Rice roots develop aerenchyma, which transports oxygen from shoots to roots, facilitating adaptation to waterlogged conditions. This oxygen oxidizes ferrous ions into ferric compounds, forming iron plaque that mitigates iron toxicity. However, the molecular mechanisms linking aerenchyma and iron plaque formation remain poorly understood. Here we identified a rice mutant (AZ1302) defective in both aerenchyma and iron plaque formation, with the causal mutation mapped to the PHYTOENE SYNTHASE 2 (OsPSY2) gene. CRISPR–Cas9-induced psy2 mutants exhibited reduced levels of carotenoid-derived hormones, strigolactones and abscisic acid, in roots. In psy2 mutants, exogenous application of strigolactones rescued aerenchyma formation, while abscisic acid restored iron plaque deposition, providing evidence for distinct hormonal regulatory functions in the two processes. These findings revise the current understanding by dissociating the roles of aerenchyma and iron plaque formation, establishing a role for OsPSY2 in integrating hormonal signalling to drive root plasticity and offering new insights into plant adaptation under environmental stress. Shrestha et al. reveal that rice PHYTOENE SYNTHASE 2 (OsPSY2) coordinates the carotenoid-derived biosynthesis of abscisic acid and strigolactones, which independently govern iron plaque deposition and aerenchyma development, respectively.
{"title":"Carotenoid biosynthesis drives root plasticity through aerenchyma and iron plaque formation in rice","authors":"Jeevan Kumar Shrestha, Chih-Yu Lin, Jian You Wang, I-Chien Tang, Chun-Hao Hu, Munkhtsetseg Tsednee, Yasha Zhang, Muhammad Jamil, Lamis Berqdar, Ikram Blilou, Salim Al-Babili, Chang-Sheng Wang, Kuo-Chen Yeh","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02170-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02170-y","url":null,"abstract":"Rice roots develop aerenchyma, which transports oxygen from shoots to roots, facilitating adaptation to waterlogged conditions. This oxygen oxidizes ferrous ions into ferric compounds, forming iron plaque that mitigates iron toxicity. However, the molecular mechanisms linking aerenchyma and iron plaque formation remain poorly understood. Here we identified a rice mutant (AZ1302) defective in both aerenchyma and iron plaque formation, with the causal mutation mapped to the PHYTOENE SYNTHASE 2 (OsPSY2) gene. CRISPR–Cas9-induced psy2 mutants exhibited reduced levels of carotenoid-derived hormones, strigolactones and abscisic acid, in roots. In psy2 mutants, exogenous application of strigolactones rescued aerenchyma formation, while abscisic acid restored iron plaque deposition, providing evidence for distinct hormonal regulatory functions in the two processes. These findings revise the current understanding by dissociating the roles of aerenchyma and iron plaque formation, establishing a role for OsPSY2 in integrating hormonal signalling to drive root plasticity and offering new insights into plant adaptation under environmental stress. Shrestha et al. reveal that rice PHYTOENE SYNTHASE 2 (OsPSY2) coordinates the carotenoid-derived biosynthesis of abscisic acid and strigolactones, which independently govern iron plaque deposition and aerenchyma development, respectively.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"179-190"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02170-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145892682","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 : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02159-7
W. Zierer, M. Fritzler, T. J. Chiu, R. B. Anjanappa, S.-H. Chang, R. Metzner, J. Quiros, C. E. Lamm, M. Thieme, R. Koller, G. Huber, O. Muller, U. Rascher, U. Sonnewald, H. E. Neuhaus, W. Gruissem, L. Bellin
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is an important crop for food security in the tropics, particularly for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where yields are often severely limited by pathogen pressure, nutrient deficiency and water scarcity. We expressed a non-rectifying Arabidopsis thaliana potassium (K+) channel gene version, AKT2var, in the vascular tissue of cassava plants. The transgenic cassava plants had higher electron transport and CO2 assimilation rates, a higher bulk flow velocity and increased source–sink carbohydrate transport, as demonstrated by comparative 11C-positron emission tomography and tissue-specific metabolite profiling. Cassava storage root yield was significantly increased in greenhouse experiments and in a multi-year field trial conducted under subtropical conditions. AKT2var plants were also more tolerant of drought stress and had higher storage root yield. Targeted alteration of K+ transport is therefore a promising strategy to improve cassava productivity without additional fertilizer input and in climate-adverse growing conditions. Zierer et al. engineered cassava to express a modified potassium channel that enhances sugar flow, improving the yield and drought resilience. This strategy offers a route to increase cassava productivity in tropical regions.
