Integrating genomic data with detailed floral morphology and ecological niche analyses, the study reveals extensive phenotypic overlap among genetically distinct diploid and tetraploid lineages of Thymus sect. Mastichina, highlighting discordance between morphology and genetic structure. While ploidy level partly drives ecological niche differentiation, most morphological variation fails to align with genetic lineages, underscoring the need for integrative taxonomic approaches for this cryptic Mediterranean group.

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 sequenced 226 finger millet‑infecting Magnaporthe oryzae isolates from East Africa, revealing two genetically distinct populations correlated with climate and differing in effector repertoires and virulence. It shows that homologous recombination between transposable elements drives effector loss, and transcript profiling identifies a subset of effectors up‑regulated in incompatible interactions, highlighting candidates for resistance breeding.

The study examined infection phenotypes and cross‑kingdom transcriptomes of the root‑knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita across nine host interactions representing six orders of flowering plants 25 days post‑infection. While host phylogeny did not predict parasitic outcomes, the nematode displayed three distinct transcriptional programmes with differential effector deployment, suggesting that host specificity arises from variable effector expression rather than a conserved gall transcriptome.

Researchers isolated a fungal pathogen from a naturally infected Rumex crispus leaf in Japan and identified it as Teratoramularia rumicicola using morphological traits and phylogenetic analysis of ITS and LSU rDNA sequences. Host range tests showed the isolate (TR4) caused disease and reduced biomass in three Rumex species but was harmless to five tested forage crops, indicating its potential as a selective bioherbicide for pasture systems.

Eighty-eight herbarium specimens of the Galapagos mistletoe Phoradendron berteroanum were measured for eight vegetative and floral traits, and univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted across altitude, island, host, and vegetation cover. Leaf size and internode length peaked at mid‑elevations while floral segment number declined with altitude, and flower number varied with host species, but no distinct island‑specific morphotypes were detected, indicating a single species responding to local environmental conditions.