Single-cell landscape of leaves reveals the roles of vascular tissue cells in the heat tolerance of pearl millet

A new research highlight by Jinlin Zhang of Lanzhou University and Chris Jones of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), published in Grass Research (Sept 2025), for the first time reveals the spatiotemporal dynamics of heat stress responses at the single-cell level in pearl millet leaves.

The study has also clarified the core role of vascular tissues and the epigenetic regulation mechanism of memory genes in heat adaptation.

These findings can provide targets for molecular design breeding of heat-tolerant crops (such as through editing UGT73C3), contributing to addressing the issue of global warming.

On the technology side, the single-cell transcriptome technology in this work identified 60 per cent more stress response genes than traditional transcriptome technology, highlighting its resolution advantage.

Citation

Zhang, J. and Jones, C.S. 2025. Single-cell landscape of leaves reveals the roles of vascular tissue cells in the heat tolerance of pearl millet. Grass Research 5: e023.

Photo: Newly harvested millet heads in Katanga Village, near Fakara, Niger (credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann)

Curated by Tezira Lore, Communication Officer, ILRI