seedling dynamic

Intercropping-driven changes in nitrogen (N)-acquiring microbial genomes and functional expression regulate soil N availability and plant N uptake. However, present data seem to be limited to a specific community, obscuring the viewpoint of entire N-acquiring microbiomes and functions. Taking maize intercropped with legumes (peanut and soybean) and non-legumes (gingelly and sweet potato) as models, we studied the effects of intercropping on N transformations and N-acquiring microbiomes in rhizosphere soil across four maize growth stages...

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) is one of the earliest extant species in seed plant phylogeny. Embryo development patterns can provide fundamental evidence for the origin, evolution, and adaptation of seeds. However, the architectural and morphological dynamics during embryogenesis in Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) remain elusive. Herein, we obtained over 2200 visual slices from three stages of embryo development using micro-computed tomography imaging with improved staining methods. Based on 3D spatio-temporal pattern analysis, we found that a shoot apical meristem with seven highly differentiated leaf primordia, including apical and axillary leaf buds, is present in mature Ginkgo embryos...

Nanoplastic represents an emerging abiotic stress facing modern agriculture, impacting global crop production. However, the molecular response of crop plants to this stress remains poorly understood at a spatiotemporal resolution. We therefore used RNA sequencing to profile the transcriptome expressed in rice (Oryza sativa) root and leaf organs at 1, 2, 4, and 8 d post exposure with nanoplastic. We revealed a striking similarity between the rice biomass dynamics in aboveground parts to that in belowground parts during nanoplastic stress, but transcriptome did not...

Much progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to heat stress. However, the great diversity of models and stress conditions, and the fact that analyses are often limited to a small number of approaches, complicate the picture. We took advantage of a liquid culture system in which Arabidopsis seedlings are arrested in their development, thus avoiding interference with development and drought stress responses, to investigate through an integrative approach seedlings' global response to heat stress and acclimation...

To explore the population structures and dynamics of Rhododendron shrub communities at different stages of succession in northwest Guizhou, China, this study examined the populations of Rhododendron annae and Rhododendron irroratum shrub with two different stages. A space-for-time substitution was employed to establish the diameter class/height structures, static life tables, and survival/mortality rate/disappearance rate curves of both Rhododendron populations with different orders of succession. Their structural and quantitative dynamics were analyzed, and their development trends were predicted...

Temperature-induced elongation of hypocotyls, petioles, and roots, together with hyponastic leaf responses, constitute key model phenotypes that can be used to assess a plant's capacity for thermomorphogenesis. Phenotypic responses are often quantified at a single time point during seedling development at different temperatures. However, to capture growth dynamics, several time points need to be assessed, and ideally continuous measurements are taken. Here we describe a general experimental setup and technical solutions for recording and measuring seedling phenotypes at single and multiple time points...

The seed microbiota is an important component given by nature to plants, protecting seeds from damage by other organisms and abiotic stress. However, little is known about the dynamic changes and potential functions of the seed microbiota during seed development. In this study, we investigated the composition and potential functions of the seed microbiota of rapeseed ( Brassica napus ). A total of 2496 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) belonging to 504 genera in 25 phyla were identified, and the seed microbiota of all sampling stages were divided into three groups...

Under stress or in optimum conditions, plants foster a specific guild of symbiotic microbes to strengthen pivotal functions including metabolic regulation. Despite that the role of the plant genotype in microbial selection is well documented, the potential of this genotype-specific microbial assembly in maintaining the host homeostasis remains insufficiently investigated. In this study, we aimed to assess the specificity of the foliar metabolic response of contrasting olive genotypes to microbial inoculation with wet-adapted consortia of plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), to see if previously inoculated plants with indigenous or exogenous microbes would display any change in their leaf metabolome once being subjected to drought stress...

Phytoplasmas are intracellular pathogenic bacteria that infect a wide range of plant species, including agriculturally important crops and ornamental trees. However, our understanding of the relationship between symptom severity, disease progression, and phytoplasma concentration remains limited due to the inability to inoculate phytoplasmas mechanically into new plant hosts. The present study investigated phytoplasma titer dynamics and symptom development in periwinkle and tomato, both infected with the same potato purple top (PPT) phytoplasma strain using a small seedling grafting approach...

INTRODUCTION: Flax ( Linum usitatissimum ) is a crop producing valuable products like seeds and fiber. However, its cultivation faces challenges from environmental stress factors and significant yield losses due to fungal infections. The major threat is Fusarium oxysporum f.sp lini , causing fusarium wilt of flax. Interestingly, within the Fusarium family , there are non-pathogenic strains known as biocontrols, which protect plants from infections caused by pathogenic strains. When exposed to a non-pathogenic strain, flax exhibits defense responses similar to those seen during pathogenic infections...

Arsenic (As) remediation is challenging due to the complex nature and the persistence of these metalloid compounds. While it may seem that differences between As forms influence have been extensively described, new findings challenge the previously accepted knowledge, particularly for woody plants. Therefore, this study focused on 2-year-old Tilia cordata Mill. seedlings early (0, 2, 4, 12, 24 h) and late (3, 7, 12, 18, 25, 33 days) responses during growth under: As(III), As(V) or dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) (0...

Forest diversity is the outcome of multiple species-specific processes and tolerances, from regeneration, growth, competition and mortality of trees. Predicting diversity thus requires a comprehensive understanding of those processes. Regeneration processes have traditionally been overlooked, due to high stochasticity and assumptions that recruitment is not limiting for forests. Thus, we investigated the importance of seed production and seedling survival on forest diversity in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) using a forest gap model (ForClim)...

The early growth stage of plants is vital to community diversity and community regeneration. The Janzen-Connell hypothesis predicts that conspecific density dependence lowers the survival of conspecific seedlings by attracting specialist natural enemies, promoting the recruitment and performance of heterospecific neighbors. Recent work has underscored how this conspecific negative density dependence may be mediated by mutualists - such as how mycorrhizal fungi may mediate the accrual of host-specific pathogens beneath the crown of conspecific adult trees...

Essential to plant adaptation, cell wall (CW) integrity is maintained by CW-biosynthesis genes. Cytoskeletal actin-(de)polymerizing, phospholipid-binding profilin (PRF) proteins play important roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis across kingdoms. However, evolutionary selection of PRF genes and their systematic characterization in family Brassicaceae, especially in Brassica juncea remain unexplored. Here, a comprehensive analysis of genome-wide identification of BjPRFs, their phylogenetic association, genomic localization, gene structure, and transcriptional profiling were performed in an evolutionary framework...

To investigate the effects of fertilization methods and types on wheat rhizosphere microorganisms, macroelement (N, K) and microelement (Zn) fertilizers were applied on wheat by foliar spraying (FS) and root irrigation (RI) methods in a field experiment. The results indicated that fertilization methods and types can have significant impacts on the diversity and structure of rhizospheric microorganisms in wheat. The application method produced more significant effects than the fertilizer type. RI-N played a more important role in improving the wheat yield and quality and affected the changes in some nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities...

Salinity severely affects the health and productivity of plants, with root-associated microbes, including fungi, potentially playing a crucial role in mitigating this effect and promoting plant health. This study employed metagenomics to investigate differences in the structures of the epiphyte mycobiomes in the rhizospheres of seedlings of two distinct date palm cultivars with contrasting salinity tolerances, the susceptible cultivar, 'Zabad', and the tolerant cultivar, 'Umsila'. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA was utilized as a DNA barcoding tool...

Peach latent mosaic viroid (PLMVd) infects peach trees in China and induces a conspicuous albino phenotype (peach calico, PC) that is closely associated with variants containing a 12-14 nucleotide hairpin insertion capped by a U-rich loop. Initially, PC disease distribution was limited to parts of Italy, and it was first detected in the field in China in 2019. To explore the molecular and biological characteristics of PLMVd PC isolates in peach in China, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of disease phenotype development, and investigated the data-associated pathogenicity and in vivo dynamics of Chinese isolate PC-A2 using slash-inoculated into GF-305 peach seedlings...

Functional traits can have intraspecific and interspecific variations essential in the structure and dynamics of natural communities. These traits may have implications in the germination and seedling establishment phases in seeds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of variations in mass, volume, and nutrient content (C, N, and P) on the germination of eight species representative of the tropical dry forest (TDF). Our results showed that seed size, both in terms of mass and volume, did not predict germination rates or percentages, nor were they related to nutrient content...

Although plant-soil feedback (PSF) is being recognized as an important driver of plant recruitment, our understanding of its role in species coexistence in natural communities remains limited by the scarcity of experimental studies on multispecies assemblages. Here, we experimentally estimated PSFs affecting seedling recruitment in 10 co-occurring Mediterranean woody species. We estimated weak but significant species-specific feedback. Pairwise PSFs impose similarly strong fitness differences and stabilizing-destabilizing forces, most often impeding species coexistence...

High concentrations of toxic cadmium (Cd) in soils are problematic as the element accumulates in food crops such as rice and cacao. A mitigation strategy to minimise Cd accumulation is to enhance the competitive uptake of plant-essential metals. Theobroma cacao seedlings were grown hydroponically with added Cd. Eight different treatments were used, which included/excluded hydroponic or foliar zinc (Zn) and/or iron (Fe) for the final growth period. Analyses of Cd concentrations and natural stable isotope compositions by multiple collector ICP-MS were conducted...