{"title":"Seagrasses in hot water: mapping thermal risk and resilience in a warming ocean.","authors":"Cloverley M Lawrence","doi":"10.1111/nph.70903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70903","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146056910","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}
Highly efficient phosphorus (P)-use strategies have evolved in plants, allowing them to thrive in severely P-impoverished environments. However, it remains unclear how allocating leaf P to biochemical fractions, including specific P-containing metabolites, contributes to instantaneous photosynthetic P-use efficiency (iPPUE) and the position of species along the leaf economics spectrum (LES). We measured LES-associated traits (leaf mass per area, light-saturated photosynthetic rate, and P and nitrogen concentrations) and iPPUE in 12 coexisting Proteaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Ericaceae from two severely P-impoverished soils. We characterised patterns of P allocation into lipids, nucleic acids, metabolites, a residual fraction and inorganic P, and identified P-containing metabolites within the metabolite-P fraction. We identified multiple P-utilisation strategies that were both species-dependent and soil context-dependent. The iPPUE and LES scores, representing leaf-level resource-use strategies, were positively associated with P concentrations in nucleic acids and the residual P fraction. Concentrations of key P-containing metabolites of the Calvin-Benson cycle, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate and 3-phosphoglycerate, were positively correlated with and served as strong predictors of iPPUE and resource-use strategies within the LES. Species in severely P-impoverished habitats exhibited species-dependent and soil context-dependent P-allocation patterns and maintained specific P-containing metabolite concentrations. These trait combinations underpin high iPPUE and enable multiple resource-use strategies.
{"title":"Biochemical phosphorus allocation is linked to photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency in a phosphorus-impoverished environment.","authors":"Ling-Ling Chen,Zhao Zhang,Thusitha Rupasinghe,Shu Tong Liu,Joanna Kotula,Patrick M Finnegan,Kosala Ranathunge,Hans Lambers","doi":"10.1111/nph.70955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70955","url":null,"abstract":"Highly efficient phosphorus (P)-use strategies have evolved in plants, allowing them to thrive in severely P-impoverished environments. However, it remains unclear how allocating leaf P to biochemical fractions, including specific P-containing metabolites, contributes to instantaneous photosynthetic P-use efficiency (iPPUE) and the position of species along the leaf economics spectrum (LES). We measured LES-associated traits (leaf mass per area, light-saturated photosynthetic rate, and P and nitrogen concentrations) and iPPUE in 12 coexisting Proteaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae and Ericaceae from two severely P-impoverished soils. We characterised patterns of P allocation into lipids, nucleic acids, metabolites, a residual fraction and inorganic P, and identified P-containing metabolites within the metabolite-P fraction. We identified multiple P-utilisation strategies that were both species-dependent and soil context-dependent. The iPPUE and LES scores, representing leaf-level resource-use strategies, were positively associated with P concentrations in nucleic acids and the residual P fraction. Concentrations of key P-containing metabolites of the Calvin-Benson cycle, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate and 3-phosphoglycerate, were positively correlated with and served as strong predictors of iPPUE and resource-use strategies within the LES. Species in severely P-impoverished habitats exhibited species-dependent and soil context-dependent P-allocation patterns and maintained specific P-containing metabolite concentrations. These trait combinations underpin high iPPUE and enable multiple resource-use strategies.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146044685","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}
Penelope L Lindsay,Fang Xu,Lei Liu,Panagiotis Boumpas,Andres Reyes,Byoung-Il Je,Mari Ogawa-Ohnishi,Jarrett Man,Tara Skopelitis,Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi,Madelaine Bartlett,Shou-Ling Xu,David Jackson
Meristem activity is controlled by the CLAVATA (CLV) signaling pathway, which involves a suite of leucine-rich receptor (LRR) receptors, receptor-like proteins, and CLV-EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptide ligands. FASCIATED EAR 3 (FEA3) is a leucine-rich receptor (LRR) receptor-like protein important for meristem maintenance in maize and acts independently of canonical CLV receptors. To identify FEA3's interaction network, we used TurboID-based proximity labeling in Zea mays meristems and identified a putative co-receptor, BARELY ANY MERISTEM 1D (BAM1D). BAM1D and FEA3 proximity labeling proteomes shared over 40 proteins, including many signaling proteins, suggesting they feed into a common signaling pathway. fea3 was epistatic to bam1d in the control of inflorescence meristem (IM) size, supporting the idea that FEA3 and BAM1D interact physically. However, fea3 and bam1d act antagonistically because fea3 mutants had larger IMs, whereas bam1d mutants produced smaller IMs. This study demonstrates how in vivo TurboID-based proximity labeling clarifies complex genetic interactions between CLV receptors and expands our knowledge of downstream signaling components of CLV signaling pathways, which are largely uncharacterized. Our findings support the notion that multiple, partially overlapping CLV receptor complexes coordinately control meristem maintenance.
