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Bulbophyllum is the most species-rich orchid genus. Recent molecular data groups certain of its species into a monophyletic ' Cirrhopetalum alliance'. Within this alliance are a monophyletic section Cirrhopetaloides and a non-monophyletic section Cirrhopetalum. Floral morphology and scent are partially conserved phylogenetically compared to the molecular data. Here, floral morphology, histochemistry, anatomy, and floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of selected Bulbophyllum species are analysed to assess whether there are structural or chemical differences that support separation into the two sections, to update available VOC data from this genus, and to consider evolutionary adaptations in the ' Cirrhopetalum alliance'. We found that ' Cirrhopetalum alliance' flowers differ from some sections of Bulbophyllum in the structure of cells lining the longitudinal groove on the labellum or lip and report, for the first time in Bulbophyllum , a type of atypical oleiferous trichome probably involved in VOC production. We show a clear difference in floral VOC profiles between B. bicolor (sect. Cirrhopetaloides) and four other Bulbophyllum species, three previously assigned to sect. Cirrhopetalum , but VOC profiles do not support separation into the two sections. The lack of congruence between already established molecular phylogeny, floral anatomy, and VOC data suggests that VOC differences are due to recently and independently evolved pollinator specificity. We therefore show that there is no clear separation of these sections based on floral anatomy, histochemistry, or VOC profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flavonoid pathway is characteristic of land plants and a central biosynthetic component enabling life in a terrestrial environment. Flavonoids provide tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stresses and facilitate beneficial relationships, such as signalling to symbiont microorganisms, or attracting pollinators and seed dispersal agents. The biosynthetic pathway shows great diversity across species, resulting principally from repeated biosynthetic gene duplication and neofunctionalization events during evolution. Such events may reflect a selection for new flavonoid structures with novel functions that enable occupancy of varied ecological niches. However, the biochemical and genetic diversity of the pathway also likely resulted from evolution along parallel trends across land plant lineages, producing variant compounds with similar biological functions. Analyses of the wide range of whole-plant genome sequences now available, particularly for archegoniate plants, have enabled proposals on which genes were ancestral to land plants and which arose within the land plant lineages. In this review, we discuss the emerging proposals for how the flavonoid pathway may have evolved and diversified. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of plant metabolism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Plant adaptation from aquatic to terrestrial environments required modifications to cell wall structure and function to provide tolerance to new abiotic and biotic stressors. Here, we investigate the nature and function of red auronidin pigment accumulation in the cell wall of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. Transgenic plants with auronidin production either constitutive or absent were analysed for their cell wall properties, including fractionation of polysaccharide and phenolic components. While small amounts of auronidin and other flavonoids were loosely associated with the cell wall, the majority of the pigments were tightly associated, similar to what is observed in angiosperms for polyphenolics such as lignin. No evidence of covalent binding to a polysaccharide component was found: we propose auronidin is present in the wall as a physically entrapped large molecular weight polymer. The results suggested auronidin is a dual function molecule that can both screen excess light and increase wall strength, hydrophobicity and resistance to enzymatic degradation by pathogens. Thus, liverworts have expanded the core phenylpropanoid toolkit that was present in the ancestor of all land plants, to deliver a lineage‐specific solution to some of the environmental stresses faced from a terrestrial lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, video-based lectures have been increasingly used in education as part of flipped classroom approaches, adult education, distance learning, and other applications. Though approaches in video-based lectures have been widely studied, less has been reported in the development of approaches to teach relevant technical skills, such as laboratory techniques. This type of skill acquisition is made more complicated by the need to understand what a skilled person would be looking at, what they might be doing (while monitoring something else visually), and what subtle interplay these two might have. Here, we report a multiperspective video approach that allows a viewer to see both what a skilled person would be watching and doing while guiding the viewer's attention between these domains. We compare two cohorts of students (one faculty-trained in class, the other trained via this video-based approach) and examine how well each group performed a task with a clearly defined numerical "right answer." We find that both approaches were equivalent in fostering skill acquisition and that similar approaches should be valid in various space-separated teaching approaches (e.g., distance learning, flipped classrooms).

