The genetic basis underlying fruit diversity is not yet fully understood, as mainly unrelated model species have been studied. Scientists have identified in Arabidopsis major transcription factors controlling valve identity (i.e. FRUITFULL), replum development (i.e. REPLUMLESS) and the differentiation of the dehiscence zones (i.e. SHATTERPROOF, INDEHISCENT and ALCATRAZ). This gene regulatory network in other flowering […]

One of the features of some plants is they can be polyploid. Humans have a pair of chromosomes carrying our genetic information. Plants can vary between one or two chromosomes, known as haploid or diploid. However, they can add extra copies of chromosomes, making them polyploid. For example, a plant with four copies of a […]

How functional traits modify species niche occupancy and community assembly is a vital question in ecology. He et al. measure specific leaf area for over 5000 plants with more than 1700 observational locations.

Investigating flexure wood, a new paper finds that the cells in a tree react to strain from wind differently depending on whether they are being stretched or compressed.

Studies have indicated that plant stomatal conductance (gs) decreases in response to elevated atmospheric CO2, a phenomenon of significance for the global hydrological cycle. However, gs increases across certain CO2 ranges have been predicted by optimization models. The aim of this work by Purcell et al. was to demonstrate that under certain environmental conditions, gs […]

What is it that makes a plant get up and stay up? A new review looks at the creation of secondary cell walls. These microscopic features are the key to understanding the architecture of the plants we see around us.

Melatonin appears to help create lateral roots, but how exactly does it do this? A team from China have been examining the connection with hydrogen peroxide.

Failure to account for the variation of kernel growth may cause serious deviations in the simulation of crop yield. Ma et al. built a GREENLAB-Maize-Kernel model to incorporate source-sink limited allocation approach to simulate individual kernel filling process. Three basic traits characterizing individual kernel: (i) final kernel size, (ii) kernel growth rate, and (iii) kernel […]

Functional-structural plant (FSP) root models are increasingly used to investigate root-soil interactions. Schnepf et al. present CRootBox, a C++ based modelling framework for root architectures that combines usability, availability and high computing speed. It can simulate multiple root systems of dicotyledons and monocotyledons. Its Python library facilitates modelling root-soil interactions using external dynamic soil models. […]

Several models of root system architecture exist in the literature but few of them are targeted at the organ level in response to environmental factors and none of them have modelled both annual plant and perennial tree root systems. Barczi et al. propose a generic, open-source, user friendly, 3D model (DigR) which simulates the architecture […]

Phenotypic analysis with high-throughput, high-accuracy and low-cost technologies has become widely accessible. Hui et al. reconstruct and evaluate 3D canopy of plant population for cucumber (Cucumis sativus), pepper (Capsicum annuum) and eggplant (Solanum melongena) based on the multi-view stereo approach. A high level of overlap was found between surfaces of image-based reconstruction and laser scanning. […]

Air [CO2] tends to increase due to climate changes, affecting plant growth. Field-grown Coffea arabica trees were grown under actual and elevated [CO2] for four years. Rakocevic et al. find that elevated [CO2] stimulated stomatal conductance and whole-plant photosynthesis, increasing water-use efficiency during the fourth dry period. Elevated [CO2] reduced leaf area and carbon investment in 2nd order branches, but also […]