Recommended
Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Role of vacuolar cation/proton exchangers (CAX) in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance responses

Vacuolar cation/proton exchangers, which transport cations such as calcium (Ca2+) from the cytosol, are important for a wide range of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance responses in plants.

In their review authors Pittman and Hirschi summarize recent findings on the significance of CAX transporters (Cation/H+ Exchangers) in plant signal transduction and element partitioning. This may open future ways of strategically manipulating the temporal loss of CAX function in agriculturally important crops that may bolster plant immunity, enhance cold tolerance, and fortify resilience against one of agriculture’s most significant challenges, namely flooding. In their review entitled "CAX control: multiple roles of vacuolar cation/H+ exchangers in metal tolerance, mineral nutrition and environmental signalling" the authors also address the use of genetically encoded Ca2+ sensors, the loss of CAX functions and specific stress conditions, as well as the determination of optimal timing and approach for modulating the expression of CAX.

Read whole paper open access in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13698

Plant Biology · DBG

Scoping review: Lignin biosynthesis and nitrogen

High Nitrogen (N) decreases the lignin content, delays cell lignification, increases the p-hydroxyphenyl propane monomer content, and regulates lignin synthesis through some key expression of genes encoding miRNAs and transcription factors. N deficiency enhances lignin synthesis through the accumulation of phenylpropanoids, phenolics, and soluble carbohydrates, and changes indirectly in phytohormones, secondary metabolites, etc.

Since the precise mechanisms through which nitrogen influences lignin biosynthesis have not been fully elucidated, the authors Peng, Shrestha, Zhang, Fan, Yu and Wang summarize a systematic search of the literature. Among the selected studies, 64.52% refer to lignin content found a negative correlation between nitrogen availability and lignin content. High nitrogen decreases the lignin content, delays cell lignification, increases p-hydroxyphenyl propane monomer content, and regulates lignin synthesis through the expression of key genes. Nitrogen deficiency enhances lignin synthesis through the accumulation of phenylpropanoids, phenolics, and soluble carbohydrates, and indirect changes in phytohormones, secondary metabolites, etc. The paper "How lignin biosynthesis responds to nitrogen in plants: a scoping review" provides new insights and important references for future studies on the regulation of lignin biosynthesis.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13627

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Modelling flower colour and how bees percept flower colours

Flower colour signals have evolved to bee perception, which is dynamic and incorporates a vector-based purity preference of floral guides at close range, whilst a simple scalar metric of colour contrast does not represent the behaviour of how bees first detect and then subsequently make a final decision about which flower to visit and where to land on the flower.

In their review "The modelling of flower colour: spectral purity or colour contrast as biologically relevant descriptors of flower colour signals for bees depending upon the perceptual task" authors Lunau and Dyer ask whether quantitative modelling of flower signals should strive for repeatable consistency enabled by parameter simplification, or whether modelling should reflect the dynamic way in which bees are known to process signals. They also touch why colour is an interpretation of spectral information by the animal's brain, and how bee's colour perception is based on physiological, neuroanatomical and behavioural evidence to provide a pathway for modelling flower colours. They ask, whether flower petals and floral guides as viewed against spectrally different backgrounds should be considered as a simple colour contrast problem or require a more dynamic consideration of how bees make perceptual decisions. The authors also discuss exploitative vs. honest signalling.

Read whole paper open access in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13682 

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: past 200 year timeline and modelled future rate of expansion of Scotch broom

A timeline of Scotch broom’s global expansion highlights threats to ecological processes and the need for an enhanced monitoring program.

Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link, commonly referred to as Scotch broom, is a Mediterranean shrub capable of thriving in a variety of ecosystems that has invaded every habitable continent on Earth. The authors PW Hacker and NC Coops here present a timeline and estimated rate of expansion from 1816 to 2016. They also model its expected range over the next 70 years, and highlight the need for investigation into its expansion mechanisms and the establishment of monitoring programs.

Read whole paper open access in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13662

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Water for agriculture - more crop per drop

The scarce resource water is vital for agriculture, serving multiple functions in biomass growth, and improving water use efficiency is crucial in crop production.

It is challenging to maintain high crop yields, even in arid and drought-prone regions that depend on irrigation. In this review authors Geilfus, Zörb, Jones, Wimmer & Schmöckel explain water use efficiency (WUE) and options to improve water use and thus crop yield. Nutrient management might represent another possibility to manipulate water uptake and use by plants. An emerging topic involves agroforest co-cultivation, where trees in the system facilitate water transfer through hydraulic lift, benefiting neighbouring crops. Other options to enhance crop yield per water use are also discussed.

Read paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology open access (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13652

Plant Biology · DBG

New Method: lifetime mesophyll conductance

Mesophyll conductance integrated over the lifetime of the leaf is calculated from the isotopic composition of epicuticular wax harvested separately from the adaxial and abaxial sides of hypostomatous leaves and can be partitioned into gas and liquid phases.

Breeding of new plant varieties with lower mesophyll resistance for CO2 diffusion requires knowledge of its diffusion components. Authors Janová, Kubásek, Grams, Zeisler-Diehl, Schreiber & Šantrůćek therefore tested a new method to estimate relative drawdowns of CO2 concentration across hypostomatous leaves of Fagus sylvatica integrated over the lifetime of the leaf. The new method shows that intercellular components is minor but not negligible part of CO2 diffusion and reflects leaf anatomy traits, i.e. leaf mass per area and thickness.

Read paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology open access (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13655

Plant Biology · DBG

CRISPR‐Cas9 and beyond - review summarizes target genes for developing disease‐resistant plants

Genome-editing technology is a promising strategy for protecting food security against yield losses of crops due to unpredictable climate change and plant diseases.

In their paper the authors Park et al. provide a brief overview of recent progress in genome-editing technologies, including zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9) technologies. They classify disease resistant mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana and several crop plants based on the roles or functions of the mutated genes in plant immunity and suggest potential target genes for molecular breeding of genome-edited disease-resistant plants. Genome editing technologies are resilient tools for sustainable development and promising solutions for coping with climate change and population increases.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13625

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers and reviews via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: the world’s largest mimicry system

Mimics of pollen, anthers, stamens, and androecia, their models and pollen eating bees and hoverflies constitute the world’s largest mimicry system.

In the open access paper "pollen, anther, stamen, and androecium mimicry" authors Lunau, De Camargo and Brito review the hypotheses, why the yellow UV-absorbing floral centre is so frequent in angiosperms. They review the pollen, anther, stamen, and androecium mimicry (PASAM) hypotheses, present new and published data on pollenating and pollen-collecting pollinators’ responses to PASAM structures and discuss how widespread these systems are around the globe. Their ultimate goal is to promote the idea that PASAM is a plausible first approach to understanding floral colour patterns in angiosperms.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13628

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Mycorrhization in trees - ecology, physiology, and emerging technologies

Mycorrhization in trees impacts ecological and physiological dynamics of a forest ecosystem.

The paper summarizes the ecological and physiological significance of mycorrhization. As the authors Chaudhury et al. describe: Dual mycorrhization relationships in trees and even triple relationships among trees, mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria offer an interesting physiological system to understand how plants interact with other organisms for better survival. Besides, studies indicate additional roles of mycorrhization in learning, memorizing and communication between host trees through a common mycorrhizal network (CMN). Recent observations in trees suggest that mycorrhization may even promote tolerance to multiple abiotic (e.g., drought, salt, heavy metal stress) and biotic (e.g. fungi) stresses. Due to the extent of physiological reliance, local adaptation of trees is heavily impacted by the mycorrhizal community. This knowledge opens the possibility of a non-GMO avenue to promote tree growth and development. Indeed, mycorrhization could impact growth of trees in nurseries and subsequent survival of the inoculated trees in field conditions.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2024) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13613

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review on allelopathy and allelobiosis: efficient and economical alternatives in agroecosystems

The paper summarizes allelopathy and allelobiosis in inter-specific, intra-specific, plant-microorganism, and plant-insect context, and discusses the involved substances, their mechanisms, as well as environmental factors influencing allelopathic/signal molecule production and spread.

