Explore the vast range of titles available.

Manipulation of stomatal density was investigated as a potential tool for enhancing drought tolerance or nutrient uptake. Drought tolerance and soil water retention were assessed using Arabidopsis epidermal patterning factor mutants manipulated to have increased or decreased stomatal density. Root nutrient uptake via mass flow was monitored under differing plant watering regimes using nitrogen-15 (15N) isotope and mass spectrometry. Plants with less than half of their normal complement of stomata, and correspondingly reduced levels of transpiration, conserve soil moisture and are highly drought tolerant but show little or no reduction in shoot nitrogen concentrations especially when water availability is restricted. By contrast, plants with over twice the normal density of stomata have a greater capacity for nitrogen uptake, except when water availability is restricted. We demonstrate the possibility of producing plants with reduced transpiration which have increased drought tolerance, with little or no loss of nutrient uptake. We demonstrate that increasing transpiration can enhance nutrient uptake when water is plentiful.

A partner protein, NAR2, is essential for high‐affinity nitrate transport of the NRT2 protein in plants. However, the NAR2 motifs that interact with NRT2s for their plasma membrane (PM) localization and nitrate transporter activity have not been functionally characterized. In this study, OsNAR2.1 mutations with different carbon (C)‐terminal deletions and nine different point mutations in the conserved regions of NAR2 homologs in plants were generated to explore the essential motifs involved in the interaction with OsNRT2.3a. Screening using the membrane yeast two‐hybrid system and Xenopus oocytes for nitrogen‐15 (¹⁵N) uptake demonstrated that either R100G or D109N point mutations impaired the OsNAR2.1 interaction with OsNRT2.3a. Western blotting and visualization using green fluorescent protein fused to either the N‐ or C‐terminus of OsNAR2.1 indicated that OsNAR2.1 is expressed in both the PM and cytoplasm. The split‐yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)/BiFC analyses indicated that OsNRT2.3a was targeted to the PM in the presence of OsNAR2.1, while either R100G or D109N mutation resulted in the loss of OsNRT2.3a‐YFP signal in the PM. Based on these results, arginine 100 and aspartic acid 109 of the OsNAR2.1 protein are key amino acids in the interaction with OsNRT2.3a, and their interaction occurs in the PM but not cytoplasm.

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) allows global gene expression analysis at the individual transcript level. Accurate quantification of transcript variants generated by alternative splicing (AS) remains a challenge. We have developed a comprehensive, nonredundant Arabidopsis reference transcript dataset (AtRTD) containing over 74 000 transcripts for use with algorithms to quantify AS transcript isoforms in RNA-seq. The AtRTD was formed by merging transcripts from TAIR10 and novel transcripts identified in an AS discovery project. We have estimated transcript abundance in RNA-seq data using the transcriptome-based alignment-free programmes SAILFISH and SALMON and have validated quantification of splicing ratios from RNA-seq by high resolution reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (HR RT-PCR). Good correlations between splicing ratios from RNA-seq and HR RT-PCR were obtained demonstrating the accuracy of abundances calculated for individual transcripts in RNA-seq. The AtRTD is a resource that will have immediate utility in analysing Arabidopsis RNA-seq data to quantify differential transcript abundance and expression.

Two main novelties will appear in the second 2018 Issue of the European Jourl of Translatiol Myology demonstrating that the jourl is vital and in expansion, one novelty is that the jourl is implementing its authorship and readership to broader clinical fields from muscle myology and mobility to clinical medicine and surgery. Consequently, the Editorial Board is also expanding to allow a broader expert evaluation of Authors submitted typescripts. The expanded Editorial Board recently evaluated the option to change the me of the jourl from Ejtm to EjtM3 (Myology, Mobility, Medicine), in order to expand the origil jourl title meaning. Another important novelty is the first BAM Semil Paper by Damraurer et al. 18 (5): 139-148, 2008. It is now reprinted (with Basic and Applied Myology permission) in this Ejtm 28 (2), 2018. The topic (chemotherapy-induced muscle wasting) was up-dated by one of our Editors stressing the relevance of the BAM 2008 paper to focus attention not only of myologists, but also of oncologists. From 2008, BAM (remed from 2010 European Jourl of Translatiol Myology) went far beyond the limits of pure Myology. Al last, but hopefully not at least, a series of Rapid Reports from Iranian Authors are paving the pathway Venetia–extreme Orient, along the ancient silk-road. Ejtm will enthusiastically publish clinical activities from surrounding and extreme Orient. The Marco Polo tradition and his bravery seem successfully continuing.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented morbidity, mortality and global disruption. Following the initial surge of infections, focus shifted to managing the longer-term sequelae of illness in survivors. ‘Post-acute COVID’ (known colloquially as ‘long COVID’) is emerging as a prevalent syndrome. It encompasses a plethora of debilitating symptoms (including breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations and orthostatic intolerance) which can last for weeks or more following mild illness. We describe a series of individuals with symptoms of ‘long COVID’, and we posit that this condition may be related to a virus- or immune-mediated disruption of the autonomic nervous system resulting in orthostatic intolerance syndromes. We suggest that all physicians should be equipped to recognise such cases, appreciate the symptom burden and provide supportive management. We present our rationale for an underlying impaired autonomic physiology post-COVID-19 and suggest means of management.

