The study demonstrates that RNA extracted from herbarium specimens can be used to generate high‑quality transcriptomes, comparable to those from fresh or silica‑dried samples. By assembling and comparing transcriptomes across specimen types, the authors validated a plant immune receptor synthesized from a 1956 collection, proving archival RNA’s utility for functional genomics. These findings challenge the prevailing view that herbarium RNA is unsuitable for transcriptomic analyses.

The study characterizes all seven malic enzyme genes in tomato, analyzing their tissue-specific expression, temperature and ethylene responsiveness, and linking specific isoforms to metabolic processes such as starch and lipid biosynthesis during fruit development. Phylogenetic, synteny, recombinant protein biochemical assays, and promoter analyses were used to compare tomato enzymes with Arabidopsis counterparts, revealing complex evolutionary dynamics that decouple phylogeny from functional orthology.

The study sampled 94 individuals from eight Atlantic Forest populations to assess morphological and genetic variation among Inga subnuda subspecies and the related Inga vera subsp. affinis. Using plastid trnD‑trnT spacer and nuclear ITS1/2 sequences, phylogenetic analyses revealed distinct structuring of I. subnuda subsp. subnuda and a cohesive group comprising I. subnuda subsp. luschnathiana and I. vera subsp. affinis, indicating retention of ancestral polymorphism from recent diversification and prompting a taxonomic revision of subsp. luschnathiana.