Applications in Plant Sciences最新文献

{"title":"A practical and easy-to-scale protocol for removing chlorophylls from leaf extracts","authors":"Alice Fossati,&nbsp;Valeria Cavalloro,&nbsp;Daniela Rossi,&nbsp;Simona Collina,&nbsp;Emanuela Martino","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70018","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aps3.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Leaf extracts are valuable sources of bioactive compounds. However, co-extracted chlorophylls interfere with analyses, including spectroscopic and biochemical assays. Existing methods for chlorophyll removal often have limitations, including the use of hazardous solvents, low specificity, or high costs.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods and Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A solid-phase extraction protocol for chlorophyll removal from leaf extracts of <i>Corylus avellana</i> was developed using commercially available cartridges. The method requires standard equipment, can be completed within 10 minutes, and is scalable from analytical to preparative quantities. We validated this protocol across 20 taxa, demonstrating the removal of 85% of chlorophylls, successful scale up of quantities, cartridge reusability, and low solvent consumption.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Key innovations of the protocol include simplified elution steps and the possibility of multiple reuse cycles. The simplicity, sustainability, and scalability of this new protocol make it particularly valuable for high-throughput applications and process development.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144768118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148023921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in analyzing and engineering plant metabolic diversity","authors":"Kira J. Tiedge,&nbsp;Federico Roda,&nbsp;Stacey D. Smith,&nbsp;Gaurav D. Moghe","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70017","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aps3.70017","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;The immense diversity of the members of the kingdom Plantae, so far comprising more than 400,000 known species (Guiry, &lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;), is reflected not only in their morphological and genetic variability but also in their metabolic complexity. Plant metabolic networks are dynamic and expanding systems that evolve in a lineage-specific manner and produce hundreds of thousands of structurally diverse metabolites, which can be broadly categorized into general (or core/primary) and specialized (or secondary) metabolites. General metabolites, such as carbohydrates, amino acids, and lipids, are essential for fundamental physiological processes like growth, development, and reproduction. In contrast, specialized metabolites like alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and other phenolic compounds often have an impact at different levels beyond central carbon metabolism—from allosteric regulation of proteins, subcellular organization, and intercellular interactions to organismal phenotypes, phylogeographic/interspecies diversification, biotic/abiotic interactions, and ecosystem maintenance (Weng et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;; Ono and Murata, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The chemical diversity of plant metabolites constitutes a vast and largely untapped phytochemical space with significant potential for applications across multiple fields. In medicine, plant-derived compounds have been a cornerstone of drug discovery for centuries. For example, alkaloids, like morphine and quinine, and terpenoids, such as paclitaxel, have revolutionized the treatment of pain, malaria, and cancer, respectively (Newman and Cragg, &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;; Atanasov et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). In agriculture, phytochemicals are increasingly recognized for their contribution to plant defense against pests and diseases, reducing the need for synthetic pesticides while promoting sustainable farming practices and food security (Sousa et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). Beyond medicine and agriculture, plant metabolites hold promise for applications in biotechnology and industrial processes. For instance, terpenoids and phenolic compounds are being investigated for their potential as biofuels, bioplastics, and natural food preservatives (Mewalal et al., &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;). Even though less than 10% of plant species have been thoroughly investigated for their chemical composition (Li and Vederas, &lt;span&gt;2009&lt;/span&gt;), it is estimated that plants produce over a million compounds, although pinpointing a specific number is challenging because of the heterogeneity of metabolite databases available (Wang et al., &lt;span&gt;2016&lt;/span&gt;; Nguyen-Vo et al., &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;; Hawkins et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). Recent estimates suggest that the total number of unique structures across the entire plant kingdom likely spans into the millions to tens of millions (Engler Hart et al., &lt;span&gt;2025&lt;/span&gt;), indicating that over 99% of the phytochemical space remains unexplored and highlighting its vast and largely untapped p","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144767385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148022927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148023368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148022861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Applying interpretable machine learning to assess intraspecific trait divergence under landscape-scale population differentiation","authors":"Sambadi Majumder,&nbsp;Chase M. Mason","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70015","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aps3.70015","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Here we demonstrate the application of interpretable machine learning methods to investigate intraspecific functional trait divergence using diverse genotypes of the wide-ranging sunflower <i>Helianthus annuus</i> occupying populations across two contrasting ecoregions—the Great Plains versus the North American Deserts.