Genetius

The study demonstrates the first scalable production of a 30 kDa prolyl‑hydroxylated human collagen fragment in the moss Physcomitrella, achieving ~1 mg L⁻¹ secretion in 5 L photobioreactors after process optimization. This vegan, plant‑based system provides a sustainable, high‑quality alternative to animal‑derived collagens for cosmetic applications, highlighting the suitability of moss as an industrial protein‑production host.

The authors exploit maize haploid pollen carrying Ds‑GFP insertional mutations to associate specific genes with quantitative fitness effects measured by transmission bias. Using interpretable machine‑learning models that combine genomic sequence features and expression specificity, they predict genes influencing pollen fitness with AUROC values up to 90% and demonstrate genome‑wide applicability.

The study investigates how the plant NuA4 histone acetyltransferase complex interacts with histone deacetylases, focusing on HDA19, in Arabidopsis. Loss of HDA19 in a NuA4-deficient background exacerbates developmental defects and activates stress‑responsive genes, with transcriptional changes correlating strongly with increased H3K9 acetylation rather than H2A.Z acetylation. The results suggest NuA4 and HDA19 cooperate to modulate chromatin, where H3K9ac drives gene activation and H2A.Zac serves as a modulatory mark.

The study examined the timing of the juvenile‑to‑adult (JA) phase transition in winter and spring wheat varieties and found it varies among genotypes but is independent of the vernalization gene VRN1. Analyses of shoot apex morphology, leaf traits, and expression of miR156 and miR172 showed later JA transitions are linked to greater phenotypic plasticity, offering insights for breeding.

The study presents AGIcam, an open-source IoT camera system that continuously captures RGB and NoIR images for in-field phenotyping of wheat, achieving >85% uptime across 18 deployments. Time-series vegetation indices derived from the imagery were used in random forest and LSTM models to predict yield, with the LSTM attaining mean errors of 3.41% for spring wheat and 1.62% for winter wheat. The results demonstrate that IoT‑based platforms can provide high‑resolution, real‑time data for scalable crop phenotyping and yield prediction.

The study identifies a direct interaction between the transcription factors PLT3 and the thermosensor/circadian regulator ELF3 within the root stem cell niche of Arabidopsis thaliana, showing that ELF3 co‑localizes with PLT3 in cytoplasmic and nuclear condensates via their prion‑like domains. It further demonstrates that PIF3 and PIF4 act as nuclear shuttles for ELF3, linking environmental signals to the maintenance of quiescent center and columella stem cell fate.

The study demonstrates that cytokinin isoform activity in Arabidopsis is determined by the combined effects of receptor preference and metabolic persistence, with dihydrozeatin achieving strong anti‑senescence effects despite lower receptor affinity by accumulating to higher levels. Additionally, N‑glucoside forms can modulate signaling intensity in a ratio‑dependent manner, reducing cytokinin output when co‑applied with their corresponding bases.

The study identified and overexpressed the native HDG11 homolog (PtaHDG11) in a Populus tremula × Populus alba hybrid, demonstrating significantly enhanced drought tolerance compared to wild‑type trees. Transgenic poplars showed higher leaf water content, reduced oxidative damage, up‑regulated antioxidant genes, and increased biomass after recovery, albeit with a glabrous, trichome‑less phenotype. These results highlight PtaHDG11 as a promising target for improving drought resilience in forest trees.

Using Rhizophagus irregularis to connect two Medicago truncatula plants, the study shows that intact common mycelial networks transmit inter‑plant signals that alter the receiver’s leaf transcriptome and metabolome, inducing specific isoprenoid compounds. These CMN‑mediated signals increase resistance to Fusarium sporotrichoides while enhancing susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea, demonstrating pathogen‑specific effects independent of hyphal damage.

The study demonstrates that Arabidopsis PHF1 interacts with SAR1 GTPases at ER exit sites, facilitating COPII-mediated export of PHT1 phosphate transporters. Using tobacco transient expression, split‑GFP, proximity labeling, and co‑immunoprecipitation, the authors show PHF1 preferentially binds the GDP‑locked form of SAR1, indicating a role in early COPII recruitment for ER export of PHT1.