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Summary: Long noncoding RNAs, including intergenic lncRNAs (lincRNAs), play a key role in various biological processes throughout the plant life cycle, and the advent of single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) technology has opened up a valuable avenue for scrutinizing the intricate roles of lincRNAs in cellular processes.Here, we identified a new batch of lincRNAs using scRNA‐seq data from diverse tissues of plants (rice, Arabidopsis, tomato, and maize). Based on well‐annotated single‐cell transcriptome atlases, plant lincRNAs were found to possess the same level of cell‐type specificity as mRNAs and to be involved in the differentiation of certain cell types based on pseudo‐time analysis.Many lincRNAs were predicted to play a hub role in the cell‐type‐specific co‐expression networks of lincRNAs and mRNAs, suggesting their trans‐acting abilities. Besides, plant lincRNAs were revealed to have potential cis‐acting properties based on their genomic distances and expression correlations with the neighboring mRNAs.Furthermore, an online platform, PscLncRNA (http://ibi.zju.edu.cn/psclncrna/), was constructed for searching and visualizing all identified plant lincRNAs with annotated potential functions. Our work provides new insights into plant lincRNAs at single‐cell resolution and an important resource for understanding and further investigation of plant lincRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Securing agricultural supplies for the increasing population without negative impacts on environment demands new crop varieties with higher yields, better quality, and stronger stress resilience. But breeding such super crop varieties is restrained by growth–defense (G–D) trade‐off. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are versatile regulators of plant growth and immune responses, with several being demonstrated to simultaneously regulate crop growth and defense against biotic stresses and to balance G–D trade‐off. Increasing evidence also links miRNAs to the metabolism and signaling of phytohormones, another type of master regulator of plant growth and defense. Here, we synthesize the reported functions of miRNAs in crop growth, development, and responses to bio‐stressors, summarize the regulatory scenarios of miRNAs based on their relationship with target(s), and discuss how miRNAs, particularly those involved in crosstalk with phytohormones, can be applied in balancing G–D trade‐off in crops. We also propose several open questions to be addressed for adopting miRNAs in balancing crop G–D trade‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are confronted with various environmental stresses and develop sophisticated adaptive mechanisms. Our previous work demonstrated that the crosstalk of flg22 and ultraviolet (UV)‐B‐induced signalling cascades reprograms the expression of flavonol pathway genes (FPGs), benefiting plant defence responses. Although several transcription factors have been identified to be involved in this crosstalk, the underlying mechanism is largely unclear. Here, we analyzed microRNAs (miRNAs) and identified 126, 129 and 113 miRNAs with altered abundances compared to untreated control in flg22‐, UV‐B‐ and flg22/UV‐B‐treated seedlings, respectively. Two distinct modules were identified: The first consists of 10 miRNAs repressed by UV‐B but up‐regulated by flg22, and the second with five miRNAs repressed by flg22 but up‐regulated by UV‐B. In Arabidopsis, the knockdown of miR858a, a representative of module I, increased the abundance of CHS (a marker gene for FPGs), whereas its overexpression reduced CHS. Conversely, knockout of miR164b from module II decreased CHS and its overexpression increased CHS transcript levels. These data suggest a decisive role of miRNAs in the crosstalk. In the next, we described the interaction between miR858a and its target MYB111 (a positive regulator of FPGs) from module I in detail. We showed that MYB111 was profoundly post‐transcriptionally regulated by miR858a during the crosstalk, whose expression was specifically but antagonistically controlled by UVR8‐ and FLS2‐mediated signallings. Moreover, transcriptional monitoring using the GUS reporter gene demonstrates that miRNA‐mediated posttranscriptional regulation is the main driving force in reprogramming the expression of FPGs and regulates plant adaptation to multiple concurrent environmental stresses. Summary statement: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as 'master switches' in the crosstalk between flg22 and ultraviolet‐B‐induced signalling cascades. We show that miRNA‐mediated posttranscriptional regulation is the main driving force for reprogramming the expression of flavonol pathway genes to protect plants from multiple, concurrent environmental stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced graphene oxide/molybdenum disulfide composites (RGO/MoS2s) with steric structures were directly synthesized via a hydrothermal approach using a redox reaction between MoO3 and thiourea. Such RGO/MoS2s were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. The electrochemical performances of RGO/MoS2 hybrid electrodes were then assessed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS) in 1 M Na2SO4 aqueous solutions. RGO/MoS2 hybrid materials exhibit a high specific capacitance of 243.4 F/g at 0.5 A/g, a superior cycling stability (92% retention after 2000 cycles at 1 A/g) and a distinctively high coulombic efficiency (near 100% after 2000 cycles) as well. Such excellent electrochemical behaviors could be ascribed to the steric structure of bending MoS2 nanosheets decorated on the surfaces of RGO, which favors facilitating the fast ion diffusion and the high conductivity in pseudocapacitive electrodes. Our findings suggested that the resulting morphologies and electrochemical performances of RGO/MoS2 hybrid materials could be tuned via varying steric structures of pseudocapacitive materials, which may render an alternative strategy to improve the electrochemical performance as supercapacitive electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating plant genomes offers crucial foundational resources for exploring various aspects of plant biology and applications, such as functional genomics and breeding practices. With the development in sequencing and assembly technology, several Nicotiana tabacum genomes have been published. In this paper, we reviewed the progress on N. tabacum genome assembly and quality, from the initial draft genomes to the recent high-quality chromosome-level assemblies. The application of long-read sequencing, optical mapping, and Hi-C technologies has significantly improved the contiguity and completeness of N. tabacum genome assemblies, with the latest assemblies having a contig N50 size over 50 Mb. Despite these advancements, further improvements are still required and possible, particularly on the development of pan-genome and telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genomes. These new genomes will capture the genomic diversity and variations among different N. tabacum cultivars and species, and provide a comprehensive view of the N. tabacum genome structure and gene content, so to deepen our understanding of the N. tabacum genome and facilitate precise breeding and functional genomics., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Tong, Huang, Zhu, Fan, Xiao and Shen.)