Italy

Plant growth–promoting bacteria enhance plant performance under nutrient-limited conditions, yet how different modes of plant–microbe interaction shape nutrient-specific host responses remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear how direct bacterial contact and volatile-mediated interactions originating from the same bacterial community differentially regulate plant nutrient acquisition pathways.
Here, we investigated how a 16-member synthetic bacterial community (16 SC) affects plant growth, nutrient status, signaling, and metabolite profiles under full nutrient supply as well as nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), and phosphorus (P) limitation in Arabidopsis thaliana.
We show that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by the 16 SC promote shoot growth under nitrate limitation and full nutrient conditions, whereas this growth promotion is lost under sulfur- and phosphorus-limiting conditions. In contrast, direct interaction between plants and the 16 SC abolishes growth promotion under all three nutrient-limiting conditions. These nutrient-dependent phenotypes correlate with distinct regulation of nutrient transporters and key transcriptional regulators involved in N (NRT1;1/NLP7), S (SULTR1;2/SLIM1), and P (PHT1/PHR1) signaling pathways.
Genetic analyses using nutrient transporter mutants revealed that VOC-induced growth promotion requires functional NRT1;1 and SULTR1;2 transporters, whereas growth promotion mediated by direct bacterial contact is retained in the corresponding mutants. This uncoupling of VOC- and contact-dependent effects indicates that distinct host regulatory pathways underlie microbial growth promotion depending on the interaction mode.
Together, our findings demonstrate that bacterial community–mediated plant growth promotion is strongly shaped by nutrient context and interaction mode, and that volatile-mediated and contact-dependent mechanisms engage separable host nutrient regulatory networks.

SEB Conference 2026

Nutrient Availability and Core Nutrient Pathway Genes Modulate Beneficial Effects of Bacterial Community Volatiles and Contact-Dependent Interactions Differently

plant-microbe-intercations

nutrients

volatiles

SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries, and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world.

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SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world. 

Museum specimen digitization is a rapidly growing practice, with considerable potential for cataloguing, research, and public access to museum collections. The Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum (HKBM) boasts Hong Kong’s largest natural history collection, >55,000 specimens across the taxonomic spectrum, from plants to insects to vertebrates. However, constraints to space, funding, and manpower, pose challenges to sharing our resources. In a joint project, we are building a digital collection to expand collection accessibility and create new avenues for public interaction and anatomy education, using a diversity of approaches for interacting with 3D data. We have produced more than 30 CT/microCT scans of dry specimens, primarily skulls, and utilized open-source software (e.g. 3D Slicer, Blender) to create 3D prints for hands-on experience. From our data, for example, we generate up-scaled 3D-printed models to interactively teach CityU anatomy students cranial nerve pathways. Partnering with local start-up OAO and Scan the World (STW), we use their scanning and visualization platforms (e.g. OAO’s GIMII app) to generate and annotate models of taxidermy, skeletal and wet dissected specimens. GIMII’s AR capabilities and STW’s 3D engine give museum guests and students opportunities to explore items that cannot be easily physically displayed (e.g. the museum’s largest specimens), with STW’s browser-based platform allowing integrated annotation, commenting, and LLM-powered interaction to support multi-user, fully navigable, 3D-scanned environments with drag-and-drop model placement. We discuss how digitization is allowing the museum to modernize, reach a broader audience and transcend limitations, outlining expansion of resources in classes and museum exhibitions.

