🌱 TWiB September 5, 2021
We have another round-up of the stories shared by people following @BotanyOne on Twitter. It's been another quiet week, and I've compiled this edition early as I have relatives visiting.
At the moment, next week is threatening to be quite a busy week on the blog, as we have a few stories due in. I need to get one finished myself on how plant roots could help ecosystems downstream of farmland. I'm hoping online activity will also pick up as the new term gets closer.
The next issue should be with you at the same time next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
In Botany One
Regulation of flowering time in Japanese wild radish — www.botany.one How do climatic cues influence flowering time in natural populations of wild radish in northern and southern Japan?
The diversity and capacity of maize to adapt to a changing climate rests in the hands of farmers — www.botany.one
The diversity of maize in the community of Yaxcabá, Yucatán, is shared among farmers. They select seeds that are most resistant to unfavourable climatic conditions and, by exchanging or selling them, they safeguard the diversity and resilience of maize.
Wheat adaptation to climate change — www.botany.one Models fill in the data gaps to identify genotypes to maximize yield across the NE Australian wheat-belt under climate change.
Honey bees are bad news for some plants in search of pollination — www.botany.one Some people fixate on honey bees as essential for pollination. Reality is more complicated. For one species, honey bee visits actively harm its chances of pollinating a partner.
Susceptibility to olive quick decline syndrome is linked to xylem anatomy — www.botany.one Can differences in xylem anatomy explain the contrasting responses of two olive cultivars to infection by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa?
Predicting rice yield under drought — www.botany.one Integrated growth and metabolic models predict the metabolism of rice growth under normal and water-limited conditions.
The who, when, where of global plant discovery — www.botany.one
Nigel Chaffey reviews "The plant hunter’s atlas: A world tour of botanical adventures, chance discoveries and strange specimens" by Ambra Edwards.
News & Views
Madagascar on the brink of climate change-induced famine Madagascar is on the brink of experiencing the world's first "climate change famine", according to the United Nations, which says tens of thousands of people are already suffering "catastrophic" levels of hunger and food insecurity after four years without rain.
What plants need to grow - light, temperature and water levels explained
Keeping plants alive and growing might be a daunting endeavor for some, especially those new to gardening. For the uninitiated, there are several factors that contribute to plant growth and different species have varying needs.
Why The World’s Most Popular Banana May Go Extinct Bananas are facing a pandemic, too. Almost all of the bananas exported globally are just one variety called the Cavendish. And the Cavendish is vulnerable to a fungus called Panama Disease, which is ravaging banana farms across the globe.
400-million-year-old fossil reveals how first roots emerged in Earth’s early plants — www.independent.co.uk The ancient plant’s roots developed in an ‘entirely different way’ than how they grow in modern plants
Sustainable scotch: Hebridean distillery aims for net zero whisky Islay’s 9 distilleries burn 15m litres of oil a year. Now Bruichladdich is leading a radical effort to reduce emissions
One in three trees face extinction in wild, says new report At least 30% of the world's tree species face extinction in the wild, according to a new assessment.
Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change. Common names like ‘gypsy moth’ contain ethnic slurs perpetuating racist stereotypes
New study offers latest proof that Brazilian Amazon is now a net CO2 source The Brazilian Amazon has been transformed from a carbon dioxide sink to a source for new emissions over the past two decades, a new study shows.
The declining tropical carbon sink Observational data from long-term monitoring plots show that the carbon sink of remaining, undisturbed African and Amazonian tropical rainforest is declining. A study now finds that simulations from Earth system models cannot reproduce this decline.
BGCI Launches the State of the World's Trees Report — www.bgci.org Well-known trees such as magnolias and dipterocarps among most threatened, with oaks, maple (Acer) and ebonies also at risk.
GlobalTree Portal This portal allows access to information on the world’s nearly 60,000 tree species. On the species pages you can explore tree species distribution, conservation status (global and non-global) and conservation actions. On the country pages you can download a country checklist with associated information on endemism and conservation status.
