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Integrative and Comparative Biology Jun 2024Since the late 1800s, anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuel consumption and deforestation have driven up the concentration of atmospheric CO2 around the globe by...
Since the late 1800s, anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuel consumption and deforestation have driven up the concentration of atmospheric CO2 around the globe by more than 45%. Such heightened concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a leading contributor to global climate change with estimates of a 2-5 degree increase in global air temperature by the end of the century. While such climatic changes are mostly considered detrimental, a great deal of experimental work has shown that increased atmospheric CO2 will actually increase growth in various plants, which may lead to increased biomass for potential harvesting or CO2 sequestration. However, it is not clear whether this increase in growth or biomass will be beneficial to the plants, as such increases may lead to weaker plant materials. In this review, I examine our current understanding of how elevated atmospheric CO2 caused by anthropogenic effects may influence plant material properties focusing on potential effects on wood. For the first part of the review, I explore how aspects of wood anatomy and structure influence resistance to bending and breakage. This information is then used to review how changes in CO2 levels may later these aspects of wood anatomy and structure in ways that have mechanical consequences. The major pattern that emerges is that the consequences of elevated CO2 on wood properties is highly dependent on species, and environment, with different tree species showing contradictory responses to atmospheric changes. In the end, I describe a couple avenues for future research into better understanding the influence of atmospheric CO2 levels on plant biomaterial mechanics.
PubMed: 38918057
DOI: 10.1093/icb/icae081 -
International Journal of Food... May 2024Alternaria alternata is part of a genus comprised of over 600 different species that occur all over the world and cause damage to humans, plants and thereby to the...
Alternaria alternata is part of a genus comprised of over 600 different species that occur all over the world and cause damage to humans, plants and thereby to the economy. Yet, even though some species are causing tremendous issues, the past years have shown that assigning newly found isolates to known species was rather inconsistent. Most identifications are usually done on the basis of spore morphology, chemotype and molecular markers. In this work we used strains isolated from the wild as well as commercial strains of the DSMZ (German collection of microorganisms and cell cultures) as a reference, to show, that the variation within the Alternaria alternata species is comparable to the variation between different species of the genus Alternaria in regards to spore morphology and chemotype. We compared the different methods of identification and discerned the concatenation of multiple molecular markers as the deciding factor for better identification. Up until this point, usually a concatenation of two or three traditional molecular markers was used. Some of those markers being stronger some weaker. We show that the concatenation of five molecular markers improves the likeliness of a correct assignment, thus a better distinction between the different Alternaria species.
PubMed: 38917488
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2024.110746 -
The Plant Cell Jun 2024Although the strigolactone (SL) signaling pathway and SL-mediated anthocyanin biosynthesis have been reported, the molecular association between SL signaling and...
Although the strigolactone (SL) signaling pathway and SL-mediated anthocyanin biosynthesis have been reported, the molecular association between SL signaling and anthocyanin biosynthesis remains unclear. In this study, we identified the SL signal transduction pathway associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis and the crosstalk between gibberellin (GA) and SL signaling in apple (Malus × domestica). ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 (HY5) acts as a key node integrating SL signaling and anthocyanin biosynthesis, and the SL response factor AGAMOUS-LIKE MADS-BOX9 (AGL9) promotes anthocyanin biosynthesis by activating HY5 transcription. The SL signaling repressor SUPPRESSOR OF MAX2 1-LIKE8 (SMXL8) interacts with AGL9 to form a complex that inhibits anthocyanin biosynthesis by downregulating HY5 expression. Moreover, the E3 ubiquitin ligase PROTEOLYSIS1 (PRT1) mediates the ubiquitination-mediated degradation of SMXL8, which is a key part of the SL signal transduction pathway associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis. In addition, the GA signaling repressor REPRESSOR-of-ga1-3-LIKE2a (RGL2a) mediates the crosstalk between GA and SL by disrupting the SMXL8-AGL9 interaction that represses HY5 transcription. Taken together, our study reveals the regulatory mechanism of SL-mediated anthocyanin biosynthesis and uncovers the role of SL-GA crosstalk in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple.
PubMed: 38917246
DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koae191 -
Plant Disease Jun 2024Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated industrial crops worldwide. From April to July 2023, about 40% of tobacco seedlings in the greenhouse...
