Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-30DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02003-y
Lijing Liu, Jian Han, Zhifei Zhang, Qing Tang, Ke Pang, Ruiyun Li, Yasheng Wu, Hong Hua, Bin Guo, Chunfang Cai, Robert Riding
{"title":"Ordovician marine Charophyceae and insights into land plant derivations","authors":"Lijing Liu, Jian Han, Zhifei Zhang, Qing Tang, Ke Pang, Ruiyun Li, Yasheng Wu, Hong Hua, Bin Guo, Chunfang Cai, Robert Riding","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02003-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02003-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The emergence of land plants was a pivotal development in Earth history. It has been postulated that the evolutionary transition from freshwater streptophyte algae to land plants, or the canalization of plant meiosis, was completed during the Middle Ordovician (~460 Ma). However, the absence of undisputed streptophyte algal fossils (for example, Charophyceae) earlier than the late Silurian (~425 Ma) has obscured this link between streptophyte algae and land plants. Here we describe a marine Charophyceae fossil, <i>Tarimochara miraclensis</i> gen. et sp. nov., from early and middle Katian (Late Ordovician, ~453–449 Ma) marine limestones in northwestern China. This discovery demonstrates that at least some species of Charophyceae inhabited shallow normal marine environments at that time. Moreover, these early Charophyceae show that some key morphological innovations associated with an evolutionary transition between streptophyte algae and land plants had occurred before the early Katian. This provides crucial evidence relevant to the origins of land plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144176810","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02016-7
{"title":"Rethinking field trials","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02016-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02016-7","url":null,"abstract":"Field trials are indispensable for the application of agronomic genes. However, whether a scientific publication needs to include data on field trials is a very complicated issue.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144123048","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-21DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02009-6
Lingcheng Zhu, Jincheng Lan, Tao Zhao, Mingjun Li, Yong-Ling Ruan
{"title":"How vacuolar sugar transporters evolve and control cellular sugar homeostasis, organ development and crop yield","authors":"Lingcheng Zhu, Jincheng Lan, Tao Zhao, Mingjun Li, Yong-Ling Ruan","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02009-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02009-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sugar exchange among different subcellular compartments is central for achieving cellular sugar homeostasis and directly affects the yield and quality of many horticultural and field crops. While a portion of photosynthesis-originated sugars is metabolized through glycolysis upon entering the cytosol, the remainder is reversibly channelled to the vacuole, mediated by different families of vacuolar sugar transporter (VST) located on the vacuolar membrane, the tonoplast. Historically, sugar transporters operating on plasma membranes have been studied more than those on tonoplasts. Recently, however, several breakthroughs have shed light on (1) the distinct roles of VSTs in plant development and stress responses and (2) how seemingly unrelated classes of VSTs act together to modulate sugar influx into and efflux from the vacuoles. Here we evaluate these advances, analyse the evolution of VSTs and identify knowledge gaps and future directions for better understanding and manipulation of cytosolic–vacuolar sugar exchange to optimize plant performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104737","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-16DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02005-w
Enrique Gonzalez-Duran, Xenia Kroop, Anne Schadach, Ralph Bock
{"title":"Suppression of plastid-to-nucleus gene transfer by DNA double-strand break repair","authors":"Enrique Gonzalez-Duran, Xenia Kroop, Anne Schadach, Ralph Bock","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02005-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02005-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Plant nuclear genomes contain thousands of genes of mitochondrial and plastid origin as the result of endosymbiotic gene transfer (EGT). EGT is a still-ongoing process, but the molecular mechanisms determining its frequency remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that nuclear double-strand break (DSB) repair is a strong suppressor of EGT. Through large-scale genetic screens in tobacco plants, we found that EGT from plastids to the nucleus occurs more frequently in somatic cells when individual DSB repair pathways are inactive. This effect is explained by the expected increase in the number and residence time of DSBs available as integration sites for organellar DNA. We also show that impaired DSB repair causes EGT to increase 5- to 20-fold in the male gametophyte. Together, our data (1) uncover DSB levels as a key determinant of EGT frequency, (2) reveal the strong mutagenic potential of organellar DNA and (3) suggest that changes in DNA repair capacity can impact EGT across evolutionary timescales.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144066046","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-16DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02004-x