ASAPbio preprint communication competition – help us communicate preprint science to the public Are you keen to show your passion for science and preprints to the non-scientific community? Got an aptitude for writing or showcasing visual art? If this sounds like you, we’re looking for you! Our preprint science communication competition seeks to find new ways to engage and reach out to the general public.
Scientific Papers
Zhao et al. demonstrated that, in tomato, the nucleotide-binding (NB) domain Sw-5b NLR alone can activate downstream defense signaling, leading to elicitor-independent cell death. Sw-5b NB domains can self-associate, and this self-association is crucial for activating cell death signaling. The self-association was strongly compromised after the introduction of a K568R mutation into the P-loop of the NB domain. Consequently, the NBK568R mutant induced cell death very weakly.
Antagonism between SUMO1/2 and SUMO3 regulates SUMO conjugate levels and fine-tunes immunity
Ingole et al. provide genetic evidence that SUM3, a divergent paralog, acts downstream of the two main SUMO paralogues, SUM1/2. The expression of SUM3 apparently buffers or suppresses the function of SUM1/2 by controlling the timing and amplitude of the immune response.
Naramoto et al. examine current knowledge regarding the cellular mechanisms of polarized cell elongation and cell division, including symmetric and asymmetric cell division. They also examine the role of polar auxin transport in mosses and liverworts. Finally, they discuss the future of evolutionary cell and developmental biological studies in plants.
Cryptochromes (crys) are photolyase-like blue-light receptors first discovered in Arabidopsis thaliana and later identified in all major evolutionary lineages. Crys are involved in not only blue light responses but also in temperature responses; however, whether and how cry protein stability is regulated by temperature remains unknown. Ma et al. show that cry2 protein abundance is modulated by ambient temperature and cry2 protein is degraded under low ambient temperature via the 26S proteasome.
The rise of grasslands is linked to atmospheric CO2 decline in the late Palaeogene
Palazzesi et al. developed a novel Bayesian approach that simultaneously estimates diversification-rates through time from time-calibrated phylogenies and correlations between environmental variables and diversification rates. Additionally, they developed a new statistical approach that incorporates the information of the distribution of missing species in the phylogeny. They found strong evidence supporting a simultaneous increase in diversification rates for daisies and grasses after the most significant reduction of atmospheric CO2 in the Cenozoic (∼34 Mya). The fluctuations of paleo-temperatures, however, appear not to have had a significant relationship with the diversification of these grassland families.
Insights into the evolution of strigolactone signaling
Strigolactones are phytohormones that regulate various developmental processes inside the plant body, including shoot branching and root growth, cause the germination of seeds from root-parasitic plants, and initiate symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Kan et al. studied the tempo and pattern of mitochondrial gene transfer/loss in gymnosperms represented by all 13 families, using high-throughput sequencing of both DNA and cDNA. All 41 mitochondrial protein-coding genes were found in cycads, Ginkgo and Pinaceae, whereas multiple mitochondrial genes were absent in Conifer II and Gnetales.
Methodological guidelines for isolation and purification of plant extracellular vesicles
Huang et al. compare two published methods used for isolating plant EVs, and provide a detailed recommended method for AWF collection from Arabidopsis thaliana, followed by EV isolation via differential ultracentrifugation. To further separate and purify specific subclasses of EV from heterogeneous vesicles, sucrose or iodixanol density-based separation and immunoaffinity capture are then utilized. They found that immunoaffinity capture provides a significant advantage for specific EV isolation when suitable specific EV biomarkers and their corresponding antibodies are available.
Chloroplast SRP43 autonomously protects chlorophyll biosynthesis proteins against heat shock — www.nature.com
Ji et al. demonstrate that cpSRP43 effectively protects several TBS proteins from heat-induced aggregation and enhances their stability during leaf greening and heat shock. While the substrate-binding domain of cpSRP43 is sufficient for chaperoning LHCPs, the stabilization of TBS clients requires the chromodomain 2 of the protein. Strikingly, cpSRP54—which activates cpSRP43’s LHCP-targeted function—inhibits the chaperone activity of cpSRP43 towards TBS proteins.
