Effects of biomass co-pyrolysis and herbaceous plant colonization on the transformation of tailings into soil like substrate.

Enhancing soil organic matter characteristics, ameliorating physical structure, mitigating heavy metal toxicity, and hastening mineral weathering processes are crucial approaches to accomplish the transition of tailings substrate to a soil-like substrate. The incorporation of biomass co-pyrolysis and plant colonization has been established to be a significant factor in soil substrate formation and soil pollutant remediation. Despite this, there is presently an absence of research efforts aimed at synergistically utilizing these two technologies to expedite the process of mining tailings soil substrate formation. The current study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of geochemical changes and rapid mineral weathering during the process of transforming tailings substrate into a soil-like substrate, under the combined effects of biomass co-smoldering pyrolysis and plant colonization. The findings of this study suggest that the incorporation of smoldering pyrolysis and plant colonization induces a high-temperature effect and biological effects, which enhance the physical and chemical properties of tailings, while simultaneously accelerating the rate of mineral weathering. Notable improvements include the amelioration of extreme pH levels, nutrient enrichment, the formation of aggregates, and an increase in enzyme activity, all of which collectively demonstrate the successful attainment of tailings substrate reconstruction. Evidence of the accelerated weathering was verified by phase and surface morphology analysis using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Discovered corrosion and fragmentation on the surface of minerals. The weathering resulted in corrosion and fragmentation of the surface of the treated mineral. This study confirms that co-smoldering pyrolysis of biomass, combined with plant colonization, can effectively promote the transformation of tailings into soil-like substrates. This method has can effectively address the key challenges that have previously hindered sustainable development of the mining industry and provides a novel approach for ecological restoration of tailings deposits.

Communicating Across Cell Walls: Structure, Evolution, and Regulation of Plasmodesmatal Transport in Plants.

Plasmodesmata are conduits in plant cell walls that allow neighboring cells to communicate and exchange resources. Despite their central importance to plant development and physiology, our understanding of plasmodesmata is relatively limited compared to other subcellular structures. In recent years, technical advances in electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and phylogenomics have illuminated the structure, composition, and evolution of plasmodesmata in diverse plant lineages. In parallel, forward genetic screens have revealed key signaling pathways that converge to regulate plasmodesmatal transport, including chloroplast-derived retrograde signaling, phytohormone signaling, and metabolic regulation by the conserved eukaryotic Target of Rapamycin kinase. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the structure, evolution, and regulation of plasmodesmatal transport in plants.

Plant Immunity Modulation in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis and Its Impact on Pathogens and Pests.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is the oldest and most widespread mutualistic association on Earth and involves plants and soil fungi belonging to Glomeromycotina. A complex molecular, cellular, and genetic developmental program enables partner recognition, fungal accommodation in plant tissues, and activation of symbiotic functions such as transfer of phosphorus in exchange for carbohydrates and lipids. AM fungi, as ancient obligate biotrophs, have evolved strategies to circumvent plant defense responses to guarantee an intimate and long-lasting mutualism. They are among those root-associated microorganisms able to boost plants' ability to cope with biotic stresses leading to mycorrhiza-induced resistance (MIR), which can be effective across diverse hosts and against different attackers. Here, we examine the molecular mechanisms underlying the modulation of plant immunity during colonization by AM fungi and at the onset and display of MIR against belowground and aboveground pests and pathogens. Understanding the MIR efficiency spectrum and its regulation is of great importance to optimizing the biotechnological application of these beneficial microbes for sustainable crop protection.

Fine-tuning plant valuable secondary metabolite biosynthesis via small RNA manipulation: strategies and potential.

