Integrating remote sensing and eco-evolutionary theory, this study explains 80–84% of photosynthetic efficiency variation across ecosystems by incorporating plant traits such as chlorophyll and leaf longevity with climate data, highlighting the importance of these traits for global carbon modelling.

The discovery of the resistosome was a milestone in plant immunity. Here, Zhong et al. identify a kinase that phosphorylates the NLR, and reveal how this kinase regulates resistosome assembly to fine-tune immune responses.

The study reveals that PLETHORA 5, a transcription factor activated by auxin signalling in the vascular cambium, regulates cell expansion and cell wall thickening of fibres by directly repressing SND1 genes during wood formation in Populus tomentosa.

This study reveals NERD, a zinc finger protein, as an essential component of the plant m⁶A methyltransferase complex that mediates epitranscriptomic and epigenetic regulation of the floral repressor gene FLC to modulate flowering in Arabidopsis.

Future genome editing in plants will mimic the natural evolutionary processes that shape genomes. It will be used to reshape plant genomes in a manner that could have happened naturally, but more precisely and more rapidly.

This research highlights the role of a KNOX1 transcription factor in stalling receptacle growth in cucumber, leading to bisexual flowers with superior ovaries like those in tomatoes. These insights enhance our understanding of ovary formation and sex in cucurbits.

CSP-H genes (encoding cold shock proteins) were horizontally transferred from bacteria to Triticeae and improved wheat adaptation by enhancing its tolerance to various abiotic stresses. Because these genes are integrated into the recipient genome and have been positively selected for thousands of years, they provide great potential for modern transgenic engineering and synthetic biology.

This Review discusses the occurrence of non-canonical pathways in plant metabolic networks identified by modelling predictions and recent experimental evidence. It highlights how such non-canonical pathways can and should be considered for metabolic engineering to obtain valuable compounds.

This study identifies a new chromatin state, transcription resistive, which is different from activation and silencing. This novel state is marked by H3K36me and needs interplay between SDG8 and other H3K36me methyltransferases.

This study details a process of duplicated (homoeologous) chromosome ‘scrambling’ in newly formed rice polyploids, indicating the possibility of natural ‘allo-to-autopolyploid’ evolution, with implications for polyploid crop breeding.

Hormonal control of plant physiology involves widespread m⁶A RNA modification. This Review discusses the crosstalk and reciprocal regulation between m⁶A and plant hormones, and their contributions to development and stress responses.

This study reports the horizontal gene transfer of CSP genes from bacteria to Triticeae, promoting the adaptation and spread of wheat through enhanced drought tolerance and photosynthetic efficiency.

Growth-derived mechanical conflicts between tissues are crucial during plant organogenesis. In-depth 3D growth analysis combined with genetics and mechanical modelling reveal that rapid and localized cell growth in the inner tissue drives the formation of the complex 3D shape of the anther during development.