Nature Plants

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Phosphorus availability tunes root architecture through TOR signaling. Pathways are represented without implying temporal or spatial sequence. Positive and negative regulation is denoted by arrowheads and flat-ended lines, respectively. (A) Nutrient control of TOR signaling. The TOR complex 1 (TORC1) integrates multiple mineral nutrient signals, including sulfur (S), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), and potassium (K). Sulfate is transported via SULTRs, activating TOR. Nitrate, imported through NRTs, stimulates TOR via the ROP2 GTPase. Phosphate uptake through PHTs enhances ARSK1 expression and activity, which phosphorylates RAPTOR1B, activating TOR. Conversely, phosphate limitation lifts repression of PSR1 and ARSK1, which inhibits TORC. Iron is taken up via IRTs and eventually influences TORC activity.

🌱🧬 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🧬🌱

TORC1 integrates phosphorus and iron signals to regulate root architecture under stress, revealing key mechanisms of root plasticity and offering novel strategies to improve phosphorus use efficiency in crops – Choi et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

Fig. 2 Integrative proteomics approaches for data-driven reconstruction of kinase signaling.

#TansleyInsight: Masters of perception: phosphorylation-dependent signaling in plants

Mark Roosjen, Justin W. Walley & Dolf Weijers
👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience

Two new papers about DICER-LIKE 4:

Article: "Molecular basis of plant DCL4 action that outcompetes DCL2" rdcu.be/e6YJV

Letter: "Molecular basis of DRB4-assisted long RNA processing and 21-nucleotide siRNA biogenesis by DCL4 in plants" rdcu.be/e6YLC

Now with a News & Views: "Engineered TnpB boosts virus-mediated editing" rdcu.be/e6GG5

Virus-mediated, heritable, tissue culture-free and transgene-free gene editing is enhanced by an engineered TnpB variant in Nicotiana benthamiana.

New OA Article: "High-frequency biparental inheritance of plant mitochondria upon chilling stress and loss of a genome-degrading nuclease" rdcu.be/e6GEA

Maternal inheritance of mitochondria breaks down in cold when a mitochondrial DNA degrading nuclease is defective.

I'd like to remind everyone that CAM has evolved as many if not more times than C4. There are entire biomes where CAM is dominant. If you like tequila, or pineapple, or your pretty orchid you got at the grocery store, you can thank CAM.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk. Or CAMtalk as it were.

Cassava crops under a spreading viral threat As climate change reshapes Africa’s agricultural zones, cassava brown streak disease is moving into new regions, threatening a critical buffer against hunger.

"Cassava crops under a spreading viral threat"
www.nature.com/articles/d44...

As climate change reshapes Africa’s agricultural zones, cassava brown streak disease is moving into new regions, threatening a critical buffer against hunger.

"The challenge is that CBSD is caused by two viruses"

The February issue is fully online, with a cover depicting a close-up of clonal plantlets from the amazing Kalanchoe nicknamed "Mother of thousands":
www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

Now with a News & Views: "Hybrid potatoes: Rooting for heterosis" rdcu.be/e6oZr

An approach enabling accelerated breeding strategies and bringing potato in line with other key food crops such as maize and rice that exploit heterosis.

New OA Article: "Photorespiration is linked to DNA methylation by formate as a one-carbon source" rdcu.be/e6oUz

Arabidopsis reassimilates formate produced during photorespiration via the cytosolic folate cycle to fuel DNA methylation: a metabolic–epigenetic bridge.

New Editorial: "Celebrating photosynthesis" rdcu.be/e6oTm

Photosynthesis is both an elegantly simple and dazzlingly complex process. The year 2026 marks anniversaries of the discoveries of both of these layers.

New Article: "The overlooked role of root water content in the root economics space" rdcu.be/e6oK2

Combining metabolic theory with global datasets, Li et al. show that root water content is a stronger predictor of root growth traits than the widely considered root N.

New Letter: "High-efficiency, transgene-free plant genome editing by viral delivery of an engineered TnpB" rdcu.be/e4XHZ

Viral vectors to deliver engineered smaller RNA-guided endonucleases eTnpBc, achieving high levels of somatic and heritable editing in plants.

New Article: "A distorter–restorer system drives quantitative reproductive isolation in rice" rdcu.be/e4XHC

The S44 locus is a unique quadripartite distorter–restorer system governing reproductive isolation between O. longistaminata and other rice lineages...

