As sessile organisms, plants must overcome various stresses. Accordingly, they have evolved several plant-specific growth and developmental processes. These plant processes may be related to the evolution of plant-specific protein families. The WRKY transcription factors originated in eukaryotes and expanded in plants, but are not present in animals. Over the past two decades, there have been many studies on WRKYs in plants, with much of the research concentrated on their roles in stress responses. Nevertheless, recent findings have revealed that WRKYs are also required for seed dormancy and germination, postembryonic morphogenesis, flowering, gametophyte development, and seed production. Thus, WRKYs may be important for plant adaptations to a sessile lifestyle because they simultaneously regulate stress resistance and plant-specific growth and development.

Freshwater ecosystems are of worldwide importance for maintaining biodiversity and sustaining the provision of a myriad of ecosystem services to modern societies. Plants, one of the most important components of these ecosystems, are key to water nutrient removal, carbon storage, and food provision. Understanding how the functional connection between freshwater plants and ecosystems is affected by global change will be key to our ability to predict future changes in freshwater systems. Here, we synthesize global plant responses, adaptations, and feedbacks to present-day and future freshwater environments through trait-based approaches, from single individuals to entire communities. We outline the transdisciplinary knowledge benchmarks needed to further understand freshwater plant biodiversity and the fundamental services they provide.

Salinity is a key factor limiting agricultural production worldwide. Recent advances in field phenotyping have enabled the recording of the environmental history and dynamic response of plants by considering both genotype × environment (G×E) interactions and envirotyping. However, only a few studies have focused on plant salt tolerance phenotyping. Therefore, we analyzed the potential opportunities and major challenges in improving plant salt tolerance using advanced field phenotyping technologies. RGB imaging and spectral and thermal sensors are the most useful and important sensing techniques for assessing key morphological and physiological traits of plant salt tolerance. However, field phenotyping faces challenges owing to its practical applications and high costs, limiting its use in early generation breeding and in developing countries.

Direct competition for resources is generally considered the primary mechanism for weed-induced yield loss. A re-evaluation of physiological evidence suggests weeds initially impact crop growth and development through resource-independent interference. We suggest weed perception by crops induce a shift in crop development, before resources become limited, which ultimately reduce crop yield, even if weeds are subsequently removed. We present the mechanisms by which crops perceive and respond to weeds and discuss the technologies used to identify these mechanisms. These data lead to a fundamental paradigm shift in our understanding of how weeds reduce crop yield and suggest new research directions and opportunities to manipulate or engineer crops and cropping systems to reduce weed-induced yield losses.

High-value active ingredients in medicinal plants have attracted research attention because of their benefits for human health, such as the antimalarial artemisinin, anticardiovascular disease tanshinones, and anticancer Taxol and vinblastine. Here, we review how hormones and environmental factors promote the accumulation of active ingredients, thereby providing a strategy to produce high-value drugs at a low cost. Focusing on major hormone signaling events and environmental factors, we review the transcriptional regulatory network mediating biosynthesis of representative active ingredients. In this network, many transcription factors (TFs) simultaneously control multiple synthase genes; thus, understanding the molecular mechanisms affecting transcriptional regulation of active ingredients will be crucial to developing new breeding possibilities.

Forest vegetation produces terpene enantiomers, but atmospheric emission mechanisms and ecological functions remain poorly understood. In a study on the tropical rainforest ecosystem, Byron et al. noticed distinct diel trends and sources of enantiomer emission, and a striking change in (-)-α-pinene emission under severe drought, which might favor cloud formation.

Low-temperature stress alters root system architecture. In particular, changes in the levels and response to auxin and cytokinin determine the fate of root architecture and function under stress because of their vital roles in regulating root cell division, differentiation, and elongation. An intricate nexus of genes encoding components of auxin and cytokinin biosynthesis, signaling, and transport components operate to counteract stress and facilitate optimum development. We review the role of auxin transport and signaling and its regulation by cytokinin during root development and stem cell maintenance under low-temperature stress. We highlight intricate mechanisms operating in root stem cells to minimize DNA damage by altering phytohormone levels, and discuss a working model for cytokinin in low-temperatures stress response.