Recent Posts

The Global Plant Council visits the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility

/
This post is republished with the kind permission of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF).  We at the APPF love visits from our global plant science community, so it was a treat to host Ruth Bastow, Executive Director of the Global Plant Council (GPC), this week. While she was…

What We're Reading: May 26th

/
Review: Enhancing genetic gain in the era of molecular breeding ($) Yield is determined by the crop’s genetic potential and the realization of that potential as affected by agronomic practices and environmental factors. Xu et al. address how yields can be improved through enhancing genetic gain,…

Why can't scientists be better communicators? (SciAm blog)

Author Katherine Wu highlights some of the challenges that interfere with scientists communicating. She says, "Both scientists and non-scientists must commit to not only communication, but also a drastic reassessment of how we communicate with each other. I believe mending the rift starts with…

Interview with Bob Furbank on "Turbocharging Crops"

/
The Science Show on Radio National, Australia, interviewed Robert Furbank, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Australian National University, on efforts to engineer C4 photosynthesis into rice. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/turbo-charging-crops-to-feed-the-billions/8541396

Widespread biological response to rapid warming on the Antarctic Peninsula

/
Amesbury et al. examined stratified cores from moss banks across the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) as a paleoclimate archive. They measured moss accumulation rate, growth rate, microbial productivity, and carbon-isotope discrimination (Δ13C, as a proxy for photosynthetic assimilation rate). Their data reveal…

Global translational reprogramming of plant immune response, and engineering of disease resistance through regulated translation ($)

/
Plants fight back when pathogens attack, and in the first of a pair of papers Xu et al. have revealed a new insight into this response by demonstrating a significant translational upregulation of many defense-response mRNAs (10.1038/nature22371).  Previously, this group showed that the translation of…

The RxLR motif of the Phytophthora infestans effector AVR3a is cleaved before secretion ($)

/
RxLR effectors are proteins secreted from pathogens that enter the cells of the host and support the effectiveness of the pathogen in various ways. Their name refers to the sequence RxLR (Arg-Xxx-Leu-Arg). Previously, this sequence has been thought to be involved the effector’s entry into the host…

Bacterial biosensors for in vivo spatiotemporal mapping of root secretion

/
Biosensors are powerful tools that provide readouts for various small molecules so that they can be detected and located. Pini et al. have developed a set of biosensors for expression in bacteria (Rhizobium leguminosarum) that reveal  some of the small molecules (including key sugars, polyols, organic…

Towards an understanding of spiral patterning in the Sargassum muticum shoot apex

/
Classic studies of leaf placement (phyllotaxy) showed that two different mechanisms occur in land plants. In mosses, leaf placement is determined by the plane of cell division within the single apical cell, whereas in seed plants auxin acts as a morphogen that specifies leaf positioning. Linardić and…