Browse Articles | Nature Plants (2024)

Neck strip: an apoplastic structure at glandular trichome

Glandular trichomes on plant leaves and stems synthesize and store specialized compounds. We identified a novel lignin-based structure (which we named the neck strip) required for storage of compounds in cucumber glandular trichomes and demonstrated the mechanism of specialized compound accumulation in glandular trichomes.

Molecular basis of chromatin remodelling by DDM1 involved in plant DNA methylation

Cryogenic electron microscopy structures of DDM1–nucleosome complexes in ADP–BeF_x-bound, ADP-bound and nucleotide-free conformations reveal insights into the mechanism underlying chromatin remodelling by DDM1, a key chromatin remodeller involved in plant DNA methylation.

• Yue Liu
• Zhihui Zhang
• Jiamu Du

Disease resistance through M genes

Plants regulate their microbiota to cope with diverse stresses. A recent study shows that rice maintains homeostasis of its phyllosphere microbiome through a secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene, which offers potential for harnessing microbiome-shaping genes in disease-resistance breeding.

• Chengfang Zhan
• Mengcen Wang

A diffusible small-RNA-based Turing system dynamically coordinates organ polarity

This study by Scacchi et al. shows that a mobile small-RNA-based Turing system dynamically organizes plant organ polarity. The afforded developmental flexibility accounts for diversity in organ shapes, from radialized or cup-shaped to the robust planar shape of a typical leaf.

• Emanuele Scacchi
• Gael Paszkiewicz
• Marja C. P. Timmermans

Pooled effector library screening in protoplasts rapidly identifies novel Avr genes

The authors developed a platform for rapid identification of interacting plant immune receptors and pathogen avirulence proteins by library screening in protoplasts, then used it to identify new wheat stem rust Avr genes recognized by known wheat resistance genes.

• Taj Arndell
• Jian Chen
• Peter N. Dodds

Targeting Magnaporthe oryzae effector MoErs1 and host papain-like protease OsRD21 interaction to combat rice blast

Effectors secreted by plant pathogens subvert host immunity. Here the authors use a structural approach to design a small molecule that can disrupt the interaction between a fungal effector and its target in rice, and could be used as a novel fungicide.

• Muxing Liu
• Fangfang Wang
• Zhengguang Zhang

Thylakoid membrane stacking controls electron transport mode during the dark-to-light transition by adjusting the distances between PSI and PSII

This study reveals that the thylakoid ultrastructural and supramolecular rearrangements that occur during the dark-to-light transition in plants control the connectivity between the two photosystems that drive oxygenic photosynthesis.

• Yuval Garty
• Yuval Bussi
• Ziv Reich

Scorched Earth

The destructive consequences of catastrophic wildfires, which are capable of destroying homes and livelihoods, frequently hit the front pages of newspapers worldwide. But scientific attention is increasingly turning towards understanding changes in wildfire regimes.

A scoping review on tools and methods for trait prioritization in crop breeding programmes

Trait prioritization studies have informed crop breeding programmes for decades. This scoping review identifies broad crop coverage, systematic sex disaggregation and reduced regional bias as priorities for more inclusive, demand-driven initiatives.

• M. Occelli
• R. Mukerjee
• H. A. Tufan

The cell surface is the place to be for brassinosteroid perception and responses

Brassinosteroids are perceived by the plasma membrane receptor BRI1. This Review summarizes what is known about the multi-layered interaction network that fine-tunes the activity and dynamics of BRI1 at the cell surface.

• Charlotte Delesalle
• Grégory Vert
• Satoshi Fujita

Control of meiotic crossover interference by a proteolytic chaperone network

Chromosomal patterning of meiotic crossovers is mediated by pro-crossover HEI10 E3 ligase dynamics. This study reveals that a network of HSP40–HSP70 chaperones facilitates HEI10 proteolysis, thereby limiting formation of closely spaced crossovers.

• Heejin Kim
• Jaeil Kim
• Kyuha Choi

Novel lignin-based extracellular barrier in glandular trichome

Glandular trichomes (GTs) are biofactories that produce and store specialized compounds beneficial to plants as well as to humans. Using cucumber, we have discovered a new cell wall structure, ‘neck strip’, allowing GTs to function as biofactories.

• Ning Hao
• Hongxin Yao
• Takehiro Kamiya

Reinventing the tube

• Guillaume Tena

How plants with hundreds of centromeres crossover

Beaksedges harbour multiple centromeres in each chromosome, yet crossover distribution is distally biased, like in monocentric species, but with no correlation with (epi)genomic features. This study suggests that synapsis dynamics starting from chromosomal ends is key to the recombination pattern.

How RAFs accelerate streaming

• Raphael Trösch

Meiotic recombination dynamics in plants with repeat-based holocentromeres shed light on the primary drivers of crossover patterning

Castellani, Zhang and colleagues found that centromeres and (epi)genetic features influence local crossover positions during meiotic recombination in a plant with diffused centromeres, whereas chromosome synapsis dynamics seems key to broad-scale crossover patterning.

• Marco Castellani
• Meng Zhang
• André Marques

An immune module against gray leaf spot

• Jun Lyu

Sugars regulate SPATULA activity during style development

We reveal that the transcription factor SPATULA (SPT) directly interacts with, and is modified by, the O-glycosyl transferases SECRET AGENT (SEC) and SPINDLY (SPY) in Arabidopsis thaliana. O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) and O-fucose post-translational modifications (PTMs) promoted elongation of the gynoecium apex (style) and its radial symmetry by promoting SPT function.

Lysine acetylation of histone acetyltransferase adaptor protein ADA2 is a mechanism of metabolic control of chromatin modification in plants

Histone acetylation is a predominant active chromatin mark. A feedback mechanism by which histone acetyltransferase responds to varying levels of acetyl coenzyme A in plants under adverse conditions maintains histone acetylation homeostasis.

• Yue Yu
• Feng Zhao
• Dao-Xiu Zhou

Author Correction: The flying spider-monkey tree fern genome provides insights into fern evolution and arborescence

• Xiong Huang
• Wenling Wang
• Quanzi Li