Plant genetics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Transposable elements are typically silenced in plant genomes, which limits direct observation of their activity. We show that DNA hypomethylation combined with heat stress activates the Xuan–Feng Helitron family in wheat, and leads to extrachromosomal circular DNA formation and novel somatic insertions, driven by a single autonomous element.

Succulence is a key drought-resistance trait, yet its genomic basis is underexplored. Here, authors report that long terminal retrotransposons inserted into introns may facilitate succulence evolution and genomic adaptability in tree grapes.

Pan-genomic analyses shed light on the evolutionary history of the Brassica A subgenome and identify a unique barcode pattern of transposable elements that underpin the Brassica self-incompatibility system.

Helitrons are a recently identified category of transposons. This study reveals that heat stress combined with reduced DNA methylation can mobilize a Helitron family in wheat. Its mobilization is genetically linked to a specific full-length member catalysing the full Helitron life cycle.

Chloroplast plastoglobules act as nitrogen-assimilation hubs in maize, with key enzymes enhancing nitrogen-use efficiency and offering new strategies for developing high-yield, sustainable crops.

Teosinte alleles enhance nitrogen assimilation and seed protein without lowering crop yield when expressed in modern maize, providing a powerful strategy for crop improvement to meet future population demands.

Transposable elements are typically silenced in plant genomes, which limits direct observation of their activity. We show that DNA hypomethylation combined with heat stress activates the Xuan–Feng Helitron family in wheat, and leads to extrachromosomal circular DNA formation and novel somatic insertions, driven by a single autonomous element.

In this Journal Club, Mary Gehring recalls a 1970 paper from Jerry Kermicle, which used elegant maize genetics to show that alleles behave differently depending on parental origin, laying the conceptual foundation for gene imprinting.

Zygote-to-adult lineage tracing in plants has been difficult to achieve. An Arabidopsis lineage map reconstructed by Xia et al. from genome-encoded records and read out at single-cell resolution links genealogy to cell identities and uncovers a generalized ‘three-cell rule’ of branching.

Mitochondrial genes in most crops are inherited maternally. In this issue of Nature Plants, Gonzalez-Duran et al. report that mitochondrial genes can be inherited from both parents.

Heat stress threatens wheat productivity, necessitating genetic solutions for heat stress tolerance. We identified TaHST2, a key heat stress tolerance regulator, and demonstrated that intronic variations and epigenetic modifications silence TaHST2 in heat-tolerant wheat, probably as an adaptive consequence of hexaploidization and domestication.