Plant science for sustainability: by and for future generations

Abstract

The first of its kind to be held in Asia, the 5^th New Phytologist next-generation scientists symposium took place at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in July 2023. Funded by the New Phytologist Foundation and supported by Wiley, this iteration follows a young but strong series of past symposia (Hetherington & Nutzmann, 2018; Hunt & Ng, 2020), featuring over 100 early career scientists in plant science and 11 keynotes speakers from over 50 countries, representing over 60 nationalities. The symposium series aims to provide opportunities for early-career scientists to share their work, make new friends and networks, and have open discussions with mentors and senior researchers on diverse topics important to them (Fig. 1).

The symposium touched upon a wide range of topics in plant science, such as the molecular basis of stress tolerance and adaptation, crop genetics and improvement, the development of molecular tools for plant research, plant–microbe interactions, and conservation and ecosystem studies. Despite the apparent diversity of these topics, it is clear that an appreciation and integration of these subdomains in plant science is not only essential for understanding the complexity of plants and plant systems but also critical to foster innovative approaches to tackle pressing global challenges in food security and environmental sustainability. Here, we highlight key research themes that emerged from the symposium, showcasing the forefront of scientific exploration and its potential impact on food security and sustainability.

As global warming continues to challenge the limits of agricultural productivity, understanding plant stress responses and adaptation mechanisms has become increasingly crucial. Several speakers delved into the complex web of signaling pathways and genetic responses plants utilize to withstand environmental stresses. Sheng Luan (UC Berkeley, USA) shared his findings on a calcium signaling network that is deployed when plants are challenged in a low-mineral environment. Nam-Hai Chua (Rockefeller University, USA, and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore) reported on a mobile long noncoding RNA that travels from root to shoot to prevent leaf senescence under nitrogen-deficient conditions (Cheng et al., 2023). Early-career researchers Zhen Lin (Southern University of Science and Technology, China) and Xin Yang (National University of Singapore, Singapore) both spoke on the importance of the SnRK2 kinases in stress signaling, highlighting their activation mechanism and influence on stomatal production, respectively (Lin et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2022). Tomas Tessi (Heidelberg University, Germany) and Aida Maric (University of Freiburg, Germany) discussed the molecular regulation of stress responses through their research on either small RNA metabolism or epigenetic regulation on stress memory. Finally, Qiao Wen Tan (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) described her work on the gene expression atlas of the common liverwort in response to seven abiotic stresses, revealing regulatory principles of these responses (Tan et al., 2023).

While comprehending stress responses and adaptation mechanisms in model plants is of considerable significance, it is the application of these insights to crops and an understanding of crop genetics and its influence on traits that hold the potential to revolutionize agricultural productivity and sustainability. Several talks in the symposium focused on the translational research on crops and the genetics underlying desirable traits using genomic tools. Julie Gray (University of Sheffield, UK) showcased her research to genetically modify stomatal development and number in wheat, barley, and rice. These resulted in not only the reduction in water usage of the crops and the conservation of soil water, but also the protection of yields from drought, pathogen, and salt stress (Caine et al., 2018). Early-career scientist Erstelle Pasion (International Rice Research Institute, Philippines) employed Genome-Wide Association Study to understand the genetic architecture of the micronutrient signatures of brown rice. With a broad panel of 300 rice accessions, she identified genes and gene regulatory networks associated with 12 micronutrients. The results provide the genetic basis for improving micronutrient levels in brown rice in future breeding programs (Pasion et al., 2023). On the other hand, Adawiah Zainal (Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Malaysia) used Gene Co-Expression network analyses to identify gene modules and regulators involved in the pigmentation of rice and disease responses in papaya. The findings will aid in the breeding programs on rice and papaya in Malaysia to improve crop nutritional value and yield. To understand the origin of potato tuber formation, Pedro Garcia Gagliardi (Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics, Spain) performed single-cell RNA sequencing on developing potato tubers and identified gene clusters related to tuber identity and starch accumulation.

The inherent complexity of plant genomes and the challenges posed by functional redundancy calls for new innovations. Two speakers focused on technologies based on CRISPR. Eilon Shani (Tel Aviv University, Israel) introduced Multi-Knock, a multitargeted genome scale CRISPR toolbox, to unveil concealed phenotypes within plant genomes plagued by functional redundancy (Hu et al., 2023). This innovation speeds up genetic studies and deepens our grasp of plant biology. Early-career researcher Adil Khan (The University of Western Australia, Australia) discussed a pioneering method utilizing reversible CRISPR-based gene circuits to address the limitations hindering gene circuit development in plants, offering a novel platform for precise spatiotemporal control of gene expression. On the biosensor front, early-career researcher Maxime Josse (Sainsbury Laboratory, University Cambridge, UK) discussed his research on engineering biosensors for auxin using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer technology, enabling real-time tracking of auxin dynamics with subcellular resolution.

Amidst escalating environmental challenges and climate change impacts on global agriculture, the interplay between plants and microbes has risen as a key research focus, shaping agricultural resilience and productivity. Early-career researchers delivered inspiring talks about plant–microbe interactions at various scales. Jihyun Kim (Seoul National University, South Korea) described the mechanism by which a novel effector of Phytophtora capsici, which causes blight disease in over 50 crop species, evades host detection and defence to induce cell death. Melissa Uribe Acosta (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) presented findings on the variable roles of chemical and structural components on root–microbiome assembly to better understand how plants selectively recruit commensal microbes. Hernan D. Capador-Barreto (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama) showed that fungal pathogens enriched around Virola nobilis mother plants contribute to high seedling mortality, offering a potential mechanism for the establishment of conspecific negative density dependence. The insights from the talks deepened the understanding of plant health and ecosystem resilience.

The symposium closed with a deep dive into species- to ecosystem-level responses to human impacts such as climate and land use change, and their implications for ecosystem recovery, conservation, and food security. Lourens Poorter (University of Wageningen, the Netherlands) in his keynote address showed how understanding the recovery of secondary tropical forests to anthropogenic disturbances can contribute to a more informed discussion about forest conservation, restoration, and management options globally (Poorter et al., 2021). Emily Warschefsky (Missouri Botanic Gardens, USA) highlighted collaborative efforts to document and conserve the diversity of tree crops, which have received less attention than annual food crop species but nonetheless play an important role in the world's food supply. In a similar vein, there were also talks on climate change responses of not only crops such as bananas (Su-Ee Lau, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaya) and quinoa (Komal Goa, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India) but also mangrove ecosystems (Alison Kim Shan Wee, University of Nottingham Malaysia), one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world.

The symposium has successfully carved a unique platform for early-career scientists from diverse research areas to share their works and interact with their peers and other scientists. Each theme from the symposium discussed previously represents a vital area of research with the potential to contribute significantly to our knowledge and capabilities in plant science. Importantly, they collectively underscore the multifaceted research efforts aimed at understanding plant biology, enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability, and addressing global environmental challenges. Moreover, the symposium highlighted the burgeoning research capabilities within South-East Asia and the region. Overall, the meeting was a microcosm of global research trends and shows how the plant science community, by interacting and working together, can address some of humanity's most urgent problems.

RR, KKR, JYL and OSL wrote the manuscript with contributions from RRQL, FWSL and HJS. RR and KKR contributed equally to this work.

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