Journal of Experimental Botany
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Journal of Experimental Botany
@jxbotany.bsky.social
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Founded in 1950, the Journal of Experimental Botany (JXB) is a top-ranking journal owned by the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) and dedicated to publishing advances in plant science.

https://academic.oup.com/jxb

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Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 20h
📢 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📢

🌍 JXB Issue 20 of 2025 is out now 🌍

🍇🔥 On the cover: Wildfire smoke lingers in a vineyard in Davis, California in August 2020 - see Paineau et al. in this issue 🔥🍇

🔗👉 Read the full issue now: academic.oup.com/jxb...

#PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social
The cover of Vol 76 | Issue 20 | 2025 of the Journal of Experimental Botany. Dark brown banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre is an image of a vineyard. August, 2020: wildfire smoke lingers in a vineyard in Davis, California (photo credit: Arran Rumbaugh). Grapes absorb compounds in smoke leading to changes in berry composition and wine quality, termed smoke taint. See Paineau et al., pp. 6032–6050.
jxbotany.bsky.social
🫛🧬 RESEARCH 🫛🧬

The genome and proteome of vicilin deletion mutants in pea have been defined. Intercrossed mutants lacking up to 19 vicilin genes show no reduction of protein concentrations in mature seeds - Rayner et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Samespots alignment of a 2D analysis of seed proteins from a mutant identified as lacking VicA genes (FN2076/5_1) and JI2822. All significant differences are coloured (purple). Examples of proteins showing significant differences in abundance are highlighted by circles (VicA, black, lower abundance; VicB, red and Leg A, green, higher abundance). Details of two regions highlighted are shown, along with their quantification data (log-normalized spot volume), for one example each of lower and higher abundance proteins (JI2822, left; FN mutant FN2076/5_1, right). Molecular weight markers are shown with sizes indicated on the left (×10–3).
November 24, 2025 at 4:22 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🧬 RESEARCH 🧬

Specific domains of the Arabidopsis RS2Z splicing factors contribute to their nuclear localization, nucleocytoplasmic dynamics, and ability to contact protein partners and specific pyrimidine-rich RNA motifs - Fanara et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 2.Localization of RS2Z proteins in all vegetative and reproductive organs. Translational fusions are expressed in seed coat (A/a), embryo (B/b), hypocotyl (C/c), and cotyledons (D/d), 2-week-old root epidermis (E/e) including root hairs (F/f), leaf epidermis (G/g–I/i) including trichomes (G/g and H/h) and stomata (I/i), immature floral bud (including sepals, petals, stamens, and pistil) (J/j), mature gynoecium (valves, stigma, and style) (K/k), mature androecium (anther and filament) (L/l), pollen grains [(M/m and N/n), arrow], ovules (O/o), and funiculi [(O/o), arrow], petals (including veins) (P/p) and sepals (including veins) (Q/q). Red signals represent chlorophyll autofluorescence. At least three independent T3 homozygous lines were generated and analyzed, revealing similar fluorescence profiles.
November 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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🪲 REVIEW 🪲

This review uncovers the critical role of the plant cell wall in pest defence, integrating structural, molecular, and genetic insights to highlight its emerging significance in plant–pest interactions during herbivory - Perez-Alonso et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Schematic overview of pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in plants upon pest infestation. Cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) secreted by herbivory disrupt cell wall integrity, releasing damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). The defence response is activated by the recognition of these DAMPs, as well as herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs), by pattern recognition receptor complexes (PRRs and co-PRRs). Elicitor binding to PRRs leads to a series of signalling events, such as membrane depolarization (Vm), activation of Ca2+ channels and influx of Ca2+ into the cytosol, burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via activation of RBOHD, membrane depolarization, and activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. MAPK and Ca2+-dependent kinase (CDPK) cascades trigger transcriptional reprogramming, activating phytohormone (SA, JA, and ET) signalling, transcription regulatory factors, and synthesis of defensive compounds.
November 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
📢 NEW ISSUE ALERT 📢

🌍 JXB Issue 20 of 2025 is out now 🌍

🍇🔥 On the cover: Wildfire smoke lingers in a vineyard in Davis, California in August 2020 - see Paineau et al. in this issue 🔥🍇

🔗👉 Read the full issue now: academic.oup.com/jxb...

#PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social
The cover of Vol 76 | Issue 20 | 2025 of the Journal of Experimental Botany. Dark brown banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre is an image of a vineyard. August, 2020: wildfire smoke lingers in a vineyard in Davis, California (photo credit: Arran Rumbaugh). Grapes absorb compounds in smoke leading to changes in berry composition and wine quality, termed smoke taint. See Paineau et al., pp. 6032–6050.
November 24, 2025 at 10:13 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌸 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🌸

Perkins et al. explore the role of small signalling peptides, such as CLE & RALF, in plant reproduction using differential gene expression, and other strategies to investigate reproductive thermotolerance under heat stress 🌡️

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Overview of sexual plant reproduction from initiation of floral meristem to fruit development. Aspects of plant reproduction are illustrated using two model species: Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The development of the inflorescence meristem and floral meristems leads to the production of floral buds, where sporogenesis and gametogenesis take place. Although micro- and mega-sporogenesis, as well as micro- and mega-gametogenesis, occur concurrently in floral buds of both species, for clarity, the pollen grain development (via microsporogenesis and microgametogenesis) is depicted within the anther of Arabidopsis and mature female gametophyte development (via megasporogenesis and megagametogenesis) is shown within the ovules of the tomato ovary. At anthesis, self-pollination occurs, followed by pollen tube growth towards the female gametophyte for double fertilization, culminating in seed and fruit production. Created in BioRender.
November 23, 2025 at 4:51 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 EXPERT VIEW 🌱

Dipeptides are bioactive compounds with relevance across domains of life. This review consolidates and questions our current understanding of their biogenesis and diverse functionality in plants - Agarwal et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Model of dipeptide formation in plants. Naturally occurring dipeptides are here categorized as proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic linear dipeptides and cyclic dipeptides. In the plant, proteinogenic dipeptides are known to be generated during protein degradation, where short peptides are cleaved by dipeptidyl peptidases (DPPs), including organellar oligopeptidase, cathepsin B, and Nudix hydrolase 3. They can also be generated during protein translation in the form of tiny uORFs or possibly directly synthesized from their amino acids. Non-proteinogenic amino acids are, generally speaking, metabolic intermediates, and are not incorporated into proteins.
November 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🧪 EXPERT VIEW 🧪

🚜 One of the main challenges facing agriculture is the control of plant development without using chemical compounds harmful to the environment.
💡 Here, Thuleau et. al. present regulatory peptides as interesting potential alternatives.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience
Fig. 2.Global overview of the mode of action of miPEPs and cPEPs. In red, remaining questions (see corresponding numbers in ‘Conclusion: future prospects’). Adapted from Lauressergues et al. (2022) and Ormancey et al. (2023b). Created with BioRender.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Journal of Experimental Botany
n-end-rules.bsky.social
Recent advances in the mechanism, transduction and function of oxygen sensing in plants
#nendrule #hypoxia #plantscience
academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...
Recent advances in the mechanism, transduction and function of oxygen sensing in plants
Abstract. Response to reduced ambient oxygen is a key component of plant adaptation in natural and farmed environments and is regulated by oxygen dependent
academic.oup.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:49 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🌱

Lu et al. review the cysteine-rich peptides RALF and EPF/EPFL, and their roles in regulating growth, development, immune responses and stress adaptation, highlighting new mechanistic insights and challenges in peptide research.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.The functional diversity of plant cysteine-rich peptide families, RALF, and EPF/EPFL in Arabidopsis. The representation of various growth and developmental roles of well-characterised functionally RALF and EPF members based on their expression in different Arabidopsis organs. EPF, Epidermal Patterning Factor; EPFL, EPF-Like; RALF, Rapid Alkalinization Factor.
November 22, 2025 at 11:56 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🧬 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🧬

Kearly & Nelson discuss historical and modern approaches and their limitations for identifying and characterizing plant short open reading frame-encoded peptides, and how improved techniques are rapidly changing the field 🌱