• Global warming is expected to dramatically accelerate forest mortality as temperature and drought intensity increase. Predicting the magnitude of this impact urgently requires an understanding of the process connecting atmospheric drying to plant tissue damage. Recent episodes of forest mortality worldwide have been widely attributed to dry conditions causing acute damage to plant vascular systems. Under this scenario vascular embolisms produced by water stress are thought to cause plant death, yet this hypothetical trajectory has never been empirically demonstrated. • Here we provide foundational evidence connecting failure in the vascular network of leaves with tissue damage caused during water stress. • We observe a catastrophic sequence initiated by water column breakage under tension in leaf veins which severs local leaf tissue water supply, immediately causing acute cellular dehydration and irreversible damage. • By highlighting the primacy of vascular network failure in the death of leaves exposed to drought or evaporative stress our results provide a strong mechanistic foundation upon which models of plant damage in response to dehydration can be confidently structured.

• Plants produce and emit terpenes, including sesquiterpenes, during growth and development, which serve different functions in plants. The sesquiterpene nerolidol has health-promoting properties and adds a floral scent to plants. However, the glycosylation mechanism of nerolidol and its biological roles in plants remained unknown. • Sesquiterpene UDP-glucosyltransferases were selected by using metabolites-genes correlation analysis, and its roles in response to cold stress were studied. • We discovered the first plant UGT (UGT91Q2) in tea plant, whose expression is strongly induced by cold stress and which specifically catalyzes the glucosylation of nerolidol. The accumulation of nerolidol glucoside was consistent with the expression level of UGT91Q2 in response to cold stress, as well as in different tea cultivars. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capacity of nerolidol glucoside was significantly higher than that of free nerolidol. Down-regulation of UGT91Q2 resulted in reduced accumulation of nerolidol glucoside, ROS scavenging capacity and tea plant cold tolerance. Tea plants absorbed airborne nerolidol and converted it to its glucoside, subsequently enhancing tea plant cold stress tolerance. • Nerolidol plays a role in response to cold stress as well as in triggering plant–plant communication in response to cold stress. Our findings reveal previously unidentified roles of volatiles in response to abiotic stress in plants.

• Eastern Australia was subject to its hottest and driest year on record in 2019. This extreme drought resulted in massive canopy die-back in eucalypt forests. The role of hydraulic failure and tree size on canopy die-back in three eucalypt tree species during this drought was examined. • Wemeasured pre-dawn and midday leaf water potential (Ψleaf), per cent loss of stem hydraulic conductivity and quantified hydraulic vulnerability to drought-induced xylem embolism. Tree size and tree health was also surveyed. • Trees with most, or all, of their foliage dead exhibited high rates of native embolism (78–100%). This is in contrast to trees with partial canopy die-back (30–70% canopy die-back: 72–78% native embolism), or relatively healthy trees (little evidence of canopy die-back: 25–31% native embolism). Midday Ψleaf was significantly more negative in trees exhibiting partial canopy die-back (−2.7 to −6.3 MPa), compared with relatively healthy trees (−2.1 to −4.5 MPa). In two of the species the majority of individuals showing complete canopy die-back were in the small size classes. • Our results indicate that hydraulic failure is strongly associated with canopy die-back during drought in eucalypt forests. Our study provides valuable field data to help constrain models predicting mortality risk.

• Leaf reflectance spectra have been increasingly used to assess plant diversity. However, we do not yet understand how spectra vary across the tree of life or how the evolution of leaf traits affects the differentiation of spectra among species and lineages. • Here wedescribe a framework that integrates spectra with phylogenies and apply it to a global dataset of over 16 000 leaf-level spectra (400–2400 nm) for 544 seed plant species. Wetest for phylogenetic signal in spectra, evaluate their ability to classify lineages, and characterize their evolutionary dynamics. • We show that phylogenetic signal is present in leaf spectra but that the spectral regions most strongly associated with the phylogeny vary among lineages. Despite among-lineage heterogeneity, broad plant groups, orders, and families can be identified from reflectance spectra. Evolutionary models also reveal that different spectral regions evolve at different rates and under different constraint levels, mirroring the evolution of their underlying traits. • Leaf spectra capture the phylogenetic history of seed plants and the evolutionary dynamics of leaf chemistry and structure. Consequently, spectra have the potential to provide breakthrough assessments of leaf evolution and plant phylogenetic diversity at global scales.

• Drought and flooding are contrasting abiotic stressors for plants. Evidence is accumulating for root anatomical traits being essential for the adaptation to drought or flooding. However, an integrated approach to comprehensively understand root anatomical traits has not yet been established. • Here we analysed the root anatomical traits of 18 wild Poaceae species differing in adaptation to a range of soil water content. Regression model analyses revealed the optimal anatomical traits that were required by the plants to adapt to low or high soil water content. • While the area and number of each root tissue (e.g. stele, cortex, xylem or aerenchyma) were not strongly correlated to the soil water content, the ratio of the root tissue areas (cortex to stele ratio (CSR), xylem to stele ratio (XSR) and aerenchyma to cortex ratio (ACR)) could fully explain the adaptations of the wild Poaceae species to the soil water gradients. • Our results demonstrate that the optimal anatomical traits for the adaptations to soil water content can be determined by three indices (i.e. CSR, XSR and ACR), and thus we propose that these root anatomical indices can be used to improve the tolerance of crops to drought and flooding stresses.