{"title":"Invasive ectomycorrhizal fungi: belowground insights from South America.","authors":"Nahuel Policelli,Martin A Nuñez","doi":"10.1111/nph.70608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70608","url":null,"abstract":"Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) are essential for nutrient cycling and plant symbiosis, yet their invasions remain understudied, particularly in South America. Large-scale forestry introductions have spread non-native EMF across the continent. Although definitions vary, EMF are invasive when they disperse, colonize new environments, and overcome natural barriers. Invasive EMF alter soil biogeochemistry and local microbial and plant communities, sometimes preceding plant invasions. Despite their importance, invasive EMF remain poorly documented, with major knowledge gaps. Research must strengthen local networks, expand access to molecular tools, and integrate traditional knowledge. In turn, unregulated commercial inoculants pose risks, requiring policy intervention. South America offers a unique opportunity to strengthen collaboration and regional research to help elucidate and prevent future EMF invasions while guiding conservation.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145182641","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}
{"title":"Engineering autonomously luminescent plants using fungal bioluminescence pathway.","authors":"Xiaolei Yu,Tiange Wang,Ci Kong,Hao Du","doi":"10.1111/nph.70601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70601","url":null,"abstract":"Bioluminescence is a remarkable biological phenomenon observed across diverse taxa. Fungal bioluminescence, with the recent elucidation of the fungal bioluminescence pathway (FBP), enables the development of autonomous self-glowing plants through endogenous caffeic acid recycling; this plant-compatible mechanism overcomes critical limitations in sustainable implementation. We review the molecular basis of FBP and its optimization through metabolic engineering and protein optimization, which have collectively enhanced luminescence intensity by orders of magnitude. Current applications span from basic research to commercial bioluminescent plants, demonstrating successful integration of biotechnology with sustainable lighting solutions. Future implementations may revolutionize botanical applications through intelligent crop monitoring, urban illumination, and decorative horticulture. The FBP platform now stands as a transformative tool for noninvasive plant studies and agricultural innovation, marking a paradigm shift from fundamental discovery to practical application.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145182722","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}
{"title":"Reciprocal regulation of nitrate and jasmonate signaling by JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN PROTEIN 1 coordinates plant growth and defense.","authors":"Wenjiang Pu,Weicheng Wang,Ran Du,Daoxin Xie,Xiaoyi Shan","doi":"10.1111/nph.70609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70609","url":null,"abstract":"Nitrate (NO3 -) and jasmonates (JAs) are essential signaling molecules that regulate plant growth and defense responses, respectively. However, the molecular mechanism underlying their crosstalk remains to be elucidated. Here, we uncovered the reciprocal regulation between NO3 - and JAs through the key integrator JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN PROTEIN 1 (JAZ1). We found that NIN-LIKE PROTEIN 7, a central transcription factor in NO3 - signaling, directly activates JAZ1 expression by binding to its promoter, thereby suppressing JA-mediated defense responses under high NO3 - conditions. Conversely, JA signaling inhibited NO3 --promoted growth via CORONATINE-INSENSITIVE 1-mediated degradation of JAZ1, which releases transcriptional repressors LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY DOMAIN37/38 (LBD37/38) to downregulate NO3 --responsive genes. Our findings underscore the dynamic interplay between nutrient availability and hormone signaling in shaping plant development and defense, which could offer potential strategies for improving crop resilience.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"194 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145182536","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}
{"title":"Leaf evolution: integrating phylogenetics, developmental dynamics, and genetic insights across land plants.","authors":"Hokuto Nakayama,Neelima R Sinha","doi":"10.1111/nph.70597","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70597","url":null,"abstract":"The acquisition of leaves represented a pivotal innovation in plant evolution, enabling more efficient photosynthesis and providing a foundation for the development of increasingly three-dimensional and morphologically diverse organisms. Paleobotanical studies have revealed that leaves did not arise from a single common origin; rather, they evolved multiple times independently during the diversification of land plants. Despite these insights, the precise evolutionary trajectories leading to leaf formation remain unclear. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of leaves requires a robust phylogenetic framework, a detailed understanding of leaf developmental processes across different plant lineages, and elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms. Recent advances in high-throughput (HT) sequencing technologies have dramatically accelerated progress in these areas, offering insights that were unattainable just a decade ago. The widespread availability of HT sequencing has also encouraged researchers to expand their focus beyond traditional model species, thereby promoting a broader appreciation of the evolutionary processes underlying diverse plant traits, including leaf evolution. In this review, we focus on the current understanding of leaf evolution by integrating phylogenetic relationships, the developmental dynamics of the shoot apical meristem - the site of leaf initiation - and comparative analyses of leaf morphogenesis in the context of key regulatory genes across plant lineages.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145182717","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}
{"title":"Flashy, decoupled, or declining? Single theories fail to explain the diversity of drought mortality signals in tree rings.","authors":"Alicia Formanack,Kiona Ogle,Drew Peltier","doi":"10.1111/nph.70605","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70605","url":null,"abstract":"Growth patterns recorded in tree rings may predict drought 'winners' and 'losers'. Past studies of drought-killed trees have produced conflicting evidence. Some show killed trees were highly responsive to climate, while others suggest killed trees were climate-insensitive or became less sensitive over time. We leveraged ring width data from 2934 drought-killed and -surviving trees of seven species to compute growth sensitivity to seasonal climate variables via a Bayesian mixed effects model. Aided by clustering analyses, we evaluated how species conformed to three alternative hypotheses (theories): relative to surviving trees, killed trees (H1) have 'flashy' climate responses, (H2) are 'decoupled' from climate, or (H3) have 'declining' sensitivity over time. Differences in growth patterns were not consistent across species or status (surviving/killed). Drought-killed subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce exhibited 'flashy' growth - higher sensitivity of growth to climate over time - compared with survivors. Drought-killed aspen, Scots pine, and Norway spruce showed stable, climate-insensitive growth compared with survivors, suggesting 'decoupling' from climate. Most species showed nonstationary sensitivities, but rather than declining, some sensitivities increased, even in surviving trees. Our flashy-decoupled-declining framework links predictions for future drought-induced mortality to potential mechanisms, enhancing ecological and physiological understanding of growth-climate patterns preceding drought mortality events.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145153312","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}
Changle Cai,Xiawan Zhai,Tianzhuo Sun,Panyi Chen,Mengdi Li,Siyang Gao,Chao He,Ji-Hong Liu,Chunlong Li
{"title":"Promoter cis-element variations in the CgWRKY1-CgZAT12-CgGAD4 module regulate citric acid degradation in Citrus grandis.","authors":"Changle Cai,Xiawan Zhai,Tianzhuo Sun,Panyi Chen,Mengdi Li,Siyang Gao,Chao He,Ji-Hong Liu,Chunlong Li","doi":"10.1111/nph.70599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70599","url":null,"abstract":"Citric acid plays a key role in determining the quality and flavor of citrus fruits. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms controlling citric acid levels are not well-understood. In this study, we identified a natural bud mutation of the 'Wu Suan (WS)' pomelo (Citrus grandis) variety, which has significantly reduced citric acid content. By comparing the gene expression profiles of 'WS' with the moderate-acid variety 'Gao Ban (GB)', we found that the gene CgGAD4, associated with citric acid degradation, was highly expressed in 'WS'. Overexpression of CgGAD4 decreased citric acid levels, while suppressing its expression increased acidity. CgZAT12 was identified as a transcription factor (TF) that activates CgGAD4. A single nucleotide change in the promoter region of CgGAD4 (from AGTGT to AATGT) in 'WS' enhanced the binding of CgZAT12, leading to higher gene transcriptional activity. Further analysis revealed a variation in the W-box element of the CgZAT12 promoter (from GGTCAA in 'GB' to GATCAA in 'WS'). This change prevents the upstream TF CgWRKY1 from suppressing CgZAT12 in 'WS', unlike in 'GB'. These findings reveal the key genetic variations in the WRKY1-ZAT12-GAD4 regulatory module involved in citric acid degradation and provide new insights into improving citrus fruit quality.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145153318","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}
Trisha McAllister,Hilde Nelissen,Josh Strable,Annis E Richardson