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated industrial crops worldwide. From April to July 2023, about 40% of tobacco seedlings in the greenhouse exhibited irregular taupe lesions in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. At an early stage of the lesion development, light grey spots with the diameter of 1-2 mm were observed, these spots gradually expanded and connected into large irregular lesions causing leaf wrinkling or withered. A total of 12 infected leaf tissues were sterilized with 75% ethanol for 45 s, rinsed three times in sterilized water and then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium for 10 days at 28°C in darkness. Seven fungal colonies that show the similar appearance were isolated and three of them (MB-1, MB-2 and MB-3) were used for subsequent identification. Colonies of these strains on PDA with loose mycelium and orange-red pigment on the underside, white aerial in the center and light yellow hyphae near the periphery, formed in the shape of a concentric ring pattern. Ascomata appeared from the 14th day, were black, spherical or ellipsoid with walls of textura angularis, and size was 53.8-101.1 μm × 50.3-104.3 μm (n=30). Terminal hairs were brown and straight, gradually tapering toward the tips. Asci clavate or fusiform, spore bearing part 16.2-29.2 × 7.3-11.4 μm (n=21), with 8 irregularly arranged ascospores, evanescent. Ascospores are brown at maturity, biapiculate, navicular or fusiform shapes with size of 8.7-12.8 μm × 4.8-6.9 μm (n=100), and more or less inaequilateral. Single spore strains derived from these strains exhibited the morphological features consistent with the original strains. The morphological characteristics of the fungus were consistent with the description of Arcopilus aureus (Chivers) X.W. Wang & Samson (= Chaetomium aureum Chivers) (Lee et al. 2019). Furthermore, the sequences of RPB2 region were amplified from these strains and the result sequences (GenBank accession no. OR513105-OR513108) all showed a 100.00% identity with A. aureus strain CBS 538.73 (GenBank accession no. KX976807.1). It was reported that the RPB2 gene was efficient in discriminating Arcopilus species (Tavares et al. 2022), thus a maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree based on the RPB2 gene sequences were constructed using MEGA 7.0 with 1000 replications of bootstrapping (Kumar et al. 2016), which revealed that these strains formed a well-supported clade with A. aureus strains of (CBS 153.52 and CBS538.73) (Wang et al. 2022). Pathogenicity analysis were performed on healthy flue-cured tobacco seedlings leaves (cv Y85) by using mycelial agar plugs (5 mm in diameter) and spore suspension (1×106 spores/mL), and the PDA plugs and sterile water were used for control group, respectively. Tobacco seedlings were incubated in a 25°C and 70% RH growth chamber. After seven days, the leaves showed obvious symptoms, with taupe lesions and yellow halos on the periphery, whereas no symptoms were found on the control leaves. The A. aureu was then reisolated from inoculated diseased leaves. Previously, A. aureus has been only reported to cause leaf black disease on Pseudostellaria heterophylla in China (Yuan et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first reported of A. aureus causing tobacco leaf grey spot worldwide. Arcopilus aureus has been reported as a plant biocontrol fungus (Wang et al. 2013). However, due to the potential serious damage in tobacco seedlings caused by this fungus, the use of A. aureus as a plant biocontrol agent needs to be given more attention, and disease control measures of this pathogen should be developed.
PubMed: 38916906
DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-04-24-0840-PDN -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Jul 2024Negative density dependence (NDD) in biotic interactions of interference such as plant-plant competition, granivory and herbivory are well-documented mechanisms that...
Negative density dependence (NDD) in biotic interactions of interference such as plant-plant competition, granivory and herbivory are well-documented mechanisms that promote species' coexistence in diverse plant communities worldwide. Here, we investigated the generality of a novel type of NDD mechanism that operates through the mutualistic interactions of frugivory and seed dispersal among fruit-eating birds and plants. By sampling community-wide frugivory interactions at high spatial and temporal resolution in Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Peru, Brazil and Argentina, we evaluated whether interaction frequencies between birds and fruit resources occurred more often (selection), as expected, or below expectations (under-utilization) set by the relative fruit abundance of the fruit resources of each plant species. Our models considered the influence of temporal scales of fruit availability and bird phylogeny and diets, revealing that NDD characterizes frugivory across communities. Irrespective of taxa or dietary guild, birds tended to select fruits of plant species that were proportionally rare in their communities, or that became rare following phenological fluctuations, while they mostly under-utilized abundant fruit resources. Our results demonstrate that negative density-dependence in frugivore-plant interactions provides a strong equalizing mechanism for the dispersal processes of fleshy-fruited plant species in temperate and tropical communities, likely contributing to building and sustaining plant diversity. This article is part of the theme issue 'Diversitydependence of dispersal: interspecific interactions determine spatial dynamics'.
Topics: Animals; Birds; Fruit; Symbiosis; Seed Dispersal; Feeding Behavior; Population Density; Herbivory; Argentina; Pennsylvania; Brazil; Puerto Rico
PubMed: 38913067
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0128 -
Heliyon Jun 2024Chickpea is an important cash crop for Ada'a farmers as it does for farmers in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world. Its production, however, has been dwindling due to...
