TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Expansion of myeloid derived suppressor cells correlates with number of T regulatory cells and disease progression in myelodysplastic syndrome

Although the role of CD4(+) T cells and in particular Tregs and Th17 cells is established in myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS), the contribution of other components of immune system is yet to be elucidated fully. In this study we investigated the number and function of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in fresh peripheral blood and matched bone marrow samples from 42 MDS patients and the potential correlation with risk of disease progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In peripheral blood, very low-/low risk patients had significantly lower median MDSC number (0.16×10(9)/L(0.03–0.40)) compared to intermediate-/high-/very high risk patients, in whom median MDSC counts was 0.52×10(9)/L(0.10–1.78), p < 0.005. When co-cultured with CD4+ effector T-cells (T-effectors), MDSCs suppress Teffector proliferation in both allogeneic and autologous settings. There was a positive correlation between the number of Tregs and MDSCs (Spearman R = 0.825, p < 0.005) in high risk and not low risk patients. We also investigated MDSCs' expression of bone marrow-homing chemokine receptors, and our data shows that MDSCs from MDS patients express both CXCR4 and CX3CR1 which might facilitate migration of MDSCs to bone marrow. Monocytic MDSCs(M-MDSCs) which are more frequent in the peripheral blood express higher levels of CX3CR1 and CXCR4 than the granulocytic subtype (G-MDSCs), and circulating M-MDSCs had significantly higher CX3CR1 expression compared to bone-marrow M-MDSCs in intermediate-/high-/very high risk MDS. Our results suggest that MDSCs contribute significantly to the dysregulation of immune surveillance in MDS, which is different between low and high risk disease. It further points at mechanisms of MDSCs recruitment and contribution to the bone marrow microenvironment

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

10.1111/gcb.14904GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY261119-18