Genomic basis and evolutionary potential for extreme drought adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana

As Earth is currently experiencing dramatic climate change, it is of critical interest to understand how species will respond to it. The chance of a species withstanding climate change is likely to depend on the diversity within the species and, particularly, whether there are sub-populations that are already adapted to extreme environments. However, most predictive studies ignore that species comprise genetically diverse individuals. We have identified genetic variants in Arabidopsis thaliana that are associated with survival of an extreme drought event—a major consequence of global warming. Subsequently, we determined how these variants are distributed across the native range of the species. Genetic alleles conferring higher drought survival showed signatures of polygenic adaptation and were more frequently found in Mediterranean and Scandinavian regions. Using geo-environmental models, we predicted that Central European, but not Mediterranean, populations might lag behind in adaptation by the end of the twenty-first century. Further analyses showed that a population decline could nevertheless be compensated by natural selection acting efficiently over standing variation or by migration of adapted individuals from populations at the margins of the species’ distribution. These findings highlight the importance of within-species genetic heterogeneity in facilitating an evolutionary response to a changing climate

Distinct molecular programs regulate synapse specificity in cortical inhibitory circuits

How neuronal connections are established and organized into functional networks determines brain function. In the mammalian cerebral cortex, different classes of GABAergic interneurons exhibit specific connectivity patterns that underlie their ability to shape temporal dynamics and information processing. Much progress has been made toward parsing interneuron diversity, yet the molecular mechanisms by which interneuron-specific connectivity motifs emerge remain unclear. In this study, we investigated transcriptional dynamics in different classes of interneurons during the formation of cortical inhibitory circuits in mouse. We found that whether interneurons form synapses on the dendrites, soma, or axon initial segment of pyramidal cells is determined by synaptic molecules that are expressed in a subtype-specific manner. Thus, cell-specific molecular programs that unfold during early postnatal development underlie the connectivity patterns of cortical interneurons

Distinct molecular programs regulate synapse specificity in cortical inhibitory circuits

How neuronal connections are established and organized into functional networks determines brain function. In the mammalian cerebral cortex, different classes of GABAergic interneurons exhibit specific connectivity patterns that underlie their ability to shape temporal dynamics and information processing. Much progress has been made toward parsing interneuron diversity, yet the molecular mechanisms by which interneuron-specific connectivity motifs emerge remain unclear. In this study, we investigated transcriptional dynamics in different classes of interneurons during the formation of cortical inhibitory circuits in mouse. We found that whether interneurons form synapses on the dendrites, soma, or axon initial segment of pyramidal cells is determined by synaptic molecules that are expressed in a subtype-specific manner. Thus, cell-specific molecular programs that unfold during early postnatal development underlie the connectivity patterns of cortical interneurons

Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas

With growing populations and pressing environmental problems, future economies will be increasingly plant-based. Now is the time to reimagine plant science as a critical component of fundamental science, agriculture, environmental stewardship, energy, technology and healthcare. This effort requires a conceptual and technological framework to identify and map all cell types, and to comprehensively annotate the localization and organization of molecules at cellular and tissue levels. This framework, called the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), will be critical for understanding and engineering plant development, physiology and environmental responses. A workshop was convened to discuss the purpose and utility of such an initiative, resulting in a roadmap that acknowledges the current knowledge gaps and technical challenges, and underscores how the PCA initiative can help to overcome them.National Science Foundation 1916797 David W Ehrhardt, Kenneth D Birnbaum, Seung Yon Rhee; National Science Foundation 2052590 Seung Yon Rhe

Current status of the multinational Arabidopsis community

The multinational Arabidopsis research community is highly collaborative and over the past thirty years these activities have been documented by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC). Here, we (a) highlight recent research advances made with the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana; (b) provide summaries from recent reports submitted by MASC subcommittees, projects and resources associated with MASC and from MASC country representatives; and (c) initiate a call for ideas and foci for the “fourth decadal roadmap,” which will advise and coordinate the global activities of the Arabidopsis research community

Current status of the multinational Arabidopsis community

The multinational Arabidopsis research community is highly collaborative and over the past thirty years these activities have been documented by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC). Here, we (a) highlight recent research advances made with the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana; (b) provide summaries from recent reports submitted by MASC subcommittees, projects and resources associated with MASC and from MASC country representatives; and (c) initiate a call for ideas and foci for the “fourth decadal roadmap,” which will advise and coordinate the global activities of the Arabidopsis research community

Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas

With growing populations and pressing environmental problems, future economies will be increasingly plant-based. Now is the time to reimagine plant science as a critical component of fundamental science, agriculture, environmental stewardship, energy, technology and healthcare. This effort requires a conceptual and technological framework to identify and map all cell types, and to comprehensively annotate the localization and organization of molecules at cellular and tissue levels. This framework, called the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), will be critical for understanding and engineering plant development, physiology and environmental responses. A workshop was convened to discuss the purpose and utility of such an initiative, resulting in a roadmap that acknowledges the current knowledge gaps and technical challenges, and underscores how the PCA initiative can help to overcome them.</jats:p

The Earth BioGenome project: opportunities and challenges for plant genomics and conservation

Sequencing them all. That is the ambitious goal of the recently launched Earth BioGenome project (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115, 4325-4333), which aims to produce reference genomes for all eukaryotic species within the next decade. In this perspective, we discuss the opportunities of this project with a plant focus, but highlight also potential limitations. This includes the question of how to best capture all plant diversity, as the green taxon is one of the most complex clades in the tree of life, with over 300 000 species. For this, we highlight four key points: (i) the unique biological insights that could be gained from studying plants, (ii) their apparent underrepresentation in sequencing efforts given the number of threatened species, (iii) the necessity of phylogenomic methods that are aware of differences in genome complexity and quality, and (iv) the accounting for within-species genetic diversity and the historical aspect of conservation genetics