{"title":"Engineering vascular potassium transport increases yield and drought resilience of cassava","authors":"W. Zierer, M. Fritzler, T. J. Chiu, R. B. Anjanappa, S.-H. Chang, R. Metzner, J. Quiros, C. E. Lamm, M. Thieme, R. Koller, G. Huber, O. Muller, U. Rascher, U. Sonnewald, H. E. Neuhaus, W. Gruissem, L. Bellin","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02159-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02159-7","url":null,"abstract":"Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is an important crop for food security in the tropics, particularly for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where yields are often severely limited by pathogen pressure, nutrient deficiency and water scarcity. We expressed a non-rectifying Arabidopsis thaliana potassium (K+) channel gene version, AKT2var, in the vascular tissue of cassava plants. The transgenic cassava plants had higher electron transport and CO2 assimilation rates, a higher bulk flow velocity and increased source–sink carbohydrate transport, as demonstrated by comparative 11C-positron emission tomography and tissue-specific metabolite profiling. Cassava storage root yield was significantly increased in greenhouse experiments and in a multi-year field trial conducted under subtropical conditions. AKT2var plants were also more tolerant of drought stress and had higher storage root yield. Targeted alteration of K+ transport is therefore a promising strategy to improve cassava productivity without additional fertilizer input and in climate-adverse growing conditions. Zierer et al. engineered cassava to express a modified potassium channel that enhances sugar flow, improving the yield and drought resilience. This strategy offers a route to increase cassava productivity in tropical regions.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"11 12","pages":"2498-2510"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02159-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145765582","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 : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02167-7
Leena Tripathi
Engineering cassava with a modified potassium (K+) channel gene from Arabidopsis thaliana enhances K+ transport, photosynthesis and storage root yield, offering a sustainable strategy to boost productivity and resilience in nutrient-poor and drought-prone environments.
{"title":"Engineering cassava for smart potassium use","authors":"Leena Tripathi","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02167-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02167-7","url":null,"abstract":"Engineering cassava with a modified potassium (K+) channel gene from Arabidopsis thaliana enhances K+ transport, photosynthesis and storage root yield, offering a sustainable strategy to boost productivity and resilience in nutrient-poor and drought-prone environments.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"11 12","pages":"2451-2452"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145766421","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 : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02203-6
December is a time when ‘… of the Year’ pieces appear in all kinds of publications. For this year only, Nature Plants is joining the trend.
12月是“年度……”出现在各种出版物上的时候。今年，自然植物也加入了这一潮流。
{"title":"… of the Year","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02203-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02203-6","url":null,"abstract":"December is a time when ‘… of the Year’ pieces appear in all kinds of publications. For this year only, Nature Plants is joining the trend.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"11 12","pages":"2439-2439"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02203-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145766422","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 : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02173-9
Wen-Cheng Liu, Barry Halliwell, Christine Helen Foyer
The superoxide radical anion is a fundamental reactive oxygen species, with important functions in plant growth, development and stress responses. A search for ‘superoxide anion’ and ‘plant’ in PubMed retrieved 3,327 publications since the year 2000, with 87 of these publications in 2025 through June. Unfortunately, despite the biological ubiquity of the superoxide anion, inconsistent and chemically inaccurate notation widely persists in the plant biological literature. This Comment clarifies the correct notation for the superoxide anion (O 2 •− ), highlights widespread errors and urges standardization to prevent scientific ambiguity.