Chickpea is an important cash crop for Ada'a farmers as it does for farmers in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world. Its production, however, has been dwindling due to biotic and abiotic stresses. According to participant farmers from Ada'a district, the production of chickpea in some Kebeles of Ada'a such as has been abandoned because of root rot and foliar diseases such as fusarium wilt. This paper presents the evaluation of upscaled varieties' performance assessed by metric data as well as through beneficiary farmers' self-assessment data. Recognizant to the problem, five varieties of chickpea tested in the Goro district of the Southwest Shoa zone, were introduced as part of the upscaling of crowdsourcing winner crop varieties in Ethiopia. Crowdsourcing is an approach of outsourcing variety evaluation, selection, and dissemination to volunteer crowds of farmers. The introduction of the winner varieties and adjustment of the planting time was found effective in the Ada'a district. Higher grain yield was obtained from the upscaled winner varieties in the range of 2.4-2.53 t/ha, with slight variations over varieties. variety showed slightly higher performance than the others. Survey participant farmers have reported an increase in GY due to growing the winner varieties compared with varieties they used to grow before and gained higher annual income due to higher productivity, market demand of the upscaled varieties, and premium market price with 6-25 Ethiopian birr (ETB) per kilogram of sold grain of these varieties. High productivity is attributed to the genetic potential of the varieties, their response to farm management, and better adaptation to the local growing conditions. Participant farmers perceived that their livelihood has been improving because of the adoption of the upscaled varieties' productivity and market demand. The annual income of participant farmers is estimated to be 2500 to 181,000 ETB for growing the winner varieties. The results indicate that upscaling pre-tested chickpea varieties and delaying their planting time to early September are effective mechanisms for reducing yield loss to fusarium wilt and root rot diseases. It can be inferred that using the crowdsourcing approach for variety evaluation and selection for upscaling is a robust approach to improve the adoption and dissemination of improved agricultural technologies.
PubMed: 38912462
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32269 -
PhytoKeys 2024Caesalpinioideae is the second largest subfamily of legumes (Leguminosae) with ca. 4680 species and 163 genera. It is an ecologically and economically important group...
Caesalpinioideae is the second largest subfamily of legumes (Leguminosae) with ca. 4680 species and 163 genera. It is an ecologically and economically important group formed of mostly woody perennials that range from large canopy emergent trees to functionally herbaceous geoxyles, lianas and shrubs, and which has a global distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. Following the recent re-circumscription of 15 Caesalpinioideae genera as presented in Advances in Legume Systematics 14, Part 1, and using as a basis a phylogenomic analysis of 997 nuclear gene sequences for 420 species and all but five of the genera currently recognised in the subfamily, we present a new higher-level classification for the subfamily. The new classification of Caesalpinioideae comprises eleven tribes, all of which are either new, reinstated or re-circumscribed at this rank: Caesalpinieae Rchb. (27 genera / ca. 223 species), Campsiandreae LPWG (2 / 5-22), Cassieae Bronn (7 / 695), Ceratonieae Rchb. (4 / 6), Dimorphandreae Benth. (4 / 35), Erythrophleeae LPWG (2 /13), Gleditsieae Nakai (3 / 20), Mimoseae Bronn (100 / ca. 3510), Pterogyneae LPWG (1 / 1), Schizolobieae Nakai (8 / 42-43), Sclerolobieae Benth. & Hook. f. (5 / ca. 113). Although many of these lineages have been recognised and named in the past, either as tribes or informal generic groups, their circumscriptions have varied widely and changed over the past decades, such that all the tribes described here differ in generic membership from those previously recognised. Importantly, the approximately 3500 species and 100 genera of the former subfamily Mimosoideae are now placed in the reinstated, but newly circumscribed, tribe Mimoseae. Because of the large size and ecological importance of the tribe, we also provide a clade-based classification system for Mimoseae that includes 17 named lower-level clades. Fourteen of the 100 Mimoseae genera remain unplaced in these lower-level clades: eight are resolved in two grades and six are phylogenetically isolated monogeneric lineages. In addition to the new classification, we provide a key to genera, morphological descriptions and notes for all 163 genera, all tribes, and all named clades. The diversity of growth forms, foliage, flowers and fruits are illustrated for all genera, and for each genus we also provide a distribution map, based on quality-controlled herbarium specimen localities. A glossary for specialised terms used in legume morphology is provided. This new phylogenetically based classification of Caesalpinioideae provides a solid system for communication and a framework for downstream analyses of biogeography, trait evolution and diversification, as well as for taxonomic revision of still understudied genera.
PubMed: 38912426
DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.240.101716 -
Applications in Plant Sciences 2024Global anthropogenic change threatens the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. Assisted migration and reforestation are tools to help mitigate these impacts....
PREMISE
Global anthropogenic change threatens the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. Assisted migration and reforestation are tools to help mitigate these impacts. However, questions remain about how to approach sourcing seeds to ensure high establishment and future adaptability.