{"title":"Unlocking grass leaf development: foundations for tunable cereal design.","authors":"Trisha McAllister,Hilde Nelissen,Josh Strable,Annis E Richardson","doi":"10.1111/nph.70477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70477","url":null,"abstract":"The grass leaf plays a critical role in global food security, generating the carbon stores in cereal grains, which provide > 50% of global calories. As the global population grows, there is an urgent need to increase food production using fewer resources and to develop more resilient agricultural systems to withstand variable climate conditions and rising socio-economic and environmental costs. Precision engineering of cereal crops, tailored to diverse environmental conditions and agronomic practices, is a vital strategy for achieving food security. Given the fundamental importance of the leaf in driving cereal productivity, it is an ideal engineering target. Leaf development occurs over large temporal and spatial scales and is environmentally regulated, posing significant challenges for predictive engineering approaches and limiting the feasibility of a one-size-fits-all approach. In this review, we synthesise current understanding of cereal leaf development and identify critical developmental biology questions that must be resolved to facilitate the truly programmable plants of the future.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145153313","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}
Gaurav Thapa Chhetri,Qian Du,Shiqi Zhao,Xia Cui,Liying Qi,Huanzhong Wang
{"title":"RABBIT EARS directly regulates WOX4 transcription and inhibits secondary growth in Arabidopsis stem.","authors":"Gaurav Thapa Chhetri,Qian Du,Shiqi Zhao,Xia Cui,Liying Qi,Huanzhong Wang","doi":"10.1111/nph.70607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70607","url":null,"abstract":"Plant secondary growth drives stem thickening and biomass accumulation, but its regulation is not yet fully understood. We have identified a novel semi-dominant mutant, rbe-d, characterized by a significant reduction in cambium cells and a complete absence of secondary growth in interfascicular regions in the stem. Gene cloning experiments indicated that the activation of the C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor, AT5G06070/RABBIT EARS (RBE), is responsible for the rbe-d phenotype. Transgenic analysis confirmed that overexpression of RBE represses secondary growth, while the rbe-2 mutant increased the width of the interfascicular cambium-derived (ICD) region. The RBE gene is expressed in the procambium and cambium regions. Transcriptomic analysis showed that genes of the tracheary element differentiation inhibitory factor-phloem intercalated with xylem (TDIF-PXY) central regulatory pathway are repressed in the rbe-d mutant plants. Biochemical analyses confirmed that RBE binds directly to the promoter of WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX4), a TDIF-PXY downstream WOX gene that regulates cambium cell proliferation. Moreover, genetic analysis confirmed that WOX4 is epistatic to RBE in secondary growth. Our results indicate that RBE inhibits cambium proliferation and thereby impacts secondary growth by directly repressing WOX4. These findings offer valuable new insight into the regulation of secondary growth in the Arabidopsis stem.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145153526","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}
{"title":"Host-mediated selection drives sexual dimorphism of microbiota assembly in the dioecious living fossil Ginkgo biloba.","authors":"Chen-Feng Lin,Jun-Jie Wu,Yun-Peng Zhao","doi":"10.1111/nph.70591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70591","url":null,"abstract":"Dioecious plants harbor sexually dimorphic microbiota that enhance their reproductive success. However, the spatial and temporal patterns, particularly the ecological processes underlying the sexual dimorphism of plant microbiota assembly, remain largely unknown. We investigated the bacterial and fungal communities in 180 samples collected from male and female trees of Ginkgo biloba across three niches and three developmental stages, quantifying the relative importance of host-mediated selection to assess the role of host sex in microbiota assembly. Our results revealed significant filtering of ginkgo microbiota along the soil-root-leaf continuum, as well as dynamic shifts throughout the annual growth cycle of the host. Male and female hosts exerted differential selection on specific microbial taxa, leading to sexually dimorphic microbiota compositions with spatiotemporal variations. Chemoheterotrophic bacteria were enriched in male leaves during the flowering stage, whereas pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi were depleted in female trees during the seed set stage. Host-mediated selection on specific microbial functional groups drives the sexual dimorphism of microbiota assembly, aligning with sex-specific reproductive and adaptive strategies. Our findings reveal a dynamic connection between plant sex and microbiota function in long-lived woody plants, and lay a foundation for future microbiome-assisted conservation of dioecious species.","PeriodicalId":214,"journal":{"name":"New Phytologist","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145153316","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}