Genetius

The study generated single-nucleus RNA‑seq atlases of wheat grains at 4 and 8 days after pollination, identifying 16 cell populations across seed tissues and revealing a transcriptional shift from growth‑related pathways to nutrient accumulation. Functional analyses showed that the transcription factors TaMADS58 and TaJEKLL regulate pericarp cell number, protein content, and nucellar projection development, providing targets to decouple yield from quality traits.

The study demonstrates that the microtubule-associated protein MAP70-2 integrates mechanical and biochemical signals to direct division plane orientation during early lateral root primordium formation in Arabidopsis thaliana. MAP70-2 localizes dynamically to cell corners and the cortical division zone, and its loss results in misoriented divisions and defective root morphogenesis, highlighting its role in overcoming mechanical constraints during organogenesis.

The review discusses how wheat spikelet number per spike (SNS) is determined by the production rate of spikelet meristems and the timing of the inflorescence meristem's transition to a terminal spikelet, both regulated by meristem identity genes and florigen transport. It also examines genetic strategies—such as supernumerary spikelet formation and allele combinations—that can increase SNS without compromising fertility, highlighting recent spatial transcriptomics and multi‑omics advances that facilitate discovery of new SNS regulators.

Using ribosome profiling and RNA‑seq, the study reveals that Arabidopsis thaliana seeds maintain a poised translational state with ribosomes pre‑positioned on stored mRNAs, and that release from dormancy triggers gene‑specific changes in translational efficiency largely independent of transcript levels. Translational control, especially via ribosome pausing and upstream open reading frame (uORF)‑mediated repression, emerges as a key mechanism governing the dormancy‑to‑germination transition.

The study demonstrates that simultaneous knockout of cassava eIF4E-family genes, particularly nCBP‑1 and nCBP‑2, markedly reduces Cassava brown streak disease symptoms and viral load, though redundancy prevents full resistance. A yeast two‑hybrid screen identified the L51F mutation in nCBP‑2 that weakens VPg interaction, indicating that introducing comparable mutations across all eIF4E paralogs could enhance resistance without pleiotropic effects.

The study generated a dataset of 420 sgRNAs in tomato protoplasts, linking editing efficiency to chromatin accessibility and genomic context, with higher activity at open chromatin and modestly in promoters/introns. A subset of guides produced near‑complete editing and long deletions via microhomology‑mediated end joining, revealing conserved repair biases but poor cross‑species prediction by human‑trained models.

The study introduces low-cost UAS-based workflows using RGB photogrammetry and LiDAR to measure stand height and predict lodging in tef, demonstrating that early-season height can forecast later lodging severity. Comparative analysis shows both sensors yield similar height estimates, offering a precise, high‑throughput alternative to labor‑intensive manual scoring for breeding programs.

The authors constructed the largest dated phylogenetic tree of euphyllophytes, integrating broad backbone phylogenies with species‑level trees for over 121,000 angiosperms, 1,000 gymnosperms and 5,600 ferns using PyPHLAWD. The resulting framework reveals temporal patterns of topological and age uncertainty and is designed for easy future updates as data expand.

The study presents a scalable, cost‑effective bead‑beating CTAB DNA extraction protocol compatible with 96‑well plates, enabling a single worker to process up to 960 plant samples per day. The method yields high‑quality DNA from diverse species (leaf tissue and soybean seeds) suitable for PCR‑based genotyping, genome‑editing detection, and copy‑number analysis.

The study introduces a low‑cost, smartphone‑based image capture system combined with two user‑friendly analysis pipelines (PlantCV and Biodock AI) to streamline phenotyping in large field trials. Images obtained were of sufficient quality, and both pipelines generated phenotypic measurements comparable to manual annotation, demonstrating a scalable, efficient alternative for field phenotyping.