Careers
Assistant Professor The Department of Biology at Stanford University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in ecology. This is a broad search: we seek a scientist who does pioneering work on ecological systems at any scale, from the molecular to the global, exploring such dimensions as dynamics, diversity, processes, and change, using any relevant approaches.
Professorship of Plant Development The Board of Electors to the Professorship of Plant Development invite applications from individuals whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to take up the appointment at the Sainsbury Laboratory at Cambridge University as soon as possible.
Research Group Leader We are seeking to appoint a research Group Leader, with imaginative research ideas, to advance our understanding of plant development, who can both contribute to and benefit from this environment. It is critical that the appointee is willing to engage in the Sainsbury Laboratory's collaborative research environment and mentoring ethos.
Associate or Senior Editor Do you love science but feel that a career at the bench isn’t enough to sate your desire to learn more about the natural world? Do you enjoy reading papers outside your chosen area of research? If the answer to these questions is yes, you could be the person we’re looking for to join the editorial team of Nature Plants. This is a great opportunity to learn and develop editorial skills, to interact with a multidisciplinary team and be on top of what is happening at the forefront of plant research.
Postdoctoral Scholar A Postdoctoral Scholar position is available in the lab of Jesse R. Lasky (laskylab.org) in the Department of Biology at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Lab goals are to understand the processes that generate and maintain genetic diversity within species. Specifically, the lab studies mechanisms of local adaptation to environment, ecological and evolutionary response to environmental change, invasion, and species interactions.
Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biochemistry Vanderbilt University invites applications for a tenure-track, faculty position in evolutionary biochemistry at the Assistant Professor rank. Investigators that apply experimental, engineering, and/or computational approaches to understand a) how proteins or other structural and catalytic features of cells evolve or b) how metabolic pathways evolve are particularly encouraged to apply.
Assistant/Associate Professor in Genomics The Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development (GCD) at the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities has multiple tenure-track openings at the Assistant and Associate Professor levels. We seek applicants in the broad area of genomics, and especially those whose research answers critical questions in developmental biology or human health.
PhD position on Plant Immunity You will join the group of Dr. Sueldo, a newly established research group within the Multiscale Biology section investigating the molecular mechanisms underpinning plant cell death execution and regulation during stress. Your project will aim at understanding the role of ‘death signals’ in mediating cell-cell communication during plant cell death.
Postdoctoral Fellow in Plant-Microbe Interactions For this project, we are looking for four postdocs to join our team in Tübingen, Toulouse or New York, and two technicians for our team in Toulouse or New York. Our project includes a range of sophisticated approaches, from extensive and systematic analyses of microbiome activities in natural settings to ultra-high-throughput infection assays in the lab and advanced modeling of community dynamics, in collaboration with Mary Sara McPeek and Stefano Allesina from the University of Chicago. Preferred applicants will have a background in any of the following areas: plant-microbe or plant-pathogen interactions, microbial evolution, ecological and evolutionary genomics, high-throughput assays, large-scale field experiments, ecological modeling.
Postdoctoral Researcher- plant genomics and epigenetics The post holder will work very closely with a postdoctoral researcher (proteomics) based at Rothamsted Research and a postdoctoral researcher (pangenome construction and QTL analysis) based at University College London. The Rothamsted postdoctoral researchers will be supported by a full-time technician.
