Annals of botany最新文献

{"title":"Unveiling the numbers: current state of knowledge of chromosome number counts in big plant genera.","authors":"Rogelio Sánchez-Villegas, Inés Gómez-Ramos, Diana Cruz Tejada, Jacopo Franzoni, Marcial Escudero, Angelino Carta","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The plant nuclear genome is organized into discrete chromosomes, whose count is amongst the primary information for the description of an organism and our understanding of its differentiation and adaptation. Whilst species diversity is not evenly distributed across flowering plant genera, it is unknown whether the extraordinary taxonomic diversity exhibited by 86 big genera, collectively accounting for a quarter of all currently accepted angiosperm species, is supported by adequate chromosome number information.</p><p><strong>Scope: </strong>Leveraging data from the Chromosome Count Database (CCDB), we assessed current knowledge of chromosome counts in big plant genera. We do not have any assumption concerning the overall amount of chromosome data collectively available for these genera, but we expected that current knowledge is not complete and it has been shaped by main historical events influencing cytogenetics and comparative genomics during the last century. We also hypothesized that chromosome counts are limited for those genera exhibiting higher taxonomic uncertainty and geographical or biological features that hamper plant sampling and reproduction.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, the proportion of species with at least one chromosome count is low (14%) with temporal trend revealing an unequivocal decline in counts acquisition after the 90s, coinciding with advances in DNA amplification and sequencing and molecular phylogenetics. In addition, logistic regressions confirmed our expectations that the proportion of species with chromosome count per genus is lower for genera with a tropical distribution, being primarily trees or exhibiting specialised pollination to complete sexual reproduction. Contrary to our expectations, taxonomic uncertainty is strongly positively associated with the availability of chromosome counts per genus. We argue that a higher taxonomic uncertainty has promoted more sampling to aid the circumscription of plant species, highlighting the crucial role of chromosome variation in identifying genomic traits that have supported the diversification of big plant genera.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144198081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climatic oscillations, dispersibility and adaptability behind worldwide mountain radiations of the Helichrysum- Anaphalis-Pseudognaphalium (HAP) clade (Compositae).","authors":"Carme Blanco-Gavaldà, Renske E Onstein, Luís Valente, Thijs Janzen, Santiago Andrés-Sánchez, Nicola Bergh, Juan Antonio Calleja, Pau Carnicero, Òscar Castillo, Glynis V Cron, Frederik Leliaert, Lucía D Moreyra, Genís Puig-Surroca, Sylvain G Razafimandimbison, Alfonso Susanna, Cristina Roquet, Mercè Galbany-Casals","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf110","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Mountain ecosystems are recognised as biodiversity hotspots. However, the origins of their remarkable diversity remain unresolved. We explore this question by focusing on the HAP clade (Helichrysum-Anaphalis-Pseudognaphalium), a megadiverse lineage within the Compositae family that spans tropical and temperate mountain and lowland systems worldwide. The existence of multiple high-elevation clades provides an opportunity to address hypotheses regarding the impact of trait innovation, climatic oscillations, dispersal and niche lability in the diversification of mountain lineages.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To investigate the biogeographic history and diversification dynamics of the HAP clade, we built a time-calibrated phylogeny of 560 taxa (62% of the species) based on 989 nuclear loci. We examined the frequency of inter-mountain dispersal and lowland-to-mountain transitions and vice versa, tested whether diversification rates were dependent on time, climate or species diversity, and assessed the impact of bract colour on diversification rates using state-dependent speciation-extinction models. Additionally, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of two functional traits (bract colour, life form) and ecological preferences (elevational range, habitat) and explored potential correlations between them.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The HAP clade extensively speciated during the Pleistocene, when net diversification rates nearly quadrupled, coinciding with parallel mountain radiations on multiple continents. The clade followed a pattern of nested radiations, with southern African mountains serving as initial diversity source and other mountain systems acting primarily as sinks. High-elevation ecosystems also contributed to lowland biodiversity. Diversification rates in high-elevations are independent of bract colour, yet significant trait-environment associations were supported. Functional traits and ecological preferences evolved repeatedly, with a tendency toward montane open habitat ecologies and chamaephytic life forms.