Pub Date : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02192-6
Samuel F. Brockington, Patricia Malcolm, Anthony S. Aiello, Thaís H. Almeida, Margeaux Apple, Sandra Aragón-Rodríguez, Thomas P. Arbour, Graciela Barreiro, Juan Fernando Phillips-Bernal, Thomas Borsch, Angela Cano, Thereis Choo, Emily E. D. Coffey, Dan Crowley, Richard Deverell, Sebsebe Demissew, Hannes Dempewolf, Mauricio Diazgranados, Banessa Falcón-Hidalgo, Jean Franczyk, Thomas Freeth, Ethan Freid, Stephan W. Gale, M. Patrick Griffith, Anton Güntsch, Clare Hart, James Hearsum, Peter M. Hollingsworth, Douglas Justice, Donovan Kirkwood, Colin K. Khoury, Wesley M. Knapp, Anneleen Kool, Jill Koski, Tessa Kum, Yang Niu, Cornelia Löhne, Darach A. Lupton, Zacharia Magombo, Esteban Manrique, María P. Martín, Gustavo Martinelli, Donna McGinnis, Jennifer R. Neale, Patrick Newman, Ari Novy, Tim Park, Susan Pell, Michael D. Pirie, Raul Puente-Martinez, Hai Ren, Marc Reynders, Nicolás Rodríguez-Cerón, Nina Rønsted, Nicola Schoenenberger, Anna Maria Senekal, Rebecca Sucher, Brett Summerell, Alex Summers, Puay Y. Tan, Hanna Tornevall, Seana K. Walsh, Chad Washburn, Justyna Wiland-Szymańska, Qing-Feng Wang, Christopher Willis, Andrew Wyatt, Peter Wyse Jackson, Wen-bin Yu, Paul Smith
Documented living plant collections distinguish botanic gardens from other green spaces and horticultural landscapes. With more than 3,500 collections worldwide, these institutions steward at least 105,634 species—around 30% of all land plant diversity—while fulfilling amenity, educational, scientific and conservation roles. However, twenty-first-century challenges demand a re-evaluation of how these collections are documented and managed. We argue that meeting these emerging needs requires higher standards of coordinated information management and innovation in data infrastructures across the global network. This Perspective critically examines data management practices of living collections supporting scientific research and conservation, from institutional to global levels. We identify the renewed demands on living collections, highlight exemplar global data infrastructures, define data challenges inherent to living collections and explore how current systems fall short in enabling a connected global system. Finally, we outline a vision for high-performance collections, fully integrated into a robust global data ecosystem. Living plant collections hold an immense wealth of plant diversity and have critical educational, scientific and conservation roles. This Perspective examines current data management practices of living collections and advocates for higher data standards and a robust and inclusive global data ecosystem.
{"title":"High-performance living plant collections require a globally integrated data ecosystem to meet twenty-first-century challenges","authors":"Samuel F. Brockington, Patricia Malcolm, Anthony S. Aiello, Thaís H. Almeida, Margeaux Apple, Sandra Aragón-Rodríguez, Thomas P. Arbour, Graciela Barreiro, Juan Fernando Phillips-Bernal, Thomas Borsch, Angela Cano, Thereis Choo, Emily E. D. Coffey, Dan Crowley, Richard Deverell, Sebsebe Demissew, Hannes Dempewolf, Mauricio Diazgranados, Banessa Falcón-Hidalgo, Jean Franczyk, Thomas Freeth, Ethan Freid, Stephan W. Gale, M. Patrick Griffith, Anton Güntsch, Clare Hart, James Hearsum, Peter M. Hollingsworth, Douglas Justice, Donovan Kirkwood, Colin K. Khoury, Wesley M. Knapp, Anneleen Kool, Jill Koski, Tessa Kum, Yang Niu, Cornelia Löhne, Darach A. Lupton, Zacharia Magombo, Esteban Manrique, María P. Martín, Gustavo Martinelli, Donna McGinnis, Jennifer R. Neale, Patrick Newman, Ari Novy, Tim Park, Susan Pell, Michael D. Pirie, Raul Puente-Martinez, Hai Ren, Marc Reynders, Nicolás Rodríguez-Cerón, Nina Rønsted, Nicola Schoenenberger, Anna Maria Senekal, Rebecca Sucher, Brett Summerell, Alex Summers, Puay Y. Tan, Hanna Tornevall, Seana K. Walsh, Chad Washburn, Justyna Wiland-Szymańska, Qing-Feng Wang, Christopher Willis, Andrew Wyatt, Peter Wyse Jackson, Wen-bin Yu, Paul Smith","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02192-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02192-6","url":null,"abstract":"Documented living plant collections distinguish botanic gardens from other green spaces and horticultural landscapes. With more than 3,500 collections worldwide, these institutions steward at least 105,634 species—around 30% of all land plant diversity—while fulfilling amenity, educational, scientific and conservation roles. However, twenty-first-century challenges demand a re-evaluation of how these collections are documented and managed. We argue that meeting these emerging needs requires higher standards of coordinated information management and innovation in data infrastructures across the global network. This Perspective critically examines data management practices of living collections supporting scientific research and conservation, from institutional to global levels. We identify the renewed demands on living collections, highlight exemplar global data infrastructures, define data challenges inherent to living collections and explore how current systems fall short in enabling a connected global system. Finally, we outline a vision for high-performance collections, fully integrated into a robust global data ecosystem. Living plant collections hold an immense wealth of plant diversity and have critical educational, scientific and conservation roles. This Perspective examines current data management practices of living collections and advocates for higher data standards and a robust and inclusive global data ecosystem.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"18-25"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145937718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02183-7