分生组织活性受CLAVATA （CLV）信号通路控制，该信号通路涉及一系列富亮氨酸受体（LRR）受体、受体样蛋白和CLV-胚胎周围区（CLE）肽配体。fasated EAR 3 （FEA3）是一种富含亮氨酸受体（LRR）的受体样蛋白，对玉米分生组织维持很重要，并且独立于典型的CLV受体起作用。为了确定FEA3的相互作用网络，我们在玉米分生组织中使用基于turboid的接近标记，并鉴定了一个推定的共受体，BARELY ANY MERISTEM 1D （BAM1D）。BAM1D和FEA3接近标记蛋白质组共有40多种蛋白质，包括许多信号蛋白，表明它们进入共同的信号通路。fea3在控制花序分生系统（IM）大小方面对bam1d具有上位性，支持fea3与bam1d存在物理相互作用的观点。然而，fea3和bam1d具有拮抗作用，因为fea3突变体具有较大的IMs，而bam1d突变体产生较小的IMs。本研究展示了体内基于turboid的接近标记如何澄清CLV受体之间复杂的遗传相互作用，并扩展了我们对CLV信号通路下游信号成分的认识，这些成分在很大程度上是未知的。我们的发现支持了多个部分重叠的CLV受体复合物协调控制分生组织维持的观点。
{"title":"Antagonistic interactions between CLAVATA receptors shape maize ear development.","authors":"Penelope L Lindsay,Fang Xu,Lei Liu,Panagiotis Boumpas,Andres Reyes,Byoung-Il Je,Mari Ogawa-Ohnishi,Jarrett Man,Tara Skopelitis,Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi,Madelaine Bartlett,Shou-Ling Xu,David Jackson","doi":"10.1111/nph.70950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70950","url":null,"abstract":"Meristem activity is controlled by the CLAVATA (CLV) signaling pathway, which involves a suite of leucine-rich receptor (LRR) receptors, receptor-like proteins, and CLV-EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptide ligands. FASCIATED EAR 3 (FEA3) is a leucine-rich receptor (LRR) receptor-like protein important for meristem maintenance in maize and acts independently of canonical CLV receptors. To identify FEA3's interaction network, we used TurboID-based proximity labeling in Zea mays meristems and identified a putative co-receptor, BARELY ANY MERISTEM 1D (BAM1D). BAM1D and FEA3 proximity labeling proteomes shared over 40 proteins, including many signaling proteins, suggesting they feed into a common signaling pathway. fea3 was epistatic to bam1d in the control of inflorescence meristem (IM) size, supporting the idea that FEA3 and BAM1D interact physically. However, fea3 and bam1d act antagonistically because fea3 mutants had larger IMs, whereas bam1d mutants produced smaller IMs. This study demonstrates how in vivo TurboID-based proximity labeling clarifies complex genetic interactions between CLV receptors and expands our knowledge of downstream signaling components of CLV signaling pathways, which are largely uncharacterized. Our findings support the notion that multiple, partially overlapping CLV receptor complexes coordinately control meristem maintenance.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146044684","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}
Thibaud F E Messerschmid,Jurriaan M de Vos,Susanne E Hamburger,Jessica A Berasategui,Gudrun Kadereit
Discovering functional and evolutionary interdependencies of hydraulic traits and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is crucial to understand CAM phenotype diversity and convergence. In complex traits such as CAM, the co-option of associated traits strongly impacts the evolutionary outcome. Here we study Aeonium (Crassulaceae), a diverse Macaronesian genus that exhibits a broad array of CAM expression, focusing on two CAM-associated traits, minimum conductance (gmin) and succulence. At the heart of the study, there are two experiments: a comparative cultivation experiment to monitor nocturnal acidification (ΔH+) under drought and heat treatments and a leaf-drying curve experiment to quantify gmin. Our study group was comprehensively sampled to cover its phylogenetic and ecological diversity. We found a consistently negative correlation of gmin and ΔH+, indicating a critical role for the cuticle in the function of CAM. Although ΔH+ and succulence were overall not positively correlated, we found evidence that more succulent species remain in the CAM mode when stress is relaxed. We conclude that there is a tight evolutionary link between cuticular transpiration barrier properties and CAM performance. Thereby, the stronger CAM plants express diurnal stomatal closure typical of CAM, the more they may optimise water-use efficiency through reduced gmin.
