The putative endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase GLU3 regulates cellulose biosynthesis in barley roots.

The plant cell wall is a crucial structure that ensures plant cell integrity and facilitates environmental adaptation. Cellulose is the primary component of the plant cell wall. Its biosynthesis is orchestrated through the plasma membrane-localized multiprotein cellulose synthase complex, which includes a membrane-anchored endo-1,4-ß-glucanase.

Regulatory Programmes Driving Suberin Plasticity Under Aluminium Stress in Barley Roots.

Aluminium (Al) toxicity is a major factor limiting plant growth in acidic soils. The beneficial element silicon (Si) can mitigate some effects of Al. However, the impact of Al on suberized apoplastic barriers in roots is largely unknown while the effects of Si on suberin remain controversial.

Sodium chloride enhances suberization in seminal roots but does not affect cutinized leaf barriers in cultivated and wild barley.

In the two compared barley genotypes, broader genetic variation did not result in a higher salt tolerance. Instead, specific traits like an exodermis might represent valuable future breeding targets. Soil salinification is a globally increasing phenomenon threatening agricultural yields.

Genomic insights into the evolution of Chinese sweetgum and its autumn leaf coloration.

Chinese sweetgum (Liquidambar formosana) is valued as a source of resin and timber and is an important ornamental tree due to its showy fall foliage. Here, we report the chromosome-level assembly of the Chinese sweetgum genome. Phylogenomic analyses showed the basal phylogenetic position of Chinese sweetgum in core eudicots.

Tracking the paths of residual conductance during leaf expansion in Tilia americana and Fagus grandifolia.

The rate of residual water loss is a major determinant of plant survival during drought, yet how the major paths of residual water flow develop as leaves expand is poorly understood. Here, we tracked the rate of residual water loss, the compositional development of cuticular wax, stomatal differentiation, pore formation, and xylem development as leaves expand in two co-occurring, deciduous tree species Tilia americana and Fagus grandifolia. As leaves expanded, residual conductance declined rapidly, primarily driven by decreases in cuticular conductance, which was the main pathway for residual water loss from branches with young leaves.

Naturally russeted and wound russeted skins of mango (cv. 'Apple') show no differences in anatomy, chemical composition or gene expression.

The mango cultivar 'Apple' is commercially important in Kenya but highly susceptible to russeting. Russeting refers to an area of fruit skin where the primary (epidermal) surface has been replaced by a secondary (peridermal) surface. The objective was to establish histologies, gene expressions and chemical compositions of a natural periderm, a wound-induced periderm and of cuticles of an un-russeted skin.

In a Different Light: Irradiation-Induced Cuticular Wax Accumulation Fails to Reduce Cuticular Transpiration.

The cuticle, an extracellular hydrophobic layer impregnated with waxy lipids, serves as the primary interface between plant leaves and their environment and is thus subject to external cues. A previous study on poplar leaves revealed that environmental conditions outdoors promoted the deposition of about 10-fold more cuticular wax compared to the highly artificial climate of a growth chamber. Given that light was the most significant variable distinguishing the two locations, we hypothesized that the quantity of light might serve as a key driver of foliar wax accumulation.

Formation of Apoplastic Barriers to Radial O₂ Loss in Rice Roots: Effects of Low-O₂ and High-Fe Conditions, and the Roles of Suberin, Glycerol Esters, and Iron Plaques.

Lack of O and high concentrations of iron (Fe) are common in flooded soils where Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated. We tested the hypothesis that growing in stagnant or high Fe conditions might induce the formation of apoplastic barriers in roots with different properties and chemical compositions.

Enhanced CO Coordinates the Spatial Recruitment of Diazotrophs in Rice Via Root Development.

Understanding the reciprocal interaction between root development and coadapted beneficial microbes in response to elevated CO (eCO) will facilitate the identification of nutrient-efficient cultivars for sustainable agriculture. Here, systematic morphological, anatomical, chemical and gene expression assays performed under low-nitrogen conditions revealed that eCO drove the development of the endodermal barrier with respect to L-/S-shaped lateral roots (LRs) in rice. Next, we applied metabolome and endodermal-cell-specific RNA sequencing and showed that rice adapts to eCO by spatially recruiting diazotrophs via flavonoid secretion in L-shaped LRs.

Effects of water stress on apoplastic barrier formation in soil grown roots differ from hydroponically grown roots: Histochemical, biochemical and molecular evidence.