{"title":"The critical importance of accurate chemical notation for the superoxide radical (O 2 •− ) in the plant literature","authors":"Wen-Cheng Liu, Barry Halliwell, Christine Helen Foyer","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02173-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02173-9","url":null,"abstract":"The superoxide radical anion is a fundamental reactive oxygen species, with important functions in plant growth, development and stress responses. A search for ‘superoxide anion’ and ‘plant’ in PubMed retrieved 3,327 publications since the year 2000, with 87 of these publications in 2025 through June. Unfortunately, despite the biological ubiquity of the superoxide anion, inconsistent and chemically inaccurate notation widely persists in the plant biological literature. This Comment clarifies the correct notation for the superoxide anion (O 2 •− ), highlights widespread errors and urges standardization to prevent scientific ambiguity.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"2-4"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145765281","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}
Iron is a crucial micronutrient for plants, but its availability in soil is often limited. Iron deficiency compromises plant growth, and low iron content in crops contributes substantially to the ‘hidden hunger’ that affects human health globally. The elucidation of Strategy I (reduction-based) and Strategy II (phytosiderophore-based) for iron acquisition was a milestone in plant biology and enabled the development of biofortification concepts. However, recent genetic evidence reveals that the boundary between the two strategies is blurred, with many plants possessing elements of both. Here we show that plant iron uptake mechanisms are more complex and diverse than the classical dichotomy suggests. We review evidence for this integrative view and highlight the critical role of microbial siderophores. We explain how plants access iron from microbial siderophores not only indirectly through Strategy I and II pathways but also via the direct uptake of iron–siderophore complexes, an overlooked mechanism that we introduce as Strategy III. We propose three potential routes for this direct uptake and conclude that harnessing Strategy III holds great potential for novel agricultural interventions to enhance iron biofortification and improve human health. The concept of plant iron nutrition has been largely based on two strategies involving iron reduction in the rhizosphere or the secretion of phytosiderophores. Here the authors highlight the importance of microbial siderophores for plant iron nutrition.
{"title":"Integrating microbial siderophores into concepts of plant iron nutrition","authors":"Shaohua Gu, Nanqi Wang, Yiran Zheng, Tianqi Wang, Qirong Shen, Fusuo Zhang, Rolf Kümmerli, Zhong Wei, Yuanmei Zuo","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02171-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02171-x","url":null,"abstract":"Iron is a crucial micronutrient for plants, but its availability in soil is often limited. Iron deficiency compromises plant growth, and low iron content in crops contributes substantially to the ‘hidden hunger’ that affects human health globally. The elucidation of Strategy I (reduction-based) and Strategy II (phytosiderophore-based) for iron acquisition was a milestone in plant biology and enabled the development of biofortification concepts. However, recent genetic evidence reveals that the boundary between the two strategies is blurred, with many plants possessing elements of both. Here we show that plant iron uptake mechanisms are more complex and diverse than the classical dichotomy suggests. We review evidence for this integrative view and highlight the critical role of microbial siderophores. We explain how plants access iron from microbial siderophores not only indirectly through Strategy I and II pathways but also via the direct uptake of iron–siderophore complexes, an overlooked mechanism that we introduce as Strategy III. We propose three potential routes for this direct uptake and conclude that harnessing Strategy III holds great potential for novel agricultural interventions to enhance iron biofortification and improve human health. The concept of plant iron nutrition has been largely based on two strategies involving iron reduction in the rhizosphere or the secretion of phytosiderophores. Here the authors highlight the importance of microbial siderophores for plant iron nutrition.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"26-36"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145760089","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 : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02201-8
Christopher Surridge
{"title":"A vital role for VIA1","authors":"Christopher Surridge","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02201-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41477-025-02201-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"12 1","pages":"9-9"},"PeriodicalIF":13.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145743386","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}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：