Expanding engagement through specimen digitization, 3D modeling, AR technology, and 3D printing of Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum Specimens

Birds morph in extraordinary ways, enabling highly efficient flight in some species and agile flight in others. This research characterizes wing and tail morphing trough range of motion (RoM) measurements of all major joints in all 3 rotational degrees of freedom (DoF) simultaneously, using motion capture techniques on a pigeon cadaver (Columba livia), something not accomplished before. This data is then used to progress development of bird-like aerial robots.
It is speculated, that wing joints tend to move along the edges of RoM to preserve muscular energy in flight. This principle could prove useful for bird-like robots, so a novel robotic twin is developed for further windtunnel/flight studies. It matches a real wing in key aspects, like wrist locking behavior, and elbow "carrying angle". It also implements real feathers with matching DoF, leveraging their natural velcro-like behavior. Extensions are planned to add shape memory alloy (SMA) actuation on key DoF's.
For the tail, a novel and exceptionally simple mechanism is presented to actuate all 4 DoF (yaw-pitch-roll-spread), with 4 actuators placed in parallel. This is achieved by using a spring-steel flexure, that acts as the bulbus rectricis, together with actuators acting as lateralis caudae and pubocaudalis externus muscles. This is a significant improvement over the typically used series actuator arrangement. Flight tests are underway as of writing of this abstract.

Bird-like tail and wing joints for aerial robots

Offspring of older mothers often exhibit reduced lifespans, a phenomenon known as theLansing effect, which may arise from the transmission of maternally inherited mitochondrial damage. In birds, as in mammals, oocytes are produced during embryogenesis and then stored until fertilization, during which time mitochondrial deterioration may occur.
We conducted a long-term, individual-based study of captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) in which females were bred either at a young age (11-14 months) or at an older age (3-5.5 years). All females were paired with young males to minimise paternal age effects. Additionally, half of the broods within each maternal age class were orally dosed with corticosterone (CORT) between days 12 and 28 post-hatching to increase stress exposure during the nestling stage.
One of our focal traits was mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn), which may increase as a compensatory response to mitochondrial dysfunction and/or elevated energetic demand. mtDNAcn was measured in the red blood cells of offspring from both maternal age classes during their first year of life. Unlike mammalian red blood cells, avian red blood cells retain functional mitochondria, making them suitable for this analysis.
Across all offspring, mtDNAcn declined with age, consistent with a reduced energetic demand following growth. However, offspring of older mothers consistently exhibited higher mtDNAcn than those of younger mothers. This pattern may reflect compensatory mitochondrial biogenesis in response to maternally inherited mitochondrial damage. The CORT treatment had no detectable effect on mtDNAcn, suggesting that maternal age influences offspring mitochondrial regulation independently of early-life stress.

Offspring of older mothers exhibit elevated mitochondrial DNA copy number during the first year of life

Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) are uniquely adapted to extreme environmental gradients, migrating daily from warm surface waters at night to the cold, dark mesopelagic zone (>300 m depth) during daytime. The recent emergence of "deep-dropping" recreational fisheries targeting large swordfish has created a novel arena for intense human-wildlife interactions. Here I synthesise recent work demonstrating how multi-hour angling events serve as involuntary physiological stress tests, revealing both extraordinary adaptations and vulnerabilities of swordfish.

Using high-resolution biologgers on fishing tackle, we tracked the fine-scale fight dynamics of swordfish. Unexpectedly, swordfish voluntarily ascend from the deep mesopelagic to above the thermocline immediately after hooking, presumably using the warm mixed layer as a thermal refuge to maintain performance during exhaustive exercise. Despite these behavioural compensations and swordfish controlling most of the fight, prolonged angling interactions push swordfish beyond their physiological limits. Satellite tagging revealed Post-release survival is remarkably low (44%). Moribund swordfish present at the surface with severe abdominal distension due to barotrauma. However, because the post-hooking voluntary ascents are similar to those made during free-swimming basking events, this distension challenges the standard model of fisheries barotrauma where it arises from rapid gas decompression. We propose instead that exhaustion induces systemic acidosis, flooding the swimbladder by dysregulating the normally adaptive Root effect.

Broader satellite tracking of released fish revealed that after behavioural recovery of several days, swordfish undertake spawning migrations spanning thousands of kilometres. This work illustrates how stress can profoundly disrupt specialized physiological mechanisms and underscores the population-level stakes of fishery-induced mortality.