{"title":"Stronger expression of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) requires effective cuticular transpiration barriers but not necessarily strong succulence.","authors":"Thibaud F E Messerschmid,Jurriaan M de Vos,Susanne E Hamburger,Jessica A Berasategui,Gudrun Kadereit","doi":"10.1111/nph.70909","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70909","url":null,"abstract":"Discovering functional and evolutionary interdependencies of hydraulic traits and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is crucial to understand CAM phenotype diversity and convergence. In complex traits such as CAM, the co-option of associated traits strongly impacts the evolutionary outcome. Here we study Aeonium (Crassulaceae), a diverse Macaronesian genus that exhibits a broad array of CAM expression, focusing on two CAM-associated traits, minimum conductance (gmin) and succulence. At the heart of the study, there are two experiments: a comparative cultivation experiment to monitor nocturnal acidification (ΔH+) under drought and heat treatments and a leaf-drying curve experiment to quantify gmin. Our study group was comprehensively sampled to cover its phylogenetic and ecological diversity. We found a consistently negative correlation of gmin and ΔH+, indicating a critical role for the cuticle in the function of CAM. Although ΔH+ and succulence were overall not positively correlated, we found evidence that more succulent species remain in the CAM mode when stress is relaxed. We conclude that there is a tight evolutionary link between cuticular transpiration barrier properties and CAM performance. Thereby, the stronger CAM plants express diurnal stomatal closure typical of CAM, the more they may optimise water-use efficiency through reduced gmin.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146033848","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}
Can plants live without defenses? Mutant analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana has identified numerous regulators of biotic, abiotic, and hormone-based defenses, but the redundancy among separate defense pathways remains unexplored. We constructed an Arabidopsis mutant, defenseless, lacking six canonical defense pathways using abi1-1 (abscisic acid), coi1 (jasmonic acid), sid2 (salicylic acid), ein2 (ethylene), eds1 (biotic defense signaling), and rbohD (apoplastic reactive oxygen species production), enabling dissection of defense network resilience. In optimal growth conditions, defenseless exhibited no stress phenotypes, demonstrating that plant defenses are dispensable under favorable environments. Stress assays revealed paradoxical responses: some defenses remained functional in defenseless, while others were severely compromised. Notably, ozone-triggered apoplastic ROS signaling was largely preserved, uncovering alternative and redundant defense mechanisms. Transcriptome profiling identified a core set of immune-related genes consistently downregulated in defenseless, yet pathogen susceptibility was not elevated beyond known immunity-deficient mutants, underscoring extensive redundancy and positioning defenseless as a platform to probe several layers of plant defenses.
