Rafflesia arnoldii (model). Impressive stuff from @illustratingbotanist. http://ift.tt/2yD7bY9

Not getting up the papers I’d like, and this is why. This week I’m at Oriel College for a conference on Bioenergy Genomics.

The upside is I’ve been able to stream some of the talks, so if you’d like to see more visit www.botany.one or Botany One’s Twitter stream. http://ift.tt/2y69Ael

Simulation of shoot and fruit growth in apple⠀
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Modeling approaches which reveal how a plant allocates carbohydrates to the different organs are of major interest since carbohydrate allocation determines many growth processes. In this study, Pallas et al. describe a modeling approach allowing the simulation of carbohydrate allocation and organ growth in apple trees by coupling two models, #MappleT and #QualiTree.⠀
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The coupled model was appropriate to simulate growth characteristics at the tree and organ scales. This modeling approach shows the necessity of accurately simulating the impact of distances between sources and sinks as well as shoot ontogenetic characteristics, in order to represent the observed growth variability within tree architecture.⠀
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Benoît Pallas, David Da Silva, Pierre Valsesia, Weiwei Yang, Olivier Guillaume, Pierre-Eric Lauri, Gilles Vercambre, Michel Génard, Evelyne Costes, 2016, ‘Simulation of carbon allocation and organ growth variability in apple tree by connecting architectural and source–sink models’, Annals of Botany, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 317-330 http://bit.ly/2xPnNMB⠀
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This paper is FREE to access. You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too⠀
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Image: Schematic representation of the procedure used to convert multiscale tree graphs (MTGs) generated by MappleT into QualiTree architecture in a simplified example. (A) MTG generated by MappleT and represented at the growth unit (GU) scale. (B) Conversion of the MTG into QualiTree architecture described at the production unit scale. S, M, L and I refer to short, medium, long and inflorescence GUs, respectively. © Schematic representation of the plant in MappleT. (D) Schematic representation of the plant in QualiTree. The numbers in C refer to the GU label. Image from Pallas et al. (2016)⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2ypnoxw

Something different today, it’s a new paper.⠀
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If you’re a #carnivorousplant fan, the this might look like a patch of sundews to you. In fact it’s something slightly different. Drosophyllum lusitanicum is called the Portuguese #Sundew, but it’s actually a totally different genus - and it’s in trouble.⠀
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The reason is that #Drosophyllum lusitanicum really needs fire to germinate. When the heathland it lives on is cleared, new plants burst from the soil to take advantage of the open ground. However, fire management strategies in Spain are reducing the number of wildfires, and with it the opportunities for new seeds to germinate.⠀
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We’ve the full story at Botany One at http://bit.ly/2x8I4Mp and the paper it’s based on is Open Access, so you can read it for free at http://bit.ly/2haTTLt You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2hc2dLd

Silicon moderated K-deficiency-induced leaf chlorosis⠀
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Silicon (Si) has been widely reported to alleviate the plant nutrient deficiency, but the alleviating effect of Si on potassium (K) deficiency and its underlying mechanism are poorly understood. Chen et al. investigate the influence of Si on putrescine (Put) metabolism under K deficiency in #Sorghum bicolor, and find that Si application could reduce K-deficiency-induced Put accumulation by inhibiting Put synthesis and could decrease H2O2 production via Put oxidation.⠀
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Decreased H2O2 accumulation contributes to the alleviation of cell death, thereby alleviating K-deficiency-induced leaf #chlorosis and necrosis. The results indicate that Si application could alleviate the K deficiency-induced leaf chlorosis by decreasing H2O2 via inhibiting Put synthesis and oxidation.⠀
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Daoqian Chen, Beibei Cao, Lingyun Qi, Lina Yin, Shiwen Wang, Xiping Deng, 2016, ‘Silicon-moderated K-deficiency-induced leaf chlorosis by decreasing putrescine accumulation in sorghum’, Annals of Botany, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 305-315 http://bit.ly/2fkbzjV⠀
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This paper is FREE to access. You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too⠀
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A model depicting how Si is involved in alleviating K deficiency by reducing the excessive accumulation of putrescine. Under K-deficient conditions, Si reduces the increase in arginine content and depresses activation of the ADC pathway by down-regulating the expression of arginine decarboxylase (ADC) and N-carbamoylputrescine amidohydrolase (CAP) (indicated by red and bold font), reducing the excessive accumulation of Put; Si also depresses the activation of diamine oxidase (DAO) and polyamine oxidase (PAO) activities. The reduced Put and depressed amine oxidase activities contribute to decreased H2O2 production, which contributes to the alleviation of cell death, leading to the alleviation of K-deficiency-induced leaf chlorosis and necrosis.⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2xBtDRF

