The plant plasma membrane is a chemically asymmetric, mechanically coupled and actively renewed interface in which lipids, receptors, ion channels, transporters and scaffolds form transient nanoscale assemblies. Direct evidence from a limited number of plant systems shows that membrane organisation can alter protein mobility, trafficking and physiological output, including remorin-dependent PIN2 hyperclustering, phosphatidylserine-dependent ROP6 nano-organisation and stimulus-dependent receptor or channel redistribution. These findings do not establish a universal molecular network or a direct route from nanodomain state to whole-plant acclimation. Here, we define the adaptive plasma-membrane nanodomain code as a testable, context-dependent relationship between measured organisational variables - size, density, stoichiometry, diffusion, residence time, lipid dependence and trafficking flux - and specified biochemical or physiological outputs under matched protein abundance. We synthesise evidence from remorins, flotillins, receptor kinases, mechanosensitive channels and PIN auxin transporters, while distinguishing demonstrated findings from mechanistic inference and prediction. We also examine how temperature, water deficit, salinity, pH, reactive oxygen species, pathogens and hormones may reshape nanoscale organisation under constraints imposed by the cell wall, cortical cytoskeleton, endocytosis and ER-plasma-membrane contact sites. Finally, we propose falsifiable experiments and crop-engineering strategies centred on inducible threshold tuning rather than constitutive pathway activation.

In nature, plants are subjected to multiple environmental stress factors simultaneously or sequentially. Recent studies revealed that when three or more stress factors impact a plant simultaneously (termed 'multifactorial stress combination'; MFSC), plant survival declines, even if the intensity of each individual stress involved in the MFSC is low. We previously identified RAP2.3 as a key transcription factor (TF) required for Arabidopsis thaliana survival, specifically under a MFSC of salt+excess light+heat stress (i.e., S + EL + HS). Here we report that RAP2.3 regulates the expression of SIGMA3, a nuclear-encoded factor that directs plastid RNA polymerase to specific plastid promoters, as well as MYB51, a key stress response TF involved in glucosinolate metabolism and oxidative stress responses, specifically during a MFSC of S + EL + HS. Like rap2.3 mutants, myb51 and sig3 mutants display significantly low survival rate specifically under the MFSC of S + EL + HS. Based on MYB51 gene regulatory network analysis and characterisation of jasmonic acid (JA) mutants, we further reveal that suppression of JA signalling could play an important role in promoting plant survival under conditions of S + EL + HS. Our findings uncover an additional layer of the response of plants to MFSC, as well as identify potential targets for breeding crops with enhanced tolerance to climate change.

Hydroxycinnamic acid amides (HCAAs) are phenylpropanoid-derived metabolites traditionally associated with antimicrobial defence and cell wall reinforcement during plant-pathogen interactions. However, their contribution to plant responses to mechanical injury, particularly in wound healing and damage-induced signalling, remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the wound-induced responses in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) using a 35S::THT system in which tyramine hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (THT), a key enzyme controlling HCAAs biosynthesis, is overexpressed. By integrating metabolite profiling, gene expression analyses, confocal microscopy, antioxidant capacity assays, and volatile organic compound (VOCs) analysis, we characterised local and systemic responses to mechanical damage. The 35S::THT line displayed a stronger wound-induced accumulation of HCAAs compared to WT, with consistently higher levels of free amides and increased accumulation of tyramine-derived amides in the cell wall-bound fraction following wounding, which was associated with pronounced structural reinforcement at injury sites. Enhanced vascular lignification, increased suberization, and callose deposition were observed, collectively contributing to improved tissue regeneration capacity or associated with enhanced tissue regeneration capacity. These structural changes were accompanied by alterations in redox-related responses, supporting a role for HCAAs in modulating oxidative balance during wound repair. In addition to local effects, the 35S::THT line emitted a specific wound-responsive VOC blend, capable of inducing defence-related gene expression in neighbouring wild-type even in the absence of direct injury, suggesting a role for HCAAs in airborne signalling and defence priming. Together, these results show that a metabolic background characterised by elevated HCAAs levels is associated with coordinated changes in structural reinforcement, redox responses, regeneration, and volatile-mediated communication during the tomato wound response. These observations support the idea that HCAAs may act as important integrative components linking local and systemic responses to mechanical stress.

