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Annals of Botany

@annbot.bsky.social

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International journal publishing novel and rigorous research in all areas of plant science, managed by the Annals of Botany Company, a not-for-profit educational charity.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 8d

🆕 The new issue of Annals of Botany is now online!

🧬 Symbiosis, physiology & molecular responses
🌸 Pollination & plant–insect interactions
🌾 Nutrients & root processes
📊 Open data & measurements
🌱 Seeds, seedlings & climate change

New issue👉 botany.fyi/91590f

#PlantScience #Botany

The cover image shows the Australian Queen of Sheba orchid, a plant which exhibits floral deception by mimicking buzz-pollinated tinsel lilies. Floral trait analyses, pollinator observations, and reproductive success metrics reveal how visual and olfactory signals interact to attract shared pollinators, advancing our understanding of the complex evolution of mimicry in deceptive pollination systems. [See Scaccabarozzi et al., pp. 583–595.]

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 5h

🎉🆕📰🎉: Evolution of drought resistance strategies following the introduction of white clover (Trifolium repens L.)
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 8h

🎉🆕📰🎉: Integrating datasets from herbarium specimens and images to treat a Neotropical myrtle species complex
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 16h

🎉🆕📰🎉: Shifts in trait diversity across the range of an endemic treeline species in central Chile
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🌹This work highlights how hybridization and a single key mutation shaped roses' beauty and diversity. (9/9)

👉 doi.org/p8g9

#Botany #AoBpapers #PlantScience #PlantGenomics #RoseGenetics

Molecular investigation of the progenitors, origin, and domestication patterns of diploid Chinese old garden roses

AbstractBackground and Aims. Chinese old garden roses are major contributors in the genetic development of modern roses. The RoKSN gene is associated with

doi.org

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

One rose cultivar from the Ya’an region showed no hybridization markers, closely resembling the wild R. chinensis var. spontanea. This rose may represent the first mutated individual carrying the RoKSN-copia gene, the ancestor of all ever-blooming roses. (8/9)

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🌼 The RoKSN-copia gene, which gives roses their ability to bloom continuously, appears to have a single origin. Its haplotypes were mostly found in the Sichuan Basin, suggesting this region as the birthplace of the key mutation. (7/9)

Figure with 4 panels showing the detection and distribution of genetic variants (alleles) at the RoKSN gene, which shows no recombination of the copia element.
A. DNA primers used to detect RoKSN: one set designed for wild roses and another for Chinese old roses.
B. Relationships among RoKSN variants shown as haplotype networks for Chinese old roses and their possible ancestors.
C. Evolutionary relationships of RoKSN variants shown in a phylogenetic tree.
D. Right: geographic distribution of rose samples and their RoKSN variants. Left: proportion of RoKSN haplotypes matching the surrounding DNA regions of the gene.

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

The researchers identified four main cultivar groups:
🌸 Old Blush group
🌸 Slater’s Crimson group
🌸 Tea Rose group
🌸 Complex hybrids (from >3 donors)
Each represents a stage in the domestication of continuous-flowering roses. (6/9)

Figure showing an schematic diagram of the hybrid domestication process of Chinese old garden roses. Letters represent retrotransposon insertion (A) and putative hybridization events (B-E)

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🧬 Key finding: Most old garden roses arose from early hybridization events among three wild donors:
• Rosa chinensis var. spontanea
• R. odorata var. gigantea
• R. multiflora var. cathayensis

These hybrids formed the base for famous rose lineages. (5/9)

Figure with three panels showing genetic analysis of Chinese old garden roses and their possible wild ancestors.
A. How individual roses were grouped into six genetic clusters.
B. The genetic composition of Chinese old garden roses.
C. Evidence of genetic mixing between different rose groups identified in pairwise comparisons.

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

Researchers analyzed 25 classic Chinese old garden roses and their related wild species from East Asia. They compared nuclear and chloroplast genes, microsatellites, and the RoKSN gene to trace their genetic origins. (4/9)

The 25 diploid Chinese old garden roses sampled in this study.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

Chinese old garden roses are the genetic bridge between wild species and the roses that fill gardens worldwide. But the wild roses that contributed to their creation and the origin of the RoKSN gene responsible for continuous flowering were still a mystery. 🌸 (3/9)

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🌹 Where do modern roses come from? This new study sheds light on the wild ancestors and hybridization history behind Chinese old garden roses, the genetic foundation of today’s cultivated roses. (2/9)