In root research, hydroponic plant cultivation is commonly used and soil experiments are rare. We investigated the response of 12-day-old barley roots, cultivated in soil-filled rhizotrons, to different soil water potentials (SWP) comparing a modern cultivar (cv. Scarlett) with a wild accession ICB181243 from Pakistan.

Relationship between Salmonella enterica attachment and leaf hydrophobicity, roughness, and epicuticular waxes: a focus on 30 baby-leaf salads.

Background: The first step in the contamination of leafy vegetables by human pathogens is their attachment to the leaf surface. The success of this is influenced strongly by the physical and chemical characteristics of the surface itself (number and size of stomata, presence of trichomes and veins, epicuticular waxes, hydrophobicity, etc.).

Cuticle deposition ceases during strawberry fruit development.

Background: Ideally, the barrier properties of a fruit's cuticle persist throughout its development. This presents a challenge for strawberry fruit, with their rapid development and thin cuticles. The objective was to establish the developmental time course of cuticle deposition in strawberry fruit.

Amphistomy: stomata patterning inferred from 13C content and leaf-side-specific deposition of epicuticular wax.

Background And Aims: The benefits and costs of amphistomy (AS) vs. hypostomy (HS) are not fully understood. Here, we quantify benefits of access of CO2 through stomata on the upper (adaxial) leaf surface, using 13C abundance in the adaxial and abaxial epicuticular wax.

Seedling root system adaptation to water availability during maize domestication and global expansion.

The maize root system has been reshaped by indirect selection during global adaptation to new agricultural environments. In this study, we characterized the root systems of more than 9,000 global maize accessions and its wild relatives, defining the geographical signature and genomic basis of variation in seminal root number. We demonstrate that seminal root number has increased during maize domestication followed by a decrease in response to limited water availability in locally adapted varieties.

Transcriptomic changes in barley leaves induced by alcohol ethoxylates indicate potential pathways of surfactant detoxification.

Hardly anything is known regarding the detoxification of surfactants in crop plants, although they are frequently treated with agrochemical formulations. Therefore, we studied transcriptomic changes in barley leaves induced in response to spraying leaf surfaces with two alcohol ethoxylates (AEs). As model surfactants, we selected the monodisperse tetraethylene glycol monododecyl (CE) ether and the polydisperse BrijL4.

Changes in wax composition but not amount enhance cuticular transpiration.

This study focuses on the role of the qualitative leaf wax composition in modulating the cuticular water loss using a Populus × canescens cer6 mutant line, which accumulates C34-C46 wax ester dimers and is reduced in wax monomers >C24. The two literature-based hypotheses to be tested were the importance of the amount of wax esters and the weighted mean carbon chain length in restricting cuticular water loss. The main results were acquired by chemical analysis of cuticular wax and gravimetric cuticular transpiration measurements.

Apoplastic barriers of Populus × canescens roots in reaction to different cultivation conditions and abiotic stress treatments.

Populus is an important tree genus frequently cultivated for economical purposes. However, the high sensitivity of poplars towards water deficit, drought, and salt accumulation significantly affects plant productivity and limits biomass yield. Various cultivation and abiotic stress conditions have been described to significantly induce the formation of apoplastic barriers (Casparian bands and suberin lamellae) in roots of different monocotyledonous crop species.

Alkane biosynthesis is promoted in methyl jasmonate-treated sweet cherry (Prunus avium) fruit cuticles.

Background: The cuticle plays an important role in the survival of plants, and it is important to preserve the quality of fleshy fruits like sweet cherry. Plant hormones play a role in cuticle formation. In this sense, jasmonates have been shown to induce cuticle biosynthesis, but until today this has not been demonstrated in sweet cherry fruit.

Manipulating microRNA miR408 enhances both biomass yield and saccharification efficiency in poplar.

The conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to fermentable sugar for biofuel production is inefficient, and most strategies to enhance efficiency directly target lignin biosynthesis, with associated negative growth impacts. Here we demonstrate, for both laboratory- and field-grown plants, that expression of Pag-miR408 in poplar (Populus alba × P. glandulosa) significantly enhances saccharification, with no requirement for acid-pretreatment, while promoting plant growth.

Isolation and characterization of the gene HvFAR1 encoding acyl-CoA reductase from the cer-za.227 mutant of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and analysis of the cuticular barrier functions.

The cuticle is a protective layer covering aerial plant organs. We studied the function of waxes for the establishment of the cuticular barrier in barley (Hordeum vulgare). The barley eceriferum mutants cer-za.