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings suggest that mountains do not fit the classic island model for the HAP clade due to its high permeability across heterogeneous environments, high dispersibility and ability to thrive in both high- and low-elevations. However, the clade's evolutionary lability enabled repeated trait acquisition, niche shifts and microhabitat specialisation. This, coupled with Pleistocene climatic instability, likely played a significant role in driving allopatric and ecological speciation at different geographical scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nuclear phylogenomics reveals strong geographic patterns in the evolutionary history of Aloe and related genera (alooids).","authors":"Yannick Woudstra, Paul Rees, Solofo E Rakotoarisoa, Ronell R Klopper, Gideon F Smith, Nina Rønsted, Olwen M Grace","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf109","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>With >700 species, Aloe and its generic kin (alooids) are a morphologically diverse group of succulent plants with a wide range across Africa, Madagascar and the Arabian Peninsula. Species such as Aloe vera and A. ferox are cultivated at scale for natural products, whole foods, and cosmetics. Despite substantial α-taxonomy contributions, infrageneric classification of Aloe has remained unresolved. Molecular systematics has been compromised by the lack of informative characters in standard markers and high costs of obtaining informative nuclear loci from large genomes (e.g. >15 Gbp); and the difficulty of obtaining quality DNA extractions from material of known provenance. Here these constraints are overcome with target capture sequencing that allows cost-effective sequencing of informative low-copy nuclear loci and unlocks genetic resources from preserved specimens in herbaria as well as silica-dried tissues.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using a custom kit for alooids, 189 nuclear loci were sequenced in 294 species, including 50 herbarium specimens, to build a new phylogenomic framework for the big genus Aloe and 11 closely related alooid genera. Genus-level representations of non-alooid members of Asphodelaceae were sequenced with the same tool. The monophyly of Asphodelaceae subfamilies, alooid genera, and infrageneric taxonomic groups of Aloe sensu stricto was tested with the obtained topologies.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The new phylogenomic framework demonstrates the monophyly of the alooids and confirms recent classifications in which smaller genera (Aloidendron, Aloiampelos, Aristaloe, Gonialoe, Kumara) are separated. Strong geographic patterns in the Aloe phylogeny are contrasted by less obvious phylogenomic structure in habit (growth form), and vegetative or reproductive morphology that are mainstays of α-taxonomy.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Repeated incidents of adaptive radiation and niche specialisation appear to underlie species diversity in Aloe. This study illustrates the power of combined (nuclear) phylogenomic and α-taxonomic inference, including the utility of herbarium genomics, in resolving the systematics of big genera.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deep Learning Black-Box and Pattern Recognition Analysis Using Guided Grad-CAM for Phytolith Identification.","authors":"Iban Berganzo-Besga, Hector A Orengo, Felipe Lumbreras, Monica N Ramsey","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf088","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>In this article, visual explainers are applied to give transparency to the black-box of a trained VGG19 model for the identification of multi-cell phytoliths of the Avena, Hordeum and Triticum genera. The aim is to demonstrate its proper learning by visually highlighting the phytolith characteristics that the deep learning model uses to classify these phytoliths, we then compare the model's methods to those employed manually by archaeobotanists.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The visual explainers used for this purpose are Grad-CAM, Guided Backpropagation and Guided Grad-CAM, the latter being a combination of the previous two. This combined tool not only highlights the most relevant regions when classifying phytoliths on microscope images, but also emphasises every detail within those areas.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The importance of the wave-pattern as a decision-maker (key identifying characteristic) when classifying phytoliths has been demonstrated for 91% of the microscope images, also highlighting the papillae when classifying Avena for its 86% images, 94% when images have papillae, and the dendritic long-cell shape when classifying Triticum for its 38% images.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The analysis of the microscope images using Guided Grad-CAM has validated the established patterns in phytolith identification, such as highlighting the significance of the wave-pattern. Additionally, it revealed that varying phytolith characteristics might be prominent for different genera and led to the discovery that dendritic long-cell shape, as an independent category, is also distinctive. This research is part of an effort to establish a set of computer vision best practices in computational archaeology.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydraulic architecture, height-related changes in photosynthesis, and seasonal positive pressure declines in bamboo: Implications for top dieback.","authors":"Wen Guo, Jing-Qiu Feng, Jiao-Lin Zhang, Ze-Xin Fan, Pei-Li Fu, Hervé Cochard, Yong-Jiang Zhang, Shi-Jian Yang","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf102","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Bamboos, arborescent monocotyledons without secondary growth, often show top dieback during the dry season. The potential mechanism underlying bamboo top dieback and its association with culm hydraulic architecture and positive pressure dynamics remain unclear. We investigated how the axial scaling of anatomical traits influenced physiological performances of the culm top under drought conditions, as well as how seasonal changes in positive pressure were related to top dieback and culm height.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Variations in culm anatomical and physiological characteristics (hydraulic traits, leaf photosynthetic gas exchange, and water potentials) along the longitudinal axis of a bamboo (Dendrocalamus membranaceus) were investigated and seasonal changes in positive pressure were monitored to reveal potential factors associated with top dieback.