Review: Plant digital twins, the future of crop production Imagine how cool it would be if, just like we check weather apps before going out, we could “grow” a plant in our computer before planting it into our backyard, in order to predict its future success. Pauli et al. discuss this possibility…

Review: Tracing the evolution of plant cell types Plants. When we read this word, what comes to mind might be a rose, a tomato plant, or an oak tree. But plants belong to a green lineage that is far more diverse than what we encounter in daily life. This lineage also includes unicellular green algae.…

A lichen super-pangenome spotlights its genetic architecture and interaction secrets A lichen is a unique composite organism formed through close interactions between a filamentous fungus (mycobiont) and its photosynthetic partners [algae and/ or cyanobacteria, referred together as photobiont(s)].…

Special Issue of Current Biology on plant evolution Current Biology has an excellent special issue on plant evolution full of fascinating articles. As an example, a Primer by Zhuo Feng looks at how plants were catastrophically impacted by the end-Permian mass extinction event approximately 250 million…

Special issue on methods to assess crop stress resilience Our food crops are threatened by ever-increasing environmental challenges as a consequence of climate change. It’s critical that we develop strategies to monitor and mitigate these stresses, but it’s also a huge undertaking. A new focus…

Review: Revisiting endophyte-mediated plant protection across diverse host systems Endophytic bacteria and fungi, the invisible allies within plant tissues, are emerging as powerful contributors to sustainable agriculture. They can enhance plant defense through multiple mechanisms, including antibiosis,…

Review. Beyond elite crops: Designing resilient agriculture from wild plant diversity When looking at the foods that fill our supermarkets, it can be hard to imagine we are relying on just a handful of domesticated plant species. Thousands of wild plants, each with its own unique strengths, remain…

Review: Plants calcium signaling is both conserved and plant-specific Although calcium ions are universal second messengers, plants employ both conserved and unique strategies to decode Ca²⁺ signals. In a new review in Cell, Sheng Luan reviews the molecular tools used to study calcium signaling…