Research Results
1. Genetic discovery can help improve breeding for disease resistance in wheat
The fungus Parastagonospora nodorum uses proteinaceous necrotrophic effectors (NEs) to induce tissue necrosis on wheat leaves during infection, leading to the symptoms of Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB). Previously it was observed that Tox1, epistatic to the expression of Tox3 and a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 2A, contributes to SNB resistance/susceptibility. A study, led by researchers from the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM), along with collaborators from CSIRO, the Max Planck Institute of Germany, and the University of Neuchâtel of Switzerland, discovered a variable genetic element within the economically damaging wheat fungal pathogen, causing SNB of wheat.
The team also discovered this genetic element varies in the amount of Tox1 production in pathogen strains from different regions, helping breeders prioritize which gene to remove according to their target environment. Kar-Chun Tan, CCDM project leader and corresponding author, said that the finding is significant as it explains the extreme difficulty of breeding disease-resistant wheat. Researchers were able to show that the pathogen has evolved and adapted to Australian conditions; hence, they strongly recommend the removal of the Tox1 susceptible wheat gene called Snn1 from Australian breeding lines, to breed resistant wheat suited to local regions. This discovery of a genetic element in a common wheat pathogen can help in streamlining breeding for disease-resistant wheat for Australian conditions (and potentially other regions where SNB occurs). Researchers anticipate that the outcome of this study will drive a greater level of research into the field of effector regulation and epistasis in other fungal-plant pathosystems to generate similar outcomes and improve existing crop protection strategies.
Access the full paper at https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010149
2. Researchers discover activation mechanisms in soybean for adaptation to saline soil
Soil salinity is a global issue threatening land productivity, and estimates predict that 50% of all arable land will become impacted by salinity by 2050. Consequently, it is important to have a fundamental understanding of crop response to salinity to minimize economic loss and improve food security. Plant lipoxygenases (LOXs) oxygenate linoleic and linolenic acids, creating hydroperoxy derivatives, and from these, jasmonates and other oxylipins are derived. Lipoxygenase plays a role in osmotic, drought, and high salinity stress response. Despite the importance of oxylipin signalling, its activation mechanism remains largely unknown. Professor Mee-Len Chye and colleagues at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong (HKU), have discovered the molecular mechanisms activating salt-induced adaptive changes in soybean, bringing hope in providing possible solutions for saline agriculture. When Professor Chye’s team examined soybean roots in a salt solution, surprisingly, Class II ACBP3 and ACBP4 variant proteins, smaller than the native forms, emerged during the first few hours of treatment.
Her research team found that the overexpression of the native and truncated ACBP4 rendered soybean hairy roots more salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant than the control, respectively. Normally the enzymes are inactive; however, under salinity, the enzymes are activated when phosphatidic acid and truncated ACBPs compete for binding with the components of this complex, which eventually dissociates. Professor Chye hopes to discover other components in the oxylipin signalling mechanism to further elucidate the salinity response. Apart from that, her team is currently exploring the potential of enhancing salt tolerance in soybean and other plant crops by a genetic engineering approach. If this innovation is successfully implemented, crop yield could be less impacted by soil salinity to promote food production, given climate change.
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/plcell/advance-article/doi/10.1093/plcell/koab306/6468627
3. Crucial gene discovered, which can make crop plants produce clonal seeds
Apomixis, the clonal formation of seeds, is a rare yet widely distributed trait in flowering plants. The discovery of a gene (or genes) controlling apomixis can help in speeding up breeding programmes in several crops. Researchers from KeyGene and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) using dandelion, in collaboration with colleagues from Japan and New Zealand using hawkweed, have discovered a gene that will make it possible to produce seeds from crops that are genetically identical to the mother plant and that do not need pollination, enabling them to produce stable offspring with a desirable combination of traits with the same desirable combination of genes as the mother plant. Researchers explain how the gene works and the way it influenced the work of the ‘father of genetics,’ Gregor Mendel. The discovery is expected to lead to major innovations in plant breeding over the coming years.