Recreational Deep-Drop Fisheries as Involuntary Stress Tests of Swordfish Physiology

Harsh early-life environmental conditions can negatively affect the fitness of individuals. Major stressors include anthropogenic alterations such as chemical and light pollution, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. One link between environmental stressors and fitness are telomeres, the endcaps of chromosomes. Telomeres play an important role in genome protection, aging and overall somatic condition, and can be negatively affected by stressful environmental conditions. Amphibians are especially sensitive to chemical and light pollution due to their complex life cycle, including the transition from water to land habitat, their permeable skin, and nocturnal activity as adults. However, knowledge about changes in telomere length over the developmental stages in amphibians and possible effects of stressors is limited. In this study we investigated the relative telomere length (RTL) of the European green toad (Bufotes viridis) from the larval stage, during metamorphosis until the juvenile stage, under control conditions and different levels of chemical pollution as well as light pollution. In the chemical experiment we found an increase in metamorph RTL and a correlation between tadpole RTL and RTL in later development stages, only in control animals. Medium copper levels negatively affected RTL in later development stages and higher terbuthylazine concentrations led to an accelerated telomere lengthening in metamorphs. Animals developing under light pollution had longer RTL. Our findings suggest a “reset” process during metamorphosis, a negative, non-dose-dependent effect of copper, and telomere elongation under high-level pesticide contamination and light pollution, with the possible side effect of an increased risk of cancer development.

Effects of metamorphosis, common pollutants and light pollution on telomere length in the European green toad (Bufotes viridis)

Enhancers coordinate gene expression in response to developmental and environmental cues. Plant enhancers, however, lack the readily detectable molecular hallmarks of animal enhancers, hindering large-scale functional characterization. Here, we characterize the species- and condition-specific enhancer activity of over 350,000 sequences derived from accessible chromatin regions of Arabidopsis, tomato, maize, and sorghum. We identify GC content and transcription factor binding sites as key features controlling enhancer strength and demonstrate how they can be used to rationally design synthetic enhancers. Enabled by these data, we developed plantGREP, a deep learning model that predicts enhancer strength and identifies functional sequence motifs. We apply plantGREP to generate constitutive, species-, and condition-specific enhancers, and to locate regions with enhancer activity near important developmental genes in crop genomes. These results facilitate the targeted editing of enhancers in crop genomes and identify strategies for the design of cell-type-specific plant enhancers.

Massively parallel characterization and deep learning of enhancers in plant genomes

Brassica juncea (Indian mustard) is a metal-accumulator plant used to remediate contaminated soils through phytoremediation. A promising strategy to enhance its efficiency is the exploitation of bacteria that release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or the direct application of selected VOCs to prime plants for stress tolerance and growth. However, the mechanisms underlying VOC-mediated plant–bacteria interactions are still poorly understood.
This study investigates the interaction between Indian mustard and selected strains of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPBs) to identify VOCs that may promote plant growth under both non-stress and metal-stressed conditions.
A rectangular steel pot was filled with autoclaved sand. B. juncea seeds were sown at one end, while a consortium of selected PGPBs was inoculated in the centre, 10 cm from the seeds. VOCs were collected over time using perforated Teflon tubes connected to a vial containing an SPME fibre and subsequently identified by GC–MS analysis. At the end of the experiment, VOCs were also detected in B. juncea roots. In parallel, bacterial strains were identified in seeds and roots to assess the establishment of symbiotic relationships.
Identified VOCs were classified into two groups: compounds involved in plant–microorganism interactions and compounds associated with plant development. Among the latter, 3-octanone, dimethyl disulfide, and tetradecanal were selected as VOCs potentially released by Bacillus and Microbacterium strains detected as root endophytes. Preliminary tests showed that these compounds modified seedling root system architecture and generally promoted their root growth. Further experiments will evaluate their effects on Indian mustard plants under Cd stress.

Volatile organic compounds mediate plant-bacteria interactions and influence root development in Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.

