Recent Posts

The structural basis of flagellin detection by NAIP5: A strategy to limit pathogen immune evasion ($)

Both plants and animals have a sophisticated immune system comprising receptors to detect pathogen-encoded epitopes or virulence molecules. These receptors are programmed to recognize pathogen ligands which are rapidly evolving over an evolutionary time. However, the structural basis of ligand perception…

Using natural wood as a cost-effective alternative in solar steam generation

Using solar irradiation effectively for steam generation is a promising renewable energy source for a wide variety of applications, including large-scale power generation, desalination, water purification and sterilization, which is particularly important in remote areas where solar power is often the…

Transgenic Cavendish bananas with resistance to Fusarium wilt

Banana, the common breakfast component, is also a staple food in some regions of the world. More than 99% of the bananas exported world-wide are the clonally-propagated Cavendish variety, which have very little genetic variation and so are prone to disease outbreaks. Recent years have witnessed the emergence…

What we're reading: November 24th

A special "thank you" too the many people who have contributed to What We're Reading over the past year! And don't forget you can sign up to receive email alerts - click here then "Notify me of new content". Review: Plant systems biology at the single-cell level The establishment and enormous…

Guarding the Gates: How PROCERA Helps Keep Tomato Plants From Wilting

Plants have two major ways of dealing with drought stress. First, when water levels are low, the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) induces stomatal closure. Soon after, growth, flowering, and fruit development take a back seat to plant survival. This suppressed growth is mediated by decreased activity…

Granting an Extension: mRNAs Produced by Read-through from Small Nuclear RNAs

The C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) extends from the catalytic core and consists of repeats of a seven-amino acid motif. The CTD functions in the regulation of Pol II function and is subject to just about every protein modification you can think of, including methylation, acetylation,…

Thank you

This past year at ASPB we've been thinking a lot about how we can support early-career researchers no matter their career goals. One of the motivations for developing the Plantae platform has been to provide an online home for plant scientists across the globe and career spectrum, to allow informal communities…

Funding Opportunity: DOE Releases Solicitation Environmental Systems Research

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – November 21, 2017 The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science has released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) soliciting proposals from single investigators or multi-investigator teams to conduct…

Update: Oxygen sensing and integrative stress signaling in plants

By Romy Schmidt, Daan A Weits, Claudio FJ Feulner, Joost T. van Dongen Plants grow in a dynamic environment and continuously face numerous stress conditions in parallel. This fluctuating environment pushed the evolution of extensive metabolic flexibility (Sweetlove et al., 2010; van Dongen et al.,…