The gene found has been given the name PAR, shortened from parthenogenesis, the process whereby egg cells grow into plant embryos without fertilization of the egg cells. While the importance of apomixis for agriculture has long been recognized, it has yet to be successfully introduced in plant breeding practice. The PAR gene ensures that egg cells develop into a plant embryo without fertilization taking place. Hawkweeds and dandelion belong to the same plant family, so the New Zealand researchers compared the PAR gene with the genes of hawkweed and discovered something that the KeyGene researchers had also observed in dandelions: while all plants contain PAR genes, the plants with apomixis had an extra piece of DNA in the gene. The researchers now suppose that these jumping genes ended up in the promotor of the PAR gene independently in both plant species and that this is a case of parallel evolution. Now the researchers will focus on how this knowledge can be used to breed crops with genetically superior seeds. KeyGene researchers have started this work already. In recent research, together with scientists of Takii Seed, they succeeded in showing that the PAR gene can cause parthenogenesis in both lettuce and sunflower, bringing the prospect of apomixis in crops yet another step forward.
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-021-00984-y
4. Plants rely on the CLASSY gene family to diversify their epigenomes
What determines how a cell’s genome is regulated to ensure its proper growth and development? It has been shown that the parts of the plant’s genome that are turned on or off in each cell type or tissue play a major role in this process. A team of researchers, led by Julie Law at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, USA, have shown that the CLASSY gene family regulates which parts of the genome are turned off in a tissue-specific manner. The CLASSYs essentially control where the genome is marked by DNA methylation—the addition of methyl chemical groups to the DNA that acts like tags saying, “turn off. ” Because DNA methylation exists across diverse organisms, including plants and animals, this research has broad implications for both agriculture and medicine.
“There have been many observations that one cell or tissue type has a different DNA methylation pattern than another, but how the methylation pathways are modulated to end up with different outcomes in different tissues has remained poorly understood,” says Law. DNA methylation is regulated by many factors, including certain types of small RNAs. Working with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the team discovered that the CLASSY gene family (CLSY 1–4) acts at different locations depending on the tissue, revealing how diverse patterns of methylation are generated during plant development. The current study addresses mainly the larger question of whether this process can result in different methylation patterns in different Arabidopsis tissues: leaf, flower bud, ovule, and rosette. The researchers found that CLSY genes were expressed differently, depending on the plant tissue type. They found that depending on the tissue, different combinations of CLSY family members, or even individual CLSY proteins, controlled small RNA and DNA methylation patterns at thousands of sites throughout the genome. “Finding that the CLSYs control methylation in a tissue-specific manner represents a major advance as it provides scientists a way to alter DNA methylation patterns with much higher precision,” says Law.
For more, see lhttps://phys.org/news/2022-01-classy-gene-family-diversify-epigenomes.html
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27690-x
5. Fickle sunshine slows down the Rubisco enzyme and limits the photosynthetic productivity of crops
Cowpea is the major source of vegetable protein for rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa and average yields are not keeping pace with population growth. Each day, crop leaves experience many shade events and the speed of photosynthetic adjustment to this dynamic environment strongly affects daily carbon gain. Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is a key enzyme in photosynthesis, catalysing carbon dioxide fixation. Rubisco is ubiquitous for photosynthetic organisms and is regarded as the most abundant protein on earth. Rubisco activity depends on the speed and extent of deactivation in shade and recovers slowly on return to the sun. Professor Carmo-Silva and colleagues at Lancaster University, UK, found that as cowpea leaves go into the shade, the activity of the enzyme Rubisco drops more rapidly than was previously thought. This is important because every day, as the sun tracks across the sky above crops in farmers` fields, leaves cast their neighbours from sunlight into the shade and back again.
Cowpea leaves take quite a few minutes to adjust when going from shade to high light, and during those minutes the leaf is not assimilating as much CO₂ as it has the light energy for, so there is a substantial loss as Rubisco becomes active again slowly, resulting in missed opportunities to convert solar energy into sugars. The researchers used a high-throughput biochemical method to show that cowpea leaves only need to be in shade for as little as five minutes for Rubisco activity to bottom out, so even brief shading of leaves will lower the plant’s photosynthetic productivity. “We’re not exactly clear what the mechanism is from the sun to shade that takes Rubisco activation down, but we have found that the process is quite quick,” said Samuel Taylor, first author. However, researchers found variations in time taken for reactivation of Rubisco; they hope that within the wider gene pool of cowpea, plants with much slower rates of Rubisco de-activation can be found.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-01068-9
6. “Under the hood”: How environment and genomes interact in plant development
An organism’s final phenotype is determined by genes, environmental factors, and the developmental processes during which the interaction between genes and environmental factors occurs. Phenotypic plasticity is the property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to distinct environmental conditions. Phenotypic plasticity is observed widely in plants, and better understanding is needed of the genetic, environmental, and developmental patterns behind the observed phenotypic variation under natural field conditions.” Scientists at Iowa State University, led by Jianming Yu, have harnessed data analytics to look “under the hood” of the mechanisms that determine how genetics and changing environmental conditions interact during crucial developmental stages of plants.
