Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas’ Post

Research Spotlight: Can salt-affected rice bounce back when conditions improve? IRRI researchers tested a new salinity recovery screening protocol using automated image-based phenotyping. The study showed that seven tolerant varieties and one salinity-sensitive type recovered within six days after salt removal, while others needed a longer period. This improved protocol, building on IRRI’s original screening method, can now be scaled to assess larger rice populations, equipping breeders with a powerful tool to develop varieties that recover faster and perform better in salt-affected areas. Read the full study: bit.ly/47rtQqC

💡 Did you know? Wastewater is more than just what flows from our homes, hospitals, and industries, it is also a reservoir for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. When antibiotics are used in humans, animals, or agriculture, not all of them are fully broken down. Traces often end up in wastewater systems, where they interact with diverse microbial communities. This environment becomes a hotspot for horizontal gene transfer, allowing resistance genes to spread among different microorganisms. 🔬 Studies have shown that wastewater treatment plants, if not properly managed, can become channels through which resistant bacteria and their genes escape into rivers, soils, and even back into our food systems. This creates a cycle that reinforces the global AMR challenge. 🌍 Why does this matter? It highlights the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance. It shows the urgent need for improved wastewater treatment technologies. It reinforces that AMR is not just a medical issue—it is a One Health challenge that connects human, animal, and environmental health. 💭 Tackling AMR requires us to look beyond hospitals and pharmacies. Environmental monitoring and wastewater management are critical steps in breaking the chain of resistance gene dissemination. #DidYouKnow #AntimicrobialResistance #Microbiology #Wastewater #OneHealth #PublicHealth

🧂🥵How does wheat respond to the combination of salt and heat stress? 🚜Wheat production is increasingly threatened by multiple abiotic stresses that occur simultaneously under climate change. While the individual effects of salt or heat stress have been widely studied, much less is known about how plants respond when these stresses occur together—a common scenario in agricultural fields. In their recent article, Xiao et al. (2025) investigated the physiological and transcriptional responses of spring wheat to combined salt and heat stresses. ❓Although previous work has explored salt or heat stress separately, the mechanistic basis of wheat responses to their combination remained unclear. The study found that combined salt and heat stress caused greater damage to photosynthesis, water balance, and membrane stability compared to single stresses. Transcriptomic analyses revealed unique gene expression patterns, particularly in pathways linked to antioxidant defense, osmotic regulation, and hormone signaling. ✅ Conclusion: The findings highlight that wheat responds to combined salt and heat stress through both shared and unique mechanisms, underscoring the importance of studying multi-stress environments. These insights could guide breeding and management strategies to improve wheat resilience under climate change. https://bit.ly/4oDOs52 #Wheat #AbioticStress #SaltStress #HeatStress #Plantsci

🟢 Plant Phenotyping for Biostimulant Research and Development 🪴 Plant phenotyping is a game-changer for biostimulant R&D. Here's why it's essential: 1️⃣ Objective Efficacy: Phenotyping provides quantifiable data on biostimulant performance, moving beyond subjective observations. 2️⃣ Unlocks Mechanisms: It helps reveal how a biostimulant works by measuring key physiological and phenotypic changes. 3️⃣ Accelerates R&D: High-throughput systems allow for the rapid screening of thousands of compounds, saving time and resources. 4️⃣ Optimizes Stress Tolerance: Phenotyping is crucial for developing and validating products that enhance plant resilience to challenges like drought or salinity. 5️⃣ Ensures Product Reliability: It helps identify genotype-specific responses, allowing for the creation of more targeted and effective products for different crop varieties. Contact LemnaTec for plant phenotyping technologies: 🌍 https://www.lemnatec.com/ 📞 +49 2408 981850 📩 info@lemnatec.com 🏢 LemnaTec GmbH, Nerscheider Weg 170, 52076 Aachen, Germany #plantphenotyping #phenomics #lemnatec #nynomic #biostimulants