In their review authors Han et al. summarize and classify allelochemicals and chemical signals according to their function and structure in relation to environmental factors and generation and diffusion of such signals, since allelopathy and allelobiosis have never been systematically described thus far. Moreover the authors provide recent research on the application of allelopathy and allelobiosis in agroecosystems in future studies.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13582 

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Oxygen transport in plants under hypoxia/anoxia - diffusion and convection

In waterlogged environments, plant root aeration mainly relies on diffusion through aerenchyma, although some emergent and floating-leaved plants utilize pressurized flows to facilitate gas movement within their stems and rhizomes

In the article "An overview of oxygen transport in plants: diffusion and convection" author G. G. Striker summarizes how plants under hypoxia/anoxia ensure a steady oxygen supply to their cells and identifies three types of pressurized (convective) flows: humidity-induced pressurization (positive pressure), thermal osmosis (positive pressure with air flow against the heat gradient), and venturi-induced suction (negative pressure) caused by wind passing over broken culms.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13558.

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Divergence of non-flying mammal-pollinated plants

The pollination system and evolutionary transition of Mucuna in Asia are unique, reflecting the divergence of the non-flying mammal-pollinated plants

In the article "Evolution of a non-flying mammal-dependent pollination system in Asian Mucuna (Fabaceae)" author S. Kobayashi summarizes the available knowledge of pollination in Asian Mucuna (Fabaceae), a genus mainly distributed in the tropics, and discusses the evolution of plants pollinated by non-flying mammals in Asia. Nineteen pollinator species have been recorded and pollination systems have been categorized into four types. An examination of the relationship between Mucuna species and their pollinators from the lineage perspective revealed that all species in Mucuna, subgenus Macrocarpa, which are distributed in Asia, are pollinated exclusively by non-flying mammals, f.e. from squirrel species.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13557.

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Genetics underlying wheat grain protein content and grain protein deviation

Independent studies converge on genomic regions significantly associated with wheat grain protein content and grain protein deviation

In their review "Recent advances in the genetics underlying wheat grain protein content (GPC) and grain protein deviation (GPD) in hexaploid wheat", the authors Paina and Gregersen summarize the scientific findings about the genetics underlying wheat GPC and GPD, representing the relationship between grain protein content and yield), together with the performance of genomic prediction models characterizing these traits. A total of 364 significant loci related to GPC and GPD are positioned on the hexaploid wheat genome, one of the most important global crops which therefore is of major interest in breeding programs.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023) DOI: 10.1111/plb.13550 (Open Access)

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: How gibberellin molecular metabolism orchestrates plant development

Gibberellin pathways have emerged as multi-signals integrators for plant development through complex feedback regulations and cross-talks

In their article "Molecular gibberellin (GA) pathways as conserved integrators for adaptive responses" Bouré and Arnaud summarize the elements of GA metabolism and signalling pathways, with emphasis on the key role of the GA/GID1/DELLA complex as a conserved developmental integrator. They also discuss how the GA signalling pathway - together with feedback regulation on GA metabolism -  contributes to the integration of endogenous and exogenous signals to provide an adaptive output.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/plb.13549.

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology · DBG

Review: Vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity of Mediterranean forests under climate change

Factors that affect vulnerability and mechanisms that influence resilience of forests.

The autors Touhami et al. review the current state of knowledge on the effects of climate change on sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forest ecosystems in Tunisia. They found alarming results concerning the tree cover lost to fires, as well as shifted phenological parameters like start and end of the green season. And they call upon scientists, policymakers, and managers to adapt Mediterranean forests to climate change.

Read whole paper in our scientific journal Plant Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/plb.13524

(DBG's members are able to access all Plant Biology papers via our intranet).