Cytokinins (CKs), classically recognised as plant growth regulators, are increasingly implicated in plant-microbe interactions. Studies in herbaceous plants suggest that CKs can function as signalling molecules with dual roles in plant defence, either restricting or facilitating pathogen infection. However, their roles in tree-pathogen interactions remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigated CK induction, metabolism, and functions in black poplar (Populus nigra) during infection by the rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina, an obligate biotrophic pathogen. We found that most isoprenoid CKs accumulated rapidly in poplar leaves after rust inoculation but declined during the fungal proliferation and sporulation stages. In contrast, poplar-specific aromatic CKs, such as topolins, were induced throughout infection. Exogenous application of the predominant isoprenoid CK trans-zeatin (tZ) and poplar-specific aromatic CK (topolins) significantly enhanced rust colonisation. Elevated CKs reduced the accumulation of antifungal flavan-3-ols and defence-related hormones, including salicylic acid and jasmonates. Furthermore, increased CK levels, especially ortho-topolin, markedly increased free amino acid concentrations, potentially enhancing nutrient availability for the biotrophic rust. Collectively, our results reveal that poplar CKs weaken the tree's chemical defences while enhancing the accumulation of host-derived nutrients, thereby promoting infection by the rust fungus. These findings reveal a previously unexplored role of CKs in tree-pathogen interactions.

The dynamics and distribution of legume-derived nitrogen (N) throughout the phenological cycle in legume-based agroforestry systems remain poorly understood, limiting our understanding of N allocation and use efficiency. Here, an in situ [15]N labeling approach was used to trace the dynamics of smooth vetch-derived N transfer to citrus under fertilized (F) and unfertilized (NF) conditions during the co-growth stage. At citrus fruit maturity, corresponding to the smooth vetch decomposition stage, [15]N enrichment was quantified in particulate organic matter (POM), mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM), and microbial necromass fractions to assess the allocation and stabilization of smooth vetch-derived N in soil organic pools. N-cycling functional gene analysis was further used to identify potential microbial pathways mediating the transformation and redistribution of smooth vetch-derived N, thereby linking soil N retention processes with citrus N uptake. The results showed that, during the co-growth stage of citrus and smooth vetch, contribution indices remained greater than 1 under both treatments, indicating that citrus N uptake was mainly supported by soil-derived N, with limited direct contribution from smooth vetch-derived N. During the vetch decomposition stage, [15]N recovery was lower in citrus leaves (F: 1.09%; NF: 1.70%) than in fruits (F: 2.97%; NF: 4.20%), and fruit recovery under no fertilization was approximately 1.5 times that under fertilization, suggesting greater reliance on smooth vetch-derived N when external N input was limited. However, a larger proportion of smooth vetch-derived [15]N was retained in the 0-10 cm soil layer (F: 9.17%; NF: 9.09%) than recovered by citrus. Fertilization promoted the accumulation of smooth vetch-derived N in POM (3.26%) and MAOM (5.07%), which were 2.2 and 2.4 times higher than under no fertilization, respectively, while reducing its retention in microbial biomass N by 33.6% (F: 1.54%; NF: 2.32%). Path analysis further suggested that POM-associated smooth vetch-derived N contributed to citrus N uptake, potentially through fungal-mediated processes. Overall, this study reveals a phenology-driven shift in the citrus-smooth vetch system from limited direct N transfer during co-growth to residue-mediated fruit N supply and soil N stabilization during decomposition. These results support a management strategy combining smooth vetch cover with appropriate fertilization, which leverages phenological complementarity and staggered nutrient return to meet citrus growth demands while improving soil fertility and ecosystem N retention.

The timing of the vegetative-to-reproductive transition is critical for plant reproductive success. In Arabidopsis, the B-box transcription factor CONSTANS (CO) is a central regulator of flowering that activates FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). Although the transcriptional regulation and post-translational stability of CO have been extensively characterised, the mechanisms governing its nuclear accumulation remain poorly defined. Here, we identify IMPORTIN β4 (IMB4) as a positive regulator of flowering time. Loss of IMB4 delayed flowering and reduced FT expression without affecting CO transcript abundance. IMB4 interacts with the C-terminal CCT domain of CO, promoted its nuclear accumulation, and thereby enables efficient FT activation. IMB4 and CO show coincident diurnal expression peaks at dusk, suggesting temporal coordination of this transport step. Together, these findings identified IMB4 as a regulator of the CO-FT module and support a role for nucleocytoplasmic partitioning in flowering-time regulation.