METHODS
Using exome-capture sequencing, we demonstrate a computational approach to finding the best -sets from a candidate list of seed sources that collectively achieve high genetic diversity (GD) and minimal genetic load (GL), while also increasing evolvability in quantitative traits. The benefits of this three-part strategy (diversity-load-evolvability) are to increase near-term establishment success while also boosting evolutionary potential to respond to future stressors. Members of The Nature Conservancy and the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative planted 58,000 seedlings across 255 acres. A subset of seedlings was monitored for establishment success and variation in growth.
RESULTS
The results show gains in GD relative to GL and increases in quantitative genetic variation in seedling growth for pooled vs. single-source restoration. No single "super source" was observed across planting sites; rather, monitoring results demonstrate that pooling of multiple sources helps achieve higher GD:GL and evolvability.
DISCUSSION
Our study shows the potential for integrating genomics into local-scale restoration and the importance of building partnerships between academic researchers and applied conservation managers.
PubMed: 38912128
DOI: 10.1002/aps3.11600 -
Biodiversity Data Journal 2024Orenburg Region is located in the South Urals, mostly in the steppe zone and is characterised by various landscapes suitable for many Chenopodiaceae. The species of...
BACKGROUND
Orenburg Region is located in the South Urals, mostly in the steppe zone and is characterised by various landscapes suitable for many Chenopodiaceae. The species of Chenopodiaceae are present in all major plant communities (saline vegetation, steppes, on limestone, chalk and sand, and as degraded or ruderal communities). In the steppe zone, many native subshrubby species (, , ) playing a crucial role in semi-deserts (known as southern steppes in the recent Russian literature) located southwards of Orenburg Region are locally found, and several annuals (, spp.) are most common dominants in plant communities. Some typical semi-desert species (, , , ) are found in the easternmost part of the region.
NEW INFORMATION
We compiled a checklist of Chenopodiaceae in Orenburg Region, with two new records (, ), based on our critical revision, comprehensive inventory of herbarium specimens and documented observations and field research. In total, we report 76 species in the Region, which is the third-highest number of the Chenopodiaceae species compared with other administrative territories of European Russia, North Caucasus and West Siberia. Alien and native taxa are distinguished. Zonal patterns of species distributions are confirmed. A preliminary conservation status is proposed for each native species. Three species are recommended for exclusion from the Red Data Book of Orenburg Region: (because of its extensive distribution), and (because of the lack of actual threat to their populations). and are considered threatened (Vulnerable) because of their restricted occurrence and population size and because their localities are under anthropogenic pressure. , , , , , , , , , and are excluded from the checklist, based on various reasons as discussed in the paper. Point distribution maps are provided for each species. (Vahl) Link is accepted as the correct authorship instead of "M.Bieb. ex C.A.Mey."
PubMed: 38912112
DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.12.e121541 -
Plant Science : An International... Jun 2024Vegetative propagation through cutting is a widely used clonal approach for maintaining desired genotypes. However, some woody species have difficulty forming...
Vegetative propagation through cutting is a widely used clonal approach for maintaining desired genotypes. However, some woody species have difficulty forming adventitious roots (ARs) with this approach, including yellow camellia (YC) C. nitidissima. Yellow camellias, prized for their ornamental value and potential health benefits in tea, remain difficult to propagate clonally due to this rooting recalcitrance. As part of the efforts to understand YC cuttings' recalcitrance, we conducted a detailed investigation into AR formation in yellow camellia cuttings via histology and endogenous phytohormone dynamics during this process. We also compared YC endogenous phytohormone and metabolite phytohormone profiles with those of easy-to-root poplar and willow cuttings. Our results indicate that the induction of ARs in YC cuttings is achievable through auxin treatment, and YC ARs are initiated from cambial derivatives and develop a vascular system connected with that of the stem. During AR induction, endogenous hormones showed a dynamic profile, with IAA continuing to increase starting 9 days after auxin induction. JA, JA-Ile, and OPDA showed a similar trend as IAA but decreased by the 45 day. Cytokinin first decreased to its lowest level by the 18 day and then increased. SA largely exhibited an increasing trend with a drop on the 36 day, while ABA first increased to its peak level by the 18 day and then decreased. Compared to poplar, YC cuttings had a low level of IAA, IAA-Asp, and OPDA, and a high level of cytokinin and SA. Metabolite profiling highlighted significant down-accumulation of compounds associated with AR formation in yellow camellias, such as citric and ascorbic acid, fructose, sucrose, flavonoids, and phenolic acid derivatives. Our study reveals the unfavorable endogenous hormone and metabolite profiles underlying the rooting recalcitrance of YC cuttings, providing valuable knowledge for addressing this challenge in clonal propagation.
PubMed: 38908800
DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2024.112160