đ TWiB October 31, 2022
The clocks have gone back here, meaning night falls an hour earlier, and I'm definitely feeling tired. I'll be taking most of the next week off. My plans for the break include sleeping and tidying up around the house. I also plan to put together another newsletter together next week.
However, if you want to read something else now, there's The Thymes, the newsletter of Botanical University Challenge. The first issue includes a catch-up with the winning team from earlier in the year. It's a title I wish I'd thought of.
Until next week, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
News & Views
Let fallen leaves lie, gardeners in Netherlands town urged Allowing autumn leaves in parks and gardens to decompose boosts insect and soil health, says Eindhoven council
Guerrilla gardening action on unclaimed Mission parcel draws joy, anger â missionlocal.org Neighbors have long advocated for turning the 23,522-square-foot area into a public green space.
Growing plants on buildings can reduce heat and produce healthy food in African cities â phys.org Persistently high temperatures and related heat stress are a big problem for people living in cities, especially in slums and informal settlements. It's a problem that is expected to continue.
Meet The Entrepreneurs Who Designed Pollution-Killing Plants â www.forbes.com Neoplantsâ super-plants can help clear indoor air of formaldehyde and other pollutants 30 times better than regular houseplants.
Joshua Tree National Park without Joshua trees? The fight is on to protect the beloved plant â www.latimes.com Itâs Halloween time, and there are plenty of great things to do to get your ghoulish levels up if thatâs your thing. You might take a stroll through a shadowy wonderland or track down spooky food or celebrate the holiday with some adult indulgences. But howâs this for scary? Joshua Tree National Park without any Joshua trees.
Plant processes may be key to predicting drought development â phys.org As physical links between the ground and the sky, plants play an important role in shaping Earth's weather and climate. Now, Stanford University researchers have revealed how a closer look at plants' inner workings may be able to help improve model predictions of some devastating global disasters.
More than half of the world's palm trees in danger â www.bbc.co.uk More than a thousand species of palm tree are at risk of extinction, according to a study.
Cambridge orchid in bloom smells like rotting cabbage â www.bbc.co.uk Visitors to a university garden can treat their nostrils to the heady scent of "rotting cabbages or decomposing dead rats" as a "rare" orchid blooms.
The worldâs healthiest forests are on Indigenous land. Hereâs why. â grist.org A new report finds Indigenous land rights are key to preserving biodiversity.
A bitter mystery: Sequencing the worldâs oldest plant genome â globalplantcouncil.org In a new paper published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and partners in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. have decoded the worldâs oldest plant genome, using Neolithic-era watermelon seeds collected at an archaeological site in the Sahara Desert in Libya.
Three MOBOT scientists on how warming could affect St. Louisâ flora â www.stlmag.com âItâll be like that saying: Things will be better than we feared, but worse than we hoped.â
People are planting tiny urban forests to boost biodiversity and fight climate change How much space do you think you need to grow a forest? If your answer is bigger than a couple of tennis courts, think again.
Scientific Papers
A suberized exodermis is required for tomato drought tolerance
Plant roots integrate environmental signals and developmental programs using exquisite spatiotemporal control. This is apparent in the deposition of suberin, an apoplastic diffusion barrier, which regulates the entry and exit of water, solutes and gases, and is environmentally plastic. Suberin is considered a hallmark of endodermal differentiation, but we find that it is absent in the tomato endodermis during normal development. Instead, suberin is present in the exodermis, a cell type that is absent in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. CantĂł-Pastor et al. uncover genes driving exodermal suberization and describe its effects on drought responses in tomato, unravelling the similarities and differences with the paradigmatic Arabidopsis endodermis.
The trans-regulatory landscape of gene networks in plants
The effector domains of transcription factors play a key role in controlling gene expression; however, their functional nature is poorly understood, hampering our ability to explore this fundamental dimension of gene regulatory networks. To map the trans-regulatory landscape in a complex eukaryote, we systematically characterized the putative effector domains of over 400 Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors for their capacity to modulate transcription. Hummel et al. demonstrate that transcriptional effector activity can be integrated into gene regulatory networks capable of elucidating the functional dynamics underlying gene expression patterns.
