September 19, 2022

🌻 TWiB September 19, 2022

As you read this, I'm probably making my way back home - unless the trip to the birds of prey feeding at Bwlch-nant-yr-arian went spectacularly wrong.

The job section is sparser than usual this week. Some of this is a combination of me working on the newsletter on a small screen in a hotel. Some of it is due to many of the jobs I saw this week had deadlines before the newsletter would come out.

I'm hoping there'll be a few more jobs in next week's issue, which should be with you at the usual time. Until then, take care.

Alun (webmaster@botany.one)

In Botany One

Pollinators and Herbivores Influence the Evolution of Chemicals Emitted by Fig Plants in Different Ways — botany.one Fragrances produced by plants are excellent for attracting pollinators, but how do they prevent unwanted guests from arriving?

Revealed, the hidden kingdom of fungi — botany.one

Nigel Chaffey reviews The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi: Exploring the microscopic world in our forests, homes, and bodies, by Keith Seifert.

Simulating red:far red ratio in your model — botany.one

The best method depends on your goal, need for accuracy, and computing allowance.

When Birches Become Wasps — botany.one Birches may have developed white bark to warn herbivores that they're not good to eat.

News & Views

Trees Are the Secret Weapon of America's New Climate Bill — time.com The Inflation Reduction Act is a tectonic shift for America. At a moment of true peril, this legislation pushes aside decades of political paralysis to choose climate action, and the financial stimuli it provides for diverse climate solutions will advance them farther and faster than ever before.

The rice capital of California is ‘now just a wasteland.’ Satellite images show how bad it is — www.sfchronicle.com

Normally, by September, the drive north from Sacramento on Interstate 5 showcases vast stretches of flooded rice fields on both sides, farms bustling with tractors and workers preparing for fall harvest.

Not this year, said Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California where the local economy relies heavily on agriculture. “It is now just a wasteland,” he said.

For Ph.D. career planning, data on recent graduates help but aren’t enough Many Ph.D. students enter graduate school harboring dreams of one day becoming a professor. But a good chunk of those students isn’t aware of the true—relatively low—odds of landing a faculty position, which arguably should be a crucial piece of information to inform career-planning decisions.

The Hidden Toll of Wildfires “This is interesting. Not too thick,” said Jim Crawford, an atmospheric chemist wearing a motion-sickness patch behind his ear. It was afternoon in late July 2019, and Crawford was bearing down on a skein of wildfire smoke visible from the cockpit of a former commercial jet that NASA had retrofitted into an airborne laboratory.

How Old Is Zimbabwe’s Famed ‘Big Tree’? — www.atlasobscura.com The majestic African baobab has seen several growth spurts over its 1,200 or so years.

The remarkable story of how Hong Kong’s loneliest tree could save a species, via Scotland — www.scmp.com The tree was remarkable in quality rather than appearance, so could have been easily missed by the average hiker And yet it could change the fate of a species in the city, offering hope that it could be revitalised

What caused the world's largest die-off of mangroves? A wobble in the moon's orbit is partly to blame — phys.org Over the summer of 2015, 40 million mangroves died of thirst. This vast die-off—the world's largest ever recorded—killed off rich mangrove forests along fully 1,000 kilometers of coastline on Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria. The question is, why?

A GMO Purple Tomato Is Coming to Grocery Aisles. Will the US Bite? — www.wired.com Most genetically engineered foods were developed to aid farmers. This one will try to sway over health-conscious produce shoppers.

Mexican mangroves have been capturing carbon for 5,000 years — phys.org Researchers have identified a new reason to protect mangrove forests: they've been quietly keeping carbon out of Earth's atmosphere for the past 5,000 years.

Scientific Papers

Abscisic acid and its role in the modulation of plant growth, development, and yield stability — www.cell.com

Kavi Kishor et al. discussed the strategies to manipulate ABA fluxes that would appear to be a key strategy for achieving higher yield stability under changing climates.

Beat the heat: plant- and microbe-mediated strategies for crop thermotolerance — www.cell.com Plant epigenetic modifications are not only shaped by mild stress but also by beneficial endophytic microorganisms. The use of these microbes as a tool to ensure robust responses under HS holds great potential to improve crop productivity in a sustainable manner.

Comprehending the evolution of gene editing platforms for crop trait improvement — www.frontiersin.org

Dhakate et al. present the evolution of the CRISPR/Cas system into new-age methods of genome engineering across various plant species and the impact they have had on tweaking plant genomes and associated outcomes on crop improvement initiatives.

