The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-21DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf133
Sonhita Chakraborty
{"title":"KILing in the name of embryonic growth: KIL transcription factors drive cell death in the maize endosperm.","authors":"Sonhita Chakraborty","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf133","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144114111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-21DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf132
Pei Qin Ng
{"title":"Quantitive disease resistance (QDR): The alternative to \"all-or-nothing\" strategy in plant immunity.","authors":"Pei Qin Ng","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf132","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"136 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144114113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-15DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf119
Adrienne H K Roeder,Cristiana T Argueso,Mary Williams,Gabriela Auge,Xin Li,Lucia Strader,Cristobal Uauy,Shuang Wu
{"title":"Focus on Translational Research from Arabidopsis to Crop Plants and Beyond.","authors":"Adrienne H K Roeder,Cristiana T Argueso,Mary Williams,Gabriela Auge,Xin Li,Lucia Strader,Cristobal Uauy,Shuang Wu","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf119","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"128 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144065803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-15DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf121
Nathan M Doner,Alyssa C Clews,Nicolas Esnay,Payton S Whitehead,You Wang,Trevor B Romsdahl,Damien Seay,Philipp W Niemeyer,Martin Bonin,Yang Xu,Oliver Valerius,Gerhard H Braus,Till Ischebeck,Kent D Chapman,John M Dyer,Robert T Mullen
{"title":"LIPID DROPLET PROTEIN OF SEEDS is involved in the control of lipid droplet size in Arabidopsis seeds and seedlings.","authors":"Nathan M Doner,Alyssa C Clews,Nicolas Esnay,Payton S Whitehead,You Wang,Trevor B Romsdahl,Damien Seay,Philipp W Niemeyer,Martin Bonin,Yang Xu,Oliver Valerius,Gerhard H Braus,Till Ischebeck,Kent D Chapman,John M Dyer,Robert T Mullen","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf121","url":null,"abstract":"In oilseeds, energy-rich carbon is stored as triacylglycerols in organelles called lipid droplets (LDs). While several of the major biogenetic proteins involved in LD formation have been identified, the full repertoire of LD proteins and their functional roles remains incomplete. Here, we show that the low-abundance, seed-specific LD protein LIPID DROPLET PROTEIN OF SEEDS (LDPS) contains an amphipathic α-helix and proline hairpin motif that serves as an LD-targeting signal and a separate region that binds to the LD protein OLEOSIN 1 (OLEO1). Loss of LDPS function results in smaller LDs and less seed oil in comparison to wild type, while over-expression of LDPS results in an increase in LD size and seed oil content. Loss of LDPS function also results in an inability of LDs to undergo fusion during post-germinative seedling growth. Analysis of oleo1 and ldps single and double mutant seeds and freeze-thaw treatment of seeds revealed that OLEO1 suppresses the ability of LDPS to promote larger LDs. Collectively, our results identify LDPS as an important player in LD biology that functions together with OLEO1 to determine LD size in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seeds and seedlings through a process that involves LD-LD fusion.","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144065804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf093
Ji Huang,Chia-Yi Cheng,Matthew D Brooks,Tim L Jeffers,Nathan M Doner,Hung-Jui Shih,Samantha Frangos,Manpreet Singh Katari,Gloria M Coruzzi
{"title":"NUE regulons conserved model-to-crop enhance machine learning predictions of nitrogen use efficiency.","authors":"Ji Huang,Chia-Yi Cheng,Matthew D Brooks,Tim L Jeffers,Nathan M Doner,Hung-Jui Shih,Samantha Frangos,Manpreet Singh Katari,Gloria M Coruzzi","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf093","url":null,"abstract":"Systems biology aims to uncover gene regulatory networks (GRNs) for agricultural traits, but validating them in crops is challenging. We addressed this challenge by learning and validating model-to-crop GRN regulons governing nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). First, a fine-scale time-course nitrogen (N) response transcriptome analysis revealed a conserved temporal N response cascade in maize (Zea mays) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). This data was used to infer time-based causal transcription factor (TF) target edges in N-regulated GRNs (N-GRNs). By validating 23 maize TFs in a cell-based TF-perturbation assay (TARGET), precision/recall analysis enabled us to prune high-confidence edges between ∼200 TFs/700 maize target genes. We next learned gene-to-NUE trait scores using XGBoost machine learning models trained on conserved N-responsive genes across maize and Arabidopsis accessions. By integrating NUE gene scores within our N-GRN, we ranked maize TFs based on a cumulative NUE regulon score. Regulons for top-ranked TFs were validated using the cell-based TARGET assay in maize (e.g. ZmMYB34/R3→24 targets) and the Arabidopsis ZmMYB34/R3 ortholog (e.g. AtDIV1→23 targets). The genes in this NUE regulon significantly enhanced the ability of XGBoost models to predict NUE traits in both maize and Arabidopsis. Thus, our pipeline for identifying NUE regulons that combines GRN inference, machine learning, and orthologous network regulons offers a strategic framework for crop trait improvement.","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143945487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-13DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf117
Seung Hee Jo,Hyun Ji Park,Haemyeong Jung,Ga Seul Lee,Jeong Hee Moon,Hyun-Soon Kim,Hyo-Jun Lee,Choonkyun Jung,Hye Sun Cho