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Recursive feature elimination was applied to functional trait data from the HeliantHOME database, followed by the application of the Boruta algorithm to detect the traits that are most predictive of ecoregion. Random forest and gradient boosting machine classifiers were then trained and validated, with results visualized using accumulated local effects plots.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The most ecoregion-predictive functional traits span categories of leaf economics, plant architecture, reproductive phenology, and floral and seed morphology. Relative to the Great Plains, genotypes from the North American Deserts exhibit shorter stature, fewer leaves, higher leaf nitrogen content, and longer average length of phyllaries.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This approach readily identifies traits predictive of ecoregion origin, and thus the functional traits most likely to be responsible for contrasting ecological strategies across the landscape. This type of approach can be used to parse large plant trait datasets in a wide range of contexts, including explicitly testing the applicability of interspecific paradigms at intraspecific scales.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144473021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A novel combination of in vitro propagation and hydroponic culture for hybrid cacao (Theobroma cacao) plants","authors":"Luis David Vera Pinargote,&nbsp;Elisabeth Jamet,&nbsp;Naga Raju Maddela","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70014","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aps3.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Currently, there is a lack of controlled cultivation methods for cacao (<i>Theobroma cacao</i>), a plant species with high commercial value. One major concern is the tendency of cacao plants to accumulate high concentrations of cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal with high toxicity to living organisms.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods and Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We describe a new two-step method for the propagation of hybrid cacao plants, consisting of (1) in vitro germination for two weeks, followed by (2) transfer to a vertical hydroponic system for growth under controlled conditions. As a test case, two new cacao hybrids were cultivated in the presence of Cd and showed different levels of tolerance.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Our simple approach offers a new research direction for the controlled cultivation of cacao plants and can potentially be applied to other plants of agronomic interest. Moreover, this method allows the identification of plants that are resistant to various toxic substances, which could then be used in phytoremediation.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70014","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144473205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148021366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving computer vision for plant pathology through advanced training techniques","authors":"Jamie R. Sykes,&nbsp;Katherine J. Denby,&nbsp;Daniel W. Franks","doi":"10.1002/aps3.70010","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aps3.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Premise</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigates advanced training techniques to improve the performance of convolutional neural networks for disease detection in cocoa, <i>Theobroma cacao</i>.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Despite recent stagnation in accuracy improvements in computer vision for image classification, our research demonstrates significant advancements in performance through semi-supervised learning, specialised loss functions, and the inclusion of a non-cocoa class.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Semi-supervised learning reduced overfitting and enhanced generalisability, particularly for subtle symptoms. The non-cocoa class exposed models to a broad range of relevant features, significantly improving model robustness and performance in difficult cases. Grad-CAM for qualitative assessment provided valuable insights into model behaviour, highlighting cases of overfitting missed by summary statistics. We also describe dynamic focal loss, a novel loss function that uses an empirical measure of difficulty to weight each image. Our results suggest that while PhytNet shows promise in terms of computational efficiency and superior handling of difficult images, ResNet18 with semi-supervised learning and dynamic focal loss emerged as the strongest contender for real-world deployment.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This research underscores the potential of semi-supervised learning and advanced loss functions in enhancing the applicability of deep learning models in agricultural disease management. It also presents a new high-quality benchmark dataset of 7220 images of diseased and healthy cocoa trees, offering a much greater and more realistic challenge than the Plan Village dataset.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":"13 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.70010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144473027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}