IRONMAN peptide interacts with OsHRZ1 and OsHRZ2 to maintain Fe homeostasis in rice — academic.oup.com IRONMAN (IMA) is a family of small peptides which positively regulate plant responses under Fe deficiency. However, the molecular mechanism by which OsIMA1 and OsIMA2 regulate Fe homeostasis in rice is unclear. Here, we reveal that OsIMA1 and OsIMA2 interact with the potential Fe sensors, OsHRZ1 (HAEMERYTHRIN MOTIF-CONTAINING REALLY INTERESTING NEW GENE (RING) AND ZINC-FINGER PROTEIN 1) and OsHRZ2.

Behavioral plasticity can facilitate evolution in urban environments Cities provide biologists with a unique opportunity to enhance understanding of how plastic behaviors can precede and guide evolutionary change.

The RNA helicase UAP56 and the E3 ubiquitin ligase COP1 coordinately regulate alternative splicing to repress photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis — academic.oup.com

Li et al. identify DExD/H RNA helicase U2AF65-associated protein (UAP56) as a negative regulator of photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. UAP56 is encoded by the homologs UAP56a and UAP56b. Knockdown of UAP56 led to enhanced photomorphogenic responses and diverse developmental defects during vegetative and reproductive growth.

Joint statement on best practices for the citation of authorities of scientific names in taxonomy by CETAF, SPNHC and BHL This joint statement aims at encouraging all authors, publishers and editors involved in scientific publishing to give the bibliographic source of the authorities of taxonomic names. This initiative, written by members of the three communities, has been approved by the executive boards of the SPNHC (Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections), CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities) and BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library).

Crop breeding for a changing climate in the Pannonian region: towards integration of modern phenotyping tools — academic.oup.com

Kondić-Špika et al. present a short historical background and the most recent developments in the field of plant phenotyping, as well as the results accomplished so far in Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia.

Glucose-driven TOR–FIE–PRC2 signalling controls plant development — www.nature.com

Ye et al. show that glucose-activated TOR kinase controls genome-wide histone H3 trimethylation at K27 (H3K27me3) in Arabidopsis thaliana, which regulates cell fate and development. They identify FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT ENDOSPERM (FIE), an indispensable component of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which catalyses H3K27me3, as a TOR target.

Stress-induced higher vein density in the C3–C4 intermediate Moricandia suffruticosa under drought and heat stress — academic.oup.com

In this study, systematic analyses were conducted comparing the C3–C4 intermediate Moricandia suffruticosa and its C3 relative Brassica napus (rapeseed). Zhu et al. found that the leaves of M. suffruticosa had significantly higher vein density than those of B. napus, and the vein density was further increased in M. suffruticosa under drought and heat stress.

Behavioral differences among domestic cats in the response to cat-attracting plants and their volatile compounds reveal a potential distinct mechanism of action for actinidine

It has been known for centuries that cats respond euphorically to Nepeta cataria (catnip). Recently, Bol et al. have shown that Lonicera tatarica (Tatarian honeysuckle), Actinidia polygama (silver vine), and Valeriana officinalis (valerian) can also elicit this “catnip response”. The aim of this study was to learn if the behavior seen in response to these plants is similar to the response to catnip.

Careers

Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Fruit and Vegetable Specialist This is a 12-month, tenure-track faculty position with a 60% extension, 40% research appointment in the area of Vegetable and Small Fruit Production. This position is in the Plant and Soil Science Department, within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Research Technologist The Pennsylvania State University is seeking a candidate for a Research Technologist to develop and manage research projects, ensure quality and cost effectiveness, mentor staff, and author or co-author published documents. This position will manage laboratory and field operations for the Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics in research related to forest health and conservation.

Full Professor and Chair of Molecular Biology Wageningen University & Research is looking for a full professor (0.8 - 1.0 fte) to lead the Molecular Biology group. The Molecular Biology group studies the molecular and cellular processes of plant development and how these processes respond to the environment. We are eager and excited to recruit a new professor who offers synergistic research and concrete future plans for research and teaching.  

Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Molecular Plant Science and Plant Biotechnology The Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, offers an attractive career opportunity for promising and talented researchers. We invite applications for a position as Tenure Track Assistant Professor focusing on molecular plant science and plant biotechnology. The position is a career development position with the possibility of transition to a tenured associate professorship and will be available from 01-01-2023 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Plant Molecular Biologist The Department of Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater (http://plantbio.okstate.edu) seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor to begin August 2023. The ideal candidate will address fundamental questions in Plant Molecular Biology; those who study metabolites or work in the context of systems biology are particularly encouraged to apply.

Microscopy Specialist The research group “Stomatal Biology” is welcoming applications for a Microscopy Specialist (80-100%). Our research group investigates how grasses and succulents form “breathing pores” or stomata on leaves and how different forms contribute to gas exchange physiology. For more information regarding our research, please visit https://raissiglab.org/.

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