PeerJ – Plant Biology section

23 May 2018

The complete chloroplast genome of Colobanthus apetalus (Labill.) Druce: genome organization and comparison with related species

Piotr Androsiuk, Jan Paweł Jastrzębski, Łukasz Paukszto, Adam Okorski, Agnieszka Pszczółkowska, Katarzyna Joanna Chwedorzewska, Justyna Koc, Ryszard Górecki, Irena Giełwanowska

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Ladislav Mucina –– Solid piece of routine work on whole-genome sequencing, adding valuable data on an evolutionary intricate taxonomic group.

30 April 2018

Endophytic fungal communities associated with field-grown soybean roots and seeds in the Huang-Huai region of China

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Paolo Giordani –– A straight forward study of fungal diversity in soybean roots: Yang & collaborators highlighted that the diversity of soybean endophytic fungal communities are site- and tissue-specific. By investigating soybean–endophytic fungi interaction, this paper provides new insights for the use of beneficial microorganisms to promote healthy of plants such as soybean.

16 April 2018

TAS3 miR390-dependent loci in non-vascular land plants: towards a comprehensive reconstruction of the gene evolutionary history

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Yegor Vassetzky –– The article contributes to our understanding of the evolution of the RNAi machinery in plants

13 April 2018

Applying foliar stoichiometric traits of plants to determine fertilization for a mixed pine-oak stand in the Qinling Mountains, China

Editor rating: 9 / 10

Chih-Hsin Cheng –– interesting paper

19 March 2018

Tea saponin reduces the damage of Ectropis obliqua to tea crops, and exerts reduced effects on the spiders Ebrechtella tricuspidata and Evarcha albaria compared to chemical insecticides

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Yann Clough –– The study is a fairly comprehensive assessment of the efficacy of a botanical insecticide against a major pest in tea plantations. The authors combines lab and field experiments and addresses non-target effects on natural enemies both in the lab and in the field.

16 March 2018

Evolutionary persistence in Gunnera and the contribution of southern plant groups to the tropical Andes biodiversity hotspot

Editor rating: 9 / 10

Luis Eguiarte –– Gunnera is a genus of plants that have fascinated scientist for a long time, in particular for the very large leaves of some species and because its symbiotic relationship with the nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria Nostoc. For a many years, some botanists suspected it to be a very old, primitive genus, perhaps basal in the phylogeny of the Angiosperms. While latter molecular phylogenies did not support this position, this paper shows that indeed Gunnera is an old genus, with a complex evolutionary and phylogeographic history, and a recent radiation in the Andes. All these new results are relevant for understanding why the Neotropics have so many plant species, more than any other similar region in the planet.

14 March 2018

The impact of different agroecological conditions on the nutritional composition of quinoa seeds

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Alberto Davalos –– Quinoa is a relevant seed for human consumption. Understanding the agronomical characteristics from different varieties cultivated in different places of the world is important in order to promote their widespread cultivation.

5 March 2018

Identification and characterization of the cytosine-5 DNA methyltransferase gene family in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Gerrit Beemster –– Epigenetic regulation is rapidly becoming a new regulatory mechanism in developmental processes and this study is a nice contribution to that field using a non model species.

31 January 2018

Evaluating the adaptive evolutionary convergence of carnivorous plant taxa through functional genomics

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Todd Vision –– This is a novel and innovative approach to studying the genomic correlates of convergent evolution. It is likely to inspire similar studies in other systems and for other kinds of genomic changes, as well as bioinformatic work to refine and extend the methods.

30 January 2018

Development of an RNA interference (RNAi) gene knockdown protocol in the anaerobic gut fungus Pecoramyces ruminantium strain C1A

Editor rating: 8 / 10