Mountains are extraordinary natural laboratories. They encompass a wide range of environments in a relatively small space, making them ideal for assessing how different environmental variables shape plant traits and communities. Here, Wang and colleagues evaluate how seed functional traits vary along an elevation gradient in the Tibetan Plateau. Seeds of 408 grassland species were […]
H3K27me3 [K27 (Lysine 27) trimethylation on histone H3] and H3K9me2 are two epigenetic modifications that repress gene activity in plants. While they are typically present in different genomic regions, both marks are found in the seed endosperm. Here, Sato and colleagues show that this histone modification duo is key to modulate gene activity during germination. […]
The canonical RdDM pathway mediates the control of seed germination timing under salinity ($) Epigenetic regulation can ensure that plant developmental programs and stress responses are tightly coordinated so that environmental changes do not compromise plant fitness. One of the mechanisms to achieve this is through RNA-directed DNA Methylation (RdDM), which is known to participate […]
Seed dormancy is a crucial mechanism to synchronize germination with the most suitable environmental conditions. Therefore, assessing its prevalence at the community level allows us to understand how plants adapt to their local environment. In this paper, Athugala and colleagues build the first dormancy profile for a tropical montane forest community. Eighty species from three […]
Plant communities seem to be able to mitigate the effects of climate and land-use change, given their responses are usually observed long after environmental conditions have changed. This lagged response has been attributed to the presence of persistent soil seed banks. Still, the evidence of their relative importance in this process is limited to individual […]
Some mangrove species are viviparous, meaning their seeds germinate while still attached to the mother plant. This behavior is thought to facilitate seedling establishment in the tropical and subtropical intertidal zones they inhabit. However, the genetic and molecular mechanism behind it remains to be described. Here, Qiao and colleagues compare the genome and seed transcriptomic […]
The germination process is completed when the radicle emerges from the seed. In eudicots, radicle growth is mechanically limited by the micropylar endosperm. As dormancy is broken and imbibition occurs, this structure is weakened so that radicle can pierce it. In grasses, the radicle is not surrounded by endosperm, but a sheath-like tissue called the […]
Fire is a disturbance that underpins several ecological processes in tropical savannas. For instance, some plant species from these ecosystems are traditionally known for relying on fires to reproduce. However, this dependency remains to be formally tested. Also, the impact of fire on seed quality has not been assessed, limiting our understanding of plant reproductive […]
Mudflats species experience rapid changes in their environment due to wetlands’ drawdown and refill throughout the year. For instance, species that inhabit these sites deal with contrasting oxygen environments: hypoxic when the water level is high, and aerobic when it recedes. Most studies have aimed to examine the effect of hypoxia on seed viability. Still, […]