Hong Su, Yan Li, Yonghe Chen, Hengyun Lu, Rui Zhang, Wentao Dong, Bin Han, Qiang Zhao, Peng Wang
C4 plants operate a highly efficient photosynthetic CO2 concentrating mechanism. However, C4 photosynthesis represented by maize is based on the typical Kranz-type leaf anatomy, which involves complex regulation of vascular development coupling with metabolic distribution. To explore the possibility of using alternative C4 leaf anatomy as reference for engineering C3 crops, we sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of Arundinella anomala, a C4 grass with variant Kranz anatomy and interveinal distinctive cells (DC). Following single-cell level transcriptomes for comparative analyses between C4 bundle sheath and DC cells, genetic and metabolic support for the intensified C4 function of DC cells were observed, including increased cyclic photosynthetic electron transport, carbon fixation and starch synthesis. Further, the mechanism involving SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and auxin to trigger independent development or proliferation of DC cells was explored. Notably, spaced distribution of DC-like cells can be achieved in rice leaves by inducing the expression of ZmSHR1. This work laid a foundation for introducing functional DC-like cells among the intervascular mesophyll cells of C3 grass leaves, and provided resources and strategies for engineering C4 traits into C3 crops. The genome of Arundinella anomala, a C4 grass with variant Kranz anatomy and interveinal distinctive cells, is sequenced and annotated, followed by single-cell transcriptomes for comparative analyses between C4 bundle sheath cells and interveinal distinctive cells.
{"title":"Assembly of Arundinella anomala genome to facilitate single-cell resolved functional and developmental characterization of C4 distinctive cells","authors":"Hong Su, Yan Li, Yonghe Chen, Hengyun Lu, Rui Zhang, Wentao Dong, Bin Han, Qiang Zhao, Peng Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02183-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02183-7","url":null,"abstract":"C4 plants operate a highly efficient photosynthetic CO2 concentrating mechanism. However, C4 photosynthesis represented by maize is based on the typical Kranz-type leaf anatomy, which involves complex regulation of vascular development coupling with metabolic distribution. To explore the possibility of using alternative C4 leaf anatomy as reference for engineering C3 crops, we sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of Arundinella anomala, a C4 grass with variant Kranz anatomy and interveinal distinctive cells (DC). Following single-cell level transcriptomes for comparative analyses between C4 bundle sheath and DC cells, genetic and metabolic support for the intensified C4 function of DC cells were observed, including increased cyclic photosynthetic electron transport, carbon fixation and starch synthesis. Further, the mechanism involving SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and auxin to trigger independent development or proliferation of DC cells was explored. Notably, spaced distribution of DC-like cells can be achieved in rice leaves by inducing the expression of ZmSHR1. This work laid a foundation for introducing functional DC-like cells among the intervascular mesophyll cells of C3 grass leaves, and provided resources and strategies for engineering C4 traits into C3 crops. The genome of Arundinella anomala, a C4 grass with variant Kranz anatomy and interveinal distinctive cells, is sequenced and annotated, followed by single-cell transcriptomes for comparative analyses between C4 bundle sheath cells and interveinal distinctive cells.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"88-106"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145937719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Engineering functional CO2-concentrating mechanisms into C3 crops holds great potential for enhancing photosynthetic efficiency. Limited CO2-inducible A (LciA), a chloroplast envelope bicarbonate channel belonging to the formate/nitrite transporter (FNT) family, is a key algal CO2-concentrating mechanism component and has been considered as a prime candidate for introduction into C3 plants. However, its application has been hindered by an incomplete mechanistic understanding. Here we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LciA. Combining structural analysis and growth assays, we determined key residues governing substrate access and permeation, and identified two substitutions (K136A/A114F) that enhance LciA activity. We found that bicarbonate selectivity is governed by electrostatic coordination mediated by Lys220 and steric constraint imposed by Ala117 and Val267 within the selectivity filter. Leveraging these insights, we successfully engineered the bacterial FNT family nitrite channel NirC through site-directed mutagenesis to gain bicarbonate transport activity, and we characterized the bicarbonate transport capacity of the Chlamydomonas nitrite channels NAR1.1/NAR1.5, which were amenable to further enhancement. Taken together, our study establishes LciA as a fundamental template for engineering and identifying FNT proteins with bicarbonate transport capability, thereby greatly expanding the molecular toolkit for synthetic biology approaches aimed at boosting photosynthetic efficiency in both algae and crops. This study presents the structure and mechanism of the algal bicarbonate channel LciA and its application in engineering FNT family proteins to achieve bicarbonate transport activity, expanding the toolbox to boost plant photosynthesis.