{"title":"Decoding plant defense signaling using the defenseless mutant.","authors":"Bikash Baral,Mikael Brosché","doi":"10.1111/nph.70939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70939","url":null,"abstract":"Can plants live without defenses? Mutant analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana has identified numerous regulators of biotic, abiotic, and hormone-based defenses, but the redundancy among separate defense pathways remains unexplored. We constructed an Arabidopsis mutant, defenseless, lacking six canonical defense pathways using abi1-1 (abscisic acid), coi1 (jasmonic acid), sid2 (salicylic acid), ein2 (ethylene), eds1 (biotic defense signaling), and rbohD (apoplastic reactive oxygen species production), enabling dissection of defense network resilience. In optimal growth conditions, defenseless exhibited no stress phenotypes, demonstrating that plant defenses are dispensable under favorable environments. Stress assays revealed paradoxical responses: some defenses remained functional in defenseless, while others were severely compromised. Notably, ozone-triggered apoplastic ROS signaling was largely preserved, uncovering alternative and redundant defense mechanisms. Transcriptome profiling identified a core set of immune-related genes consistently downregulated in defenseless, yet pathogen susceptibility was not elevated beyond known immunity-deficient mutants, underscoring extensive redundancy and positioning defenseless as a platform to probe several layers of plant defenses.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146021581","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}
Andrew J. Helmstetter, Marcos Méndez, Jürg Schönenberger, Concetta Burgarella, Bruce Anderson, Maria von Balthazar, Sylvain Billiard, Hugo de Boer, Johanne Cros, Pierre-Alexandre Delecroix, Mathilde Dufay, John R. Pannell, Dessislava Savova Bianchi, Daniel J. Schoen, Mario Vallejo-Marin, Rosana Zenil-Ferguson, Hervé Sauquet, Sylvain Glémin, Jos Käfer
Data availability
Data, all scripts, and additional analyses are available at the following github repository: https://github.com/divers-it/rs-traitspace. The original data are also available at data. InDoRES, doi: 10.48579/PRO/HU3QYM.
{"title":"An angiosperm-wide perspective on reproductive strategies and floral traits","authors":"Andrew J. Helmstetter, Marcos Méndez, Jürg Schönenberger, Concetta Burgarella, Bruce Anderson, Maria von Balthazar, Sylvain Billiard, Hugo de Boer, Johanne Cros, Pierre-Alexandre Delecroix, Mathilde Dufay, John R. Pannell, Dessislava Savova Bianchi, Daniel J. Schoen, Mario Vallejo-Marin, Rosana Zenil-Ferguson, Hervé Sauquet, Sylvain Glémin, Jos Käfer","doi":"10.1111/nph.70894","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70894","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Data availability</h2>\u0000<p>Data, all scripts, and additional analyses are available at the following github repository: https://github.com/divers-it/rs-traitspace. The original data are also available at data. InDoRES, doi: 10.48579/PRO/HU3QYM.</p>","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"71 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146021987","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}
PLETHORA transcription factors (PLTs) are master regulators of plant development. Loss of shoot meristematic PLTs leads to reduced phyllotactic regularity and robustness in Arabidopsis and increased inflorescence branching in tomato. Whether these factors have similar functions in other species is not known. To address this knowledge gap, we integrated phylogenetic, transcriptomic, and genome-wide in vitro binding strategies with quantitative shoot architecture phenotyping of a panel of cucumber TILLING mutants of each CsPLT homolog. We determined that CsPLT3/7 and CsPLT5 are expressed in complementary domains in the cucumber shoot apex. DAP-seq data indicated that both transcription factors recognised an ANT-like consensus motif and bound to SAM-organising genes. We identified strong phenotypic defects in multiple Csplt3/7 mutants. In mature seeds, Csplt3/7 mutants formed a flat apex instead of a shoot apical meristem, from which secondary meristems emerged during subsequent seedling development. Mature Csplt3/7 shoots exhibited defects in internode length regularity, stem architecture, flower morphology, and axillary organ initiation. Moreover, phyllotactic patterns were slightly shifted from a spiral towards a distichous orientation. We present one of the first pieces of evidence that the PLT3/7 clade fulfils both conserved and diversified roles in shoot development across taxonomic family boundaries.