They focused on how temperature changes affect the height of sorghum plants and concluded that understanding phenotypic plasticity under field situations could help to breed more resilient crops, as well as shed light on mechanisms that play a critical role in plant growth. Understanding plasticity can help plant breeders design crop varieties that will perform well under a range of environmental conditions, said Yu. Zeroing in on that rapid-growth phase in the plant`s life cycle allowed the researchers to examine the mechanisms that govern sorghum`s phenotypic plasticity in greater detail. Researchers analysed 3,500 phenotypic records collected over four years, which were further validated with 13,500 phenotypic records over a further four-year period. “Looking at the developmental phase allows us to look under the hood to see what causes the final mature traits,” Yu said. Climate change increases the urgency of understanding phenotypic plasticity, Yu said. As climate change causes more volatile swings in weather, farmers and plant breeders will require better tools for predicting how crop varieties will perform under different environmental conditions. For instance, Yu said climate change could cause night-time temperatures to rise in some locations, which would have significant ramifications for cultivating crops, as illustrated in the study. Research into phenotypic plasticity will allow plant breeders to develop more precise tools for predicting how crops will perform across a range of environmental conditions, Yu said.
For more, see https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2022/01/24/sorghumplasticity
Access the full paper at https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.17904
7. The key mechanism of photosynthesis elucidated
Many of the world’s most productive crops are species that exhibit C4 photosynthetic metabolism, as an adaptation to high light intensities, temperatures, and dryness. 
These plants master a special form of solar energy utilization which offers great advantages under warm conditions, with an enzyme playing a central role in this so-called C4 photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen. In this process, they first pre-fix the carbon dioxide by linking it to a transport molecule. Here, the carbon dioxide is released again, and it is then available for further reactions of photosynthesis. “This release step is catalysed by a special enzyme,” explains Prof Veronica Maurino at the University of Bonn, who led the study. Some of the plants use the so-called NAD-malate enzyme for this purpose.
According to the study, NAD-ME (i.e., Nicotinamide Adenine dinucleotide-Malic enzyme produced by mitochondria) consists of two large building blocks, the alpha and the beta subunit. While the alpha unit is responsible for CO2 release, the beta subunit serves primarily to regulate the activity of the enzyme. The beta subunit prevents the two enzymes from getting in each other`s way. The CO2 that is pre-fixed and intended for photosynthesis is thus mainly processed by the enzyme variant that “matches” it (and works much faster). “Both the alpha and beta subunit genes duplicated at some point during evolution,” Maurino explains. It thus lost its original function and instead acquired the ability to regulate the activity of the new enzyme. ” This complex evolution may also be the reason why the release of the pre-fixed carbon dioxide works differently in most C4 plants than in the genus Cleome. One example is maize: the sweet grass, which originated in Mexico where it had to evolve the ability to photosynthesize without losing too much water, has an enzyme other than NAD-ME to do so. This discovery can aid in introducing C4 traits into C3 plants.
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/plcell/article/34/1/597/6420711
Potential Crops/Technologies/Concepts
1. New inoculation method can protect soybeans against devastating leaf blight
In three major soybean-producing countries in South America, Cercospora leaf blight (CLB), caused by Cercospora kikuchii, C. cf. sigesbeckiae, C. cf. flagellaris, and C. cf. nicotianae, is a major threat to soybean. CLB causes dark-purple lesions on leaves and premature defoliation, which can diminish soybean production. Currently, there are no CLB-resistant soybean cultivars, and fungicides are becoming less effective as CLB develops resistance. Screening soybean germplasm for identifying CLB resistance is thus a priority in developing CLB-resistant soybean cultivars. 
However, efficient methods for the screening of a resistant soybean genotype have not yet been established.