{"title":"Structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LciA guided the engineering of FNT family proteins to gain bicarbonate transport activity","authors":"Jiaxin Guo, Zhao Yang, Xue Zhang, Feifan Liu, Miaolian Ma, Fang Yu, Jirong Huang, Peng Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02200-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02200-9","url":null,"abstract":"Engineering functional CO2-concentrating mechanisms into C3 crops holds great potential for enhancing photosynthetic efficiency. Limited CO2-inducible A (LciA), a chloroplast envelope bicarbonate channel belonging to the formate/nitrite transporter (FNT) family, is a key algal CO2-concentrating mechanism component and has been considered as a prime candidate for introduction into C3 plants. However, its application has been hindered by an incomplete mechanistic understanding. Here we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LciA. Combining structural analysis and growth assays, we determined key residues governing substrate access and permeation, and identified two substitutions (K136A/A114F) that enhance LciA activity. We found that bicarbonate selectivity is governed by electrostatic coordination mediated by Lys220 and steric constraint imposed by Ala117 and Val267 within the selectivity filter. Leveraging these insights, we successfully engineered the bacterial FNT family nitrite channel NirC through site-directed mutagenesis to gain bicarbonate transport activity, and we characterized the bicarbonate transport capacity of the Chlamydomonas nitrite channels NAR1.1/NAR1.5, which were amenable to further enhancement. Taken together, our study establishes LciA as a fundamental template for engineering and identifying FNT proteins with bicarbonate transport capability, thereby greatly expanding the molecular toolkit for synthetic biology approaches aimed at boosting photosynthetic efficiency in both algae and crops. This study presents the structure and mechanism of the algal bicarbonate channel LciA and its application in engineering FNT family proteins to achieve bicarbonate transport activity, expanding the toolbox to boost plant photosynthesis.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"231-240"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145919980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02208-1
We reveal the structural basis of transport activity and substrate selectivity of LciA, a key bicarbonate channel that is part of the CO2-concentrating mechanism in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Using these insights, we engineered formate–nitrite transporter (FNT) family proteins to achieve or enhance bicarbonate transport, thereby expanding the toolkit for boosting plant photosynthesis.
{"title":"Structure-based engineering of bicarbonate transport activity unlocks the CO2-concentrating mechanism","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02208-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02208-1","url":null,"abstract":"We reveal the structural basis of transport activity and substrate selectivity of LciA, a key bicarbonate channel that is part of the CO2-concentrating mechanism in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Using these insights, we engineered formate–nitrite transporter (FNT) family proteins to achieve or enhance bicarbonate transport, thereby expanding the toolkit for boosting plant photosynthesis.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"16-17"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145934346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02176-6
Edgar Demesa-Arevalo, Hannah Dӧrpholz, Isaia Vardanega, Jan Eric Maika, Itzel Pineda-Valentino, Stella Eggels, Tobias Lautwein, Karl Kӧhrer, Thorsten Schnurbusch, Maria von Korff, Bjӧrn Usadel, Rüdiger Simon
Grass inflorescences are composite structures, featuring complex sets of meristems as stem cell niches that are initiated in a repetitive manner. Meristems differ in identity and longevity, generate branches or split to form flower meristems that finally produce seeds. Within meristems, distinct cell types are determined by positional information and the regional activity of gene regulatory networks. Understanding these local microenvironments requires precise spatio-temporal information on gene expression profiles, which current technology cannot achieve. Here we investigate transcriptional changes during barley development, from the specification of meristem and organ founder cells to the initiation of distinct floral organs, on the basis of an imputation approach integrating deep single-cell RNA sequencing with spatial gene expression data. The expression profiles of more than 40,000 genes can now be analysed at cellular resolution in multiple barley tissues using the new web-based graphical interface BARVISTA, which enables precise virtual microdissection to analyse any sub-ensemble of cells. Our study pinpoints previously inaccessible key transcriptional events in founder cells during primordia initiation and specification, characterizes complex branching mutant phenotypes by barcoding gene expression profiles, and defines spatio-temporal trajectories during flower development. We thus uncover the genetic basis of complex developmental processes, providing novel opportunities for precisely targeted manipulation of barley traits. Spatially resolved gene expression during barley development was done by integrating an scRNA-seq dataset from cells with unknown position with spatial transcriptomics. This dataset is publicly available through the online web-based BARVISTA application.
