystem responses to meteorological extremes with those occurring across natural gradients as the climate warms. You will make extensive use of observations (eddy covariance and experiments), and use innovative quantitative techniques to probe the theory embedded within models. The student will also have the opportunity to run and develop their chosen modelling tool (either stand-scale or land surface; JULES/CABLE). This project will ensure that future predictions accurately capture plant responses to changes in temperature, humidity, and water availability.

NFR project “GreenPlan” We are looking for postdoctoral fellow to work in the NFR project “GreenPlan” on developing ecological models for small-scale species occurrence, that can be applied to multiple species and be used to assess the effects of landscape changes on biodiversity for municipal land planning.

A two-year postdoctoral position at UPSC on Nitrogen function in wood formation of trees - EPSO The main purpose of this project is to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying nitrogen function in wood formation of Populus trees and to identify Populus genotypes with improved nitrogen use efficiency in relation to secondary growth of the stem and biomass production. Genome wide association studies (GWAS), tracer studies, functional studies in transgenic trees, and field trials are some of techniques utilized in the project.

PhD student (m/f/d) in Protein Biochemistry We are looking for a creative, curious, team-minded and enthusiastic candidate to join our team to contribute to a project which will focus on the identification and optimization of enzymes. To create a toolbox of biocatalysts for oxyfunctionalization of natural products, state-of-the-art biochemical and enzymology approaches will be employed. The work will be performed in close collaboration with another PhD candidate, who will work on artificial intelligence-based computation.

Postdoc position on transposable elements and transcriptional network evolution in plants The postdoctoral researcher should have completed a PhD in the field of biology and preferably experience in bioinformatics, plant reproduction, or epigenetics. A strong track record in scientific research as demonstrated by a first-author publication or pre-print is required. The initiative to explore potential additional funding sources (e.g. EMBO, Marie-Curie, DFG) is expected. Strong organizational skills and fluency in both written and spoken English is required.

PhD Position - Plant root water uptake and its dependence on soil types The goal of this project is to determine the influence of different soil types on root water uptake and plant development via different types of measurements combined with a sophisticated 3D computer model of plant soil systems. Your tasks in detail are: Using technologies like SWaP, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, leaf water potential sensors and a variety of other sensors to observe plant and soil hydraulic status Use and adaptation of biophysical models of water and solute fluxes in the soil-plant system

Senior Research Scientist - Fungal Genetics Utilising genetic tools and molecular biology approaches for chemical genomic studies and biotechnology projects. Apply chemical genetics capabilities, including forward and reverse genetics methods, in a range of plant pathogenic systems including fungi and oomycetes to support chemistry research projects. Running already developed assays and develop new assays and techniques using own genetics, molecular biology or biochemical knowledge and ideas generated in discussion with manager.

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