Plants produce secondary metabolites that serve various functions, including defense against biotic and abiotic stimuli. Many of these secondary metabolites possess valuable applications in diverse fields, including medicine, cosmetic, agriculture, and food and beverage industries, exhibiting their importance in both plant biology and various human needs. Small RNAs (sRNA), such as microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA), have been shown to play significant roles in regulating the metabolic pathways post-transcriptionally by targeting specific key genes and transcription factors, thus offering a promising tool for enhancing plant secondary metabolite biosynthesis. In this review, we summarize current approaches for manipulating sRNAs to regulate secondary metabolite biosynthesis in plants. We provide an overview of the latest research strategies for sRNA manipulation across diverse plant species, including the identification of potential sRNAs involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis in non-model plants. We also highlight the potential future research directions, focusing on the manipulation of sRNAs to produce high-value compounds with applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, agriculture, cosmetics, and other industries. By exploring these advanced techniques, we aim to unlock new potentials for biotechnological applications, contributing to the production of high-value plant-derived products.

Does the diversity of vegetation and diatoms correlate with soil and water factors in a tropical cloud forest's complex land use/land cover scenario?

Soil and water characteristics in micro basins with different land uses/land cover (LULC) can influence riparian vegetation diversity, stream water quality, and benthic diatom diversity. We analyzed 18 streams in the upper part of the La Antigua River basin, México, surrounded by cloud forests, livestock pastures, and coffee plantations. Concentrations of P, C, and N were elevated in the humus of forested streams compared to other land uses. In contrast, cations, ammonium, and total suspended solids (TSS) of water streams were higher in pastures and coffee plantations. These results indicate that LULC affects stream chemistry differently across land uses. Vegetation richness was highest (86-133 spp.) in forest streams and lowest in pastures (46-102), whereas pasture streams had the greatest richness of diatoms (9-24), likely due to higher light and temperatures. Some soil and water characteristics correlated with both true diversity and taxonomic diversity; soil carbon exchange capacity (CEC) correlated with vegetation diversity (r = 0.60), while water temperature correlated negatively (r = - 0.68). Diatom diversity was related to soil aluminum (r = - 0.59), magnesium (r = 0.57), water phosphorus (r = 0.88), and chlorophyll (r = 0.75). These findings suggest that land use affects riparian vegetation, while physical and chemical changes influence diatom diversity in stream water and soil. The lack of correlation between vegetation and diatom diversity indicates that one cannot predict the other. This research is an essential first step in understanding how land use changes impact vegetation and diatom diversity in mountain landscapes, providing valuable insights for environmental monitoring and conservation efforts in tropical cloud forests.

Epigenetic Phenomenon of Paramutation in Plants and Animals.

The phenomenon of paramutation describes the interaction between two alleles, in which one allele initiates inherited epigenetic conversion of another allele without affecting the DNA sequence. Epigenetic transformations due to paramutation are accompanied by the change in DNA and/or histone methylation patterns, affecting gene expression. Studies of paramutation in plants and animals have identified small non-coding RNAs as the main effector molecules required for the initiation of epigenetic changes in gene loci. Due to the fact that small non-coding RNAs can be transmitted across generations, the paramutation effect can be inherited and maintained in a population. In this review, we will systematically analyze examples of paramutation in different living systems described so far, highlighting common and different molecular and genetic aspects of paramutation between organisms, and considering the role of this phenomenon in evolution.

Fungtion: A Server for Predicting and Visualizing Fungal Effector Proteins.

Fungal pathogens pose significant threats to plant health by secreting effectors that manipulate plant-host defences. However, identifying effector proteins remains challenging, in part because they lack common sequence motifs. Here, we introduce Fungtion (Fungal effector prediction), a toolkit leveraging a hybrid framework to accurately predict and visualize fungal effectors. By combining global patterns learned from pretrained protein language models with refined information from known effectors, Fungtion achieves state-of-the-art prediction performance. Additionally, the interactive visualizations we have developed enable researchers to explore both sequence- and high-level relationships between the predicted and known effectors, facilitating effector function discovery, annotation, and hypothesis formulation regarding plant-pathogen interactions. We anticipate Fungtion to be a valuable resource for biologists seeking deeper insights into fungal effector functions and for computational biologists aiming to develop future methodologies for fungal effector prediction: https://step3.erc.monash.edu/Fungtion/.