Plant-emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are central mediators of plant communication and play key roles in shaping resilience against biotic stresses, including herbivory. In addition to herbivore-induced VOCs, constitutively emitted VOCs have recently been shown to activate or prime defense responses in neighboring plants, accelerating efforts to apply these findings to crop protection. This presentation introduces the molecular basis of VOC-mediated plant–plant communication and its agricultural potential.
Because VOCs are small and hydrophobic, their perception cannot be fully explained by conventional membrane receptor models, and their sensing mechanisms long remained elusive. Recent studies have revealed that certain VOCs are incorporated into intracellular and nuclear transcriptional regulatory systems, directly modulating defense gene expression. Notably, epigenetic transcriptional regulation is involved in this process, providing a mechanistic basis for defense activation and priming through chromatin modification and sustained changes in gene responsiveness.
Building on these insights, strategies utilizing VOCs for pest management are being developed. Companion planting with aromatic herbs such as mint and bush basil, as well as direct application of VOC materials including rose essential oil and menthol derivatives, has activated defense-related genes and reduced damage in diverse crops. Because these VOCs enhance the intrinsic defense capacity of crops rather than acting directly on pests, their field application requires careful consideration of volatility and environmental variability; nevertheless, integrating molecular insights with agronomic evaluation will facilitate their incorporation into sustainable IPM strategies.

Plant communication via VOCs: molecular mechanisms and applications for agricultural resilience

Hybrids are widespread in the British flora; it is estimated that ¼ of species hybridise, but hybrid propensity and the fertility of hybrids is unequal between genera. Hybridisation can have substantial positive and negative effects on the native flora, from parental extinction to adaptive introgression. Therefore, it is important to understand what constrains or promotes hybridisation and the fertility of hybrids.
Parental genetic divergence is expected to be negatively correlated with hybrid formation and fertility due to an increase in incompatible loci between parents. However, previous studies have found a lack of consistent correlation between genera, but this could be due to results being based on a limited number of barcode loci. In addition, previous work has relied on anecdotal evidence of hybridisation, with hybrid fertility measurements often absent.
Here we analyse the impact of parental genetic divergence on hybrid viability and fertility, focussing on a genus of British plant species Epilobium (Onagraceae). By combining genetic data from >1000 genome-wide molecular markers with pairwise cross data from 12 species we were able to measure the effect of parental genetic divergence on hybridisation outcome in one genus which has undergone a recent rapid radiation, and we are following up in another genus to look for parallel patterns.
With global environmental change and anthropogenic disturbance influencing species’ geographical and phenological overlap it is becoming increasingly important to predict the likelihood of hybridisation of species pairs we expect to overlap in the future. This could highlight species more at risk at hybridisation-related extinction.

Genomic causes and consequences of hybridisation in the British flora

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum dematium, has emerged as a major foliar disease that threatens spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) production. In this study, a diverse panel of 266 accessions was evaluated under field conditions to dissect the genetic architecture of anthracnose resistance. Substantial phenotypic variation was observed, with disease severity indices (DSI) ranging from 1 (highly resistant) to 10 (highly susceptible). A total of 20 accessions showed moderate to high resistance (DSI ≤ 4), representing valuable resistance sources. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified 20 significant SNPs. The most consistent marker (SOVchr3_19667279) explained up to 66.8% of phenotypic variance, and several associated SNPs were located within or near putative defense-related genes. Genomic prediction (GP) using multiple models demonstrated that predictive accuracy increased when a set with more SNPs was used. The gBLUP model achieved the highest accuracy (r = 0.92), while BRR model attained the best predictive accuracy (r = 0.51) when using twenty GWAS-derived SNPs, highlighting the value of integrating association mapping with prediction approaches. Cross-population prediction performed well (r = 0.58-0.71), whereas across-population prediction showed reduced accuracy (r = 0.10-0.14), indicating the influence of genetic background on model transferability. This integrative genomic study provides novel insights into the genetic basis of anthracnose resistance in spinach and demonstrates the potential of GWAS and GP in accelerating resistance breeding.

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Expanding engagement through specimen digitization, 3D modeling, AR technology, and 3D printing of Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum Specimens

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