Dynamic Energy Budget models: fertile ground for understanding resource allocation in plants in a changing world

The link between changing in host carbon allocation and resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae: a possible tactic for mitigating the rice blast fungus

One of the most destructive diseases affecting rice is rice blast, which is brought on by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. The preventive measures, however, are not well established. To effectively reduce the negative effects of rice blasts on crop yields, it is imperative to comprehend the dynamic interactions between pathogen resistance and patterns of host carbon allocation. This review explores the relationship between variations in carbon allocation and rice plants' ability to withstand the damaging effects of M. oryzae. The review highlights potential strategies for altering host carbon allocation including transgenic, selective breeding, crop rotation, and nutrient management practices as a promising avenue for enhancing rice blast resistance. This study advances our knowledge of the interaction between plants' carbon allocation and M. oryzae resistance and provides stakeholders and farmers with practical guidance on mitigating the adverse effects of the rice blast globally. This information may be used in the future to create varieties that are resistant to M. oryzae.

The expression of AcIDI1 reveals diterpenoid alkaloids' allocation strategies in the roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx

Isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI), a key enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of diterpenoid alkaloids (DAs), plays an essential regulatory role in the synthesis and accumulation of DAs. In this study, the coding sequence (CDS) of AcIDI1 was isolated from the mother roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. (GeneBank accession number OR915879). Bioinformatics analysis showed that the CDS of AcIDI1 was 894 bp, encoding a protein with 297 amino acids and the putative protein localized in the chloroplast. AcIDI1 exhibited significant homology with sequences encoding IDI in other species, and was most closely related to Aconitum vilmorinianum. Furthermore, the fusion protein has been successfully expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli), providing a basis for future functional studies of AcIDI1. The expression pattern of AcIDI1 was analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), which demonstrates that AcIDI1 is a tissue-specific gene in the roots of A. carmichaelii and exhibits high expression in both daughter and mother roots. By comparing the expression levels of AcIDI1 in three tissues of the roots of A. carmichaelii at different growth stages, we propose that the mother roots (MRs) are the centers of resources allocation. The roots of A. carmichaelii continuously absorb the energy from external environment, while resources transfer behavior from MRs to both daughter roots (DRs) and axillary buds (ABs) occurs as the plant grows. This study establishes a foundation for applying the IDI gene to regulate the biosynthesis and accumulation of DAs in A. carmichaelii.

Nutrition regulates sex expression in a gender diphasy plant, Lilium concolor var. megalanthum

Introduction

The evolution and maintenance of plant polymorphism have always received much attention. Gender diphasy is a rare sexual system. Plant individuals with gender diphasy can adjust the resource allocation of different functional organs according to the changes of environmental conditions to regulate the sex expression of individuals, and the sex expression can be converted between years. However, our understanding of sex expression in plants is still very insufficient. In this study, we explored whether the perennial plant Lilium concolor var. megalanthum has a gender diphasy system and whether environmental resource availability affects its resource allocation and sex expression.

Method

By collecting the bulbs of two sexual phenotypes (male and hermaphrodite) in the field and simulating the application of different levels of nutrients under the same habitat conditions, the growth and reproduction indexes and sex expression of plants in two years (2021 and 2022) were measured to evaluate the resource allocation strategy and sex expression pattern of Lilium concolor var. megalanthum.

Results

We found that the sex expression of Lilium concolor var. megalanthum was variable in continuous years. Under limited resources, Lilium concolor var. megalanthum increases the biomass resources of the leaves and has a longer flowering period. Resource availability regulates the growth, reproduction and sex expression of Lilium concolor var. megalanthum. Bulb size is the main factor affecting its growth, reproduction and sex expression after accumulating sufficient resources.

Discussion

This study confirms that Lilium concolor var. megalanthum has gender diphasy system. There is a strong trade-off between growth and reproduction under limited resources. Nutrient levels can regulate the reproduction and sex expression process of Lilium concolor var. megalanthum. With the growth of Lilium concolor var. megalanthum in consecutive years, the size dependence of bulbs may be the decisive factor in its sex expression.

Plant Species' Capacity for Range Shifts at the Habitat and Geographic Scales: A Trade-Off-Based Framework

Climate change is causing rapid shifts in the abiotic and biotic environmental conditions experienced by plant populations, but we lack generalizable frameworks for predicting the consequences for species. These changes may cause individuals to become poorly matched to their environments, potentially inducing shifts in the distributions of populations and altering species' habitat and geographic ranges. We present a trade-off-based framework for understanding and predicting whether plant species may undergo range shifts, based on ecological strategies defined by functional trait variation. We define a species' capacity for undergoing range shifts as the product of its colonization ability and the ability to express a phenotype well-suited to the environment across life stages (phenotype-environment matching), which are both strongly influenced by a species' ecological strategy and unavoidable trade-offs in function. While numerous strategies may be successful in an environment, severe phenotype-environment mismatches result in habitat filtering: propagules reach a site but cannot establish there. Operating within individuals and populations, these processes will affect species' habitat ranges at small scales, and aggregated across populations, will determine whether species track climatic changes and undergo geographic range shifts. This trade-off-based framework can provide a conceptual basis for species distribution models that are generalizable across plant species, aiding in the prediction of shifts in plant species' ranges in response to climate change.