Duckweeds serve as ideal model plants for whole-plant imaging due to their simple two-dimensional structure and compact size. Using bioluminescent reporters, we have achieved long-term, continuous monitoring of gene expression dynamics at both the whole-plant and single-cell levels (Sci Adv 2016; New Phytol 2021; Plant Physiol 2023). These studies spatiotemporally revealed dynamics of...
Lemna minor of the Lemnaceae (aka duckweeds) family is a superior model for investigating plant-microbe interactions. We designed a project, which aims to quantify the effects of a synthetic bacterial community across the largest genotype × environmental stress matrix (6,480 combinations) examined in a plant–microbe study to date. Multi-omics (metabolome, transcriptome, ionome, and phenome)...
Duckweeds are among the fastest-growing flowering plants and represent promising aquatic biomass resources for food, feed, bioenergy, and other value-added compounds. However, the endogenous mechanisms controlling carbon allocation and lipid accumulation in duckweeds remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated abscisic acid (ABA)-induced lipid remodeling in Lemna minor. Treatment with 1...
Duckweeds predominantly propagate vegetatively, and the mechanisms underlying their sexual reproduction and seed biology remain largely unexplored due to the absence of a tractable experimental system. Here, we identified a Korean ecotype of Lemna aequinoctialis that completes its entire sexual life cycle under laboratory conditions, and established a developmental framework encompassing...
Duckweeds are promising photosynthetic chassis for plant synthetic biology. Yet, it remains unclear whether they can support the heterologous production of complex specialized metabolites and which expression strategies are best suited for multigene pathway reconstruction. Here, I first provide an update on our transformation protocol for the giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza). I then show...
In the aquatic environment of Lemnaceae (duckweed), the mechanism for transporting hydrophobic bioactive signals through the aqueous medium remains a critical question. While bilayer extracellular vesicles (EVs) are established components in the plant apoplast, in this study, we identified a unique class of secretory nanoparticles (NPs) in duckweed exudate. Structural and omics profiling...