To develop an efficient and cost-effective screening method, the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Tsukuba, collaborated with the National University of Northwestern Buenos Aires and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in Brazil. Takeshi Kashiwa and colleagues developed an inoculation method that can identify resistance against one of the CLB pathogens. Their method uses only leaflets for inoculation, which gives a big advantage for the screening of soybean genetic materials through a small experimental design. The researchers developed a high-throughput screening method for C. kikuchii resistance, termed the leaf culture inoculation method. Screening the global soybean collection, they identified varieties with a low incidence of C. kikuchii lesions on the leaves. This process can contribute to controlling this devastating disease by identifying resistant genotypes. “The method can help breeders select candidates for genetic material against the disease,” said Kashiwa; it will facilitate the development of CLB resistant soybean cultivars for large-scale cultivation.
Access the full paper at https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PHYTOFR-01-21-0002-TA
2. Bioenergy sorghum’s roots can replenish carbon in soil
The world faces an increasing amount of carbon dioxide (2) in the atmosphere and a shortage of carbon in the soil. According to research, bioenergy sorghum hybrids capture and sequester significant amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide in soil. A study by John Mullet and colleagues at Texas A&M University, College Station, USA, shows that bioenergy sorghum’s unusually deep root system can reach sources of water and nutrients untapped by other annual crops. (On the contrary, it is generally assumed that the most sustainable bioenergy crops are perennial because they require fewer inputs and can sequester more biomass than annual crops). However, identifying regions suitable for bioenergy sorghum production can well be advantageous. “Recently, I’ve decided the most important thing we can do is continue research on bioenergy sorghum optimization, but also to help design and build biorefineries that will process materials from the crop in a way that’s optimal,” Mullet said.
Carbon captured in biofuels and bioproducts at biorefineries, and by bioenergy sorghum roots. could generate carbon credits, potentially benefiting producers and industry. Overall, bioenergy sorghum’s long growing season enables root systems to grow deeper and accumulate more biomass than other annual grain crops such as maize. These attributes could help restore annual cropland soil organic carbon levels and improve soil productivity. Deep roots active in nutrient transport are positioned to take up fertilizer leached deep into soil profiles mitigating potential nutrient run-off. Bioenergy sorghum’s large and deep root system is a key to the sustainable production of biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts on annual cropland.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00431-5
3. Potential new gene-editing tools uncovered
Few developments have shaken the biotechnology world or generated as much buzz as the discovery of CRISPR-Cas systems, a breakthrough in gene editing recognized in 2020 with a Nobel Prize. In recent years, scientists have discovered a different system in bacteria, which might lead to even more powerful methods for gene editing, given its unique ability to insert genes or whole sections of DNA in a genome. New research from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin dramatically expands the number of naturally occurring versions of this system, giving researchers a wealth of potential new tools for large-scale gene editing. A team led by Ilya Finkelstein and Claus Wilke at UT have expanded the number of likely CRISPR-associated transposons (CASTs) from about a dozen to nearly 1,500. “With CASTs, we could potentially insert lots of genes, called ‘gene cassettes,’ encoding multiple complicated functions,” said Finkelstein, who conceived and headed the research.
The UT Austin team, using the Stampede2 supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), combed through the world’s largest database of genome fragments for microbes that have not yet been cultured in the lab or fully sequenced. They found 1,476 new putative CASTs, including three new families, doubling the number of known families. In the short term, Finkelstein said many of these new systems should be adaptable to genetically engineering bacteria. The long-term challenge, Finkelstein said, is to “domesticate” the systems to work in mammalian (and higher plant) cells.
Access the abstract at https://www.pnas.org/content/118/49/e2112279118
4. Tweaking corn kernels with CRISPR
Corn—or maize—has changed over thousands of years from weedy plants that make ears with less than a dozen kernels to the cobs packed with hundreds of juicy kernels that we see on farms today. Powerful DNA-editing techniques such as CRISPR can speed up that process. DNA is divided into two parts: the gene and the regulatory regions that promote or suppress gene activity. Many researchers have used CRISPR in a very simple sense, i.e., just to disrupt genes completely, to knock out the gene. However, David Jackson at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA, and colleagues have a new idea to use CRISPR on promoter regions in a way that we can get the variation in traits that we need in agriculture.