{"title":"A PLETHORA3/7 transcription factor shapes cucumber shoot architecture.","authors":"Merijn Kerstens,Florian Müller,Kelvin Adema,Olga Kulikova,Magdalena Lastdrager,Ben Scheres,Viola Willemsen","doi":"10.1111/nph.70940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70940","url":null,"abstract":"PLETHORA transcription factors (PLTs) are master regulators of plant development. Loss of shoot meristematic PLTs leads to reduced phyllotactic regularity and robustness in Arabidopsis and increased inflorescence branching in tomato. Whether these factors have similar functions in other species is not known. To address this knowledge gap, we integrated phylogenetic, transcriptomic, and genome-wide in vitro binding strategies with quantitative shoot architecture phenotyping of a panel of cucumber TILLING mutants of each CsPLT homolog. We determined that CsPLT3/7 and CsPLT5 are expressed in complementary domains in the cucumber shoot apex. DAP-seq data indicated that both transcription factors recognised an ANT-like consensus motif and bound to SAM-organising genes. We identified strong phenotypic defects in multiple Csplt3/7 mutants. In mature seeds, Csplt3/7 mutants formed a flat apex instead of a shoot apical meristem, from which secondary meristems emerged during subsequent seedling development. Mature Csplt3/7 shoots exhibited defects in internode length regularity, stem architecture, flower morphology, and axillary organ initiation. Moreover, phyllotactic patterns were slightly shifted from a spiral towards a distichous orientation. We present one of the first pieces of evidence that the PLT3/7 clade fulfils both conserved and diversified roles in shoot development across taxonomic family boundaries.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"142 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146033849","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}
Salinization of arable land is a major adversity factor affecting crop yields. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs/CPKs) play crucial regulatory roles in multiple stress responses. However, their functions in alfalfa and the mechanisms of CDPKs in regulating saline-alkali stress are not well elaborated. In this study, we identified MsCDPK29 as a positive regulator of saline-alkali tolerance in alfalfa. Overexpression (OE) of MsCDPK29 in alfalfa displayed tolerance to saline-alkali stress, with higher antioxidant capacity, whereas electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anions (O2 -), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were lower than wild-type (WT). Conversely, MsCDPK29 RNA interference (RNAi) alfalfa displayed opposite phenotypes. Additionally, MsbZIP14, a basic region-leucine zipper transcription factor, was identified as a MsCDPK29-interacting protein. OE of MsbZIP14 promotes abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation and enhances saline-alkali tolerance. Meanwhile, we showed that MsbZIP14 was phosphorylated by MsCDPK29 at threonine236 (T236) and serine237 (S237) sites, and the phosphorylation is required for the biological function of MsbZIP14 in regulating ABA biosynthesis and saline-alkali stress response. MsbZIP14 directly binds to the promoter of MsNCED3 and activates its expression. Moreover, MsCDPK29 activated MsbZIP14 to enhance the expression of MsNCED3. Collectively, this study uncovered the mechanism whereby MsCDPK29 positively regulates saline-alkali tolerance in alfalfa by phosphorylation of MsbZIP14 to activate MsNCED3 expression.
{"title":"MsCDPK29-MsbZIP14 modulates ABA accumulation in response to saline-alkali stress in alfalfa.","authors":"Yuekun Ren,Lei Liu,Weidi Zhao,Weileng Guo,Jiaqi Li,Rui Guo,Dan Wang,Lu Tang,Lishuang Zhang,Changhong Guo","doi":"10.1111/nph.70945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70945","url":null,"abstract":"Salinization of arable land is a major adversity factor affecting crop yields. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs/CPKs) play crucial regulatory roles in multiple stress responses. However, their functions in alfalfa and the mechanisms of CDPKs in regulating saline-alkali stress are not well elaborated. In this study, we identified MsCDPK29 as a positive regulator of saline-alkali tolerance in alfalfa. Overexpression (OE) of MsCDPK29 in alfalfa displayed tolerance to saline-alkali stress, with higher antioxidant capacity, whereas electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anions (O2 -), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were lower than wild-type (WT). Conversely, MsCDPK29 RNA interference (RNAi) alfalfa displayed opposite phenotypes. Additionally, MsbZIP14, a basic region-leucine zipper transcription factor, was identified as a MsCDPK29-interacting protein. OE of MsbZIP14 promotes abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation and enhances saline-alkali tolerance. Meanwhile, we showed that MsbZIP14 was phosphorylated by MsCDPK29 at threonine236 (T236) and serine237 (S237) sites, and the phosphorylation is required for the biological function of MsbZIP14 in regulating ABA biosynthesis and saline-alkali stress response. MsbZIP14 directly binds to the promoter of MsNCED3 and activates its expression. Moreover, MsCDPK29 activated MsbZIP14 to enhance the expression of MsNCED3. Collectively, this study uncovered the mechanism whereby MsCDPK29 positively regulates saline-alkali tolerance in alfalfa by phosphorylation of MsbZIP14 to activate MsNCED3 expression.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146021575","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}