Enzymatic fingerprinting reveals specific xyloglucan and pectin signatures in the cell wall purified with primary plasmodesmata â www.frontiersin.org
Plasmodesmata (PD) pores connect neighbouring plant cells and enable direct transport across the cell wall. Understanding the molecular composition of these structures is essential to address their formation and later dynamic regulation. Paterlini et al. provide a biochemical characterisation of the cell wall co-purified with primary PD of Arabidopsis thaliana cell cultures.
Plants develop throughout their lives: seeds become seedlings that mature and form fruits and seeds. Although the underlying mechanisms that drive these developmental phase transitions have been well elucidated for shoots, the extent to which they affect the root is less clear. However, root anatomy does change as some plants mature; meristems enlarge and radial thickening occurs. Laskowski et al. show that in Arabidopsis thaliana overexpressing miR156A, a gene that promotes the juvenile phase, increased the density of the root system, even in grafted plants in which only the rootstock had the overexpression genotype.
Century-long timelines of herbarium genomes predict plant stomatal response to climate change
Dissecting plant responses to the environment is key to understanding if and how plants adapt to anthropogenic climate change. Stomata, plantsâ pores for gas exchange, are expected to decrease in density following increased CO2 concentrations, a trend already observed in multiple plant species. However, it is unclear if such responses are based on genetic changes and evolutionary adaptation. Lang et al. make use of extensive knowledge of 43 genes in the stomatal development pathway and newly generated genome information of 191 A. thaliana historical herbarium specimens collected over the last 193 years to directly link genetic variation with climate change
Shank-localized cell wall growth contributes to Arabidopsis root hair elongation â www.nature.com
Herburger et al. identified events of substantial shank-localized cell wall expansion along the polar growth axis of Arabidopsis root hairs using morphometric analysis with quantum dots. These regions expanded after in vivo immunolocalization using cell wall-directed antibodies and appeared as distinct bands that were devoid of cell wall labelling.
A joint learning approach for genomic prediction in polyploid grasses â www.nature.com Poaceae, among the most abundant plant families, includes many economically important polyploid species, such as forage grasses and sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). These species have elevated genomic complexities and limited genetic resources, hindering the application of marker-assisted selection strategies. Currently, the most promising approach for increasing genetic gains in plant breeding is genomic selection. However, due to the polyploidy nature of these polyploid species, more accurate models for incorporating genomic selection into breeding schemes are needed. This study aims to develop a machine learning method by using a joint learning approach to predict complex traits from genotypic data
Engineering a K+ channel âsensory antennaâ enhances stomatal kinetics, water use efficiency and photosynthesis â www.nature.com
Stomata of plant leaves open to enable CO2 entry for photosynthesis and close to reduce water loss via transpiration. Compared with photosynthesis, stomata respond slowly to fluctuating light, reducing assimilation and water use efficiency. Efficiency gains are possible without a cost to photosynthesis if stomatal kinetics can be accelerated. Horaruang et al. show that clustering of the GORK channel, which mediates K+ efflux for stomatal closure in the model plant Arabidopsis, arises from binding between the channel voltage sensors, creating an extended âsensory antennaâ for channel gating.
ReadCube: rdcu.be/cYg63
ďťżTwo new species of Miersia and their phylogenetic placements alongside the recently described M. putaendensis (Gilliesieae, Allioideae, Amaryllidaceae) â phytokeys.pensoft.net
Two new species of the Chilean endemic genus Miersia (Gilliesieae, Allioideae, Amaryllidaceae) are described, M. stellata and M. raucoana, alongside morphological descriptions, a distribution map, illustrations, conservation status assessments, and an updated key to all species of Miersia.
Is there crosstalk between circadian clocks in plants and the rhizomicrobiome? | BMC Biology | Full Text Circadian clocks occur across the kingdoms of life, including some fungi and bacteria present in the root-associated soil known as the rhizosphere. Recent work from Amy Newman and colleagues, published in BMC Biology, has discovered that the circadian clock in Arabidopsis plants affects the rhythmicity of rhizosphere microbial communities
Careers
Postdoctoral research coordinator - REASSEMBLY
Ideally, the candidate has experience working in tropical forests and in project management. Candidates interested in this position should have a B.Sc./M.Sc. in a relevant field and a Ph.D./Dr. degree in Ecology or a related area. Fluency in English and Spanish is a prerequisite, and experience in Latin America particularly useful.