Breeding system diversification and evolution in Poa⠀
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Species of #Poa show an exceptional diversity in breeding systems represented by the occurrence of hermaphroditism to dioecism, with #gynomonoecy very frequent among species in South America. Giussani et al. contribute to the understanding of the evolutionary patterns in Poa associated with species sexuality and their current distribution.⠀
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Divergence dating provides a temporal context to the evolution of breeding systems. Infrageneric taxonomic categories in New World Poa supersect. Homalopoa can be accommodated to the phylogenetic results in correlation with reproductive system and geography.⠀
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Liliana M. Giussani, Lynn J. Gillespie, M. Amalia Scataglini, María A. Negritto, Ana M. Anton, Robert J. Soreng, 2016, ‘Breeding system diversification and evolution in American Poa supersect. Homalopoa (Poaceae: Poeae: Poinae)’, Annals of Botany, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 281-303 http://bit.ly/2xyez7b (Open Access Paper)⠀
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You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too . (I have been having some trouble with this, but I’m hoping the bit.ly links will work)⠀
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Image: Morphological variation among species of Poa supersect. Homalopoa of the New World. (A) Poa cusickii subsp. purpurascens (clade C); (B) P. unispiculata (clade E); © P. bergii (clade D), photo: Daniel Testoni; (D) P. cuspidata; (E) P. aequigluma (clade E); (F) Robert Soreng holding a specimen of P. horridula (clade F); (G) P. lanigera (clade D); clades are given following the results as presented in Supplementary Data Fig. S1. Image by Giussani et al.(2016)⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2wpEUPT

Silicon enhances leaf remobilization of iron in cucumber⠀
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Recently it has been demonstrated that Si nutrition can alleviate Fe deficiency chlorosis in cucumber (#Cucumis sativus) by enhancing acquisition and root-to-shoot translocation of Fe. Here, Pavlovic et al. show that Si induces Fe mobilization in older (sink) leaves and increases its retranslocation to younger (source) leaves.⠀
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In older leaves, Si enhanced expression of NAS1 transcripts responsible for an increased tissue concentration of Fe chelator nicotianamine (NA). This was paralleled by an increased expression of the YSL1 transporter and hence more efficient movement of Fe-NA complex from source to sink leaves via the phloem.⠀
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Jelena Pavlovic, Jelena Samardzic, Ljiljana Kostic, Kristian H. Laursen, Maja Natic, Gordana Timotijevic, Jan K. Schjoerring, Miroslav Nikolic, 2016, ‘Silicon enhances leaf remobilization of iron in cucumber under limited iron conditions’, Annals of Botany, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 271-280 http://ift.tt/2jkWkMd
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This paper is FREE to access. You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too⠀
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The proposed model of Si-mediated alleviation of Fe deficiency in cucumber. Image by Pavlovic et al. (2016)⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2wYhJzF

Plants with similar colours attract different #pollinators⠀
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Different #pollinator groups (bees, ants, wasps, flies, beetles and butterflies) preferentially visit flowers of certain colours. Interestingly, these colour preferences match the predictions of the #pollination syndrome theory. However, flowers with similar colours do not attract similar pollinator assemblages. This is due to the fact that most flower species are pollinator generalist.⠀
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Reverté et al. conclude that although pollinator colour preferences seem to condition plant-pollinator interactions, the selective force behind these preferences has not been strong enough to mediate the appearance and maintenance of tight colour-based plant-pollinator associations.⠀
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Sara Reverté, Javier Retana, José M. Gómez, Jordi Bosch, 2016, ‘Pollinators show flower colour preferences but flowers with similar colours do not attract similar pollinators’, Annals of Botany, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 249-257 http://ift.tt/2wUxBl2
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This paper is FREE to access. You should be able to visit our tumblr, with clickable links for the papers, through the link in our bio @botany_too ⠀
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Image: CCA biplot of pollinator groups and bands of the colour spectrum (coloured squares) corresponding to UV, blue, yellow and red (data from the four communities lumped together). Each dot represents a plant population and dot colours correspond to the flower colour categories shown in the legend. BEE, bees; ANT, ants; WAS, wasps; DIP, dipterans; COL, coleopterans; LEP, lepidopterans. See Reverté et al.(2016) for details.⠀
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#botany #science #plantscience #plantbiology http://ift.tt/2xVMWRA