Evolving circuitries in plant signaling cascades.

Land plants are astounding processors of information; due to their sessile nature, they adjust the molecular programs that define their development and physiology in accordance with the environment in which they dwell. Transduction of the external input to the respective internal programs hinges to a large degree on molecular signaling cascades, many of which have deep evolutionary origins in the ancestors of land plants and its closest relatives, streptophyte algae. In this Review, we discuss the evolutionary history of the defining factors of streptophyte signaling cascades, circuitries that not only operate in extant land plants and streptophyte algae, but that also likely operated in their extinct algal ancestors hundreds of millions of years ago. We hope this Review offers a starting point for future studies on the evolutionary mechanisms contributing to the current diversity and complexity of plant signaling pathways, with an emphasis on recognizing potential biases.

Niche and interspecific associations of dominant plant species in antimony mining ecological damaged site in Nandan, Guangxi, China.

In order to provide a guide for plant selection of ecological restoration at antimony (Sb) mining ecological damaged sites, species composition, importance value, niche, and interspecific associations of tree, shrub, and herb layers were examined at Sb mining site in Nandan City, Guangxi, China. The results showed that 23 vascular plant species were recorded at the Sb mining ecological damaged site, belonging to 22 genera and 13 families, primarily Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Fabaceae, and Asteraceae. The highest importance values for trees, shrubs, and herbs were observed in Rhus chinensis (56.7%), Coriaria nepalensis (56.3%), and Eremochloa ciliaris (44.0%), which were characterized by fairly large niche widths of 1.58, 1.32 and 1.57, respectively. The highest niche overlap values were found between R. chinensis and Triadica sebifera in the tree layer, and between Thysanolaena latifolia and Bidens pilosa in the herb layer, with the value of 0.68 and 0.99, respectively. Shrub layer exhibited a lower range of niche overlap (0.30-0.42), suggesting significant niche differentiation among different species. In the tree and shrub layers, most species showed insignificantly negative associations, the proportion was 83.3% and 66.7%, respectively, indicating that the plant community was not stable. Herb layer generally exhibited significantly positive correlations, with 52.4% of species pairs showing positive correlation, indicating weak resource competition among species. Overall, plant community at Sb mining ecological damaged site was unstable. In the process of ecological restoration, trees and shrubs that can adapt to the conditions and have positive associations should be prioritized in species selection, such as R. chinensis, C. lanceolata, C. nepalensis, and B. nivea. This will promote vegetation positive succession, rehabilitate the ecosystem and ensure sustainable development at Sb mining ecological damaged sites.

Vegetation changes and influencing factors in different watersheds of Henan Province based on GEE and geographic detectors.

Clarifying vegetation changes and the driving factors can provide references for ecological restoration and sustainable social development. We analyzed vegetation distribution and trend changes in Henan Province and its basin zoning (Haihe River basin zoning, Yellow River basin zoning, Huaihe River basin zoning, Yangtze River basin zoning), with fractional vegetation cover data from 2000 to 2020 based on the Google Earth Engine platform, and by combining Theil-Sen Median trend analysis, Mann-Kendall test, and Hurst index. We also utilized factor detection and factor interaction to explore the individual and mutual influences of natural and anthropogenic factors on vegetation at different scales. The results showed that the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) in Henan Province exhibited a distribution pattern of higher coverage in the south and lower in the north during the study period, predominantly characterized by moderate to high vegetation coverage. The Yangtze River basin zoning had the highest coverage. FVC in Henan Province and its zoning exhibited a consistent pattern of fluctuating upward trends, with all areas showing significant improvement. Particularly, the Yangtze River basin zoning had the largest area of improvement. According to the Hurst index, apart from the possibility of continued improvement in the Huaihe River basin zoning, other zoning would be likely to shift from improvement to degradation in the future. Vegetation changes in Henan Province and its zoning were the result of combined effects of anthropogenic and natural factors, with the influence of these factors changing over time and the dominant factors varying by region. Anthropogenic factors such as land use/cover type and nighttime lighting had a stronger impact on vegetation than natural factors like elevation, slope, and annual mean low temperature. The interaction between factors, particularly between anthropogenic and natural factors, exhibited a nonlinear enhancing pattern.

Research progress on the influencing factors and response mechanisms of plant adsorption of atmospheric particulate matter.

Plants could effectively adsorb and remove particulate matter from the air, while could be suffered from the adverse effects. Therefore, exploring the interaction between plants and atmospheric particulate matter is crucial for profound understanding of ecological balance, microenvironmental climate, and environmental quality improvement. Few systematic literature have elaborated the adsorption and response mechanisms of atmospheric particulate matter by plants. We summarized the causes and composition of atmospheric particulate matter, as well as the adsorption methods and factors of plants on atmospheric particulate matter. Moreover, we elaborated the impact of atmospheric particulate matter stress on phenotypic and physiological characteristics, as well as molecular mechanisms. For the future researches, we proposed 1) to select plant species with strong adaptability and high dust retention capacity. Subsequently, there should be a universal green dust retention plan on account of comprehensive factors such as plant community structure, street morphology, and planting space; 2) to extend the research from urban areas to agricultural and pastoral areas, with a systematic analysis of the comprehensive dust retention capacity of communities with different plant configuration; 3) to effectively combine the dust retention capacity of plants with their own resistance. Subsequently, we should explore the physiological and molecular mechanisms of plants responding to atmospheric particulate matter stress and establish a comprehensive evaluation system and criteria; 4) to develop in situ labeling detection technology, which would be a valuable tool for accurately tracing and quanti-fying the dynamics of atmospheric particulate matter within plant at the cellular level.

Getting to the root of root-microbe interactions.

Microbial relationships with roots influence many ecosystem functions and nutrient fluxes, including their sometimes-profound effects on plant health and productivity. Fine roots were often classified with a diameter less than 2 mm, but fine roots under that size perform distinct functional roles in the environment. Importantly, two broad functional categories of fine roots are absorptive and transportive, with absorptive fine roots acting as metabolic hotspots for root activity. In two of our recent studies, we have shown that several microbial community characteristics differ between absorptive and transportive fine roots, including composition, abundance, and function, as well as the root metabolome. This highlights a growing recognition within microbial ecology that we must consider fine-scale environmental variability, such as root physiology and morphology, when interpreting microbial patterns. In this commentary, we summarize the findings of our latest article, further speculate on some of these patterns, and suggest future studies for examining decomposition and applying cutting-edge single-cell sequencing techniques.

Strangers in a foreign land: 'Yeastizing' plant enzymes.

Expressing plant metabolic pathways in microbial platforms is an efficient, cost-effective solution for producing many desired plant compounds. As eukaryotic organisms, yeasts are often the preferred platform. However, expression of plant enzymes in a yeast frequently leads to failure because the enzymes are poorly adapted to the foreign yeast cellular environment. Here, we first summarize the current engineering approaches for optimizing performance of plant enzymes in yeast. A critical limitation of these approaches is that they are labour-intensive and must be customized for each individual enzyme, which significantly hinders the establishment of plant pathways in cellular factories. In response to this challenge, we propose the development of a cost-effective computational pipeline to redesign plant enzymes for better adaptation to the yeast cellular milieu. This proposition is underpinned by compelling evidence that plant and yeast enzymes exhibit distinct sequence features that are generalizable across enzyme families. Consequently, we introduce a data-driven machine learning framework designed to extract 'yeastizing' rules from natural protein sequence variations, which can be broadly applied to all enzymes. Additionally, we discuss the potential to integrate the machine learning model into a full design-build-test cycle.

Modern plants and sulfur isoscapes - A review, discussion, and construction of a pilot δ34S isoscape for mobility and provenance studies.

RATIONALE: Sulfur isotopes are increasingly used as mobility indicators in humans and animals in biology, archaeology, and forensics. However, there has been a lack of modern sulfur isotope baseline "isoscape" studies using modern plants and animals, largely due to the possibility of contamination of the S isotope values by modern pollution. METHODS: We collected plants from across a 900-km east-west transect of British Columbia Canada and measured their sulfur isotope values. We then used a random forest model to determine which variables best explained the isotope data patterning and produced a sulfur isoscape for the southern region of British Columbia. RESULTS: We see clear patterning in the plant sulfur isotope values that relate to geographical location and rainfall. Our model also shows that for this study area, it is unlikely that there is a significant influence of anthropogenic pollution on plant δ34S values. We also discuss the use of plants as a substrate for sulfur isoscapes and possible explanations for the often-observed difference between plant and animal δ34S values from the same region, related to differing sources of sulfur in plants compared to amino acids in human and animal tissues. CONCLUSIONS: We found that for areas of the world where sulfur pollution is likely less widespread, it is possible to produce a modern plant S isoscape that should be an accurate baseline for mobility studies. Using random forest modelling, we have produced a baseline sulfur isoscape map of southern British Columbia that can be used for ecology, forensic and archaeological studies.

Nutritional position of managed honey bees during pollination of native plants by the melissopalynology method.

Pollination services are crucial for maintaining ecological stability and ensuring food security for humans. Managed honey bees, which are economically valuable and are experiencing population growth due to the increasing demand for their products, play a significant role in pollination. To produce high-quality honey, beekeepers often choose natural high meadows, characterized by high plant species richness, for their apiaries. This practice, in turn, may contribute to the pollination of native plants, as managed honey bees are likely to forage on diverse floral resources within these meadows In this study, we investigated the nutritional position of managed bees in the pollination of native plants in Iran using the melissopalynology method to determine the extent of their contribution to the pollination of native plants. Ninety-four honey samples were collected from beekeepers located in the natural pastures of two biodiversity hotspots in Iran (Zagros and Alborz). Then, plant pollens were extracted from the honey and photographed by scanning electron microscopy. In the next step, plant species were identified, and their abundance was calculated. The results showed that managed bees visited 54 plant genera, seven of which were non-native plants. Additionally, more plant species and the highest abundance of pollen were observed at altitudes ranging from 1000 to 3000 m. Therefore, beekeepers set up their hives in this altitude range to obtain high-quality honey. In general, in this study, the results of melissopalynological analysis, involving the identification of plant genera and pollen counts, revealed that managed honey bees likely contributed less than 3% to the pollination of native plant species in Iran.

Plant diversity drives positive microbial associations in the rhizosphere enhancing carbon use efficiency in agricultural soils.

Expanding and intensifying agriculture has led to a loss of soil carbon. As agroecosystems cover over 40% of Earth's land surface, they must be part of the solution put in action to mitigate climate change. Development of efficient management practices to maximize soil carbon retention is currently limited, in part, by a poor understanding of how plants, which input carbon to soil, and microbes, which determine its fate there, interact. Here we implement a diversity gradient by intercropping undersown species with barley in a large field trial, ranging from one to eight undersown species. We find that increasing plant diversity strengthens positive associations within the rhizosphere soil microbial community in relation to negative associations. These associations, in turn, enhance community carbon use efficiency. Jointly, our results highlight how increasing plant diversity in agriculture can be used as a management strategy to enhance carbon retention potential in agricultural soils.

Unveiling the viroporin arsenal in plant viruses: Implications for the future.

Viroporins are small, hydrophobic viral proteins that modify cellular membranes to form tiny pores for influx of ions and small molecules. Previously, viroporins were identified exclusively in vertebrate viruses. Recent studies have shown that both plant-infecting positive-sense single-stranded (+ss) and negative-sense single-stranded (-ss) RNA viruses also encode functional viroporins. These seminal discoveries not only advance our understanding of the distribution and evolution of viroporins, but also open up a new field of plant virus research.

Assessment of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for plant-available nutrient prediction in biochar-amended soils.

