Footitt, S., Ölcer‐Footitt, H., Hambidge, A. J., Finch‐Savage, W. E

Environmental signals drive seed dormancy cycling in the soil to synchronise germination with the optimal time of year; a process essential for species fitness and survival. Previous correlation of transcription profiles in exhumed seeds with annual environmental signals revealed the coordination of dormancy regulating mechanisms with the soil environment. Here, we developed a rapid and robust laboratory dormancy cycling simulation using mutants in known dormancy-related genes. Involvement of the clock in dormancy cycling was clear when mutants in the morning and evening loops of the clock were compared. Dormancy induction was faster when the morning loop was compromised and delayed when the evening loop was compromised.

Plant, Cell & Environment, August 2017

Richard Michelmore, Gitta Coaker, Rebecca Bart, Gwyn Beattie, Andrew Bent, Toby Bruce, Duncan Cameron, Jeff Dangl, Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar, Rob Edwards, Sebastian Eves-van den Akker, Walter Gassmann, Jean Greenberg, Richard Harrison, Ping He, Linda Hanley-Bowdoin, Jagger Harvey, Alisa Huffaker, Scot Hulbert, Roger Innes, Jonathan Jones, Isgouhi Kaloshian, Sophien Kamoun, Fumiaki Katagiri, Jan Leach, Wenbo Ma, John McDowell, June Medford, Blake Meyers, Rebecca Nelson, Richard Oliver, Yiping Qi, Diane Saunders, Michael Shaw, Christine Smart, Prasanta Subudhi, Lesley Torrance, Bret Tyler, Barbara Valent, John Walsh

This whitepaper reports the deliberations of a workshop focused on biotic challenges to plant health held in Washington, D.C. in September 2016. Global food security is threatened by the vulnerability of our agricultural systems to numerous pests, pathogens, weeds, and environmental stresses. These threats are aggravated by climate change, the globalization of agriculture, and an over-reliance on non-sustainable inputs. New analytical and computational technologies are providing unprecedented resolution at a variety of molecular, cellular, organismal, and population scales for crop plants as well as pathogens, pests, beneficial microbes, and weeds. Data-driven, informed decisions based on knowledge of the variation of biotic challenges and of natural and synthetic variation in crop plants will enable deployment of durable interventions throughout the world. These should be integral, dynamic components of agricultural strategies for sustainable agriculture.

Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions. July 2017

A Taylor, K Rana, C Handy, JP Clarkson

Brassica crops are of global importance with oilseed rape (Brassica napus) accounting for 13% of edible oil production. All Brassica are susceptible to Sclerotinia stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a generalist fungal pathogen causing disease in over 400 plant species. This is the first study to identify B. cretica as a source of resistance to S. sclerotiorum and to report resistance in other wild Brassica species to a UK isolate, hence providing resources for breeding of resistant cultivars suitable for Europe.

Plant Pathology. June 2017

R.H Collier, D. Wilson, A. Jukes, M.S. Elliott, R. Warmington and J. Clarkson

The paper describes research on integrated pest and disease management in carrot crops, focusing on treatment timings for control of Psila rosae with a relatively new insecticide, Coragen^®, the development of a forecast of the timing of the migration of Cavariella aegopodii into carrot crops and the use of biofumigation for control of soilborne plant pathogens such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. All three approaches show promise as components of integrated pest and disease management programmes.

International Symposium on Carrot and Other Apiaceae, ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1153, March 2017

Emma J Bennett, Christopher J Brignell, Pierre WC Carion, Samantha M Cook, Peter J Eastmond, Graham R Teakle, John P Hammnd, Clare Love, Graham J King, Jeremy A Roberts and Carol Wagstaff

Plants are extremely versatile organisms that respond to the environment in which they find themselves, but a large part of their development is under genetic regulation. The links between developmental parameters and yield are poorly understood in oilseed rape; understanding this relationship will help growers to predict their yields more accurately and breeders to focus on traits that may lead to yield improvements. Assessing the diversity that exists within the B. napus gene pool has highlighted architectural, seed and mineral composition traits that should be targeted in breeding programmes through the development of linked markers to improve crop yields.

Agronomy. April 2017

Shopan Jannat, Haipeng Mou, Lili Zhang, Changtong Zhang, Weiwei Ma, John A. Walsh, Zhongyuan Hu, Jinghua Yang, Mingfang Zhang