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Overview of gene annotation. Genomes contain several different kinds of coding and non-coding genes, some of which encode functional proteins while others yield functional RNAs. Historically, experimental and computational efforts to annotate genes have frequently overlooked the protein-coding potential of genes with short open reading frames (sORFs), leading to their misclassification as non-coding despite producing a functional sORF-encoded peptide (SEP). Functional genomic, genetic, and biochemical data now support the inclusion of this additional class of SEP genes.
November 22, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Journal of Experimental Botany
umeaplantsciencecentre.se
🧪🌾REVIEW - Curious about how to study plant organelles?🔬🧬

This review from @nowako76.bsky.social group highlights the potential of fluorescence-activated organelle sorting to isolate organelles and study processes inside plant cells.

Take a look in @jxbotany.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
Illuminating the Subcellular Maze: Fluorescence-Activated Organelle Sorting in Plant Sciences
Abstract. The isolation of organelles is critical for gaining a deeper understanding of their functions in intracellular processes, not only at the cellula
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Journal of Experimental Botany
yokoyama-ryo.bsky.social
Novel effector proteins of the plant heteromeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase academic.oup.com/jxb/article-... @jxbotany.bsky.social
Novel effector proteins of the plant heteromeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase
Abstract. The pathway for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis begins with the ATP-dependent carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to produce malonyl-CoA. This reaction i
academic.oup.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Journal of Experimental Botany
danvec.bsky.social
Featuring Plenary Talks by leading plant scientists Dr. @elianagv.bsky.social (@utscbiology.bsky.social) and Dr. @edelplopez.bsky.social (@ulaval.ca)!
November 21, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Journal of Experimental Botany
danvec.bsky.social
See you all next Saturday (Nov 29th) for the 2025 @cspbscbv.bsky.social Eastern Regional Meeting at Wilfrid
Laurier University! #CSPB_ERM @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social

Eight more days to go! 🌱😻👏
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 EXPERT VIEW 🌱

In all land plants, small secreted peptides belonging to the CLE family move from cell to cell and activate their cognate receptors to control a plethora of developmental processes - Cornelis & Hazak

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪 @hazaklab.bsky.social
Box 1. (shortened, full legend in paper): Key developments in understanding the role of CLE signalling in plant development. This scheme represents a summary on the selected latest advances in CLE signalling. (A) In a series of publications, Yuki Hirakawa and his team (Takahashi et al., 2021, 2023) characterized the CLE pathway in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha that positively controls cell divisions via repressing the transcription factor JINGASA. (B) In Arabidopsis, CLV3/CLV1 signalling in the shoot was found to be buffering auxin-dependent development under different thermal conditions (John et al., 2023). (C) Research from several teams showed that the BAM3/CLE pathway is crucial for root protophloem development (Hu et al., 2018, 2022; Qian et al., 2022; Carbonnel et al., 2023). Moreover, the study by Carbonnel et al. (2023) identified an uncharacterized Arabidopsis CLE33 gene that acted in concert with CLE45 via BAM3 in root protophloem development.
November 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🍅 SPECIAL ISSUE RESEARCH 🫑

The bi-domain MtDef5-derived antifungal peptides exhibit multiple modes of action & confer resistance against gray mold & anthracnose diseases in pepper plants & tomato fruit, respectively - Kalunke et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪 @vsnath.bsky.social
Fig. 2.Application of MtDef5B, GMA5BC, GMA5AC, GMA5AC_V1, GMA5AC_V2, and GMA5AC_V3 provides resistance against gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea on detached tobacco leaves. Drops of B. cinerea (Bc) spore suspension (10 µl, ~5×104 spores ml–1) were applied on detached leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana, followed by 10 µl of the peptide at different concentrations applied at the same spot. Mock, water-only control. (A) Scheme for application of on the leaves. (B) Representative images of disease lesions on the leaves at 3 d after inoculation and treatment with the peptides at the indicated concentrations. In the images under white light, the spots with no disease are indicated by the dashed circles. The images for photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) were obtained using the CropReporter system, where green indicates high efficiency and healthy tissue, and red indicates low efficiency and damaged tissue. (C) Box-plots of lesion size on the detached leaves for each peptide treatment.
November 21, 2025 at 10:20 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌱 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🌱