Plant-herbivore interactions are typically antagonistic, but abiotic stress and compressed life cycles can alter both their intensity and net outcome. Herbivory is generally expected to reduce plant fitness, yet how desert ephemerals respond to low-intensity stem boring remains poorly resolved. We characterised the natural association between the desert ephemeral Strigosella scorpioides and its specialist stem-boring weevil Lixus ochraceus in the Gurbantunggut Desert, northwestern China, combining phenotypic monitoring, tissue nutrient and secondary-metabolite analyses, volatile profiling, behavioural assays and germination trials. Infestation intensity was uniformly low, with each host plant harbouring a single larva. Relative to non-host neighbours, host plants were taller, produced more branches and developed greater leaf area, and attained 2.2-fold greater peak biomass and 2.1-fold greater fruit production, consistent with overcompensation. Host plants contained lower concentrations of three glucosinolates and emitted distinct volatile blends, with a lower proportion of benzyl isothiocyanate and a higher proportion of benzaldehyde; in behavioural assays, females responded to both compounds in a concentration-dependent manner. Seeds from host plants germinated at higher rates under simulated spring snowmelt temperature regimes, although this advantage was temperature-dependent. Together, these results suggest that low-intensity stem boring can coincide with enhanced plant performance and fitness in a highly compressed growing season, and point to plant chemical traits as candidate mediators of plant-herbivore interactions in arid ecosystems. These findings challenge the prevailing assumption that herbivory is invariably antagonistic, suggesting that the sign of such interactions may be more labile than commonly recognised where brief resource windows and close phenological synchrony align.

Drought, salinity, pollution and nutrient deficiency substantially impair plant growth by disrupting water balance, ion homoeostasis, redox regulation and metabolism. Synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) represent a frontier in microbiome engineering, theoretically offering superior stability over single-strain inoculants through functional redundancy. However, the design rules governing their efficacy - specifically the trade-off between community complexity and phenotypic output - remain empirically unresolved. This meta-analysis evaluated how synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) affect plant growth and stress-related physiological responses under different stress conditions and examined whether their efficacy was associated with community complexity or specific microbial functional traits. Data from 34 studies (433 independent comparisons) were collected. Then, the natural log response ratios (lnRR) of plant morphological and physiological traits were calculated. A random-effects model was used to estimate global effect sizes and quantify between-study heterogeneity. Plant performance was significantly enhanced following SynComs inoculation, evidenced by a 111.93% increase in total biomass (mean lnRR = 0.751). The highest efficacy was observed under biotic stress (total plant dry weight +191.57%) and pollution (underground dry weight +154.23%), with biomass accumulation being more pronounced in belowground traits than in aboveground components. Physiologically, this growth promotion was associated with the alleviation of oxidative stress in plants, as manifested by the significant upregulation of antioxidant enzymes (CAT + 47.09%, POD + 41.55%, and SOD + 44.71%) and a concurrent reduction in lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, the weighted meta-analysis revealed that single-genus communities significantly outperformed multi-genus communities in the present dataset (p = 0.004). However, efficacy was entirely decoupled from community richness, measured as strain number (R[2] = 0.000, p = 0.490). These findings suggest that greater taxonomic breadth or higher strain richness was not necessarily associated with improved SynCom performance. Rather, efficacy appeared to be driven by specific microbial functional traits (such as IAA production and phosphorus solubilisation). We propose that the rational design of SynComs should prioritise strain function over community size to maximise agricultural sustainability and reduce metabolic burden.

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) cause major crop losses, while current nematicides face increasing regulatory restrictions and often show inconsistent efficacy. We tested whether nematode-associated cues activate rhizosphere microbiomes and cuticle-associated fungi to produce suppressive metabolites that impair nematodes and stimulate host defence. Maize rhizosphere microbiomes from different soils and fungal isolates recovered from nematode cuticles were exposed to Meloidogyne hapla, after which cell-free filtrates were assessed for juvenile mortality, root invasion, gall formation, egg production and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in tomato. Nematode-conditioned microbiome filtrates increased M. hapla juvenile mortality relative to nonconditioned controls across soils, although the magnitude of this effect varied with soil origin. Several fungal isolates also showed suppressive activity against Pratylenchus penetrans in maize and M. hapla in tomato, with distinct outcomes across biological assays. Among them, Akanthomyces sp. F20/JKI73389 was selected for mechanistic follow-up: stimulation by M. hapla, or by nematode-derived molecules, induced F20 to release a filtrate that reduced nematode root invasion and triggered a strong ROS response in host tissue. UHPLC-MS analysis further revealed a distinct nematode-induced metabolite profile in F20, including six candidate features that were absent from non-stimulated controls and were provisionally associated with enhanced nematode mortality. These results support a model in which nematode-derived cues alter the metabolite output of indigenous rhizosphere microbes and associated fungi in ways linked to nematode suppression and host defence, highlighting their potential as environmentally compatible tools for PPN management.

