Plant science decadal vision 2020–2030: Reimagining the potential of plants for a healthy and sustainable future

Abstract

Plants, and the biological systems around them, are key to the future health of the planet and its inhabitants. The Plant Science Decadal Vision 2020–2030 frames our ability to perform vital and far‐reaching research in plant systems sciences, essential to how we value participants and apply emerging technologies. We outline a comprehensive vision for addressing some of our most pressing global problems through discovery, practical applications, and education. The Decadal Vision was developed by the participants at the Plant Summit 2019, a community event organized by the Plant Science Research Network. The Decadal Vision describes a holistic vision for the next decade of plant science that blends recommendations for research, people, and technology. Going beyond discoveries and applications, we, the plant science community, must implement bold, innovative changes to research cultures and training paradigms in this era of automation, virtualization, and the looming shadow of climate change. Our vision and hopes for the next decade are encapsulated in the phrase reimagining the potential of plants for a healthy and sustainable future. The Decadal Vision recognizes the vital intersection of human and scientific elements and demands an integrated implementation of strategies for research (Goals 1–4), people (Goals 5 and 6), and technology (Goals 7 and 8). This report is intended to help inspire and guide the research community, scientific societies, federal funding agencies, private philanthropies, corporations, educators, entrepreneurs, and early career researchers over the next 10 years. The research encompass experimental and computational approaches to understanding and predicting ecosystem behavior; novel production systems for food, feed, and fiber with greater crop diversity, efficiency, productivity, and resilience that improve ecosystem health; approaches to realize the potential for advances in nutrition, discovery and engineering of plant‐based medicines, and "green infrastructure." Launching the Transparent Plant will use experimental and computational approaches to break down the phytobiome into a "parts store" that supports tinkering and supports query, prediction, and rapid‐response problem solving. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are indispensable cornerstones of realizing our vision. We make recommendations around funding and systems that support customized professional development. Plant systems are frequently taken for granted therefore we make recommendations to improve plant awareness and community science programs to increase understanding of scientific research. We prioritize emerging technologies, focusing on non‐invasive imaging, sensors, and plug‐and‐play portable lab technologies, coupled with enabling computational advances. Plant systems science will benefit from data management and future advances in automation, machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence‐assisted data integration, pattern identification, and decision making. Implementation of th...

Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas

“…The long-term vision for the PCA infrastructure is similar in scope to other moonshot ideas such as the Human Cell Atlas ( Regev et al, 2017 ), the Transparent Plant ( Henkhaus et al, 2020 ) and the Virtual Plant ( Kost, 2001 ). However, the PCA vision is different in several important ways.…”

“…Second, we challenge and support the community to create a 4D representation of a developing plant from root to fruit ( Henkhaus et al, 2020 ) with data collected from single-cell omics platforms (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) for each cell or cell type that are mapped onto tissue atlases of organ development. The data collected from the single-cell platforms form the basis of these atlases and serve as a reference for mapping further experimental data (e.g.…”

“…Understanding the diversity and origin of cell types across the plant lineage will be a central part of the initiative, as illustrated in Box 2 with the chloroplast as an example. The PCA is an essential step towards realizing the vision of a Transparent Plant, a simulated environment where virtual plants can be built from parts and behaviors ( Henkhaus et al, 2020 ). In order to materialize such a simulation environment, where the parts are and how they work together must be understood.…”

Multi-Species Genomics-Enabled Selection for Improving Agroecosystems Across Space and Time

“…To meet these demands sustainably, food production must be intensified. These challenges require innovation and diversification in agroecological-systems design and management ( Runck et al, 2014 ; Litrico and Violle, 2015 ; Henkhaus et al, 2020 ). Today the dominant form of agriculture across the globe consists of large acreages of monoculture production ( Crews et al, 2018 ).…”

Engaging Undergraduates in Research Experiences at a Distance: Insights and Recommendations for Remote UREs

“…Experiential learning and discovery are central to building a science identity ( 4 ) as well as undergraduate student skill development in plant science in the classroom ( 5 , 6 ), and in UREs ( 7 , 8 ). The 2020 Decadal Vision in plant science calls for “reimagining the workplace to nurture adaptive and diverse scientists” (Goal 5) and “building capacity and interest to engage with plant science” (Goal 6) to revitalize plant science through greater participation and broader perspectives ( 9 ). UREs provide such participation as students engage in novel research, professional development, and peer-networking cohort activities ( 7 , 10 , 11 ).…”