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 years ago. The fossil record from the Cathaysian Flora, found mostly in China and surrounding regions, hints at how plants slowly recovered from this catastrophic event, and concludes with a compelling paragraph reminding us that unlike previous extinction events, the current one is caused by human actions. There are also Primers on various plant groups, including aquatic plants, ferns, and gnetophytes (including the iconic Welwitschia). The issue includes several excellent review articles, covering topics including the evolution of auxin, polyploidy, root systems, cell-surface receptors, sex determination and more. As technology advances, from imaging to single-cell omics tools, our understanding of how plants evolved has exploded, and this special issue is a great way to catch up on these insights. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) Curr. Biol.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/current-biology/vol/36/issue/11