ABA signaling is a central regulator of plant responses to abiotic stress. Similarly, LysM receptor-like kinases (LYKs) are well-established for their role in biotic stress responses. However, a potential function for LYKs in abiotic stress adaptation and their crosstalk with the ABA pathway remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that the apple LysM receptor-like kinase MdLYK3 negatively regulates drought resistance by targeting ABA receptors. MdLYK3 directly interacts with 11 of 13 ABA receptors and phosphorylates MdPYR1 (T113, S131) and MdPYL4 (S112, S130). This phosphorylation promotes their ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation, thereby suppressing ABA signaling. Intriguingly, ABA itself attenuates the MdLYK3-ABA receptor interaction, thereby stabilizing the receptors to sustain ABA signaling during stress. This dual regulatory mechanism uncovers a previously unrecognized link between microbial perception pathways and ABA-mediated abiotic stress adaptation. Our findings reveal how plants co-opt immune signaling components for environmental stress resilience, expanding the functional repertoire of LYKs beyond biotic interactions.
{"title":"LysM receptor-like kinase MdLYK3 destabilizes the ABA receptors PYR/PYLs to suppress ABA signaling in apple.","authors":"Tingting Pei,Minghui Zhan,Runmin Che,Zengjie Wang,Yufei Zhou,Xiao Li,Jie Deng,Dongshan Niu,Chao Li,Xiaoqing Gong,Ke Mao,Pengmin Li,Fengwang Ma,Changhai Liu","doi":"10.1111/nph.70934","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70934","url":null,"abstract":"ABA signaling is a central regulator of plant responses to abiotic stress. Similarly, LysM receptor-like kinases (LYKs) are well-established for their role in biotic stress responses. However, a potential function for LYKs in abiotic stress adaptation and their crosstalk with the ABA pathway remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that the apple LysM receptor-like kinase MdLYK3 negatively regulates drought resistance by targeting ABA receptors. MdLYK3 directly interacts with 11 of 13 ABA receptors and phosphorylates MdPYR1 (T113, S131) and MdPYL4 (S112, S130). This phosphorylation promotes their ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation, thereby suppressing ABA signaling. Intriguingly, ABA itself attenuates the MdLYK3-ABA receptor interaction, thereby stabilizing the receptors to sustain ABA signaling during stress. This dual regulatory mechanism uncovers a previously unrecognized link between microbial perception pathways and ABA-mediated abiotic stress adaptation. Our findings reveal how plants co-opt immune signaling components for environmental stress resilience, expanding the functional repertoire of LYKs beyond biotic interactions.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146021576","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}
Suman Neupane,Amy E Zanne,Frederic Lens,Josef C Uyeda
Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) help researchers understand and predict trait evolutionary relationships. While improvements to PCMs have focused on increasing model complexity, understanding processes remains difficult due to persistent challenges in grounding complex models in biological reality and synthesizing findings across multiple analyses. We examined the evolution of growth habit in eudicots (75% of all angiosperms) and tested how variables such as vessel diameter, leaf phenology, and minimum temperature influence macroevolutionary inference. We used a series of PCMs to synthesize our understanding of trait interrelationships, explored plausible causal relationships using phylogenetic path analysis, and employed phylogenetic cross-validation to assess predictive performance among taxa. We found that discrete coding of growth form was linked to other measured and unmeasured traits, and that these interrelationships can help overcome limitations arising from incomplete data and simplistic coding of complex traits. Analysis of growth form using phylogenetic path analysis helps reconcile competing views of trait interrelationships from previous studies. Furthermore, including identified covariates improves prediction of growth habit and other traits. Our study shows that incorporating causal structure improves macroevolutionary inference, identifies when analyses that omit key causal traits become unreliable, and underscores the importance of integrating phylogenetic models with natural-history knowledge.
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