Новости науки и практики // Июнь 2021

What makes plant cell walls both strong and extensible?

New model reveals that a network of cellulose is key to this unique combination.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/ps-wmp051021.php

An Arabidopsis lipid map reveals differences between tissues and dynamic changes throughout development

Kehelpannala et al. leveraged a robust pipeline that they previously established to extract and analyze lipid profiles of different tissues and developmental stages from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. They analyzed seven tissues at several different developmental stages and identified more than 200 lipids from each tissue analyzed. The data were used to create a web-accessible in silico lipid map that has been integrated into an electronic Fluorescent Pictograph (eFP) browser.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350960343_An_Arabidopsis_lipid_map_reveals_differences_between_tissues_and_dynamic_changes_throughout_development

Cellular export of sugars and amino acids: Role in feeding other cells and organisms

Kim et al. provide an update on the status of research on intercellular and long-distance translocation of key metabolites such as sucrose and amino acids, communication of the plants with the root microbiota via root exudates, discuss the existence of transporters for other important metabolites and provide potential perspectives that may direct future research activities.

https://academic.oup.com/plphys/advance-article/doi/10.1093/plphys/kiab228/6279097

How do plants hedge their bets?

Scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) used the model plant, thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), to ask: What makes genetically identical seeds germinate at different times?

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/uoc-hdp060121.php

Turn problems into opportunities: Photorespiration for improved plant metabolism

Researchers from the Gain4Crops project have now succeeded in engineering a solution that connects photorespiration and C4 metabolism, two of the main targets in plant metabolism.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/i-tpi051821.php

Ancient seeds spill secrets about the evolution of flowering plants

The origin and rapid diversification of flowering plants is a long-standing “abominable mystery”, as Charles Darwin put it. Part of the puzzle – the origin of the protective covering of flowering-plant seeds – is nearing resolution.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01347-7

Researchers reveal how PIF proteins regulate cytokinesis

To protect their newly formed fragile organs, dark-grown dicotyledonous plants form an apical hook when penetrating through the soil. The apical hook of pifq (pif1 pif3 pif4 pif5) mutant was fully opened, even in complete darkness, suggesting that PIF proteins are required for maintaining the apical hook in the darkness and are involved in regulation of the apical hook opening. But the underlying mechanism for PIF proteins mediated apical hook development remains elusive.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/caos-rrh051121.php

Stretch-activated ion channels identified in the touch-sensitive structures of carnivorous Droseraceae plants

In response to touch, some carnivorous plants such as the Venus flytrap have evolved spectacular movements to capture animals for nutrient acquisition. However, the molecules that confer this sensitivity remain unknown. Procko et al. used comparative transcriptomics to show that expression of three genes encoding homologs of the MscS-Like (MSL) and OSCA/TMEM63 family of mechanosensitive ion channels are localized to touch-sensitive trigger hairs of Venus flytrap.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/64250

A chloroplast redox relay adapts plastid metabolism to light and affects cytosolic protein quality control

Ojeda et al. studied the functional relationship of NTRC and 2-Cys Prxs by a comparative analysis of the triple Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant, ntrc-2cpab, which lacks NTRC and 2-Cys Prxs, and the double mutant 2cpab, which lacks 2-Cys Prxs.

https://academic.oup.com/plphys/advance-article/doi/10.1093/plphys/kiab246/6284975

Physiological and molecular attributes contribute to high night temperature tolerance in cereals

Schaarschmidt et al. provide a summary of current knowledge on the physiological and molecular basis of contrasting high night termperature tolerance in rice and wheat cultivars.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350386897_Physiological_and_molecular_attributes_contribute_to_high_night_temperature_tolerance_in_cereals

How plants leave behind their parents' genomic baggage

Martienssen's team discovered that after baby plants remove the epigenetic modifications, the SUVH9 protein puts back the ones they need to survive. Without SUVH9, plants develop poorly because the wrong genes turn on at the wrong time.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/cshl-hpl052021.php

Evolutionarily conserved hierarchical gene regulatory networks for plant salt stress response

To understand how such gene regulatory networks (GRNs) have stabilized evolutionarily while allowing for species-specific responses, Wu et al. compare the GRNs underlying salt response in the early-diverging and late-diverging plants Marchantia polymorpha and Arabidopsis thaliana.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00929-7

Auxin fluxes through plasmodesmata - Band

Studies have shown that plasmodesmatal auxin diffusion affects developmental processes, including phototropism, lateral root emergence and leaf hyponasty. This short Tansley insight review describes how these studies have contributed to our understanding of auxin dynamics and discusses potential future directions in this area.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7132777/

Molecular insights into the complex mechanics of plant epidermal cell walls

Layers of intertwined fibers make up plant cell walls. The various types of fibers respond differently to deformation. Cellulose microfibrils, for example, can stretch or curve, changing their end-to-end length, and can also slide past each other, reorient relative directions, and bundle with neighboring microfibrils. Zhang et al. developed a computational model based on observations of onion skin epidermis that describes how these complex changes in space govern cell wall mechanics

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/706

New cyanobacteria species spotlights early life

Anthocerotibacter panamensis, a newly discovered species of cyanobacteria, can help researchers study the dawn of oxygenic photosynthesis.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/bti-ncs051421.php

Clade III cytokinin response factors share common roles in response to oxidative stress responses linked to cytokinin synthesis

Hughes et al. explored the relationships between Clade III CRFs and oxidative stress. Transcriptomic responses to oxidative stress were determined in two Clade III transcription factors, Arabidopsis AtCRF5 and tomato SlCRF5. AtCRF5 was required for regulated expression of >240 genes that are involved in oxidative stress response.

https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article-abstract/72/8/3294/6146591?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Scientists identify protein that activates plant response to nitrogen deficiency

In a new study published in Nature Plants, researchers at Nagoya University, Japan, have identified a plant enzyme that is key to activating a nitrate uptake mechanism in response to nitrogen starvation. This finding explains how plants meet their needs in challenging environments, opening doors to improving agriculture in such environments.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/nu-sip053021.php

Plant-microbe homeostasis: A delicate balancing act

A subset of commensal bacteria is able to suppress a sector of the plant immune system and colonize plant roots when both immune-suppressive and non-suppressive bacteria are present, in the context of a microbial community.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/mpif-pha052021.php

Microalgae biofuels: Changing carbohydrates into lipids

A cross-institutional collaboration has developed a technique to repartition carbon resources from carbohydrates to lipids in microalgae. It is hoped that this method can be applied to biofuel production.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/ku-mbc050521.php

Steering the soil microbiome by repeated litter addition

Veen et al. study effects of repeated litter additions on soil microbial community structure and functioning.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350605251_Steering_the_soil_microbiome_by_repeated_litter_addition

An illuminating possibility for stroke treatment: Nano-photosynthesis

Plants and some microbes produce oxygen through photosynthesis. What if there was a way to make photosynthesis happen in the brains of patients? Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have done just that in cells and in mice, using blue-green algae and special nanoparticles, in a proof-of-concept demonstration.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/acs-aip051321.php

Угрожают ли химеры гипотезе «мира РНК»?

https://elementy.ru/novosti_nauki/433815/Ugrozhayut_li_khimery_gipoteze_mira_RNK

Madagascar's vanishing trees

Madagascar has a documented 2,900 endemic species of trees, but a new report shows that almost two-thirds of them are in danger of disappearing.

https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/madagascars-vanishing-trees/