{"title":"PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE2A B'η drives spliceosome subunit dephosphorylation to mediate alternative splicing following heat stress.","authors":"Seung Hee Jo,Hyun Ji Park,Haemyeong Jung,Ga Seul Lee,Jeong Hee Moon,Hyun-Soon Kim,Hyo-Jun Lee,Choonkyun Jung,Hye Sun Cho","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf117","url":null,"abstract":"Dephosphorylation of spliceosome components is an essential regulatory step for intron removal from pre-mRNA, thereby controlling gene expression. However, the specific phosphatase responsible for this dephosphorylation step has not been identified. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE 2A B'η (PP2A B'η), a B subunit of PP2A, interacts with the splicing factors PRP18a, PRP16, and RH2 and facilitates their dephosphorylation by recognizing substrates through a conserved binding motif. This dephosphorylation is crucial for proper splicing of retained introns in heat stress-responsive genes, which is mediated by the PP2A interactor PRE-MRNA PROCESSING FACTOR 18a (PRP18a). Genetic inactivation of PP2A B'η abolished thermotolerance during seed germination and resulted in widespread intron retention in heat stress-responsive genes. Conversely, overexpression of PP2A B'η conferred enhanced thermotolerance, accompanied by the efficient removal of retained introns under heat stress. We demonstrate that a B regulatory subunit of PP2A plays a central role in dephosphorylating spliceosome components, regulating alternative splicing, facilitating acclimation to heat stress, and targeting specific spliceosome subunits that activate pre-mRNA splicing.","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143945544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-09DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf109
Chandler A Sutherland, Danielle M Stevens, Kyungyong Seong, Wei Wei, Ksenia V Krasileva
{"title":"The Resistance awakens: Diversity at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels informs engineering of plant immune receptors from Arabidopsis to crops","authors":"Chandler A Sutherland, Danielle M Stevens, Kyungyong Seong, Wei Wei, Ksenia V Krasileva","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf109","url":null,"abstract":"Plants rely on germline-encoded, innate immune receptors to sense pathogens and initiate the defense response. The exponential increase in quality and quantity of genomes, RNA-seq datasets, and protein structures has underscored the incredible biodiversity of plant immunity. Arabidopsis continues to serve as a valuable model and the theoretical foundation of our understanding of wild plant diversity of immune receptors, while expansion of study into agricultural crops has also revealed distinct evolutionary trajectories and challenges. Here, we provide the classical context for study of both intracellular nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) and surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) at the levels of DNA sequences, transcriptional regulation, and protein structures. We then examine how recent technology has shaped our understanding of immune receptor evolution and informed our ability to efficiently engineer resistance. We summarize current literature and provide an outlook on how researchers take inspiration from natural diversity in bioengineering efforts for disease resistance from Arabidopsis and other model systems to crops.","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143930851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Plant CellPub Date : 2025-05-09DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koaf036
Adrienne H K Roeder,Andrew Bent,John T Lovell,John K McKay,Armando Bravo,Karina Medina-Jimenez,Kevin W Morimoto,Siobhán M Brady,Lei Hua,Julian M Hibberd,Silin Zhong,Francesca Cardinale,Ivan Visentin,Claudio Lovisolo,Matthew A Hannah,Alex A R Webb
{"title":"Lost in translation: What we have learned from attributes that do not translate from Arabidopsis to other plants.","authors":"Adrienne H K Roeder,Andrew Bent,John T Lovell,John K McKay,Armando Bravo,Karina Medina-Jimenez,Kevin W Morimoto,Siobhán M Brady,Lei Hua,Julian M Hibberd,Silin Zhong,Francesca Cardinale,Ivan Visentin,Claudio Lovisolo,Matthew A Hannah,Alex A R Webb","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koaf036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koaf036","url":null,"abstract":"Research in Arabidopsis thaliana has a powerful influence on our understanding of gene functions and pathways. However, not everything translates from Arabidopsis to crops and other plants. Here, a group of experts consider instances where translation has been lost and why such translation is not possible or is challenging. First, despite great efforts, floral dip transformation has not succeeded in other species outside Brassicaceae. Second, due to gene duplications and losses throughout evolution, it can be complex to establish which genes are orthologs of Arabidopsis genes. Third, during evolution Arabidopsis has lost arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Fourth, other plants have evolved specialized cell types that are not present in Arabidopsis. Fifth, similarly, C4 photosynthesis cannot be studied in Arabidopsis, which is a C3 plant. Sixth, many other plant species have larger genomes, which has given rise to innovations in transcriptional regulation that are not present in Arabidopsis. Seventh, phenotypes such as acclimation to water stress can be challenging to translate due to different measurement strategies. And eighth, while the circadian oscillator is conserved, there are important nuances in the roles of circadian regulators in crop plants. A key theme emerging across these vignettes is that even when translation is lost, insights can still be gained through comparison with Arabidopsis.","PeriodicalId":501012,"journal":{"name":"The Plant Cell","volume":"129 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143992089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}