Gaurav Zinta

The small-molecule pifithrin-α deactivates ETR1 to repress shade avoidance in Arabidopsis Compound PFT-α inhibits shade-induced hypocotyl elongation by mimicking ethylene to inactivate ETR1 and down-regulate PIFs level.

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

An individual of Roscoea tibetica from Shangri-La, located in the mountains of Southwest China. The image in the top right corner illustrates the substantial alterations in the relationship between genome size and stomatal size when transitioning from wild conditions to a common garden environment. Similarly, the image in the lower left corner demonstrates the significant changes in the relationship between stomatal size and stomatal density under the same conditions.

Xiao et al. tested the role of genome size in adaptation in 53 Alpine ginger herb populations, finding that genome size has undergone adaptive evolution driven by environmental stress; smaller genomes are advantageous in changing alpine habitats

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf151

#genome #evolution

How evolution repeatedly builds complexity: a case study with C4 photosynthesis in Blepharis (Acanthaceae) With over 60 parallel origins representing evolutionary replicates, C4 photosynthesis is well-suited for studying complex trait evolution. However, lineages with diverse C3–C4 intermediate species a.....

How evolution repeatedly builds complexity: a case study with C4 photosynthesis in Blepharis (Acanthaceae) nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @newphyt.bsky.social

Plants repress ROS1 expression to attenuate heat-induced transposon burst - Nature Plants Plants suppress the DNA demethylase ROS1 under heat stress to limit transposon activation, preventing genome instability. This conserved mechanism balances stress adaptation with genome protection.

Here’s an interesting new paper on ROS1, an enzyme that removes DNA methylation and that is POSITIVELY controlled by DNA methylation.
It’s repression during heat stress 🥵🌱 is crucial to suppress transposon mobility! 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cooling down transposon mobility - Nature Plants Uncontrolled transposable element (TE) mobility can be deleterious to genome integrity. To protect their genomes, plants have evolved intricate silencing mechanisms that put brakes on these mobile ele...

And here’s my News & Views on the subject:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Linalool-triggered plant-soil feedback drives defense adaptation in dense maize plantings High planting density boosts crop yields but also heightens pest and pathogen risks. How plants adapt their defenses under these conditions remains unclear. In this study, we reveal that maize enhance...

Out in @science.org The crazy sequence of events from planting maize in dense fields. Density-dependent linalool release triggers release of compounds into the soil affecting microbes and plants.
Article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Perspective: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#PlantScience

Analysis of telomere-to-telomere genome of red carrot TXH4 elucidates the role of DcLCYE and DcLCYB1 in lycopene accumulation in carrot. #T2T #RedCarrotGenome #LycopeneAccumulation #PlantGenomics #Genomics @horticulturer.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/hr/advance-a...

Telomere-to-Telomere Genome Assembly of Yellow-Fruited Allotetraploid American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) Provides Insights into Flavonoid Biosynthesis. #T2T #AmericanGinsengGenome #FlavonoidBiosynthesis #PlantGenomics @horticulturer.bsky.social 🧬
academic.oup.com/hr/advance-a...

Arabidopsis HSFA1b functions as a heat sensor inhibiting OST1-mediated stomatal closure through its adenylate-cyclase activity Global climatic warming profoundly affects plant communities, but details of mechanisms and the identity of sensors controlling plant thermosensing ar…

Arabidopsis HSFA1b functions as a heat sensor inhibiting OST1-mediated stomatal closure through its adenylate-cyclase activity

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The CsphyB–CsPIF4–CsBRC1 module regulates ABA biosynthesis and axillary bud outgrowth in cucumber In cucumber, the phytochrome-interacting factor CsPIF4 interacts with the phytochrome CsphyB and binds to the promoter of BRANCHED1 to activate its expression. BRANCHED1 promotes expression of the ab...

Shoot branching is an important #agronomic trait that impacts #plant architecture and #crop productivity.
Liu et al. report that the CsphyB–CsPIF4–CsBRC1 module regulates #ABA #biosynthesis and axillary bud outgrowth in #cucumber
doi.org/10.1111/jipb...
#PlantScience #Phytohormones

♻️ Molecular mechanism of flower colour formation in Rhododendron simsii Planchon revealed by integration of microRNAome and RNAomics by Jun Fu and co-authors

Full #openaccess
👉 doi.org/10.1093/aobp...