{"title":"Imputation integrates single-cell and spatial gene expression data to resolve transcriptional networks in barley shoot meristem development","authors":"Edgar Demesa-Arevalo, Hannah Dӧrpholz, Isaia Vardanega, Jan Eric Maika, Itzel Pineda-Valentino, Stella Eggels, Tobias Lautwein, Karl Kӧhrer, Thorsten Schnurbusch, Maria von Korff, Bjӧrn Usadel, Rüdiger Simon","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02176-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02176-6","url":null,"abstract":"Grass inflorescences are composite structures, featuring complex sets of meristems as stem cell niches that are initiated in a repetitive manner. Meristems differ in identity and longevity, generate branches or split to form flower meristems that finally produce seeds. Within meristems, distinct cell types are determined by positional information and the regional activity of gene regulatory networks. Understanding these local microenvironments requires precise spatio-temporal information on gene expression profiles, which current technology cannot achieve. Here we investigate transcriptional changes during barley development, from the specification of meristem and organ founder cells to the initiation of distinct floral organs, on the basis of an imputation approach integrating deep single-cell RNA sequencing with spatial gene expression data. The expression profiles of more than 40,000 genes can now be analysed at cellular resolution in multiple barley tissues using the new web-based graphical interface BARVISTA, which enables precise virtual microdissection to analyse any sub-ensemble of cells. Our study pinpoints previously inaccessible key transcriptional events in founder cells during primordia initiation and specification, characterizes complex branching mutant phenotypes by barcoding gene expression profiles, and defines spatio-temporal trajectories during flower development. We thus uncover the genetic basis of complex developmental processes, providing novel opportunities for precisely targeted manipulation of barley traits. Spatially resolved gene expression during barley development was done by integrating an scRNA-seq dataset from cells with unknown position with spatial transcriptomics. This dataset is publicly available through the online web-based BARVISTA application.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"107-124"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02176-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02177-5
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses map transcriptional networks during plant development, but rare cell populations or expression values for several genes are often missing. As the origin or position of cells correlates with specific gene expression markers, we spatially resolved gene expression during barley meristem development by integrating a scRNA-seq dataset from cells with unknown position with spatial transcriptomics. This dataset is publicly available through the online web-based BARVISTA application.
