Article highlights the importance of pectin in cell wall integrity and the value of lignin modification as a tool to interrogate the informational content of plant cell walls.

Article discusses how a bifunctional peroxidase enzyme, 4-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H/APX), provides a parallel route to the shikimate shunt pathway for the conversion of 4-coumarate to caffeate in the early steps of lignin biosynthesis. Here, a multi-omic approach was used to characterize molecular changes resulting from C3H/APX-KD associated lignin modification and negative growth phenotype in Brachypodium distachyon.

Article studies predation on livestock by wild carnivores in Sajama National Park (SNP), Bolivia. The authors monitored predation and other causes of livestock mortality in 33 ranches for one year and estimated biomass of livestock and wild prey and monetary losses.

Article discusses how the global sequencing of microRNA (miRNA; miR) and integration to downstream mRNA expression profiles in early life stages (ELS) of fish following exposure to crude oil determined consistently dysregulated miRNAs regardless of the oil source or fish species. The overlay of differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs into in silico software determined that the key roles of these miRNAs were predicted to be involved in cardiovascular, neurological and visually-mediated pathways.

This article investigates the long-term effects of developmental hypoxia on mitochondrial function in a species that regularly encounters hypoxia during development. Findings speculate that adjustments might improve mitochondrial hypoxia tolerance, which would be beneficial for turtles during breath-hold diving and overwintering in anoxic environments.

Article studying thrombocyte function and development in adult zebrafish. The authors performed single-cell RNA sequencing of the young and mature zebrafish thrombocytes and compared the two datasets for young and mature thrombocyte transcripts.

Article presents an Arabidopsis gene co-expression network constructed using RNA-Seq datasets, which will serve as a useful resource for the Arabidopsis research community to gain insights into Arabidopsis gene interactions and functions.

The authors of the article used pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) across South Dakota, USA as a model species to identify environmental factors driving spatiotemporal variation in population productivity. They found that the amount of grassland at a local spatial scale was the primary factor influencing an area being a HotSpot.

Article describes how rapid urbanization has influenced the transformation of local and global food systems, altering the availability, access to, and distribution of healthy food. Micronutrient deficiency and hunger have been exacerbated worldwide. The author's research proposes a simulation strategy to evaluate the impact of agricultural land use and crop choices on nutritional production in rapidly growing urban areas.

Article studying seedlings of wild-type and different mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana plants subjected to a multifactorial stress combination of six different stresses, each applied at a low level, and their survival, physiological and molecular responses. Findings reveal that further polluting our environment could result in higher complexities of multifactorial stress combinations that in turn could drive a critical decline in plant growth and survival.

Article reveals that plants can integrate different local and systemic signals generated during conditions of stress combination. Furthermore, results show that the specific part at which plants sense the two co-occurring stresses makes a significant difference in how fast and efficient they acclimate.

Article discusses how Lipid bilayers represent the interface between cells (or organelles) and their environment. Authors claim that this special topic brings together new reports on several of these lipid classes to shed light on the impacts of plant lipid metabolism and membrane organization on plant immunity.

Article describes how proanthocyanidins (PAs) are natural flavan-3-ol polymers that contribute protection to plants under biotic and abiotic stress, benefits to human health, and bitterness and astringency to food products. This review extends the conventional understanding with recent findings that provide new insights to address lingering questions and focus strategies for manipulating PA traits in plants.

This article investigates the impact of nutrient intake on hydration biomarkers in cyclists before and after a 161 km ride, including one hour after a 650 mL water bolus consumed post-ride. Most predictor groups showed significant association with at least one hydration biomarker: (1) Glycemic Load + Carbohydrates + Sodium, (2) Protein + Fat + Zinc, (3) Magnesium + Calcium, (4) Pinitol, (5) Caffeine, (6) Fiber + Betaine, and (7) Water; potassium + three polyols, and mannitol + sorbitol showed no significant associations with any hydration biomarker. The authors conclude that in a real-life scenario, some nutrients may serve as mediators of body water, and urine-specific hydration biomarkers may be more responsive to nutrient intake than measures derived from plasma or body mass.

This article is a review examining the characteristics that make an animal model attractive for developmental research and explores opportunities presented by the embryo to adult continuum of alternative bird models including quail, ratites, songbirds, birds of prey, and corvids.

Article asserts that polyunsaturated N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) can be hydrolyzed by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) or oxidized by lipoxygenase (LOX). Altogether, the authors conclude that the growth of cotton seedlings involves fine-tuning of 9-NAE-HOD levels via FAAH-mediated hydrolysis and LOX-mediated production, expanding the mechanistic understanding of plant growth modulation by NAE oxylipins to a perennial crop species.

This article develops and tests a constrained stochastic weather generator (CSWG) for producing daily mean air temperature and precipitation based on annual mean air temperature and precipitation from tree-ring records. It presents a unique method that can be used to explore historic (e.g., archeological questions) or future (e.g., climate change) daily weather conditions based upon specified annual values.

This article presents research where various kudzu accessions were analyzed through barcoding and comparative transcriptomics, generating tools for identification and molecular pathway analysis.

Article on the composition of the four cell wall fractions in diverse maize genotypes and to understand how this composition influences the resistance to pests, ethanol capacity and digestibility. Results evidence that there is no maize cell wall ideotype among the tested for optimal performance for various uses, and maize plants should be specifically bred for each particular application.

This article conducts a study to evaluate the utility of Hydroxycinnamoyl CoA: shikimate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) as a target for lignin modification in a species with an “incomplete” shikimate shunt. Results imply that this gene is a preferred target for biotechnological improvement of grasses for bioprocessing.

This article developed a modified, rapid higher throughput thioacidolysis method to analyze both lignin monomeric composition and tricin content in the lignin polymer. The results demonstrate that the modified method can be used for rapid, high-throughput, and reliable lignin composition and tricin content analyses for screening transgenic plants for cell wall modifications or in large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Article studying the regulation of lipid metabolism in oilseeds.

Article experimentally quantifies the metabolic cost of transport in Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoises walking on a treadmill while also quantifying the kinematics of their movement. Results found that tortoises move more efficiently than predicted and presents the first data demonstrating a curvilinear cost of transport over their speed range. The authors conclude that tortoises have an optimum speed at which they move to minimise their metabolic cost of locomotion.

Article studying the effects of extreme rainfall variations on forest bird communities by monitoring the bird species richness in the different forest types present in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR).