This latest edition of the GARNet Research Roundup begins with two studies that look at different aspects of lateral root formation and include members of Malcolm Bennett’s lab in Nottingham. The first investigates a critical role for hydropatterning in the control of lateral root initiation whilst the second looks at how cell death in overlying tissue layers plays an active role in the control of lateral root emergence.
The third paper is from the John Innes Centre and investigates the mechanism through which a small number of noncoding SNPs can alter chromatin dynamics at the FLC locus. The fourth paper is from Glasgow and assesses a link between auxin signaling and proteins involved in membrane trafficking.
The next paper is from Rothamsted Research and looks at how aerial differences in wheat cultivars can affect the root-associated microbiome. The sixth paper is from the James Hutton Institute and investigates the relationship between phosphate and zinc signaling during the growth of Brassica oleracea.
The final three papers focus on some aspect of plant mechanical strength. The first paper is from Aberystwyth and looks at the how mechanical stress impacts growth of Brachypodium. The next two papers are led from the US and Sweden respectively and include UK co-authors from Leeds, the JIC and York. The first looks at how lignin modifications illicits defence responses whilst the second begins to demonstrate how xyloglucan modifications alter secondary cell wall growth.
von Wangenheim D, Banda J, Schmitz A, Boland J, Bishopp A, Maizel A, Stelzer EHK, Bennett M (2020) Early developmental plasticity of lateral roots in response to asymmetric water availability. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-019-0580-z Open Access with link.
This
brief communication is led by Daniel von Wangenheim, who worked with
Malcolm Bennett and colleagues at the University of Nottingham. They use
light sheet fluorescence microscopy to investigate how the local water
environment controls the initiation of lateral root primordia. They show
that this response is extremely plastic and that the initiation of
pericycle cell files is linked to the external hydrological landscape.
This study reveals a potential adaptive advantage when roots forage
under heterogeneous soil conditions, which of course exists in all
‘real-world’ situations.
Escamez S, André D, Sztojka B, Bollhöner B, Hall H, Berthet B, Voß U, Lers A, Maizel A, Andersson M, Bennett M, Tuominen H (2020) Cell Death in Cells Overlying Lateral Root Primordia Facilitates Organ Growth in Arabidopsis. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.078Open Access
Ute Voss and Malcolm Bennett from Nottingham are co-authors on this Finnish-led study in which Sacha Escamez is first author. They show that cell death occuring in advance of emerging lateral roots is an active developmental process rather than a passive effect of lateral root initiation. Plants with a cell-death-deficiency show delayed lateral root development, which is rescued through physical or genetic removal of outer cell files.
Qüesta JI, Antoniou-Kourounioti RL, Rosa S, Li P, Duncan S, Whittaker C, Howard M, Dean C (2020) Noncoding SNPs influence a distinct phase of Polycomb silencing to destabilize long-term epigenetic memory at Arabidopsis FLC. Genes Dev. doi: 10.1101/gad.333245.119 Open Access
This research from the John Innes Centre is led by Julia Qüesta and Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti. They show that four noncoding SNPs in the Lov-1 Arabidopsis accession are responsible for the reactivation of FLC after only a
short cold treatment. They combine experimentation and modelling to
also propose that the control of FLC reactivation is linked to the
extent of DNA replication during the cold period.
Rea discusses this paper on the GARNet Community podcast. Look out for it on February 19th.
Xia L, Marquès-Bueno MM, Karnik RA (2020) Trafficking SNARE SYP132 Partakes in Auxin-associated Root Growth. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.01301Open Access
This short communication is led by Lingfeng Xia in the Karnik lab
at the University of Glasgow and looks at the role of auxin in the
control of expression of the SNARE protein SYP132 during root growth and
the gravitropic response. This linkage is indicative of an important
role for membrane trafficking during the auxin response.
Kavamura VN, Robinson RJ, Hughes D, Clark I, Rossmann M, Melo IS, Hirsch PR, Mendes R, Mauchline TH (2020) Wheat dwarfing influences selection of the rhizosphere microbiome. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58402-y Open Access
Vanessa Kavamura is first author on this study led from Rothamsted Research that looks at how the aerial phenotypes of different wheat cultivars impacts root traits and the soil microbiome. Interestingly they show that taller wheat varieties are predicted to have a more connected bacterial network, which might lead to a more favourably rhizosphere for plant growth.
Pongrac P, Fischer S, Thompson JA, Wright G, White PJ (2020) Early Responses of Brassica oleracea Roots to Zinc Supply Under Sufficient and Sub-Optimal Phosphorus Supply. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01645 Open Access
Paula Pongrac
is the first author on this study led from the James Hutton Institute
in which they investigate how plants respond to their access to
environmental phosphate and zinc. They assess gene expression of Brassica oleracea
plants grown under different mineral conditions and reveal important
relationships between the response to phosphorous and zinc that will
inform future nutrient supply strategies and identification of novel
germplasm.
Gladala-Kostarz A, Doonan JH, Bosch M (2020) Mechanical stimulation in Brachypodium distachyon: implications for fitness, productivity and cell wall properties. Plant Cell Environ. doi: 10.1111/pce.13724.
Agnieszka Gladala‐Kostarz
who works with Maurice Bosch at Aberystwyth University is the first
author on this research that looked at the effect of both wind- and
mechanical- treatments on growth of two accessions of Brachypodium distachyon.
They catalogue the physical changes that occur in this important
base-line study that tracks the relevance of these environmental factors
on the multiple growth traits.
Gallego-Giraldo L, Liu C,
Pose-Albacete S, Pattathil S, Peralta AG, Young J, Westpheling J, Hahn
MG, Rao X, Knox JP, De Meester B, Boerjan W, Dixon RA (2020) ARABIDOPSIS DEHISCENCE ZONE POLYGALACTURONASE 1 (ADPG1) releases latent defense signals in stems with reduced lignin content. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1914422117Open Access
Lina Gallego-Giraldo
is the first author on the US-led paper that includes Paul Knox and
Sara Pose-Albacete from the University of Leeds. In this work they look
at the link between lignin modifications and the inappropriate
initiation of plant defence responses. They show that cell wall pectin
remodeling mediated by the ARABIDOPSIS DEHISCENCE ZONE POLYGALACTURONASE
1 (ADPG1) protein releases defence elicitors and as such provides
important information on the link between these processes.
Kushwah S, Banasiak A, Nishikubo N, Derba-Maceluch M, Majda M, Endo S, Kumar V, Gomez L, Gorzsás A, McQueen-Mason S, Braam J, Sundberg B, Mellerowicz EJ (2020) Arabidopsis XTH4 and XTH9 contribute to wood cell expansion and secondary wall formation. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.01529Open Access
Sunita Kushwah leads this Swedish-study that has co-authors from the JIC and York. They investigate a novel role for the XTH4 and XTH9 xyloglucan endo-transglycosylase/ hydrolases during secondary growth in Arabidopsis. The activity of these enzymes has a significant effect on cell wall composition and in the control of wood formation
Take home Message: COST Activities are open for everyone*
Since its inception, the European COST programme has operated according to one main instrument, the COST Action.
COST Actions are organised by a range of networking tools, such as meetings, conferences, workshops, short-term scientific missions, training schools, publications and dissemination activities. Funding supports COST Action networking tools but does not provide support for research projects (aside from within STSMs).
A COST Action is open to all:
– researchers, policy makers and innovators
– across all fields of science and technology (including
trans-, and interdisciplinary, new and emerging fields)
– Most type of institution (academia, public institutions,
SME/industry, NGO, European/international organisations, etc.)
– all career stages (both young and experienced)
COST Actions provide funding for meetings that bring
together researchers from around Europe and the world. These face-to-face
meetings reduce barriers to form important collaborative relationships.
The other main instruments that COST Actions use to support training are
1) Training Schools are up-to week-long events that offer instruction in a relevant topic for the Cost Action. These are usually fully supported by the Cost Action.
2) Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) provide funding for a participating (usually early career) researcher to perform research in a different country for up to 3months. This period of research is supported with a maximum of ~€2500.
Both Training schools and STSMs represent essentially FREE support to train the next generation of researchers. These are particularly useful for countries where the research infrastructure is being developed.
Importantly researchers in ANY MEMBER COUNTRY are eligible to participate in training schools
or STSMs as well as to apply to attend Action conferences. Most researchers
will be unaware of these opportunities but they are a real option to support your own or your lab member’s research.
*- Currently UK researchers are only eligible until
the end of 2020 depending on pending Brexit negotiations. We remain confident
that these will be successgfully resolved.
Over the past thirty years the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) has represented the global Arabidopsis community through its collaborative oversight of the annual International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), production of a MASC annual report and preparation of the series of decadal Roadmaps that have helped coordinate the future activities of the community. In[…]
https://meetings.embo.org/event/20-plant-systems This EMBO Workshop on international Plant Systems Biology (iPSB) is the central gathering of plant systems biology researchers from across the world. Climate change poses unique challenges for how to feed and power humanity without further degrading the environment. Plant science therefore is a key discipline in meeting the challenge of adapting food and[…]
The spring season of #UKPlantSciPresents begins on January 12th and we have a strong schedule set until the end of April! Each webinar is at Tuesday afternoon at 3pm GMT (or BST)! Registration is free and webinars will be made freely available soon after the event. Although closed captioning/subtitles are not available for live webinars,[…]
The previously awesome #GARNetPresents webinar series is morphing into the #UKPlantSciPresents webinar series. This series has the aim of promoting plant science excellence across the UK! UK plant science research uses many different experimental organisms such as Arabidopsis, Wheat, Brassicas, Brachypodium, Marchantia, Physomitrella and many others. This webinar series is supported by both GARNet and[…]
Contents: – Society Updates– Introducing Quantitative Plant Biology– Congratulations to Ottoline Leyser– Conference Updates– Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme– Introducing CHAP– Twenty Years of GARNet– GARNet Research Roundup– MASC Publication Update– Plant RNA Interactome Capture– Update on new BBSRC Projects– Spotlight on University of Nottingham Download here: https://www.garnetcommunity.org.uk/sites/default/files/newsltr/GARNish33_Online_Final_0.pdf
Marcel Bach-Pages works with Gail Preston at the University of Oxford and we discuss a new protocol to identify the RNA-Binding Proteome from Arabidopsis leaves. This community-focused work includes full instructions for use of the protocol and they provide an accessible list of proteins that they have identified. This research is published in Biomolecules and[…]
This edition of GARNet Research Roundup begins with a remarkable four papers that include work from Caroline Dean’s lab at the John Innes Centre. The first two papers are collaborations with members of Martin Howard’s lab and look at the molecular mechanisms that control long-term cold sensing or the antisense regulation of FLC respectively. The[…]
Christos Velanis works at the University of Edinburgh and discusses work published in PloS Genetics entitled ‘The domesticated transposase ALP2 mediates formation of a novel Polycomb protein complex by direct interaction with MSI1, a core subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)‘. http://blog.garnetcommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Velanis_edit-13072020-09.32.mp3Pumi Perera is co-first author on this work from the Goodrich lab that[…]
This has been a challenging time for both conference organisers and conference venues. Most 2020 plant science conferences have cancelled, postponed or majorly changed their events. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the changes that have been made to different conferences. Up to date as July 6th 2020. (download)