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🎉 Good news! The paper ‘Molecular investigation of the progenitors, origin, and domestication patterns of diploid Chinese old garden roses’ in @annbot.bsky.social by Cheng Zhang and co-authors is now #free for a limited time 🧵(1/9)

👉 doi.org/p8g9

#Botany #AoBpapers #PlantScience #PlantGenomics

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 1d

🎉🆕📰🎉: Contrasting habitat associations and ecophysiological adaptations drive interspecific growth differences among Himalayan high-mountain plants
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 2d

🎉🆕📰🎉: Longevity, cryopreservation and propagation of carnivorous plants seeds: insights from 13 species in long-term ex situ collections
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 2d

🎉🆕📰🎉: A systematic review suggests extension and redefinition of a food-deception pollination syndrome involving anautogenous flies
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 4d

🎉🆕📰🎉: Construction costs and tradeoffs in carnivorous pitcher plant leaves: towards a pitcher leaf economics spectrum
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 5d

Thriving in Allchar: Arsenic and Thallium Tolerance in Viola Species

🌱Now in @botany.one🌱
botany.fyi/aohdte

Full paper: doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

Thriving in Allchar: Arsenic and Thallium Tolerance in Viola Species

Viola metallophytes have evolved the rare capacity to tolerate toxic metals, allowing them to thrive in the harsh soils...

botany.fyi

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 5d

🎉🆕📰🎉: Distinct patterns of genome size evolution in each bryophyte lineage are not correlated with whole genome duplication
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

The authors highlight the crucial role of protein crowding, membrane curvature proteins (like CURT1), and phosphorylation in controlling grana shape and function. (7/8)

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

Grana aren’t static. Their structure shifts dynamically with light intensity, balancing photosynthetic performance and protection against photodamage. (6/8)

Figure showing a comparison of how the thylakoid membranes and their proteins change between the active (top, under bright light) and inactive (bottom, in the dark) phases of the PSII repair process.
Yellow arrows show the direction of membrane movement (top) or protein movement (bottom). The lightning bolt represents light damage, while the purple circles with a white “P” mark phosphate groups.
The circular inset illustrates the PSII repair cycle, showing how different repair steps take place in specific areas of the thylakoid membrane and which enzymes are involved in each step.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

It shows how grana stacking influences:
🔹 light harvesting efficiency
🔹 electron transport between photosystems
🔹 repair of photosystem II
🔹 plant photoprotection mechanisms (5/8)

Figure showing how grana — the stacks of thylakoid membranes inside chloroplasts — help plants capture and manage light energy.
They play several key roles:
1) preventing energy loss between photosystems,
2) keeping photosynthetic proteins efficiently packed,
3) transferring energy between light-harvesting complexes, and
4)adjusting to changes in light through a process called state transition. The black arrow shows the direction of energy flow, and the lightning symbol represents light intensity. Red-colored LHCII indicates a form that safely releases excess energy (quenched LHCII), while the purple circles with a white “P” mark phosphate groups.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

☀️🌥️The review revisits how grana form, what physical and molecular forces hold them together, and how their architecture changes under different light conditions.(4/8)

Figure showing how the internal membranes of plant chloroplasts — called thylakoids — change shape and structure in response to light.
A) How thylakoids reorganize under different light intensities.
B) The CURT1 family of proteins helps control the size and height of the stacked membranes (known as grana).
C) Changes in protein phosphorylation — a type of chemical modification — are linked to changes in grana size.
D) Other proteins influence how many membranes are stacked together.
E) Proteins involved in these structural changes.
In the center, a diagram of a dark-adapted wild-type (WT) chloroplast shows where the main proteins are located: green indicates LHCII, yellow shows RIQ, black shows CURT, purple circles with a white “P” mark phosphate groups, and the red arrow points to the direction of expansion or shrinkage.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

Grana are the ‘green stacks’ of thylakoid membranes in plant chloroplasts, an evolutionary innovation that optimizes how plants harvest light and manage energy. (3/8)

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

This new review explores how the stacked thylakoid membranes inside plant chloroplasts shape photosynthesis from light capture to repair. (2/8)

Chloroplast with thylacoid membranes scheme.

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 6d

🌿 Join us to learn about the newly published review ‘What are grana in chloroplasts of vascular plants good for?’ in @annbot by Malgorzata Krysiak and co-authors. 🧵(1/8)

👉 doi.org/p7r3

#PlantScience #Photosynthesis #Chloroplasts #PlantPhysiology #AoBpapers

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