David Altshuler, a physician-scientist specializing in human genome analysis and diabetes, joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2015 as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Altshuler, along with then-CEO Jeff Leiden, reworked the company's R&D strategy to focus on serious genetic diseases, leading to successful therapeutic programs in cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and transfusion-dependent thalassemia. Altshuler's interview with Kevin Davies at The State of Biotech summit highlighted Vertex's innovative approach to drug discovery and development, including the groundbreaking CRISPR-based cell therapy for sickle cell and thalassemia. The company's commitment to developing transformative medicines and improving patient outcomes is evident in their ongoing research and dedication to addressing unmet medical needs. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: In the early 1900s, Erwin Baur established Antirrhinum majus as a model system, identifying and characterising numerous flower colour variants. This included Picturatum/Eluta, which restricts the accumulation of magenta anthocyanin pigments, forming bullseye markings on the flower face.We identified the gene underlying the Eluta locus by transposon‐tagging, using an Antirrhinum line that spontaneously lost the nonsuppressive el phenotype. A candidate MYB repressor gene at this locus contained a CACTA transposable element. We subsequently identified plants where this element excised, reverting to a suppressive Eluta phenotype. El alleles inhibit expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes, confirming it to be a regulatory locus. The modes of action of Eluta were investigated by generating stable transgenic tobacco lines, biolistic transformation of Antirrhinum petals and promoter activation/repression assays.Eluta competes with MYB activators for promoter cis‐elements, and also by titrating essential cofactors (bHLH proteins) to reduce transcription of target genes. Eluta restricts the pigmentation established by the R2R3‐MYB factors, Rosea and Venosa, with the greatest repression on those parts of the petals where Eluta is most highly expressed.Baur questioned the origin of heredity units determining flower colour variation in cultivated A. majus. Our findings support introgression from wild species into cultivated varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strigolactones (SLs), a class of carotenoid-derived hormones, play a crucial role in flowering plants by regulating underground communication with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) and controlling shoot and root architecture. While the functions of core SL genes have been characterized in many plants, their roles in non-tracheophyte plants like liverworts require further investigation. In this study, we employed the model liverwort species Marchantia polymorpha, which lacks detectable SL production and orthologs of key SL biosynthetic genes, including CAROTENOID CLEAVAGE DIOXYGENASE 8 (CCD8) and MORE AXILLARY GROWTH 1 (MAX1). However, it retains some SL pathway components, including DWARF27 (D27) and CCD7. To help elucidate the function of these remaining components in M. polymorpha, knockout mutants were generated for MpD27--1, MpD27--2 and MpCCD7. Phenotypic comparisons of these mutants with the wild-type control revealed a novel role for these genes in regulating the release of gemmae from the gemma cup and the germination and growth of gemmae in the dark. Mpd27--1, Mpd27--2, and Mpccd7 mutants showed lower transcript abundance of genes involved in photosynthesis, such as EARLY LIGHT INDUCED (ELI), and stress responses such as LATE EMBRYOGENESIS ABUNDANT (LEA) but exhibited higher transcript levels of ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTORS (ERFs) and SL and carotenoid related genes, such as TERPENE SYNTHASE (TS), CCD7 and LECITHIN-RETINAL ACYL TRANSFERASE (LRAT). Furthermore, the mutants of M. polymorpha in the SL pathway exhibited increased contents of carotenoid. This unveils a previously unrecognized role for MpD27--1, MpD27--2 and MpCCD7 in controlling release, germination, and growth of gemmae in response to varying light conditions. These discoveries enhance our comprehension of the regulatory functions of SL biosynthesis genes in non-flowering plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The zygnematophytes are the closest relatives of land plants and comprise several lineages that adapted to a life on land. Species of the genus Serritaenia form colorful, mucilaginous capsules, which surround the cells and block harmful solar radiation, one of the major terrestrial stressors. In eukaryotic algae, this 'sunscreen mucilage' represents a unique photoprotective strategy, whose induction and chemical background are unknown. We generated a de novo transcriptome of Serritaenia testaceovaginata and studied its gene regulation under moderate UV radiation (UVR) that triggers sunscreen mucilage under experimental conditions. UVR induced the repair of DNA and the photosynthetic apparatus as well as the synthesis of aromatic specialized metabolites. Specifically, we observed pronounced expressional changes in the production of aromatic amino acids, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis genes, potential cross-membrane transporters of phenolics, and extracellular, oxidative enzymes. Interestingly, the most up-regulated enzyme was a secreted class III peroxidase, whose embryophyte homologs are involved in apoplastic lignin formation. Overall, our findings reveal a conserved, plant-like UVR perception system (UVR8 and downstream factors) in zygnematophyte algae and point to a polyphenolic origin of the sunscreen pigment of Serritaenia , whose synthesis might be extracellular and oxidative, resembling that of plant lignins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When young people engage with climate change education, they are often left feeling disempowered and daunted. But past research has shown that there are ways to design and deliver climate change education that can be empowering and enabling. The delivery of climate change education was further challenged in 2020 by the shift to online learning driven by the COVID‐19 pandemic restrictions. However, the challenges of the pandemic context also offered an opportunity to engage new audiences and establish new collaborations in climate change education. In this paper, we explore how the shift to online research, collaboration and education can also be harnessed to develop interdisciplinary coastal adaptation training for young people interested in better understanding the complexities of our coastal environments. The resulting 'More than Maps' framework draws on qualitative and quantitative data collected over a two‐year programme focused on the design and delivery of an international climate change research capacity building workshop series, across the United Kingdom, Ghana, Jamaica and Australia. Carried out by an interdisciplinary team of early career researchers and established academics, 15 workshops were developed on coastal adaptation research methods, targeting a range of 'young' audiences who are and will continue to be impacted by climate change. Building on reflections from the workshops' design and delivery, we developed a scalable framework to aid researchers in sharing open‐access, replicable methods for studying climate change mitigation and adaptation. This work demonstrates that our workshop participants had increased confidence, sought to apply learned methods to other contexts, and wanted to share this knowledge with others. We conclude that the COVID‐19 online workspace facilitated rather than hindered the international collaboration and delivery of these coastal adaptation research methods workshops, and we provide best practice tips to researchers delivering climate change education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Floral nectar composition beyond common sugars shows great diversity but contributing genetic factors are generally unknown. Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is renowned for the antimicrobial compound methylglyoxal in its derived honey, which originates from the precursor, dihydroxyacetone (DHA), accumulating in the nectar. Although this nectar trait is highly variable, genetic contribution to the trait is unclear. Therefore, we investigated key gene(s) and genomic regions underpinning this trait.We used RNAseq analysis to identify nectary‐associated genes differentially expressed between high and low nectar DHA genotypes. We also used a mānuka high‐density linkage map and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping population, supported by an improved genome assembly, to reveal genetic regions associated with nectar DHA content.Expression and QTL analyses both pointed to the involvement of a phosphatase gene, LsSgpp2. The expression pattern of LsSgpp2 correlated with nectar DHA accumulation, and it co‐located with a QTL on chromosome 4. The identification of three QTLs, some of the first reported for a plant nectar trait, indicates polygenic control of DHA content.We have established plant genetics as a key influence on DHA accumulation. The data suggest the hypothesis of LsSGPP2 releasing DHA from DHA‐phosphate and variability in LsSgpp2 gene expression contributing to the trait variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an interview with Jim Wilson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a pioneer in gene therapy. Wilson discusses the current state of gene therapy, including the FDA approval of the first CRISPR-based cell therapy for sickle cell disease. He also addresses the high prices of these treatments and the challenges of global access. Wilson mentions progress in in vivo editing of bone marrow stem cells and the potential for future advancements in gene therapy. He concludes by discussing the financing climate for gene therapy startups and the challenges they face in developing viable business models. The article highlights challenges and developments in the field of gene therapy, including market segmentation and inefficient use of capital. It emphasizes the importance of planning for commercialization and global access, as well as collaboration among stakeholders. The article also mentions trends in delivery systems and efforts to improve safety in gene therapy. The author expresses optimism about the future of gene therapy, with the potential for solutions to genetic diseases and early intervention through genome sequencing and newborn screening. [Extracted from the article]

Carolyn Bertozzi, a professor at Stanford University and Nobel laureate in Chemistry, has been recognized for her groundbreaking work in click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry. Her research in glycobiology has contributed to advancements in cancer immunotherapies and molecular imaging. Bertozzi is also involved in the ChEM-H Institute at Stanford, which promotes collaboration between scientists from different disciplines to address medical challenges. In an interview, she discusses her experience founding biotech and pharma companies based on her academic research, as well as her concerns about the impact of drug price negotiations on drug development and patient care. She also shares insights on being a female scientist and the opportunities available to young scientists. The interview concludes with a lighthearted anecdote about her connection to rock star Tom Morello. [Extracted from the article]