Tree seedling regeneration after wildfire will determine the long-term trajectory of forests under climate change, yet increasing drought and heat extremes can suppress regeneration and result in forest type conversion. We combined field observations and a controlled drought-heat growth chamber experiment to investigate how these stressors independently and jointly affect drought- and heat-tolerance physiology in seedlings of montane conifer species from drought- and wildfire-prone regions in the southern Sierra Nevada. In both the field and growth chamber experiment, we found that exposure to elevated leaf temperatures in post fire-like environments dwarfed the effect of physiological adjustments in heat tolerance (temperatures causing initial impairment (Tcrit) or 50% loss (T50) of photosystem II capacity) and drought tolerance (turgor loss point). In the field, this resulted in narrower thermal safety margins across five conifer species in burn scars with no remaining canopy, while in the growth chamber experiment three species showed narrower or even negative thermal and hydraulic safety margins. In the growth chamber experiment, leaf temperatures were also frequently decoupled from air temperature, highlighting that biophysical feedbacks between leaf temperature and transpiration may amplify seedling water loss even under stomatal closure. For both the field and growth chamber experiment, we found no evidence of a trade-off between drought and heat tolerance within or among species. Among species, seedlings of the range-restricted Sequioadendron giganteum (giant sequoia) were observed to be the most vulnerable to combined drought and heat stress in the growth chamber experiment. Our results highlight that direct thermal stress may strongly constrain post-fire conifer regeneration and underscore the need to integrate seedling energy balance and microclimate into predictions of post-fire recovery and management strategies, especially for vulnerable species such as giant sequoia.

Aphid honeydew is generally regarded as a sugar-rich excretion, but it also contains microbial communities that may influence plant-herbivore interactions. Whether honeydew-associated bacteria suppress plant defense responses to enhance aphid performance remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of honeydew-associated bacteria from the cotton-melon aphid, Aphis gossypii, on defense responses in zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) and subsequent aphid performance. Compared with sterilized honeydew, crude honeydew significantly increased aphid body weight, suggesting that honeydew-associated bacteria contribute to enhanced aphid performance. This effect was associated with attenuation of multiple jasmonic acid (JA)- and salicylic acid (SA)-associated defense responses, including reduced expression of several defense-related genes, lower accumulation of free JA and free SA, and reduced PPO activity. Further assays with individual bacterial isolates showed that Mammaliicoccus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. significantly increased aphid body weight, whereas bacterial effects on JA- and SA-related gene expression and PPO activity were isolate- and time-dependent. Together, these results show that honeydew-associated bacteria can suppress zucchini defense responses and enhance the performance of A. gossypii. Our findings reveal honeydew microbiota as microbial modulators of plant-aphid interactions.

Microalgae are photosynthetic eukaryotes that need to maintain productivity under variable light, temperature, nutrient and CO2 conditions, yet their complex regulatory networks have made relevant engineering difficult. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) have changed the situation, shifting microalgal research from random transgene integration toward precise editing of the genes that mediate photosynthesis, stress responses and environmental acclimation. This work reviews how CRISPR-Cas has been applied across microalgal lineages to (i) dissect genes involved in stress response and photosynthesis, (ii) streamline genomes through large-scale deletions, (iii) build stress-tolerant chassis that retain photosynthetic performance under unsatisfactory conditions and (iv) reprogramme lipid, pigment and high-value compound pathways. We then discuss the determinants of editing efficiency, including single-guide RNA design, Cas nuclease choice and engineering, species-specific delivery, host physiology (cell-wall architecture, cell cycle phase and stress-induced repair-pathway shifts) as well as screening workflows using endogenous markers and high-throughput phenotyping. We propose that integrating species-specific multi-omics analyses, artificial intelligence-assisted design and precise and controllable editing strategies will further enhance the ability of CRISPR-Cas systems to elucidate photosynthetic regulatory networks and environmental response mechanisms in microalgae, while facilitating the optimisation of microalgal metabolic traits and the engineering of environmental adaptability.