Portable X-ray Fluorescence probe (pXRF) is a tool used to measure many elements quickly and efficiently in soil with minimal sample preparation. Although this sensing technique has been widely used to determine total elemental concentrations, it has not been calibrated for plant-available nutrient predictions. We evaluated the potential of using pXRF for fast plant-available nutrient quantification. Two experiments were conducted in soils treated with two types of biochars to obtain a practical range of soil pH (5.5 - 8.0) and organic carbon (2.0 - 5.5%). Biochars applied were derived from switchgrass (SGB) and poultry litter (PLB). The first experiment received biochars at application rates up to 8% (w/w) and had no plants. The second experiment had up to 4% of SGB or PLB planted with ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Linear regression (LR), polynomial regression (PolR), power regression (PowR), and stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) were the models tested. Regardless of the extraction method, phosphorus (P) showed a strong relationship between pXRF and several laboratory extraction methods; however, K prediction via pXRF was sensitive to the plant factor. The optimum soil available-P corresponding to the maximum P uptake in plant tissues can be assessed with pXRF. The LR was inconsistent for calcium (Ca), sulfur (S), and copper (Cu) and non-significant for magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). Our results showed that pXRF is applicable to estimate P availability in soils receiving organic amendments. More evaluations are needed with diverse soil types to confirm the findings before using pXRF for fertilizer recommendation.

Improvement of plant quality by amino acid transporters: A comprehensive review.

Amino acids serve as the primary means of transport and organic nitrogen carrier in plants, playing an essential role in plant growth and development. Amino acid transporters (AATs) facilitate the movement of amino acids within plants and have been identified and characterised in a number of species. It has been demonstrated that these amino acid transporters exert an influence on the quality attributes of plants, in addition to their primary function of transporting amino acid transport. This paper presents a summary of the role of AATs in plant quality improvement. This encompasses the enhancement of nitrogen utilization efficiency, root development, tiller number and fruit yield. Concurrently, AATs can bolster the resilience of plants to pests, diseases and abiotic stresses, thereby further enhancing the yield and quality of fruit. AATs exhibit a wide range of substrate specificity, which greatly optimizes the use of pesticides and significantly reduces pesticide residues, and reduces the risk of environmental pollution while increasing the safety of fruit. The discovery of AATs function provides new ideas and ways to cultivate high-quality crop and promote changes in agricultural development, and has great potential in the application of plant quality improvement.

Distribution, sources, and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface soils and plants from industrial and agricultural areas, Junggar Basin, Xinjiang.

The contamination characteristics of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different environmental functional areas are different. In this study, the contamination of PAHs in soils and common plants in typical mining and farmland areas in Xinjiang, China, was analyzed. The results showed that the contamination levels of PAHs in mining soils were significantly higher than those in farmland soils, and the mining soils were dominated by 4-5-ring PAHs and farmland soils by 3-4-ring PAHs. Analysis of their sources using a positive definite factor matrix model showed that PAHs in mining soils mainly originated from coal and natural gas combustion, and transportation processes; while farmland soils mainly came from biomass and coal combustion, and fossil fuel volatile spills. The cancer risk of PAHs in soils was evaluated using a combination of the Monte Carlo and the lifetime carcinogenic risk models, and the results showed that the overall level of cancer risk for mining soils was higher than that for farmland soils, and can put some people in high risk of cancer. For plant samples, except for individual crop samples, the contamination levels of mining plants and crops were similar, with 4-5-ring PAHs dominating in desert plants in mining areas and the highest proportion of 3-ring PAHs in crops in agricultural fields, and PAHs in both plants were mainly from biomass and coal combustion. The results of correlation analysis showed that 2-ring PAHs in crop roots were significantly positively correlated with it in corresponding soils, and some high-ring PAHs in crop leaves were significantly negatively correlated with it in corresponding soils. Therefore, there were significant differences in the pollution characteristics of PAHs in soils and common plants in mining and agricultural areas. Human health risks and ecological risks are mainly concentrated in mining areas, and appropriate intervention measures should be taken for pollution remediation.