Showing papers in "Annals of Botany in 2016"

TL;DR: Current knowledge gaps are identified and new lines of research for improving the understanding of the processes that drive deep root growth and functioning are proposed, leading to a reflection on an alternative paradigm that could be used in the future as a unifying framework to describe and analyse deep rooting.

TL;DR: This review demonstrates how N content and form plays an essential role in defensive primary and secondary metabolism and NO‐mediated events in plant‐pathogen interactions.

TL;DR: Advanced root phenotyping tools will allow dissection of root responses into specific root phenes that will aid both conventional and molecular breeders to develop superior cultivars that will play a key role in sustainable intensification of crop–livestock systems.

TL;DR: The phylogenetic relationships between nearly all taxa of Capsicum were explored to test the monophyly of the genus and to obtain a better knowledge of species relationships, diversification and expansion.

TL;DR: Identifying and characterizing the proximate mechanisms involved in phenotypic plasticity and genetic assimilation promises to help advance the basic understanding of evolutionary innovation and diversification.

TL;DR: This review synthesizes the literature on how intercropping of legumes with cereals increases acquisition of P, Fe and Zn from soil and recapitulates what is known about root-to-shoot nutrient translocation, plant-internal nutrient remobilization and allocation to grains.

TL;DR: This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms of the antiviral immune system in plants and the latest breakthroughs reported in plant defence against viruses, with particular attention to the immune receptors and transduction pathways in antiviral innate immunity.

TL;DR: The lime and lemon horticultural group appears to be highly polymorphic, with diploid, triploid and tetraploid varieties, and to result from many independent reticulation events which defined the sub-groups, as limes and lemons were vegetatively propagated and the intra-sub-group phenotypic diversity results from asexual variations.

TL;DR: Although a high SLA per se contributes to biomass homeostasis, there was no evidence that plasticity in SLA contributes to this, and it was argued that some of the plastic changes that are frequently thought to be adaptive might simply reflect passive responses to the environment, or result as by-products of adaptive plastic responses in other traits.

TL;DR: It is concluded that although pollinator colour preferences seem to condition plant-pollinator interactions, the selective force behind these preferences has not been strong enough to mediate the appearance and maintenance of tight colour-based plant- pollinator associations.

TL;DR: New salt-tolerant landraces were identified that are genetically and physiologically distinct from known donors and could provide new sources of quantitative trait loci/alleles for salt tolerance for use in molecular breeding.

TL;DR: The similarities and differences between plant and animal NLRs are assessed, and the structural information on the animal NLR pair NAIP/NLRC4 is used to derive a plausible model for plant NLR activation.

TL;DR: The mechanisms by which the plant hormone cytokinin regulates both plant growth and response to pathogens are reviewed, and how cytokinins may connect these two processes, ultimately affecting the growth trade-offs observed in plant immunity.

TL;DR: The parallel patterns of broad-scale variation, differences in selection and differences in trait-ecophysiology relationships suggest a mechanism for adaptive differentiation in stomatal density, a trait rarely linked to local adaptation in plants.

TL;DR: A cell-cycle model developed based on observations of different secreting systems, some unpublished results and an extensive literature review is proposed, aiming to understand the processes involved in both the secretory process and the release of secretion products.

TL;DR: The presence or absence of the IR does not affect plastome stability in Erodium and the overall repeat content shows a negative correlation with genome stability, a pattern in agreement with other angiosperm groups and recent findings on genome stability in bacterial endosymbionts.

TL;DR: It is called for greater attention to be paid to urban plantings with respect to ecosystem service delivery and for plant science to engage more fully in identifying those plants that promote various services.

TL;DR: A general understanding of how the rhizosphere affects root water uptake is still lacking and the missing elements of the puzzle are the gradient in water potential around roots and measurements of the xylem water potential at varying soil water potentials and transpiration rates supported by numerical models ofRoot water uptake.

TL;DR: The findings underline that specialization indices convey different concepts of specialization and hence quantify different aspects, and that measuring specialization requires careful consideration of what defines a specialist.

TL;DR: The adventitious roots ofAlternanthera philoxeroides formed upon submergence can absorb oxygen from ambient water, thereby alleviating the adverse effects of oxygen deficiency, enabling efficient utilization of carbohydrates and delaying the death of completely submerged plants.

TL;DR: This study highlights the value of a niche perspective on pollination, which provides a framework for making predictions about the ecological importance of keystone pollinators and for understanding patterns of convergent evolution and the role of floral traits in plant colonization.

TL;DR: A new phylogenetic and genome size analysis of the genus Betula suggests that section Apterocaryon is not monophyletic and thus dwarfism has evolved repeatedly in different lineages of Betula.

TL;DR: The results clearly showed that recently diverged orchid species that occupy different habitats were characterized by significantly different mycorrhizal communities and call for more detailed experiments that aim at elucidating the contribution of habitat-specific adaptations in general and mycor Rhizal divergence in particular to the process of speciation in orchids.

TL;DR: A method combining both excavation and analysis was applied to extract and quantify root architectural traits of adult, field-grown maize plants, obtaining very detailed records of the geometry and topology of a complex root system.

TL;DR: Results support the hypothesis that root growth angles are primary determinants of N acquisition in maize, and suggest that genetic selection for root phenotypes could be tailored to specific environments.

TL;DR: The analysis showed that water and nitrogen availability, especially in deeper layers, was significantly affected by the preceding crops and management, and likely to interact strongly with deeper rooting as a specific trait of interest.

TL;DR: Recently identified mechanisms, both systems-level and molecular, that modulate robustness are reviewed and their implications for the optimization of plant fitness are discussed.

TL;DR: Overall, the observed host response in bread wheat to F. pseudograminearum during early infection exhibited enrichment of processes related to pathogen perception, defence signalling, transport and metabolism and deployment of chemical and enzymatic defences.

TL;DR: There is a tendency of protracted development of synorganized parts in Apocynaceae and Orchidaceae (development of synorganization of two or more organs begins earlier the more accentuated it is at anthesis) and a large number of convergences in clades that are only very distantly related.

TL;DR: The results reveal that nitrogen distribution is mainly driven by the vertical light gradient but other factors such as LAI also have significant effects, which contribute to an improvement in the projection of plant productivity and cycling of carbon and nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems.