By Shin-ichiro Inoue, and Toshinori Kinoshita Light-induced stomatal responses were first reported 23 by Francis Darwin (1898). Stomata open in response to light, including blue and red light (Shimazaki et al., 2007).  Red light induces stomatal opening via photosynthesis in the mesophyll and guard…

PLOS Computational Biology has a series of "Ten Simple Rules" articles. Here is one for undergraduate researchers, "Ten simple rules to make the most out of your undergraduate research career" by Megan Yu and Yu-Min Kuo Here are the rules, read the article for elaboration Rule 1:…

May 2017, MIT Technology Review by James Temple Reinventing Rice for a World Transformed by Climate Change UC Davis plant geneticist Pamela Ronald wants to create rice varieties that can survive in harsher conditions, including more frequent droughts. "Pamela Ronald stands in front of two rows of…

Areas of expertise Chromosome biology, epigenetics, dosage compensation, polyploidy, heterosis, gene silencing, synthetic chromosomes, genomic balance. James Birchler is Curators’ Professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He completed his BS degree at Eastern Illinois University and his…

Areas of expertise Intracellular protein trafficking, clathrin-dependent trafficking, membrane biogenesis, microtubules, polar growth, the phragmoplast, the cell wall. Sebastian Bednarek is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his PhD from…

Once seen as potential sequencing artifacts, long, non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs, >200 nucleotides) have gained recognition as important regulatory factors. LncRNAs are transcribed from a variety of genomic locations (introns, intergenic spaces, and coding regions) from the sense or antisense strand (reviewed…

Why we're writing What We're Reading and how you can contribute.... (more)   Nature Outlook Supplement: Food Security (OA) Nature has published an Outlook feature on the topic of Food Security with the following overview articles, all useful for teaching: Food security,   Nutrition:…

Kassis asked biology, biomedical engineering and bioengineering faculty how important they considered several criteria for recognition as an author and rank on authorship list. A key finding is that, “Overall, there seemed to be a consensus that the time spent conducting experiments, coming up with…