#PlantScience

Panel featuring a stylized logo featuring the Greek Titan, Atlas, and a conifer cone. The rest of the panel highlights features gathered in the Pinus radiata Multi-Omics Expression Atlas, including (1) Forestry valuable, stress sensitive, (2) Intergenerational memory specificity, and (3) Long introns, conservatively spliced.

🌲 The Pinus radiata Gene Expression ATLAS provides a refined multi-omics platform for Pinus radiata that advances #conifer research and facilitates the evaluation of conserved #plant molecular discoveries across a broader #evolutionary spectrum. 🌲
doi.org/10.1111/jipb...
#PlantScience #OpenAccess

Plants "bleed" too, but through gases!
When wounded, ethylene leaks out and oxygen seeps in. This gas shift acts as an alarm, triggering self-repair to seal the breach. Excited to share our new collaborative work uncovering this clever plant mechanism! Excellent summary here, indulge!
#plantscience

Wild relatives to improve heat tolerance of cultivated quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.): pollen viability and seed number Abstract. Quinoa is well-known for high nutritional value and wide adaptability, but it is considered to be heat sensitive. To address that, two tetraploid

Wild relatives to improve heat tolerance of cultivated quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.): pollen viability and seed number

doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

The biology of grafting and its applications in studying information exchange between plants - Nature Plants This Review discusses the uses of grafting in basic and applied research and summarizes our current understanding of the mechanisms involved in the exchange of genes, genomes, RNA molecules and protei...

fascinated by grafting plants have a look at new review about grafting and exchange of of information between plants written with Ralph Bock
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of transposable elements and their roles in development and disease - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome. This Review discusses transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that repress TE activity, how TEs escape this suppressio...

We wrote a review on Transposable Elements (TEs) and almost all aspects of TE silencing and their roles in biological processes & disease.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Impacts of climate change on global agriculture accounting for adaptation - Nature Analysis of data on six stable crops, capturing two-thirds of global crop calories, allows estimation of agricultural impacts and the potential of global producer adaptations to reduce output losses owing to climate change.

Most staple food crops are expected to experience substantial production losses due to climate change, even when mitigation measures to limit the impact of climate change are considered, according to a study in Nature. The study finds that only rice might avoid substantial losses. 🧪

Spatial Coordination between Leaf Gradient and Temperature Response in Barley https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.24.661333v1

The transcription factor MYB44 suppresses starch synthesis to negatively regulate grain weight and yield in wheat and rice #research #MolecularPlant cell.com/molecular-pl...

Smart Nanocarriers for Plant Genetic Engineering #commentary #PlantCommunications cell.com/plant-commun...

How DEAR4 keeps plants cool under pressure Click on the article title to read more.

💡𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑹4 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆
Read this nice highlight by @gwenkirschner.bsky.social about the role of DEAR4 in linking LLPS to heat-responsive gene regulation.
📖 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70276
Find original research by Wang, Gong, & Zhu
👉 doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70172

HSP90-mediated stress resilience in male gametophyte of Arabidopsis thaliana https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.21.660849v1

Multi-Omics Analysis of Heat Stress-Induced Memory in Arabidopsis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.19.660594v1

Redesigning petal shape, size, and color in soybean reveals unexpected phenotypes for floral organ development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.05.657847v1

The regulatory potential of transposable elements in maize - Nature Plants Long-read chromatin assay reveals (1) a novel class of accessible chromatin regions, (2) accessibility within individual LTR retrotransposons and (3) the relationship between diffuse accessibility, ge...

Long reads equivalent of ATAC-seq applied to maize - treating maize protoplast with Hia5 MTase (m6A methyltransferase) followed by long reads sequencing.

"The regulatory potential of transposable elements in maize"

From: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A highly efficient and environmentally friendly strategy to obtain transgene-free genome-edited progeny in flowering plants Obtaining foreign DNA-free crops after genome editing is essential for agricultural applications, because of the current regulatory policies on gene-edited plants in various countries. However, it is ...

A method to obtain transgene-free genome-edited plants by killing transgenic gametes using gamete-expressed Barnase.

From: www.cell.com/molecular-pl...

#PlantScience

Congratulations 🎊

Itaconate, the poster-child for metabolic reprogramming in animal immunity, now comes out to play in plants!
www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...