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This study maps chromatin accessibility at single-cell resolution in rice and related grasses, revealing how regulatory DNA elements evolve across cell types and species and identifying potential silencers that control gene expression.

Analyses of the nationally representative Indian Council of Medical Research–India Diabetes survey reported that Indian diets are characterized by high intakes of low-quality carbohydrates associated with 14–30% higher cardiometabolic risk, which can be reduced by substituting carbohydrates with protein.

4,000-year-old phytoliths (plant microfossils) from the Monte Castelo shell mound (southwestern Amazonia) provide evidence for an independent rice domestication event in the Americas.

Overuse of nitrogen fertilizer in crop cultivation can lead to environmental pollution necessitating strategies to optimize nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). This study examines data from more than 31,000 farmer fields across South Asia to identify opportunities for improving NUE in rice cropping systems.

Rice production in India is a foundation for global food security, but strategies for sustainable intensification are uncertain. By combining large-scale surveys with predictive modeling, the authors identify efficient pathways for achieving productivity gains while enhancing economic and environmental goals.

The model and geographic location(s) of Asian rice domestication has been a controversial topic. Now a reanalysis of a previously published large genomic dataset, supports three geographically separate domestications of Asian rice.

Agricultural rice production germinates seeds and establishes seedlings underwater. Now a trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) phosphatase, OsTPP7, is shown to enhance anaerobic germination tolerance by increasing T6P turnover and thus starch mobilization.

In plants kinesin-14 motors have been proposed as dynamic cross-linkers between actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. This study shows that OsKCH1, a kinesin-14 from rice, is a non-processive, minus-end-directed motor that transports actin filaments along microtubules.

A natural pathway in rice and in seven other major crop species degrades 57–89% of accumulated methylmercury and releases Hg into the air. The MeHg demethylation within rice mitigates Hg flux into human food webs, diminishing human cognitive damage and generating global economic benefits of US$30.7–84.2 billion.

Here the authors demonstrate that cropland expansion following the historical trend together with closing the current exploitable yield gap by half or more across Africa reduces the continent’s reliance on land conversions and imports by 2050.

The environmental and socioeconomic costs of annual crops challenge their sustainability. This study reports the successful breeding of perennial rice and assesses its benefits for yields, soil health and farm labour and income as well as its potential geographic range globally.

Current cropping calendar management erodes wheat yield potential in the rice–wheat cropping system of eastern India. By combining field and household survey data, time series of remotely sensed information and dynamic crop simulations, this study shows that exploitable wheat yield gaps could increase by 69% through planting date adjustments that enhance climate resilience.

Fungal cell walls release β-1,3-glucan fragments that trigger plant immunity. Here, the authors show that a glucanase (Ebg1) of the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae suppresses plant immunity by hydrolyzing β-1,3-glucan. At the same time, Ebg1 induces plant immune responses that are dampened by a fungal protein that interacts with Ebg1.

Genome-wide evidence to support that wild rice can contribute to weedy rice evolution by hybridization and adaptive introgression is very limited. Here, the authors sequence the weedy rice genomes and show reproductively compatible wild rice can contribute to weedy rice evolution.

The orientation of plant roots responds to gravity and influences nutrient acquisition. Here the authors show that the formin RMD buffers movement of specialized gravity-sensing organelles and report enhanced RMD expression during phosphate deficiency that could alter root angle to improve phosphate uptake.

Magnaporthe oryzae nitronate monooxygenase NMO2 is shown to be required for prevention of damaging lipid nitration and host ROS-mediated innate immune responses in rice plants, enabling biotrophic growth of the rice blast fungus.

Genome assemblies of 13 domesticated and wild rice relatives reveal salient features of genome evolution across the genus Oryza, especially rapid species diversification and turnover of transposons. This study also releases a complete long-read assembly of IR 8 ‘Miracle Rice’.

Herbivore cooperation between insect pests can result in substantially greater damage to crops but also constitutes a good target for improved pest control. Liu et al. reveal how the brown plant-hopper and the rice striped stem-borer obtain mutual benefits when feeding on the same rice plant.

The increase in atmospheric methane has been accelerating since 2007, and identifying drivers is critical for climate mitigation. In this study, the authors show that the expansion of rice cultivation in Africa accounts for 7% of rising emissions.

A transposon insertion in the regulatory region of maize Tb1 gene leads to increased apical dominance and a reduction of tillering. Here, the authors showed that a duplicated rice Tb1 orthologue, OsTb2, has gained a regulatory effect on tillering opposite that of OsTb1 during artificial selection only in upland japonica rice.

Understanding the link between genotype and phenotype can facilitate efforts by breeders to utilize natural variation and develop new crop varieties. Here the authors present a diverse germplasm collection, a high-density genotyping array and a set of bioinformatic tools to enable association mapping in rice.

In plants, oxidosqualene cyclases (OSCs) perform a highly complex single reaction to generate the basis of all triterpenoid diversity. Here the authors leverage genome mining and transient expression to uncover multiple evolutionary and mechanistic insights for OSCs across the plant kingdom.

Hydropower is a clean energy source but dams trap river sediment, decreasing delivery downstream and to coastlines. In the Mekong River Basin, replacing some hydropower dams with solar, wind and energy storage facilities could maintain energy supply while reducing impact on sediment transport.

Plant root architecture can adapt to different nutrient conditions in the soil. Here Giri et al. show that the rice auxin influx carrier AUX1 mobilizes auxin from the root apex to the differentiation zone and promotes root hair elongation when roots encounter low external phosphate.

Single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomic approaches reveal major expression changes in outer root cell types when grown in soil versus gel conditions, and also uncover how root tissues communicate and adapt to contrasting soil conditions at single-cell resolution.

High-resolution satellite data enables a unique verification of national methane emissions worldwide. Global estimates are 63 Tg a⁻¹ for oil-gas, 30% higher than the UNFCCC reports due to under-reporting by four largest emitters, and 33 Tg a⁻¹ for coal, consistent with previous estimates.

Phenotypic selection analysis is used to estimate the type and strength of selection that acts on more than 15,000 transcripts in rice (Oryza sativa), which provides insight into the adaptive evolutionary role of selection on gene expression.

Global catastrophes such as nuclear war can generate soot that reduces the amount of light reaching the earth’s surface. Here the authors model how this kind of catastrophe would impact common crop growth, recommending increased crop diversity for agricultural resilience.

Understanding how fungal pathogens deliver proteins to diverse plant compartments is critical for developing disease control. Giraldo et al. demonstrate that the blast fungus possesses distinct secretion systems for proteins targeted to compartments inside or outside living rice cells.

Rapid discovery of functional resistance genes is enabled by a high-expression signature and high-throughput transformation. This approach identified 31 new resistance genes for wheat and can be applied across crops to support food security.

The peri-arbuscular membrane (PAM) mediates mutually-beneficial nutrient exchange between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Here the authors identify ARK1, a PAM-specific receptor-like kinase from rice that sustains AM symbiosis post-arbuscule development.