{"title":"Gene expression imputation spatially resolves transcriptional programs in barley spike development","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02177-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02177-5","url":null,"abstract":"Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses map transcriptional networks during plant development, but rare cell populations or expression values for several genes are often missing. As the origin or position of cells correlates with specific gene expression markers, we spatially resolved gene expression during barley meristem development by integrating a scRNA-seq dataset from cells with unknown position with spatial transcriptomics. This dataset is publicly available through the online web-based BARVISTA application.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"12-13"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02187-3
Beibei Song, Sera Choi, Liang Kong, Sung-Il Kim, Judith Fliegmann, Xiuming Li, Yong Gao, Thomas A. DeFalco, Meijuan Hu, Meng Li, Yan Zhao, Hongze Wang, Shengwei Ma, Libo Shan, Thorsten Nürnberger, Ping He, Cyril Zipfel, Jian-Min Zhou
{"title":"New alleles of Arabidopsis BIK1 reinforce its predominant role in pattern-triggered immunity and caution interpretations of other reported functions","authors":"Beibei Song, Sera Choi, Liang Kong, Sung-Il Kim, Judith Fliegmann, Xiuming Li, Yong Gao, Thomas A. DeFalco, Meijuan Hu, Meng Li, Yan Zhao, Hongze Wang, Shengwei Ma, Libo Shan, Thorsten Nürnberger, Ping He, Cyril Zipfel, Jian-Min Zhou","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02187-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02187-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Producing more food with reduced environmental impact remains a critical challenge. Previous agricultural management strategies have predominantly emphasized crop varieties, fertilization and irrigation, often requiring substantial resource inputs and technical expertise. However, the role of crop canopy architecture, which remarkably influences plant growth and ecosystem processes, has been largely overlooked. Here we integrate satellite-based and field observations to assess the global impacts of canopy architecture on crop yield and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions for rice, wheat, maize and soybean during the past two decades. Our findings reveal that crops with clumped canopy architectures achieve higher yields and lower N2O emissions, a pattern consistently observed across all four major crops, even though soil properties also critically regulate N2O emissions. This effect is possibly driven by enhanced light interception and gross primary production, along with increased canopy nitrogen demand. Aligning crop canopy architecture with the global average can potentially increase crop production by 336 million tons annually, generating economic benefits of US$108 billion per year while simultaneously reducing N2O emissions by 41.6% globally. These results highlight the critical role of canopy architecture in global food security and present a novel strategy for enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability on a global scale. This study reveals that crops with clumped canopy architectures achieve higher yields and lower N2O emissions, presenting a promising strategy to enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability globally.
{"title":"Clumped canopy architecture raises global crop yield and reduces N2O emissions","authors":"Yuli Yan, Chaoya Dang, Lei Liu, Zihao Wang, Liyuan Chen, Zhenong Jin, Yakov Kuzyakov, Jing M. Chen, Feng Zhou, Yanlian Zhou, Hanqin Tian, Xuejun Liu, Qing Zhu, Ziyin Shang, Yu Jiang, Baojing Gu, Yanfeng Ding, Josep Peñuelas, Songhan Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02172-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02172-w","url":null,"abstract":"Producing more food with reduced environmental impact remains a critical challenge. Previous agricultural management strategies have predominantly emphasized crop varieties, fertilization and irrigation, often requiring substantial resource inputs and technical expertise. However, the role of crop canopy architecture, which remarkably influences plant growth and ecosystem processes, has been largely overlooked. Here we integrate satellite-based and field observations to assess the global impacts of canopy architecture on crop yield and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions for rice, wheat, maize and soybean during the past two decades. Our findings reveal that crops with clumped canopy architectures achieve higher yields and lower N2O emissions, a pattern consistently observed across all four major crops, even though soil properties also critically regulate N2O emissions. This effect is possibly driven by enhanced light interception and gross primary production, along with increased canopy nitrogen demand. Aligning crop canopy architecture with the global average can potentially increase crop production by 336 million tons annually, generating economic benefits of US$108 billion per year while simultaneously reducing N2O emissions by 41.6% globally. These results highlight the critical role of canopy architecture in global food security and present a novel strategy for enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability on a global scale. This study reveals that crops with clumped canopy architectures achieve higher yields and lower N2O emissions, presenting a promising strategy to enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability globally.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"49-61"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02174-8
Detailed study of the role of plant canopy architecture on crop yield and N2O emissions remains limited. Our study reveals that a clumped canopy architecture in crops such as rice, wheat, maize and soybean can simultaneously improve yields and reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, thus representing a promising strategy to enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability globally.
{"title":"A clumped canopy architecture can increase crop yields while reducing N2O emissions","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02174-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02174-8","url":null,"abstract":"Detailed study of the role of plant canopy architecture on crop yield and N2O emissions remains limited. Our study reveals that a clumped canopy architecture in crops such as rice, wheat, maize and soybean can simultaneously improve yields and reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, thus representing a promising strategy to enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability globally.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"14-15"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145907938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-06DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02204-5
This study uses single-cell spatial transcriptomics to explore the early interactions between potato leaf cells and the pathogen Phytophthora infestans, revealing cellular heterogeneity in gene expression at the infection site and providing a valuable resource for future enhancement of potato disease resistance.
{"title":"Spatial transcriptomics decodes the cellular landscape of plant–pathogen interaction","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02204-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02204-5","url":null,"abstract":"This study uses single-cell spatial transcriptomics to explore the early interactions between potato leaf cells and the pathogen Phytophthora infestans, revealing cellular heterogeneity in gene expression at the infection site and providing a valuable resource for future enhancement of potato disease resistance.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"10-11"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145902657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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