Decomposed wheat straw is a promising seedling substrate, but it is vulnerable to contamination by filamentous fungi, notably Aspergillus flavus, which produces the carcinogenic mycotoxin aflatoxin B1. Multifunctional microbes that combine strong cellulolytic capacity with antifungal activity are needed, yet reports of such natural strains are scarce. Researchers have now screened 2,102 Bacillus isolates collected between 2018 and 2023 and selected Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQ1, which shows both cellulolytic activity and antifungal efficacy against A. flavus. During straw decomposition, SQ1 accelerated cellulose and hemicellulose loss, lowered C/N and lignin/N ratios and shifted pH toward neutrality, while cryo-SEM revealed fractured and collapsed A. flavus hyphae with markedly reduced spore adhesion. Straw amended with SQ1 contained less aflatoxin B1 and supported better peanut seedling survival, height and leaf chlorophyll.

RNA synthesis generally requires a pre-existing nucleic-acid template and sometimes, an oligonucleotide primer. Researchers at Westlake University have found that three related plant proteins can synthesize RNA from free nucleoside triphosphates in vitro, without an added nucleic-acid template or primer. The team first identified the rice protein OsNTP4 through a structure-guided search, then observed similar activity in rice OsNTP10 and Arabidopsis AtURT1. Biochemical experiments and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis established that characterized products contain the canonical 3′–5′ phosphodiester linkages of RNA. The study, published in Vita, expands the known catalytic repertoire of plant nucleotidyltransferases and reveals a direct protein-to-RNA reaction, while leaving open how the reaction begins and whether it occurs in plant cells.

Biological clocks coordinate the spatiotemporal organization of metabolism with diurnal time cues, and bulk-tissue RNA sequencing studies in mammals have revealed widespread circadian (about 24 h) gene expression in mice and non-human primates. Yet whether and how cell-type-specific organization of circadian gene expression is achieved in metabolic tissues has remained unclear, largely because bulk-tissue profiling averages away the cellular heterogeneity of organs such as liver and skeletal muscle.