Eva C. M. Nowack
{"title":"A gatekeeper for gene transfers","authors":"Eva C. M. Nowack","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02004-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02004-x","url":null,"abstract":"Large-scale genetic screening for plastid-to-nucleus gene transfers identifies that fast double-strand break repair functions as a key barrier for nuclear integration of organellar DNA and provides initial insights into the genetic control of this process.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144066036","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-16DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02014-9
Raphael Trösch
{"title":"SCREAM to stop SPEECHLESS","authors":"Raphael Trösch","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02014-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02014-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>During stomatal development, protodermal cells differentiate into meristemoid mother cells, which undergo a limited number of asymmetric cell divisions that each produce a smaller meristemoid and a larger stomatal-lineage ground cell. The final meristemoid further differentiates into a guard mother cell, which divides symmetrically to produce two guard cells. The asymmetric divisions of the meristemoid mother cell are initiated by SPCH, whereas MUTE is required for termination of asymmetric divisions and further differentiation of the meristemoid into the guard mother cell. Finally, FAMA is required for symmetric division of the guard mother cell. SPCH, MUTE and FAMA can all form heterodimers with SCREAM; however, the specific role of SCREAM in stomatal development is less clear.</p><p>The researchers investigate stomatal development in <i>scrm</i> mutants and find that differentiation of stomatal-lineage cells into guard cells is inhibited. Although the number of asymmetric cell divisions in <i>scrm</i> mutants differs between developmental stages compared with the wild type, lack of SCRM generally leads to excessive asymmetric cell divisions of meristemoids. As overexpression of <i>SCRM</i> leads to increased stomatal-lineage density but not stomatal density, it seems that SCRM is required both for the initiation and termination of asymmetric cell division at different stages. Transcription of SPCH and known SPCH targets is enhanced in <i>scrm</i> mutants, and indeed SCRM can directly bind and repress the <i>SPCH</i> promoter. It is further shown that <i>SPCH</i> is epistatic to <i>SCRM</i> and that downregulation of <i>SPCH</i> expression in the <i>scrm</i> background can partially suppress the excessive asymmetric cell divisions, suggesting that this phenotype can be at least partially attributed to upregulation of <i>SPCH</i> in the <i>scrm</i> mutant. Overexpression of <i>SCRM</i> in the <i>mute</i> background leads to fewer asymmetric cell divisions than in <i>mute</i> alone, and MUTE does not bind to the <i>SPCH</i> promoter in vivo, pointing to a role for SCRM in the termination of asymmetric cell divisions that is independent of MUTE. As it was shown before that SPCH can also be inhibited by non-cell autonomous patterning signals, it is tempting to speculate that relative quantities of SPCH and SCRM may determine the initiation or termination of asymmetric cell division.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144066043","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02008-7
Zeyun Hao, Xiao Xu, Guo-Liang Wang, Ruyi Wang, Yuese Ning
{"title":"E3 ubiquitin ligases at the frontline of antiviral defence","authors":"Zeyun Hao, Xiao Xu, Guo-Liang Wang, Ruyi Wang, Yuese Ning","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02008-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02008-7","url":null,"abstract":"The mechanisms underlying virus perception and immune activation in plants remain poorly understood. Recent work shows that in rice, an E3 ubiquitin ligase senses viral coat proteins to activate the jasmonate signalling pathway by degrading NINJA3, and triggers downstream antiviral defence responses.","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"121 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143945699","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-13DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02002-z
Kerry L. Bubb, Morgan O. Hamm, Thomas W. Tullius, Joseph K. Min, Bryan Ramirez-Corona, Nicholas A. Mueth, Jane Ranchalis, Yizi Mao, Erik J. Bergstrom, Mitchell R. Vollger, Cole Trapnell, Josh T. Cuperus, Andrew B. Stergachis, Christine Queitsch
