The study used genome‑wide ribosome profiling together with RNA‑seq to dissect translational regulation during the shift from seed dormancy to germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. It found that dormant seeds maintain a poised translational state with ribosomes pre‑positioned on stored mRNAs, and that selective changes in translational efficiency—particularly involving uORF‑mediated repression—drive germination independent of transcript levels. Functional assays confirmed that specific uORFs act as translational checkpoints during early imbibition.
The authors used a bottom‑up thermodynamic modelling framework to investigate how plants decode calcium signals, starting from Ca2+ binding to EF‑hand proteins and extending to higher‑order decoding modules. They identified six universal Ca2+-decoding modules that can explain variations in calcium sensitivity among kinases and provide a theoretical basis for interpreting calcium signal amplitude and frequency in plant cells.
The study examines how ectopic accumulation of methionine in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves, driven by a deregulated AtCGS transgene under a seed‑specific promoter, reshapes metabolism, gene expression, and DNA methylation. High‑methionine lines exhibit increased amino acids and sugars, activation of stress‑hormone pathways, and reduced expression of DNA methyltransferases, while low‑methionine lines show heightened non‑CG methylation without major transcriptional changes. Integrated transcriptomic and methylomic analyses reveal a feedback loop linking sulfur‑carbon metabolism, stress adaptation, and epigenetic regulation.
Drought-Induced Epigenetic Memory in the cambium of Poplar Trees persists and primes future stress responses
Authors: DUPLAN, A., FENG, Y. Q., LASKAR, G., CAI, B. D., SEGURA, V., DELAUNAY, A., LE JAN, I., DAVIAUD, C., TOUMI, A., LAURANS, F., SOW, M. D., ROGIER, O., POURSAT, P., DURUFLE, H., JORGE, V., SANCHEZ, L., COCHARD, H., ALLONA, I., TOST, J., FICHOT, R., MAURY, S.
The study examined short‑term and transannual drought memory in cambium tissues of two Populus genotypes and four epitypes with modified DNA‑methylation machinery, revealing persistent hormone, transcript, and methylation changes one week after stress relief. Trees previously stressed in Year 1 displayed distinct physiological and molecular responses to a second drought in Year 2, indicating long‑term memory linked to stable CG‑context DNA methylation, with genotype‑dependent differences in plasticity and stability. These findings position the cambium as a reservoir for epigenetic stress memory and suggest exploitable epigenetic variation for tree breeding under drought.
The study identifies and functionally characterizes an acetyl‑CoA:monolignol transferase gene in Populus, showing that its overexpression elevates acetate incorporation into lignin without harming plant growth. Elevated lignin acetylation correlates with gene expression levels and markedly improves biomass pretreatability for biofuel production.
The study compared physiological and transcriptomic responses of poplar trees colonized by the ectomycorrhizal fungi Paxillus involutus or Cenococcum geophilum under normal, drought, and recovery conditions. Cenococcum-colonized plants showed constitutive up‑regulation of heat‑shock proteins, galactinol synthase, and aquaporins and maintained water status and photosynthesis during severe drought, whereas Paxillus colonization promoted growth and nitrogen‑use efficiency and enabled rapid recovery through drought‑induced leaf shedding. These contrasting strategies illustrate species‑specific positions on the growth‑defense trade‑off in ectomycorrhizal symbiosis.
The study examined electrophysiological responses of young poplar trees to controlled stem bending and root pressurization, identifying a distinct gradual potential (GP) whose amplitude and propagation are modulated by stimulus speed and intensity. Results indicate that mechanical stress generates a transient hydraulic pressure wave that triggers the GP, suggesting a hydraulic‑electrical coupling mechanism that encodes detailed mechanical information for adaptive responses to wind.
The study used ribosome profiling to map translational activity across distinct physiological stages of Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination, revealing unique ribosome association patterns in dry seeds and identifying specific codon pause sites and upstream open reading frames (uORFs). Start‑codon stalling in dry seeds correlates with an adenine‑rich motif, and non‑coding RNAs previously thought to be untranslated were found to be translated, linking these features to adaptive control mechanisms during early germination.
The study shows that the SnRK1 catalytic subunit KIN10 directs tissue-specific growth‑defense programs in Arabidopsis thaliana by reshaping transcriptomes. kin10 knockout mutants exhibit altered root transcription, reduced root growth, and weakened defense against Pseudomonas syringae, whereas KIN10 overexpression activates shoot defense pathways, increasing ROS and salicylic acid signaling at the cost of growth.
The study employed a multi‑omics workflow (transcriptomics, ribosome profiling, and proteomics) to uncover small peptides encoded by long non‑coding RNAs (LSEPs) in rice, finding that over 40% of surveyed lncRNAs associate with ribosomes. An optimized small‑peptide extraction followed by LC‑MS/MS identified 403 LSEPs, confirming the peptide‑coding capacity of plant lncRNAs and providing a scalable pipeline for large‑scale screening.