The Plant Journal最新文献

Transcription-associated proteins (TAPs) fulfill multiple functions in regulatory and developmental processes and display lineage-specific evolution. TAPscan is a comprehensive and highly reliable tool for genome-wide TAP annotation via domain profiles. Here, we present TAPscan v4, including an updated web interface (https://tapscan.plantcode.cup.uni-freiburg.de/), which enables an in-depth representation of the distribution of 138 TAP families across 678 species from diverse groups of organisms, with a focus on Archaeplastida (plants in the wide sense). With this release, we also make the underlying “Genome Zoo” available, a curated protein data set with scripts and metadata. Eighteen new TAP (sub)families were added as part of the update. Nine of those were gained in the most recent common ancestor of the Streptophyta (comprising streptophyte algae and land plants), or within the streptophyte algae. More than one-third of all detected TAP family gains were identified during the evolution of streptophyte algae, before the emergence of land plants, and are thus likely to have been significant for plant terrestrialization. The TAP complement of the Zygnematophyceae was identified to be the most similar to that of land plants, consistent with the finding that this lineage is sister to land plants. Overall, our data retrace the evolution of streptophyte TAPs, allowing us to pinpoint the regulatory repertoire of the earliest land plants.

Phytosulfokine (PSK) is a plant growth-promoting peptide hormone that is perceived by its cell surface receptors PSKR1 and PSKR2 in Arabidopsis. Plants lacking the PSK receptors show phenotypes consistent with PSK signaling repressing some plant defenses. To gain further insight into the PSK signaling mechanism, comprehensive transcriptional profiling of Arabidopsis treated with PSK was performed, and the effects of PSK treatment on plant defense readouts were monitored. Our study indicates that PSK's major effect is to downregulate defense-related genes; it has a more modest effect on the induction of growth-related genes. WRKY transcription factors (TFs) emerged as key regulators of PSK-responsive genes, sharing commonality with a pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) responses, flagellin 22 (flg22), but exhibiting opposite regulatory directions. These PSK-induced transcriptional changes were accompanied by biochemical and physiological changes that reduced PAMP responses, notably mitogen-activated protein kinase (MPK) phosphorylation (previously implicated in WRKY activation) and the cell wall modification of callose deposition. Comparison with previous studies using other growth stimuli (the sulfated plant peptide containing sulfated tyrosine [PSY] and Pseudomonas simiae strain WCS417) also reveals WRKY TFs' overrepresentations in these pathways, suggesting a possible shared mechanism involving WRKY TFs for plant growth–defense trade-off.

The requirement of in vitro tissue culture for the delivery of gene editing reagents limits the application of gene editing to commercially relevant varieties of many crop species. To overcome this bottleneck, plant RNA viruses have been deployed as versatile tools for in planta delivery of recombinant RNA. Viral delivery of single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) to transgenic plants that stably express CRISPR-associated (Cas) endonuclease has been successfully used for targeted mutagenesis in several dicotyledonous and few monocotyledonous plants. Progress with this approach in monocotyledonous plants is limited so far by the availability of effective viral vectors. We engineered a set of foxtail mosaic virus (FoMV) and barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) vectors to deliver the fluorescent protein AmCyan to track viral infection and movement in Sorghum bicolor. We further used these viruses to deliver and express sgRNAs to Cas9 and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) expressing transgenic sorghum lines, targeting Phytoene desaturase (PDS), Magnesium-chelatase subunit I (MgCh), 4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate reductase, orthologs of maize Lemon white1 (Lw1) or GFP. The recombinant BSMV did neither infect sorghum nor deliver or express AmCyan and sgRNAs. In contrast, the recombinant FoMV systemically spread throughout sorghum plants and induced somatic mutations with frequencies reaching up to 60%. This mutagenesis led to visible phenotypic changes, demonstrating the potential of FoMV for in planta gene editing and functional genomics studies in sorghum.

Plant genetic transformation is essential for understanding gene functions and developing improved crop varieties. Traditional methods, often genotype-dependent, are limited by plants' recalcitrance to gene delivery and low regeneration capacity. To overcome these limitations, new approaches have emerged that greatly improve efficiency and genotype flexibility. This review summarizes key strategies recently developed for plant transformation, focusing on groundbreaking technologies enhancing explant- and genotype flexibility. It covers the use of morphogenic regulators (MRs), stem cell-based methods, and in planta transformation methods. MRs, such as maize Babyboom (BBM) with Wuschel2 (WUS2), and GROWTH-REGULATING FACTORs (GRFs) with their cofactors GRF-interacting factors (GIFs), offer great potential for transforming many monocot species, including major cereal crops. Optimizing BBM/WUS2 expression cassettes has further enabled successful transformation and gene editing using seedling leaves as starting material. This technology lowers the barriers for academic laboratories to adopt monocot transformation systems. For dicot plants, tissue culture-free or in planta transformation methods, with or without the use of MRs, are emerging as more genotype-flexible alternatives to traditional tissue culture-based transformation systems. Additionally, the discovery of the local wound signal peptide Regeneration Factor 1 (REF1) has been shown to enhance transformation efficiency by activating wound-induced regeneration pathways in both monocot and dicot plants. Future research may combine these advances to develop truly genotype-independent transformation methods.

We are very pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 TPJ Fellowship awards are Pallavi Singh and Khaled Selim.

Pallavi is a Group Leader at the University of Essex, United Kingdom, and has recently been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Her research focuses on enhancing photosynthetic productivity by balancing plant water supply with carbon gain to maximise water use in rice. Her group investigates various aspects of photosynthesis, utilising natural variation and functional genomic approaches to better understand the complex trait of water use efficiency. The overarching goal of her research is to promote climate-smart agriculture.

Khaled was recently appointed Professor for Phototroph Microbiology at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Previously, he was a Junior Professor for Microbiology at the University of Freiburg and a Junior Group Leader at the University of Tübingen, Germany where he also obtained his PhD after achieving his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University in Egypt. Until 2023, he was a guest fellow at the Department of Protein Evolution in Max Plank institute for Biology, Germany.

Congratulations to both of them. We are delighted to welcome them to The Plant Journal and help support them in their scientific careers.