Trends in Plant Science最新文献

Flooding threatens crop productivity, agricultural sustainability, and global food security. In this article I review the effects of flooding on plants and highlight three important gaps in our understanding: (i) effects of flooding on ecological interactions mediated by plants both below (changing root metabolites and exudates) and aboveground (changing plant quality and metabolites, and weakening the plant immune system), (ii) flooding impacts on soil health and microorganisms that underpin plant and ecosystems health, and (iii) the legacy impacts of flooding. Failure to address these overlooked aspects could derail and undermine the monumental progress made in building climate-resilient crops and soil-microbe-assisted plant resilience. Addressing the outlined knowledge gaps will enhance solutions developed to mitigate flooding and preserve gains made to date.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that poses a significant risk to both plant growth and human health. To mitigate or lessen Cd toxicity, plants have evolved a wide range of sensing and defense strategies. The gasotransmitter hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is involved in plant responses to Cd stress and exhibits a crucial role in modulating Cd tolerance through a well-orchestrated interaction with several signaling pathways. Here, we review potential experimental approaches to manipulate H₂S signals, concluding that research on another gasotransmitter, namely nitric oxide (NO), serves as a good model for research on H₂S. Additionally, we discuss potential strategies to leverage H₂S-reguated Cd tolerance to improve plant performance under Cd stress.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are essential airborne mediators of interactions between plants. These plant-plant interactions require sophisticated VOC-sensing mechanisms that enable plants to regulate their defenses against pests. However, these interactions are not limited to specific plants or even conspecifics, and can function in very flexible interactions between plants. Sensing and responding to VOCs in plants is finely controlled by their uptake and transport systems as well as by cellular signaling via, for example, chromatin remodeling system-based transcriptional regulation for defense gene activation. Based on the accumulated knowledge about the interactions between plants and their major VOCs, companion plants and biostimulants are being developed for practical applications in agricultural and horticultural pest control, providing a sustainable alternative to harmful chemicals.

Most African crop breeding programs conduct early-stage selection at very few research stations, which may not reflect smallholder farm conditions. Early-stage on-farm sparse testing utilizes genomic relationships to shift selection from research stations to hundreds of farms in the target population of environments, facilitating increased genetic gain in farmers' fields.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) has been proposed to regulate plant-environment interactions. Here, we compare its distinct pathways in plants with those in animals, summarizing recently uncovered mechanisms that govern plant H₂S production in subcellular compartments. We underscore the importance of H₂S and its role in drought stress and guard cell (GC) signaling.

The biosynthesis of natural products (NPs) is a complex dynamic spatial and temporal process that requires the collaboration of multiple disciplines to explore the underlying mechanisms. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful technique for studying NPs due to its high molecular coverage and sensitivity without the need for labeling. To date, many analysts still use MSI primarily for visualizing the distribution of NPs in heterogeneous tissues, although studies have proved that it can provide crucial insights into the specialized spatial metabolic process of NPs. In this review we strive to bring awareness of the importance of MSI, and we advocate further exploitation of the spatial information obtained from MSI to establish metabolite-gene expression relationships.

Plant pathogens usually secrete effectors to suppress the host immune response, resulting in effector-triggered susceptibility (ETS). Plants use nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) to detect specific effectors and elicit effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Two recent papers (Liu et al. and Zhang et al.) have made promising progress in controlling rice blast by modulating ETS and ETI.

Botrytis cinerea is a destructive pathogen. A recent study by Escaray et al. revealed the unexpected role of triterpenoid saponins as a susceptibility factor in Euphorbia lathyris, which promotes B. cinerea infection. This provides the possibility of developing a broad-spectrum plant protection solution by targeting the inhibition of the saponin biosynthetic pathway.

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important systemic acquired resistance (SAR) signal in plants. However, the mobile signal that directly regulates systematic SA biosynthesis was previously unknown. Recently, Cao et al. found that hydrogen peroxide acts as a mobile signal by sulfenylating CCA1 HIKING EXPEDITION (CHE) and inducing SA production in systemic tissues.