The corn kernel development pathway includes genes that promote stem cell growth and differentiation into distinct plant organs. The CLE family (a family of genes that act as a brake to stop stem cell growth) contains almost 50 related genes, with promoter regions that vary from gene to gene. Jackson and his colleagues randomly targeted the promoter region, and they did not have any idea as to which part of the promoter is important. As a next step, “we will focus more on figuring out which part of the promoter is critical. And, then we probably will make our promoter CRISPR more efficient. We can get a better allele which can produce more grain yield or ear size” says Jackson. In this study, researchers were able to engineer quantitative variation for yield-related traits in maize by making weak promoter alleles of CLE genes, and a null allele of a newly identified partially redundant compensating CLE gene, using CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing. These strategies increased multiple maize grain-yield-related traits, supporting the enormous potential for genomic editing in crop enhancement. This approach can be used in most other cereal crops as well, resulting in an increase in crop yield per unit area and making agriculture more sustainable.
For more, see https://www.cshl.edu/tweaking-corn-kernels-with-crispr/
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00858-5
5. Finding the recipe for a larger, greener global rice bowl
Rice is the main food staple for more than half of the global population, and as the population grows, demand for rice is expected to grow, too. Increasing global rice production is not a simple prospect. With the change in climate and increased prospects of extreme weather events, future rice systems must produce more grain while minimizing the negative environmental impacts. A key question is how to orient agricultural research and development (R&D) programmes at national to global scales to maximize the return on investment
New research led by Shaobing Peng, at Huazhong Agricultural University, China, and Patricio Grassini, at Nebraska, USA (also co-leader of the Global Yield Gap Atlas), provides an analysis of roadmaps toward sustainable intensification for a larger global rice bowl. The study assessed rice yields and efficiency in the use of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and labour across 32 rice cropping systems that accounted for half of the global rice harvested area. “Indeed, there is room for many rice systems to reduce the negative impact substantially while maintaining or even increasing rice yields,” says Peng. This study provides essential strategic insight on yield gap and resource-use efficiency for prioritizing national and global agricultural R&D investments to ensure adequate rice supply, while minimizing negative environmental impact, in the coming decades.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27424-z.pdf
News:
1. How plant-based diets not only reduce our carbon footprint but also increase carbon capture
As climate change reaches a tipping point, it will be essential for countries, societies, and individuals to consume less and waste much less. Almost 100 billion tonnes of CO2 could be pulled out of the atmosphere by the end of the century. The double carbon profit of returning farmland to its natural state would equal about 14 years’ worth of agricultural emissions, researchers from Leiden University write in Nature Food. An international research team, led by scientists at Leiden University, calculated that if high-income nations moved away from animal products, much less land would be needed to grow food. Vast areas could then revert to their natural state, with wild plants and trees drawing carbon from the atmosphere. “A rapid shift to these (plant-based) diets could help society stay within environmental limits.” “It is perhaps one of the biggest environmental health opportunities out there,” said lead author Zhongxiao Sun at the China Agricultural University. In lower-income regions, people consume fewer animal proteins but often rely on them for their health,” said Leiden University’s Paul Behrens, senior author of the research.
The researchers found that the switch to plant-based diets would reduce annual agricultural production emissions by 61%. Additionally, converting former cropland and pastures to their natural state would remove another 98.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the end of the century. Imagine if half of the public in richer regions cut half the animal products in their diets, you are still talking about a massive opportunity in environmental outcomes and public health. Thus, changing diets has great potential not only for the sake of the environment, but also to reap health benefits.
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00431-5
2. Deforestation-free and carbon-negative alternatives for palm oil
A team of scientists from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland investigated the conversion of savannahs into oil palm plantations. They found that this form of land conversion increases the amount of carbon stored in the ecosystem by an average of 40 tonnes per hectare over a full cultivation cycle. Soil plays an essential role in the global carbon cycle since it’s the biggest store of carbon.
Scientists found that using the right cultivation methods can improve soil’s capacity for carbon storage. The findings of this study provide empirical proof of a concept that the conversion of non-forested land, in parallel with organic-matter oriented management strategies, can enhance the C sink capacity of the oil palm agroecosystems, while promoting microbe-mediated soil functioning. Nevertheless, savannahs are unique and threatened ecosystems that support vast biodiversity. Therefore, the researchers suggest giving priority attention to the conservation of natural savannahs and directing more research toward the impacts of the conversion and subsequent management of degraded savannahs.