Assistant Professor of Biology - Bates College The Department of Biology invites applications for a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Biology, beginning August 2023. The speciďŹc area of expertise for this position is ďŹexible, but scholars focused on or capable of teaching courses in ecology at the population, community, or ecosystem level, or traditional ecological knowledge will be of particular interest.
Characterising rice genetic diversity of the past to safeguard the future - Earlham Institute This PhD aims to understand how modern agriculture has impacted rice genetic diversity. The project will make use of the latest genomic data and sequencing technology. The student will quantify the genetic diversity in local landraces and across historic collections. They will investigate their genetic make-up, and quantify deleterious mutations that hinder the further improvement of rice and its adaptation to future climates.
The NC State University Chancellorâs Faculty Excellence Program seeks an outstanding candidate for an open rank tenure track faculty position to expand the interdisciplinary faculty cluster on âEmerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security (EPDGFS)â Recruiting for the cluster was initiated in 2015 and has resulted in four hires. The cluster faculty develop new knowledge to better understand the fundamental basis of emerging infectious diseases caused by pathogens of plants including the development of tools â enabling a more rapid response to contain and limit potential damage by emerging threats.
Field Ecologist & Survey Manager - UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology We are looking for an experienced Field Ecologist & Survey Manager who can deliver large, complex, multi-organisation field surveys. Based in Bangor, on the coast of North Wales, at the foothills of the Snowdonia National Park, this role will contribute to the delivery of annual field surveys throughout Wales and Great Britain.
Effector evolution in plant pathogens - Doctoral Training Partnership - The Sainsbury Laboratory â biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk This project offers broad training on cutting-edge, interdisciplinary technologies as well as transferable skills to enhance career planning and professional development. Successful applicant will gain excellent support both intellectually and technically from experienced mentors and support teams. They will join an energetic team and work in a highly collaborative research environment with a strong commitment to excellence in science.
Professorship of Plant Development - University of Cambridge Candidates will have an outstanding research record of international stature in Plant Development with a strong interest in interdisciplinary work. The position is open to everyone who meets the requirements, including both established professors and earlier career group leaders looking for the next stage in their development. They are expected to have the vision, leadership, experience and enthusiasm to build on current strengths at the Institute and to help maintain and further develop its leading research profile. Duties include research, the training of students, the supervision and mentoring of postdoctoral fellows, as well as some teaching and administration. The Professor will be based in Cambridge.
Plant Biology lab technician - Durham University A laboratory technician is required to support research activities within the plant vascular development group based in the Department of Biosciences. The research group has received funding to work with barley as a study system to understand how crops grow and develop. You will support this project, with a particular focus on aspects of barley transformation and tissue culture and assist with day-to-day operation of the laboratory including tasks necessary to maintain plant lines under the guidance of academic staff. You will also contribute to ongoing experimental work and participate in group meetings.
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant Immunity (Fixed Term) - University of Cambridge Applicants must have a strong background in bioinformatics, genomics and be a proficient in at least one programming languages, eg python and R. A sound knowledge of plant-pathogen interactions, molecular biology techniques and experience working with nematodes are hugely advantageous.
Research Ecologist - Farmland Ecology - British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) We are looking for a post-doctoral research ecologist with a strong interest in farmland systems to work on a two-year post in our Terrestrial Ecology team. The role will involve analysis of long-term BTO data sets to reveal effects of agri-environment management, analysis and operation of ongoing landscape-scale monitoring programmes across the nations of the UK and helping to develop new field projects to investigate wildlife responses to land-use or conservation measures on farmland. The successful applicant will be competent in the statistical techniques that are needed for large-scale data and familiar with the ecology of wildlife on farmland.
Postdoctoral Fellow - ANU This research project will conduct the first comprehensive analysis to evaluate and improve predictions of C4 photosynthesis in regional and global scale models, synthesizing data to advance our basic understanding of C4 ecology and our ability to improve numerical C4 function in models. To accomplish this, the broader project team will use two complementary activities: 1) Synthesize existing C4 physiological data, including measurements under ambient and manipulated environmental conditions to evaluate current C4 conceptual and numerical models; and 2) compare current representation of C4 processes in numerical models with those updated by our refined ecophysiological logic.
