Recently, a research team led by Professor Caifu Jiang from China Agricultural University published a study titled "The ZmMPK3-ZmGRF1 module promotes maize growth by enhancing cell proliferation under salt stress" in Science Bulletin. This study shows that the ZmMPK3-ZmGRF1 module facilitates maize growth under salt stress through enhanced cell proliferation, providing new insights into how MPK signaling pathways and GRF growth regulators govern plant responses to saline environments. Furthermore, these findings offer valuable genetic resources for developing salt-tolerant maize varieties.

Studying plant vegetative reproduction is key to increasing crop yield and for bioengineering. Kobe University research is making progress on studying the genetic regulation of the process in liverworts, which are ideal model plants and even a candidate for space crops.

Many soil microbes play a vital role in ecosystems, as they help plants access nutrients and water and assist in stress tolerance such as during drought and to defend against pathogens. One such group of soil microbes are arbuscular mycorrhizal, aka AM, fungi, which are associated with the roots of approximately 70% of plant species on land.  new Dartmouth-led study reports on how global climate conditions affect AM fungal spore traits and the species biogeographic patterns. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Amylase/trypsin-inhibitors (ATIs) are proteins that can trigger immune reactions in the human body. They are best known from wheat, where they are considered a possible trigger of non-celiac wheat sensitivity. An international research team led by Katharina Scherf from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has now succeeded for the first time in precisely measuring these proteins in barley. The results could open up new avenues for the development of more tolerable foods.

Hybrid pepper breeding has long hinged on cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems, but a lack of functional restorer genes has left a critical gap.