Access the full paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16069
3. Less ploughing enables carbon storage in agricultural soils
The value of long-term studies can be found when you are ready to dig deep. For long, minimum or conservation tillage has been promoted as a measure to increase carbon stocks in arable soils. Since organic farming improves soil quality and soil carbon storage, reduced tillage under organic farming conditions may further enhance this potential. Therefore, Krauss at Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland, in collaboration with researchers from other European countries, assessed soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of reduced tillage, compared with mouldboard ploughing (deep ploughing) in nine organic farms in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, following the same sampling and analytical protocol.
Researchers found that when organic farmers stop ploughing, soil carbon storage increases by 90 kg per ha per year at the depth of 0 to 50 cm. Some sites showed an overall gain in humus, some did not. Combining reduced tillage with organic farming practices appears to be a great opportunity to care for our soils. However, under reduced tillage, biomass production was somewhat lower, resulting in a decreased crop C input. The authors think that this decrease was balanced by an increased occurrence of weeds with reduced tillage, and it requires further research.
Access the full paper at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167198721003354?via%3Dihub#!
4. DNA of giant ‘Corpse Flower’ parasite surprises biologists
Why does Sapria (the copse flower Sapria himalayana) have so many of these jumping genes in the first place? No one is yet sure, but the answer may transform our understanding of parasite genomics. Parasitic plants (e.g., Sapria, Cuscuta) have elucidated the many ways in which genomes can be modified, yet there is little comprehensive genome data for species that represent the most extreme form of parasitism. Timothy Sackton at the Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, presents information on a highly modified genome of the iconic endophytic parasite Sapria himalayana Griff. (Rafflesiaceae), which lacks a typical plant body. In addition to genes ‘stolen from its host, Sapria’s genome has a huge number of transposable elements that are considered “selfish” genes; they replicate even at the expense of the genome they occupy. Another possibility is that the parasites can’t stop their jumping genes from jumping. Transposable elements can cause chunks of the genome to move around, too, which can be dangerously destabilizing, but they can also lead to gene duplication and innovation, the authors say.
For more, see https://www.quantamagazine.org/dna-of-giant-corpse-flower-parasite-surprises-biologists-20210421/
Access related papers at https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31897-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220318972%3Fshowall%3Dtrue#%20 and https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25027
5. How biotech crops can crash—and why agroecology needs a boost
Several hundreds of grassroots organizations challenged the organizers of the World Food Summit of September 2020 for framing the problem of food systems in narrow, technocratic ways and offering “false solutions,” such as biotechnological 
interventions, instead of promoting more sustainable, just, and people-first ways of farming. In more than two decades of GM crops’ cultivation, nearly every aspect of GM crops research, development, and application have stoked scientific controversy. Decades of research has shown how biotechnology science is path-dependent, becoming more powerful as things such as patents make it increasingly lucrative for universities to do biotech research.
More biotech research means the allocation of more resources, resulting in a reduction for other lines of research, lab facilities, faculty and staff jobs, along with other aspects of farming getting less support. Nevertheless, farmers who transitioned to agroecology ate 68% more vegetables, 56% more fruit, 55% more protein-rich staples and 40% more meat than before. Biodiversity-rich farms with complex relationships among multiple species are also more resilient and sustainable. A new meta-analysis of two decades of research found that agroecological practices improve nutrition and food security outcomes in low- and middle-income countries and the more practices farmers included, the greater the benefits. Now, what is required is robust international support for agroecology within a governing framework of human rights, peasant rights, and food sovereignty.
For more, see https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-biotech-crops-can-crash-and-still-never-fail/ (needs subscription to access full paper)
6. Urban gardens are a dependable food source for pollinators throughout the year
Gardens in cities (urban gardens, UG, or Urban Agriculture, UA) provide a long and continuous supply of nectar from March to October, Nicholas Tew and colleagues at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, have found. Despite huge garden-to-garden variation in both the quantity and timing of nectar production, pollinators are guaranteed a reliable food supply if they visit many UG. This contrasts with previous studies on farmland, where pollinators are exposed to boom-and-bust cycles of nectar production, with clear seasonal gaps.
In the USA, Miguel Altieri, University of California, Berkeley, says that many organizations see UA as a way to enhance food security. This was demonstrated during the pandemic. According to him, although it was estimated that UA could meet 15 to 20 % of global food demand, the level of food self-sufficiency that UA could realistically ensure for cities is yet to be determined. There is also the example of Rosario, Argentina, where 1,800 residents practice horticulture on about 175 acres of land. Planting shrubs is also a recommended way to pack many flowers into a small space, and it was found to provide 58% of all nectar in UG.