Plant Biology

Our new Viewpoint Editor

Professor Rob Roelfsema (Würzburg) now is the Viewpoint Editor at our journal Plant Biology. He is looking forward to your viewpoints, short papers of approximately three published pages, with one or two figures with the following topics:

  • New insights in a hot topic in plant biology
  • Critical examination of known methods and approaches
  • New emerging techniques
  • Novel conceptual ideas or approaches in developing fields

Feel free to contact him at Würzburg University, if you have any questions. Please note that scientists in Germany and several other European countries can publish open access in Plant Biology without costs (https://deal-operations.de/en/here-is-the-deal) and please contact your library if these conditions apply to your Institution.

Actualia (engl.)

Journal Plant Biology: new editor-in-chief, reviews and Open Access

Prof. Dr. Christiane Werner is the new Editor-in-chief of our journal. Photo: private

Starting this year, Prof. Dr. Christiane Werner, Chair of Ecosystem Physiology at Freiburg University, Germany, has taken the new editor-in-chief position of our scientific journal Plant Biology. Werner was Co-Editor of the journal for several years and has established new ideas together with her predecessor, Prof. Dr. Heinz Rennenberg (Freiburg University), to advance the journal: The new research reviews, for example, are a good possibility for PostDocs and early career researchers to promote their field of research and become more visible in the plant science community. Contact person for reviews is Dr. Susann Wicke (HU Berlin). Werner is pleased that, thanks to Rennenberg's outstanding work, she will be able to continue a well-established journal whose impact factor Rennenberg nearly doubled in the 17 years of his editorial leadership. Plant Biology receives around 800 papers each year. Together with her diverse editorial board, the new leader hopes to implement other measures to increase the journal's visibility, such as more Special Issues or notices on Twitter and other social media. Werner is looking forward to receiving research articles as well as opinion pieces on plant research, which can be published Open Access thanks to the so-called DEAL contract, provided that the first author comes from a German scientific institution. Werner is supported by Annette Schlierenkamp in the Freiburg editorial office.

To Plant Biology’s website

Follow link
DBG

About DBG's scientific journal

Plant Biology is an international journal of broad scope bringing together the different subdisciplines, such as physiology, molecular biology, cell biology, development, genetics, systematics, ecology, evolution, ecophysiology, plant-microbe interactions, and mycology. The Journal Plant Biology is published by the German Botanical Society and the Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands. Editors are Prof. Dr. Christiane Werner (Freiburg) and Prof. J.T.M. Elzenga (Groningen).

Papers, Reviews, Topics and Theses

In Plant Biology scientists publish original research papers or write reviews. Discussion of hot topics and provocative opinion articles are published under the heading "Acute Views". The papers are peer-reviewed by independent scientists. 

How to publish Open Access for free

Members of German academic institutions can publish plant science results in our journal Plant Biology open access for free (due to the DEAL-Agreement). Since 15th February 2023 the new website of the DEAL Consortium https://deal-konsortium.de/en/ provides all information for German institutions, scientific authors and all interested people.

Impact

Plant Biology’s Impact Factor has now reached 3.87, which is a strong increase on 2020 (3.08 in 2020, Source: Journal Citation Reports, Clarivate Analytics). Plant Biology is now ranked 58/239 in the Plant Science Category, which is the top quartile.

History

Starting in January 2008 the journal will be published every second month by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal is the successor of the "Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft", published by the DBG from 1882-1987, followed by "Botanica Acta", published by the DBG from 1988 - 1998.

In the years 1999-2007 the journal was published in the Thieme publishing house. Since January 2008 the society's journal is published at Wiley-Blackwell.

Access

Members of the DBG are able to access the journal freely via the Intranet

Volumes and issues are also accessible behind a paywall on the Publishers Website.

[Translate to Englisch:] Privacy Policy of the journal Plant Biology (GDPR)

> Privacy Policy of the journal Plant Biology (GDPR)