FT Faculty Biology We seek a colleague who conducts research in ecology, with interests that link to and complement existing departmental strengths in ecology and evolution, systematics, bioinformatics, and science education. In addition, there are many opportunities for collaborative and cross-disciplinary links across campus and with the Lytle Ranch Preserve and the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. The successful applicant will be expected to maintain an externally funded research program involving both undergraduate and graduate students.Â
Post-Doctoral Associate The postdoctoral research associate will conduct research on factors that may contribute to a higher probability of outliers in breeding populations. Opportunities are available for research on other topics of interest and for engagement with a broad set of activities at the Plant Breeding Center (https://plantbreed.umn.edu/).
Post-doc position in Genomic Prediction and Association Genetics Jobs and vacancies at SLU. Read more about each job by clicking the job title. Please, follow the instructions closely when applying.
Research Scientist - Molecular Plant Pathology As the successful candidate, you will be a part of a larger, high performing, multidisciplinary project team working with agribusiness to research biofungicide production and evaluation in crop protection. You will functionally evaluate biofungicides in vitro and in planta within controlled environments. Most activities will be laboratory, glasshouse and office based, but occasionally field work will be required. To be successful, you will be able to demonstrate relevant knowledge and experience in all these environments.
Postdoctoral Fellow Position in systems biology of photosynthesis The Burlacot lab is opening on October 1, 2021 at the Department of Plant Biology of the Carnegie Institution for Science. We will start a scientific journey in the study of the molecular mechanisms that allow photosynthesis to be the major CO2 cycling mechanism in the atmosphere. We are seeking for a highly motivated and creative person to start developing new methods for understanding the response of algal photosynthesis to fluctuating environments. We aim to recruit highly motivated and creative people with strong training in quantitative biophysics/ photosynthesis/ algal biology.Â
Postdoctoral associate: the molecular basis of plant control over arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis We are hiring a postdoctoral associate to investigate the molecular signaling mechanisms that govern the interaction of plants with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Postdoctoral Fellow The ideal candidate will be a plant biologist who has experience working with Canola and has expertise in root phenotyping, quantitative genetics and plant molecular biology. Ideal candidates should be intellectually curious, highly productive, driven to uncover new and impactful biology and to apply this knowledge to the larger problem of climate change, and enjoy working in a committed and diverse team. The postdoc will join a vibrant group of molecular biologists, plant geneticists and computational biologists to work in a team that is determined to address a global problem with the power of plant biology.
Postdoctoral Research Associate The successful candidate will work in the Henderson group to further explore and characterise the genetic and epigenetic structure of the Arabidopsis centromeres, or the centromeres of other plant species. The scope of the project is flexible, depending on the interests and experience of the applicant and could include, (i) mapping centromeric structure and recombination using long read sequencing, (ii) analysis of the centromeric ATHILA retrotransposons, and/or (iii) bioinformatics analysis of centromere satellite sequences. We are interested to identify candidates with either strong experimental or computational backgrounds, or those wishing to combine both approaches.
Postdoc in plant developmental biology We are recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work on a two-year project (extension possible) aimed at manipulating plant development using microProtein engineering. MicroProteins are small single-domain proteins that have been shown to control diverse biological pathways (see e.g. Hong et al., PNAS, 2020). In the project we will employ a combination of genome-engineering approaches and protein engineering in tomato to modulate microProtein expression and activity.
PostDoc-PanGenomics We are recruiting a postdoctoral researcher for a three-year funded position to join our lab at the University of California Davis. You will work closely with our group and international collaborators to investigate pan-genomes in genetically diverse collections of pistachio and/or cassava, crops that are becoming increasingly important due to climate change. In addition to opportunities to lead analysis of recently generated existing data, you will be able to work closely with the UC Davis Genome Center to create new population-scale whole genome sequencing datasets using PacBio HiFi, Illumina, and BioNano technologies.
Director of Education The Director of Education oversees the education area at Urban Ecology Center including environmental education, outdoor recreation and other community programs, volunteer engagement, and the green career pathway program. The Director of Education reports to the Managing Director. This position guides educational program development and delivery, and educational evaluation. It supports volunteer recruitment and training. It assists with fund development, budget planning and management, membership engagement, and internal and external communication.
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