Access the full paper at https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14094
Also, see https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14094
7. These farmers show that agriculture in the Amazon doesn’t have to be destructive
When a new road is opened in the Amazon, deforestation most often follows, creating a landscape of big sky, white cows, and green pastures. But on back roads around the frontier town of Nova Califórnia, in a remote corner of northwestern Brazil, a renewed verdant canopy closes in. The Project, Projeto Reflorestamento Econômico Consorciado e Adensad (RECA), assists local farmers to improve their technical capability in
agroforestry production and value-added processing of local resources, generating sustainable income streams for these marginalized forest communities. The early RECA members, facing dire poverty, lived in a canvas tent when they arrived. Cláudio Maretti, a former president of ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), the federal agency overseeing protected land in Brazil, views agroforestry ventures, such as RECA, as a model for reclaiming parts of the Amazon, especially on the pastures that have been abandoned because they can no longer support cattle, which comprise more than half of the land that has been cleared.
For more, see https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/these-farmers-show-that-agriculture-in-the-amazon-doesnt-have-to-be-destructive?loggedin=true (subscription to National Geographic may be needed to access the content)
8. Fungi found to regulate host gene expression of a plant through the use of miRNAs
A team of researchers from Australia, the USA, and France reports evidence of a fungus regulating host gene expression of a plant, using miRNA. The group describes using sRNA sequencing of data and in situ miRNA detection to learn more about the symbiotic relationship between the root fungus Pisolithus microcarpus and eucalyptus trees. They found an example of such transfer that benefits both the fungus and its host. As a result of that transfer, the fungus was able to maintain its infection of trees; but more importantly, such infections helped the trees to do better at gaining soil nutrients. They also found that if they added more fungi to already infected trees, the tree roots performed even better than those that had been infected naturally. A closer look at the tissues of the tree roots found that the fungus made changes to the tree’s genes that coded for the expression of nucleotide-binding-domain, leucine-rich repeat proteins, improving immune response and boosting health by improving soil nutrient processing.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2022-01-fungi-host-gene-mirnas.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://www.pnas.org/content/119/3/e2103527119
9. Peanut studies open the door to better understanding epigenetic mechanisms in plants
Plants encounter microbes all the time, in the air, water, and soil. Maitrayee Dasgupta’s lab at the University of Calcutta, India, has focused on revealing the molecular mechanisms of early nodule development in peanuts. Pritha Ganguly, Dasgupta, and colleagues investigated the earliest steps of symbiotic nodule development. As Ganguly and co-workers investigated the mechanism of ENOD40 function in peanuts, they found that this long non-coding RNA itself had an antisense long-noncoding RNA, revealing layers upon layers of regulation mediated by functional RNAs. This is the first sense-antisense long non-coding RNA pair identified in plants, opening up a possible mechanism of ENOD40 action and providing an entry point into understanding epigenetic mechanisms in plants.
Access the full paper at https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/MPMI-12-20-0357-R
Events (August 2022)
1. ICASABOF 2022: International Conference on Agricultural Sustainability, 
Agricultural Biodiversity and Organic Farming 08-09 August 2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands
For more, see https://waset.org/agricultural-sustainability-agricultural-biodiversity-and-organic-farming-conference-in-august-2022-in-amsterdam
2. ICMA 2022: International Conference on Multifunctional Agriculture
16-17 August 2022, Venice, Italy
For more, see https://waset.org/multifunctional-agriculture-conference-in-august-2022-in-venice
3. ICATS 2022: International Conference on Agricultural Tourism and 
Sustainability 16-17 August 2022, London, United Kingdom
For more, see https://waset.org/agricultural-tourism-and-sustainability-conference-in-august-2022-in-london
4. ICIAST 2022: International Conference on Intelligent Agricultural 
Systems and Technologies 30-31 August 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
For more, see https://waset.org/intelligent-agricultural-systems-and-technologies-conference-in-august-2022-in-kuala-lumpur
5. ICAHEE 2022: International Conference on Agriculture, Horticulture and Environment Engineering 30-31 August 2022, Sydney, Australia
For more, see https://waset.org/agriculture-horticulture-and-environment-engineering-conference-in-august-2022-in-sydney
6. ICGISPA 2022: International Conference on GIS and Precision Agriculture
30-31 August 2022, Moscow, Russia
For more, see https://waset.org/gis-and-precision-agriculture-conference-in-august-2022-in-moscow
Other Topics of Interest
1. Plants buy us time to slow climate change—but not enough to stop it
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-12-climate-changebut.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04096-9
2. Shoots and roots respond differently to climate change