Spatial Scientist / Ecologist - GOV.UK Three, two-year spatial scientist posts are available within the Land Use and Ecosystem Services (LUES) Science Group with Forest Research. Forest Research (FR) is the research agency of the Forestry Commission, and a world leader in applied forest science and a trusted and recognised provider of expertise, data, products and services for governments and the tree, wood, forest and natural resource sectors
Assistant Curator of Living Collections - Harvard University The Assistant Curator of Living Collections reports to the Keeper of the Living Collections and will play a leading role in curating one of Earthâs finest living collections of temperate woody plants. They will oversee and guide the Arboretumâs plant acquisition and exploration initiatives as part of the institutionâs ambitious Campaign for the Living Collections. They will also participate in efforts to study and research the Arboretumâs living collections. This is a five-year term appointment with an opportunity for an extension/permanent appointment.
Ecologist - Sussex based - Temple As a dynamic and growing business, we are searching for self-motivated and positive-minded Ecologists to join our friendly team in one of our regional offices. The successful candidates will be involved in all areas of our work, supporting clients in a vast range of different sectors. Responsibilities include carrying out habitat and protected species surveys, advising clients of constraints and survey requirements, and establishing opportunities for biodiversity enhancements.
Research Assistant (Biological Sciences) - National University of Singapore We are looking for a Research Assistant for a research project to study plant-microbial-insect interactions. We seek a highly motivated applicant with some background and/or interest in working with environmental and plant related microbiomes. Applicant should also possess basic laboratory skills. Prior demonstrated experience in molecular/microbiology is highly desirable. Â The position is within a multi-disciplinary research team, which broadly pursues microbial diversity and physiological investigations in plant holobionts. The team consists of Post-doctoral fellows, PhDs and other Research Assistants. Â The full-time research assistant will be expected to actively participate in ongoing research projects and fulfil any other ad-hoc research
Research Assistant (Biological Sciences) - National University of Singapore A Research Assistant position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Eunyoung Chae at the National University of Singapore, Department of Biological Sciences. The Chae lab studies natural variation in the plant immune system using genetic, genomic and biochemical approaches. The successful candidate will have an opportunity to work in a stimulating academic environment and to gain practical experiences in biological sciences.
Associate professor in Integrative Taxonomy and Phylogenetics - Norwegian University of Science and Technology â www.jobbnorge.no The Onsager Fellowship programme at NTNU is designed to attract talented early-career scholars with a track-record of high quality published research, ready to work independently and with the potential to become a research leader. The tenure-track associate professorâs duties will primarily include research, but also include outreach activties, supervision, teaching, and other duties necessary to qualify for a permanent professor position within 6-7 years. Â
Requires a Ph.D. in Biology, Plant Biology, Ecology, or related field of study at the time of appointment
Assistant Professor - Plant Molecular Systematics- Miami University, Ohio Assistant Professor (tenure-track) to teach courses in plant biology, evolutionary biology, or plant taxonomy, and an advanced course in evolutionary and molecular systematics; develop an active research program leading to publications and external funding; advise undergraduate and graduate students; serve as Director of the W.S. Turrell Herbarium and provide other service to the institution. Appointment begins August 2023.
Assistant Professor, Plant Pathology - UW Madison The UW-Madison Department of Plant Pathology is seeking an Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology (any specialty area) to do research on pathogens or pathosystems important for economically important agricultural crops. This is a nine-month (academic year) tenure-track position in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The tenure home of this faculty position will be in the Department of Plant Pathology.
Research Specialist - UW Madison This position will support research projects investigating soil microbial communities and their impacts on plant health. Primary study systems include potato production and forests.
Doctoral Studentship (PhD): Use of Field Sensors to Monitor Nutrient Fluxes in Real-time From Farming Systems - Hartpury University and College The aim of this project is to evaluate available field sensor equipment to monitor carbon and nitrogen fluxes from farmland and develop additional novel sensors as required to improve monitoring opportunities. The project has two main parts, which are 1) Test and validate field sensor technology for nutrient flux monitoring and 2) Develop a methodology for real-time field monitoring. The hypothesis is that real-time carbon and nitrogen monitoring using field sensors will enhance farm nutrient management for more sustainable systems. The work would suit a student with an interest in environmental monitoring and farming systems.
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