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The hydraulically-weighted mean vessel diameters (Dh) exhibited a widening pattern from the culm apex with a scaling exponent in the range reported for trees. However, Dh did not increase continuously and instead declined noticeably near the culm base. Theoretical hydraulic conductivity decreased to a low level near the culm top, where most of the resistance was located. The lower water potentials, maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, stomatal conductance, and photosynthetic rate indicated that culm top was subjected to severer water stress than the base part. Height supported by the maximum positive pressure declined from the wet season to the dry season, which was close to the measured culm height after top dieback.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study implies the potential impact of vessel widening pattern on water supply along the culm height, and the association of seasonal changes in positive pressure with culm height, which offers novel insights into understanding bamboo top dieback.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144141252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do the principal megabiases in the fossil record affect the discovery of past bryophyte diversity?","authors":"Candela Blanco-Moreno, Alexander C Bippus, Alexandru M F Tomescu","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>The bryophyte fossil record is less abundant and diverse than predicted by the age of the group and as compared to the fossil record of younger plant groups. Taphonomic biases explain only partially its scarcity. Here, we investigate whether and how recently recognized megabiases that have the potential to affect the fossil record, in general, determine the structure of the bryophyte fossil record.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We update the pre-Miocene bryophyte fossil record with a ~30% increase since its latest review (in 2018) and examine fossil bryophyte diversity against the temporal and spatial distribution of the rock record, and economic geography, to document patterns in potential presence, discovery and study of bryophyte fossils.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Fossil bryophyte abundance is not correlated with the area of rocks exposed around the planet for different geologic ages. More fossil bryophytes are known from younger rocks due to overall richer fossil content of those rocks. More fossil bryophytes have been documented from the Northern hemisphere, from developed countries, from countries where English is the official language and from countries where more specialists are exploring the fossil record.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Discovery and documentation of bryophyte fossils are biased by socio-economic and language factors, which affect significantly the structure of the fossil record of the group, at least in terms of taxonomic diversity. \"Parachute science\" did not and does not significantly influence the documentation of fossil bryophytes.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144118615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mitoplastomic discordance in Brassicaceae phylogenomics confirms the complex evolutionary history of the family.","authors":"Lisa J M A Dominicus, Ihsan A Al-Shehbaz, Dmitry A German, Klaus Mummenhoff, Nikolai M Hay, Martin A Lysak, Marcus A Koch, Frederic Lens, Kasper P Hendriks","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf084","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>The phylogeny of the Brassicaceae family has traditionally been inferred from plastid and nuclear DNA. However, early studies were limited by the availability of genetic markers and incomplete taxon sampling. Recent phylogenomic studies, leveraging more densely sampled nuclear and plastid datasets, have resolved many taxonomic uncertainties. These studies either targeted complete plastomes or provided extensive representation of the nuclear genome. Nevertheless, substantial cytonuclear discordance, poorly resolved backbone relationships, and challenges placing 'rogue taxa' have left unresolved questions about deeper relationships, notably of the family's five supertribes. In this context, we performed the first phylogenomic analysis of the slower-evolving, maternally inherited mitogenome, which presents a promising avenue for resolving deeper phylogenetic nodes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using published mitogenomes from nine Brassicaceae species, we generated a mitogenomic reference file to recover mitogenomic sequencing read data from Hendriks et al. (2023). Subsequently, we reconstructed a codon-aware mitogenomic supermatrix, alongside updated nuclear (281 genes) and plastome (76 genes) supermatrices, and inferred family-wide maximum likelihood phylogenies from each of these three genomes. Congruence among the resulting phylogenies was thoroughly assessed.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We present the first densely sampled family-wide mitogenomic Brassicaceae phylogeny, including 167 species, 145 genera (40% of the family), and 40 tribes (69% of the family), and the first family-wide phylogenomic comparison based on all three plant genomes. While cytonuclear discordance was evident, we also uncovered strong phylogenomic discordance between the two organellar genomes-mitogenome and plastome-coined here as 'mitoplastomic discordance'. Our findings offer new insights into placing several rogue and previously unplaced taxa.