Directed evolution aims to identify variants of a gene of interest (GOI) with improved or novel functions by accelerating mutation and selection under experimental conditions. However, in planta platforms have been hindered by slow plant cell division. Recently, Zhu et al. introduced the geminivirus…

In nature, plants often face multiple attackers simultaneously, giving rise to complex three-way interactions that can reshape defense outcomes in unexpected ways. An intriguing example comes from observations that prior aphid infestation, or even pretreatment with aphid honeydew, suppresses the jasmonic…

This is the last edition of PSRW before the new year. Although we have spent the past year celebrating the breakthroughs in plant science, I am going to end on a more sober note, which is succinctly captured in this important special report from Ripple et al. The authors pull together data from across…

Commentary: Fund food research now Recently, a team of agricultural economists (Pardey et al.) released a powerful commentary about the state of agricultural research funding, which they say is insufficient. They observe that, fueled in part by the changing climate, food prices are rising everywhere,…

This review by Rai et al., part of a focus collection on metabolism, comprehensively covers the role of metabolomics in plant biology: its history, its tools and techniques, and its impact. As the authors point out, metabolomics bridge the gap between genotype and phenotype by providing a direct readout…

The “Green Revolution” transformed global food production through the use of fertilizer, but at the expense of rising costs and reliance on non-renewable inputs, prompting modern agriculture to shift toward alternative strategies such as the symbiotic relationships between plants and soil microorganisms.…

For crop breeders, the deceptively simple question “is it better?” hides a web of consequences when extra chromosome sets are added (polyploidy), and this perspective pulls those pieces together. What, exactly, do additional gene copies and larger cells buy in terms of yield, quality, and resilience?…

Soybean is one of the most important cash crops for global food and feed, valued for its high-quality plant oil and protein. Centuries of domestication and breeding have narrowed its genetic diversity, leaving current cultivars vulnerable to climate change. To address this, Zhu and colleagues generated…