Wu et al. review phytosulfokine (PSK), outlining its biosynthesis, functions & receptor-mediated signaling pathways, highlighting PSK's emerging role in coordinating plant growth, development & environmental adaptability.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Phytosulfokine biosynthesis pathway. PreproPSK is a ribosome-synthesized precursor peptide composed of an N-terminal signal peptide (lighter-colored bar on the left) and a C-terminal conserved PSK pentapeptide backbone (darker-colored bar on the right). The signal peptide directs preproPSK for secretion into the endoplasmic reticulum, where it is cleaved to form proPSK. In the cis-Golgi apparatus, tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase (TPST) catalyzes the sulfation of two tyrosine residues within the pentapeptide backbone of proPSK. Following secretion into the apoplast, proPSK undergoes proteolytic processing by subtilases (SBTs), yielding the biologically active PSK peptide. Created in BioRender. Wu, C. (2025) https://BioRender.com/pupx8uf.
November 21, 2025 at 7:16 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
📝 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL 📝

"Peptides: powerful, pervasive, and full of potential"

Alyssa Kearly highlights the diversity of plant peptides, the discoveries still ahead and their potential for practical applications and advancing fundamental biology.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Peptides are a diverse group of biomolecules that can be generated via translation of short open reading frames (sORFs), cleavage of precursor proteins, or, for dipeptides in particular, enzymatically linkage of free amino acids. All of these kinds of peptides can play critical roles as structural components of larger macromolecular complexes, metabolic regulators, and signaling components. With their myriad functions in processes like growth, development, stress responses and beyond, peptides have the potential to be harnessed for agriculture and therapeutics.
November 20, 2025 at 1:44 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🛡️ REVIEW 🛡️

Torres Ascurra & Müller review how signaling peptides regulate beneficial & pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, highlighting recent advances on the complex interplay between the signaling pathways controlling mutualism and immunity.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 4 (shortened, full legend in paper): CLAVATA signaling integrates pathogenic and mutualistic plant-microbe interactions. (A) MtCLE53 expression is induced in AM-colonized roots and triggers a negative feedback loop that negatively impacts colonization, in concert with MtSUNN (ortholog of CLV1) in the shoot. Another AM-induced CLE peptide, MtCLE16, locally promotes AM symbiosis by signaling through the pseudokinase CRN, commonly thought to form a CLE perception unit with the LRR-RLP CLV2. The AM fungus R. irregularis encodes a mimic of plant CLE peptides called RiCLE1. RiCLE1 interferes with host signaling to promote AM fungal root colonization and root development by targeting host CLV2/CRN signaling, partially resembling the mode of action of the host-expressed MtCLE16. (B) Following Meloidogyne incognita infection, host-expressed AtCLE3 is up-regulated in galls.
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🧬🌳 VIEWPOINT 🌳🧬

Climate change threatens forest growth & resilience. CLE peptides regulate plant adaptation and stress responses. Understanding their role could help develop climate-smart trees for sustainable forestry - Sen and Bharati ✍️

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Box 1 figure (shortened, full legend in paper): The figure outlines a detailed workflow for identifying and validating small peptides in forest trees, aiming to support climate-smart forestry initiatives. The process begins with collecting control and stressed samples, focusing on apoplastic fluid extraction to capture peptides secreted under varying environmental conditions. These samples undergo peptidomics analysis using advanced techniques like LC-MS/MS, which generate high-resolution peptide profiles, forming the foundation for further exploration. In the next step, bioinformatics and peptide annotation tools are employed to refine and classify candidate peptides. Databases such as BLAST, Pfam, and InterPro aid in identifying conserved domains and predicting functional motifs, while algorithms like SignalP and TargetP predict signal peptides and subcellular localization.
November 20, 2025 at 10:26 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
📣 NEW SPECIAL ISSUE 📣

🌱 Issue 19 of 2025 - Peptides: A Treasure Chest of Structures and Functions

📘 Edited by Aleksandra Skirycz, Andrew Nelson & Alyssa Kearly

🔗 academic.oup.com/jxb...

#JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social
Vol 76 | Issue 19 | 2025 Journal of Experimental Botany Peptides: A Treasure Chest of Structures and Functions Cover illustration: Plant peptides play critical roles in a plethora of developmental processes and stress responses. These biomolecules, derived from either the translation of short open reading frames or the proteolytic cleavage of protein precursors, can act as key signaling molecules, metabolic regulators, and structural components of larger complexes. With potential applications in agriculture, medicine, and beyond, the power of peptides and the importance of their study cannot be understated. (Image courtesy of Alyssa Kearly.)
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🌾 RESEARCH 🌾

TaG3LEA-25 enhances wheat resistance to Fusarium head blight via maintenance of tubulin-mediated cell integrity and JA-responsive regulation, providing a novel target for breeding - Sun et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Overexpression of TaG3LEA-25 improves wheat resistance to FHB. (A) Phenotypes of wheat heads infected by Fusarium graminearum strain PH-1. Fielder is the wild type used as a recipient variety for the transgene. The promoter of ZmUbi drives TaG3LEA-25 in TaG3LEA-25 transgenic lines. Bar=2 cm. (B) Relative expression level of TaG3LEA-25 between the wild type and transgenic lines. (C) Percentage of symptomatic spikelets of TaG3LEA-25 OE plants and the wild type. The data in the graphs represent means ±SE (n>5). Statistical significance between the transgenic plants and the wild-type was calculated by Student’s t-test. ***P<0.001; ns, not significant.
November 20, 2025 at 7:41 AM
jxbotany.bsky.social
❄️🌱 RESEARCH 🌱❄️

Ice spreads in a predictable pattern through young L. tulipifera, governed by anatomy and vein architecture. Leaf lethality always involves damage to photosynthetic tissues and can involve air embolism - Johnson et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 8.Comparative progression of drought- and freeze–thaw-induced embolism in leaves of young L. tulipifera. (A–C) The spread of embolism during three periods from 5 h to ∼25 h after the beginning of drought. (D–F) The spread of embolism during three periods from 5 min to 15 min after thawing began. Embolisms are colour-coded according to when they occurred, as indicated by the scale at the bottom of the figure.
November 19, 2025 at 4:15 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🫛🌼 RESEARCH 🌼🫛

Multi-environment field studies reveal independent genetic controls for mungbean flowering time and duration, with duration showing higher degree of genotype × environment interactions than flowering time 🧬

✍️ Dudley et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 1.Phenotypic variation in flowering time and duration for the parents and families of the mungbean nested association mapping population. The population was developed from the 30 diverse donor parents crossed to the reference parent Crystal. (A) Days to flowering and (B) flowering duration, both measured as thermal time. Each boxplot shows the distributional spread across genotypes using the best linear unbiased estimates (BLUEs) for genotypes, calculated across the four environments. Boxplots display the interquartile range (box), median (horizontal line), and values within 1.5× the interquartile range (whiskers); points beyond are shown as outliers. Shading differentiates families of the NAM population and is consistent across panels.
November 19, 2025 at 2:02 PM
jxbotany.bsky.social
🛡️ RESEARCH 🛡️

Endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by necrotrophic fungal pathogens activates the unfolded protein response pathway in Arabidopsis via the IRE1-bZIP60 arm, and this is required for immunity to these pathogens- Blanchard et al. 🍄

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 10 (shortened, full legend in paper): Schematic representation of the role of the unfolded protein response (UPR), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) quality control (ER-QC), and ER-associated degradation (ERAD) during Botrytis cinerea infection of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Infection with B. cinerea induces ER stress, which activates the canonical IRE1-bZIP60 branch of the UPR and the expression of the genes encoding the ER-QC machinery (BiP, ERDJ3, SDF2). We hypothesized that the activation of these signalling pathways might control the secretion of defence proteins that are necessary to establish defence against B. cinerea. Our data also indicate that active bZIP60 suppresses the expression of NAC053, a negative regulator of defence against B. cinerea. However, NAC053 expression depends on IRE1.
November 19, 2025 at 12:38 PM