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Phylogenomic discordance in Brassicaceae was more pervasive than expected. While bifurcating phylogenies offer clear evolutionary hypotheses, they do not fully capture evolutionary complexities. Our results have implications for understanding Brassicaceae evolution, taxonomy, and systematics, shedding light on processes like hybridisation and genome duplication, commonly resulting in evolutionary reticulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A genomic perspective on adaptation to heterogeneous environments for Cycas segmentifida (Cycadaceae), an endemic cycad in southwest China.","authors":"Yi-Qing Wang, Jian Liu, Si-Yue Xiao, Hui-Hui Xi, Xun Gong, Xiu-Yan Feng","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Exploring the interplay of environmental variability and adaptation of an endemic species is essential to unravel its evolutionary history and lays the groundwork for assessing how it may react to the accelerating pace of climate change. Employing a population genomics method, this research sought to investigate the adaptation of a cycad species, Cycas segmentifida, to heterogeneous environments and how this fosters population differentiation, guiding its conservation efforts.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used double digest restriction-site associated DNA-sequencing (ddRAD-seq) to elucidate the pattern of genetic diversity and divergence, and then analyze how geographical and environmental factors contribute to population divergence in C. segmentifida. We further investigate the genetic basis of adaptation to heterogeneous environments and their implications for predicting its genomic vulnerability under future climate conditions.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>Cycas segmentifida can be geographically categorized into two genetic groups: the Northwest (NW) and the Southeast (SE) group, with the genetic diversity of the SE group significantly higher than the NW group. Both geographical distance and environment factors could explain this genetic structure. These two groups exhibited similar demographic histories from late Pliocene to middle Pleistocene, experiencing recent population contraction events. The Genotype-environment association analysis revealed significant differences in environmental variables between two habitats of C. segmentifida, suggesting the possible existence of adaptation. The genomic vulnerability of C. segmentifida is relatively low throughout its distribution range, suggesting its potential to cope with future climate changes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results unveil environmental heterogeneity profoundly influences the genetic structure of C. segmentifida, and provide understanding of its sensitivity to climate change and capacity for adaptive responses, guiding future conservation endeavors.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144101045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leaf senescence-associated genes and transcriptional changes under dark conditions.","authors":"Antonio Ferrante, Petronia Carillo","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Leaf senescence is a high regulated and complex process that can be trigged by dark conditions, as demonstrated in various studies. Dark-induced leaf senescence resembles natural senescence by triggering typical symptoms such as protein degradation and chlorophyll loss. Transcription factors have been recognized as key modulators of dark-induced senescence and are associated with plant hormones such as cytokinins, ethylene, gibberellins, and jasmonic acid. Treatments with cytokinins and gibberellins can delay leaf senescence caused by darkness.</p><p><strong>Scope: </strong>This review aimed to collect information regarding the biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms underlying senescence induced by dark incubation. The main variations that occur during leaf senescence are highlighted and discussed. Specific genes associated with dark-induced senescence and related metabolic pathways have been described.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study highlights the intricate nature of the senescence process and explores how genetic and environmental factors can be manipulated to slow down or prevent senescence. These insights have significant implications for improving crop productivity, extending product shelf life, and enhancing vase life of cut flowers.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144075461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modern wheat has deeper roots than ancient wheats, is this an adaptation to higher productivity?","authors":"Arnesta Odone, Kristian Thorup-Kristensen","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>There is growing interest in production of ancient grains including emmer, einkorn and spelt, particularly in low input systems. Differences in their root systems and how these affect water and nitrogen uptake are not well known, but can offer important insights into the effects of plant breeding on resource use and root physiology, which can inform breeding of future crops.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, we used imaging in minirhizotron tubes to evaluate root development in emmer, einkorn, spelt and modern wheat growing under field conditions, taking images to 2.2m soil depth. We evaluated water stress in the different species using carbon isotope discrimination and used a nitrogen tracer to compare N uptake over time.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>The results show that modern wheats have deeper and more efficient root systems. Modern wheats showed less water stress in late developmental stages due to their deeper roots which allow access to deep soil water, and can therefore sustain high grain yields. They were also able to translocate N more efficiently to the grain. The results contradict previous hypotheses that modern wheat has shallow rooting systems due to high inputs, showing that where more nutrient resources are available, deeper roots have become important for water uptake to support higher yields.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This is the first field study of roots of ancient and modern wheats, where we clearly see that there are substantial differences between the root systems. These results help to explain how past selection for yield has affected belowground crop physiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144075463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}