{"title":"The regulatory potential of transposable elements in maize","authors":"Kerry L. Bubb, Morgan O. Hamm, Thomas W. Tullius, Joseph K. Min, Bryan Ramirez-Corona, Nicholas A. Mueth, Jane Ranchalis, Yizi Mao, Erik J. Bergstrom, Mitchell R. Vollger, Cole Trapnell, Josh T. Cuperus, Andrew B. Stergachis, Christine Queitsch","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02002-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02002-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The genomes of flowering plants consist largely of transposable elements (TEs), some of which modulate gene regulation and function. However, the repetitive nature of TEs and difficulty of mapping individual TEs by short-read sequencing have hindered our understanding of their regulatory potential. Here we show that long-read chromatin fibre sequencing (Fiber-seq) comprehensively identifies accessible chromatin regions (ACRs) and CpG methylation across the maize genome. We uncover stereotypical ACR patterns at young TEs that degenerate with evolutionary age, resulting in TE enhancers preferentially marked by a novel plant-specific epigenetic feature: simultaneous hyper-CpG methylation and chromatin accessibility. We show that TE ACRs are co-opted as gene promoters and that ACR-containing TEs can facilitate gene amplification. Lastly, we uncover a pervasive epigenetic signature—hypo-5mCpG methylation and diffuse chromatin accessibility—directing TEs to specific loci, including the loci that sparked McClintock’s discovery of TEs.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143940094","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-13DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02015-8
Guillaume Tena
{"title":"Mycorrhizal CLE mimicry","authors":"Guillaume Tena","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-02015-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02015-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Since the discovery of systemin in tomato in the past century, small peptides have become ubiquitous in plant signalling pathways. Various families with increasingly funny names each contain dozens of individual peptides: PEP, RALF, CEP, IDA, PSK, PSY, SCOOP, SCREW and so on. The CLE family (named after CLV3 and ESR) consists of secreted peptides that are 12–14 amino acids in length, which are perceived locally or systemically by leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases. They are broadly involved in many biological processes: maintenance of the shoot and root meristems, vascular development, senescence, nutrition, stomatal patterning, flower and fruit development, and stress responses — the list continues to increase.</p><p>CLE peptides also have a role in plant–microbe interactions, including during symbioses. A recent study in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA</i>, which comes from the Salk Institute and is led by Lena Maria Müller, identifies a positive role for CLE16 from <i>Medicago truncatula</i> during arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, with an interesting twist: the AM fungus itself produces a CLE16 mimic to facilitate colonization.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143940093","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}
Nature PlantsPub Date : 2025-05-12DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-01996-w
Simon Alamos, Matthew J. Szarzanowicz, Mitchell G. Thompson, Danielle M. Stevens, Liam D. Kirkpatrick, Amanda Dee, Hamreet Pannu, Ruoming Cui, Shuying Liu, Monikaben Nimavat, Ksenia Krasileva, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Patrick M. Shih
{"title":"Quantitative dissection of Agrobacterium T-DNA expression in single plant cells reveals density-dependent synergy and antagonism","authors":"Simon Alamos, Matthew J. Szarzanowicz, Mitchell G. Thompson, Danielle M. Stevens, Liam D. Kirkpatrick, Amanda Dee, Hamreet Pannu, Ruoming Cui, Shuying Liu, Monikaben Nimavat, Ksenia Krasileva, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Patrick M. Shih","doi":"10.1038/s41477-025-01996-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-01996-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><i>Agrobacterium</i> pathogenesis, which involves transferring T-DNA into plant cells, is the cornerstone of plant genetic engineering. As the applications that rely on <i>Agrobacterium</i> increase in sophistication, it becomes critical to achieve a quantitative and predictive understanding of T-DNA expression at the level of single plant cells. Here we examine if a classic Poisson model of interactions between pathogens and host cells holds true for <i>Agrobacterium</i> infecting <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i>. Systematically challenging this model revealed antagonistic and synergistic density-dependent interactions between bacteria that do not require quorum sensing. Using various approaches, we studied the molecular basis of these interactions. To overcome the engineering constraints imposed by antagonism, we created a dual binary vector system termed ‘BiBi’, which can improve the efficiency of a reconstituted complex metabolic pathway in a predictive fashion. Our findings illustrate how combining theoretical models with quantitative experiments can reveal new principles of bacterial pathogenesis, impacting both fundamental and applied plant biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":18904,"journal":{"name":"Nature Plants","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":18.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143933502","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}