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-12-roots-differently-climate.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
3. Plant scientists find recipes for anti-cancer compounds in herbs
4. ‘An increase in food production does not necessarily result in less hunger’: Why we need a second Green Revolution embracing genetics and organic farming
5. A key innovation that can help us adapt to severe climate change—Agricultural biotechnology
6. How dairy farmers can adapt to climate change
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2022-01-dairy-farmers-climate.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
7. What drives agricultural sustainability? Not what many ‘environmental organizations’ promote
Access the original post at https://saifood.ca/sustainable-benefits-gm-glyphosate/
8. Soil drought can mitigate deadly heat stress thanks to a reduction of air humidity
9. This climate-resilient coffee may be just what farmers need
For more, see https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2022/0104/Why-this-climate-resilient-coffee-may-be-just-what-farmers-need
10. We need to find plants that can be grown efficiently, and are resistant to pests and diseases
11. Farm typology of smallholders integrated farming systems in Southern Coastal Plains of Kerala, India
For more see https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04148-0
12. Can we feed billions without wrecking the planet?
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2022-01-billions-planet.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
13. In China, drastic rise in crop pests and diseases due to climate change
14. In Indonesia, oil-rich Pongamia tree gains attention growing where other species can’t
15. Swapping just one food item per day can make diets substantially more planet-friendly
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajcn/nqab338/6459912
16. Researchers sequence the quinoa genome, and introduce crop hybrids to developing nations
17. Prevalence of small farms hinders economic growth in developing countries
18. Indian agriculture: The way forward
For more, see http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/the-way-forward-465698?infinitescroll=1
19. Peanut researchers create disease-resistant hybrids
20. Plants fight for their lives
For more, see https://nautil.us/issue/112/inspiration/plants-fight-for-their-lives
21. Trading carbon and talking plants
22. Celebrated barley came from a single plant
For more, see https://liu.se/en/news-item/beromt-maltkorn-uppstod-fran-en-enda-ursprungsplanta
23. Transforming farming with farmer-led experimentation
For more, see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939940
24. Fighting weeds in a changing world
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2022-01-weeds-world.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
25. Earth BioGenome Project begins genome sequencing in earnest
Access the full paper at https://www.pnas.org/content/119/4/e2115635118
26. False banana: Is Ethiopia’s enset ‘wonder crop’ for climate change?For more, see https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60074407
27. DNA mutations are not random: new research radically changes our understanding of evolution
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-12-strategy-traits.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full paper at https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.17879
28. A multispecies amplicon sequencing approach for genetic diversity assessments in grassland plant species
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2022-01-multispecies-amplicon-sequencing-approach-genetic.html
Access the full paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.13577
29. Resolute scientific work could eliminate the wheat disease within 40 years
Access the abstract at https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PDIS-04-21-0891-SR
30. Two research teams independently used vacuums to measure biodiversity
For more, see https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/two-research-teams-independently-used-vacuums-to-measure-biodiversity/
Access the full paper (1) at https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)01650-X?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.Elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS096098222101650X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
Access the full paper (2) at https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)01690-0?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982221016900%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
31. Compost is a major source of pathogenic aspergillus spores
Access the full paper at https://journals.asm.org/doi/epdf/10.1128/AEM.02061-21
32. Weaving indigenous knowledge into the scientific method
For more see (full paper) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00029-2?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=5e9a2252f2-briefing-dy-20220112&utm_me%E2%80%A6%201/11
33. Study finds non-English language science may save biodiversity
For more, see https://www.siasat.com/study-finds-non-english-language-science-may-save-biodiversity-2258877/
Access the full paper at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.24.445520v1.full.pdf and https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/43268419/journal.pbio.3001296.pdf
34. Green plant genomes: What we know in an era of rapidly expanding opportunities
For more, see the full paper at https://www.pnas.org/content/119/4/e2115640118
35. Conservation issues to watch in 2022
For more, see https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-conservation-issues-to-watch-in-2022/