Schneider, R., Bäurle, I., Nikoloski, Z., & Lenhard, M. (2026).

Plant Phenotypic Plasticity: From Molecular Mechanisms to Breeding and Climate Change Adaptation.

Review in Advance in Annual Review of Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-063025-111942

Phenotypic plasticity (PP) is a fundamental property of plants, enabling a single genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to environmental variation. This ability is crucial for survival and reproduction in heterogeneous habitats, allowing plants to optimize their physiology, development, and growth under changing conditions. Widespread natural genetic variation for plasticity enables selection to shape environmental responses. This review synthesizes the current knowledge on the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying PP in plants, highlighting its importance for crop breeding and for enhancing resilience to climate change. We discuss experimental approaches to quantify plasticity and identify its genetic basis and consider factors that may constrain the evolution of plasticity. We also explore how advances in the analysis of multisite field trials and genomic prediction have propelled the study of PP in agriculture. Ultimately, a deeper understanding and targeted use of PP hold promise for developing crop varieties that can maintain stable yields in increasingly variable environments.

 

 

Shi, D., Sugimoto, K., & Fukushima, K. (2026).

Decoding plant cell heterogeneity and dynamics across responses, development, to evolution with single-cell technologies

Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 90, 102854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2025.102854

Single-cell technologies are redefining plant cell identity. Traditional classifications based on position, morphology, and a few marker genes yielded static, coarse cell categories. In contrast, single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing reveal hidden cellular heterogeneity and reconstruct developmental trajectories in ostensibly well-characterized plant tissues including vasculature and mesophyll. Environmental cues such as pathogen attack, drought, and wounding generate transient, spatially restricted cell states that bulk profiling masks, and these dynamics are best resolved by integrating single-cell data with spatial transcriptomics and live imaging. Comparative single-cell analyses extend these insights across evolution, revealing conserved core cell-type groups, lineage-specific innovations, and rapid transcriptomic rewiring in particular cell types. Emerging computational strategies mitigate orthology issues caused by genome duplications, enabling robust cross-species atlas alignment. These advances demonstrate that plant cell identity is dynamic, context-dependent, and distributed along continuous spectra. We argue that future frameworks should balance discrete cell-type labels with flexible state-based descriptions and integrate multiomic and spatial information to capture the full plasticity of plant cells, from ephemeral stress responses to millennial evolutionary changes.