🌱 Drought Recovery: A Critical Window for Plant Immunity A recent breakthrough from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Joseph R. Ecker’s team) published in Nature Communications (“Drought recovery in plants triggers a cell-state-specific immune activation”) has revealed something fascinating: 💡 Plant drought recovery is not just stress relief — it’s a highly coordinated biological reprogramming. Within minutes of rehydration, plants enter a unique “Recovery Cell State” (RcS), proactively activating immune defenses to counter the surge of pathogens favored by moist conditions and newly reopened stomata. 🔎 Key findings: •🌿 Distinct gene expression programs drive drought recovery, involving thousands of “recovery-specific” genes, not simply reversing drought responses. •⚡ Rapid physiological recovery: Stomatal conductance rebounds within 15 minutes — faster than leaf water content — prioritizing photosynthesis and gas exchange. •🧬 Single-cell analysis identified RcS across multiple leaf cell types, all converging on immune activation as a core function. •🛡️ This immune surge, termed Drought Recovery-Induced Immunity (DRII), was validated in Arabidopsis and tomato, proving to be evolutionarily conserved and agronomically promising. 🌾 What this means for agriculture: The moment of recovery after drought is not just about restoring growth — it’s also a window of vulnerability and opportunity. Supporting plants during this period could amplify both growth rebound and disease defense. 💧 At LYS Biotech, our Yeast Amino Acid Peptide Biostimulant is designed to align with this— helping crops recover faster, grow stronger, and enhance their natural defense pathways during stress transitions. #PlantHealth #DroughtRecovery #PlantImmunity #CropResilience #Biostimulant #SustainableAgriculture #TomatoGrowth #StressTolerance #LYSBiotech

A bacterium can’t do it alone, it needs teamwork 🧬🤝 Did you know that bacteria “talk” to each other before causing an infection? This phenomenon is called Quorum sensing, and it is key to understanding how these microorganisms succeed in both plants and animals. 🔎 How does it work? -Each bacterium releases signal molecules called autoinducers. -At low population densities, the signals are too weak to trigger a response. -But as the community grows, signals accumulate until they cross a threshold. -At that point, bacteria switch on genes in a coordinated way. -The result: toxin production, biofilm formation, or resistance mechanisms — all synchronized! 🌱 In plants, this teamwork enables diseases that reduce crop yield and productivity. 🧍 In animals and humans, it drives persistent infections that are harder to treat. 💡 In biotechnology, understanding quorum sensing opens new possibilities: ✔️ Innovative therapies against resistant bacteria ✔️ Biocontrol strategies in agriculture ✔️ New approaches for health and environmental applications 👉 Even the tiniest organisms remind us of a powerful lesson: strength lies in unity. 🔽 I’d love to hear your thoughts: Do you think the future of fighting bacterial diseases will rely more on blocking microbial communication than on traditional antibiotics? #Microbiology #Biotechnology #QuorumSensing #AntibioticResistance #SustainableAgriculture #Science #Innovation #OneHealth

Crop sciences professor Juan Arbelaez knows the secret to perfect rice — and it isn’t how you cook it. Arbelaez and his team are developing cutting-edge genomic methods to predict which rice breeds will do well on the market. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gybGSg9r

Horticulturae - New Published Paper🍀   📖Title: Meloidogyne incognita Significantly Alters the Cucumber Root Metabolome and Enriches Differential Accumulated Metabolites Regulating Nematode Chemotaxis and Infection.   ✍️Paper written by: Naicun Chen et al.   🔗Link: https://lnkd.in/dhknrxGC   #academic #publishing #MDPI #horticulture #science #scientific

🌿 Member Publication Highlight 🌿 🎉 Congratulations to C-SPIRIT member Sue Rhee and co-authors Evan Saldivar and Sterling Field, Ph.D. on their recent publication in New Phytologist titled "Cellular view of metabolism: metabolic biomolecular condensates"! This article explores how enzymes self-organize into membraneless compartments that enhance metabolic efficiency, protect against toxic intermediates, and respond dynamically to environmental cues. From bacterial microcompartments to the Arabidopsis rhamnosome, the review encourages researchers to revisit well-studied enzymes and pathways to explore how their subcellular localization influences metabolic function. 🧬 This research directly supports C-SPIRIT’s mission to advance sustainable plant innovation through deep understanding of metabolism, stress resilience, and cellular organization. Insights into biocondensates open new doors for engineering resilient and productive crops. 📖 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gBfcw2Mi #PlantScience #Biocondensates #SyntheticBiology #PlantBiology #Metabolism #PlantResilience #CellBiology