Announcing the publication of TAIR12: Consult the fully reannotated genome on the European Nucleotide Archive - Phoenix Bioinformatics TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource), together with our nonprofit host Phoenix Bioinformatics, is pleased to announce the public release of TAIR12

🎉📣 #TAIR12, the latest reannotation of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, is now available under accession number PRJEB100887 on ENA and NCBI!

Thank you all the volunteer researchers whose hard work has made this possible!

#plantscience #plantbiology 🧪

bit.ly/3ZHtneT

Rising atmospheric CO2 reduces nitrogen availability in boreal forests - Nature Nitrogen isotope tree-ring chronologies show that rising atmospheric CO2 has reduced nitrogen availability in boreal forests in Sweden, suggesting that elevated atmospheric CO2 is causing oligotrophic...

Rising atmospheric CO2 reduces nitrogen availability in boreal forests

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

B-box proteins bridge environmental stimuli and developmental reprogramming, being candidates for crop breeding strategies.

Multifaceted roles of BBX transcription factors: impacts on key agronomical traits and environmental resilience

#TansleyReview by Lira et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#plantscience

Our editors write:

- Plant–microbe interaction: Root engineering blocks methanogens rdcu.be/e4yJc

- Marchantia immunity: Fungi genes to fight fungi rdcu.be/e4yJl

New Article: "Deep learning-based semantic matching of cis-regulatory DNA sequences facilitates the prediction of gene function" rdcu.be/e4yHX

PhytoBabel is an AI model designed to capture the semantic similarity of cis-regulatory sequences across distant species.

New Letter: "Generating self-incompatible hybrid potatoes through haploid breeding" rdcu.be/e4pj2

Self-incompatible diploid potatoes via haploid breeding. F1 hybrids prevent fruit set, redirect C to tubers, increase the harvest index and enable hybrid seed production.

New Article: "A feedback regulatory loop by MAPK–CCA1 engages auxin signalling to stimulate root foraging for nitrate" rdcu.be/e39v1

Nitrate sensing by NLP7 engages a MEKK–MAPK cascade to phosphorylate the circadian clock protein CCA1, establishing a + feedback loop...

Model of signaling pathways during compatible and self-incompatible responses in Brassicaceae.

#TansleyReview: Cellular signaling during pollen-stigma interaction in #Brassicaceae

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Zhang et al.

@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience

Dihydroxyhexanoic acid biosynthesis controls turgor in pathogenic fungi Many plant pathogenic fungi penetrate host surfaces mechanically, using turgor pressure generated by specialized infection cells called appressoria. These appressoria develop semipermeable cell walls ...

Out in @science.org this week, two fungal enzymes synthesise DHHA, which controls cell wall porosity and turgor in plant pathogenic fungi www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#mycology
#plantscience

New review from P Genschik’s team in
@jxbotany.bsky.social 🧬 A fresh look at the huge diversity and functions of plant F-box proteins.
👉 Open questions & new perspectives for 🌱 biology.
▶️https://academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jxb/erag074/8475508?redirectedFrom=fulltext

An excellent occasion to quote this line from the great poet René Char:

"La lucidité est la blessure la plus rapprochée du soleil"

"Lucidity is the wound closest to the sun".

"The most uncomfortable part for me is that I no longer think that scientific research will resolve the crises that we face."

"I keep doing research not because I think it will save us, but because it would be a form of surrender to stop seeking understanding."

Our editors write:

- Dormancy release: A florigen prepares for spring rdcu.be/e3ytg

- Sustainable forest management: Decentralized forestry governance exacerbates rural inequalities rdcu.be/e3ytm

Now with a Research Briefing: "Mitochondrial fusion safeguards stomatal defence in plants" rdcu.be/e3rYy

Plants close their stomata to block pathogen entry. Here: immune signalling promotes needed MIRO1-dependent mitochondrial fusion in guard cells.

New OA Article: "Stages of biomolecular condensate formation in pro-β-carboxysome assembly" rdcu.be/e3yri

Carboxysomes are cyanobacterial CO2-concentrating compartments with a proteinaceous shell. Here: elucidation of the role of the shell adaptor protein ApN.

A research team, incl. @leibnizipk.bsky.social, used rapeseed to demonstrate the interrelationship between genetic variation, transcriptional regulation, microbiome composition and nutritional phenotypes. All results in @natplants.nature.com.

➡️PR: tinyurl.com/2m78uau8
➡️Paper: tinyurl.com/386kczms