Recent Posts

Synthetic hormone-responsive transcription factors can monitor an reprogram plant development

Development is driven by the activities of hormones which control expression of various traits. Modeling hormone pathways is complicated by extensive cross-talk, redundancy, and feedback loops. Khakhar et al. investigate the use of a technique known as Hormone Activated Cas9-based Repressors (HACRs)…

Phytochrome, metabolism and growth plasticity

Phytochromes are plant photoreceptors that can sense red and far-red light, as-well-as the ratio of these light qualities.  This review examines the relationship between phytochrome signalling and carbon metabolism.  Krahmer et al. assess the influence of phytochrome signalling on the synthesis of…

What We're Reading: December 29th

Guest Editor:  Dr Mike Page Mike is a postdoc at Lancaster University in the UK, and has been a Plantae Fellow since September 2017.  He is a molecular biologist with a background in plant abiotic stress responses, including retrograde signaling pathways in which plastids manipulate nuclear gene…

Highlights of plant science 2017. May-Jun

The last week of the year is the time to look back and reflect. We like to take this opportunity to recognize the good work done by the plant science community. Over the next few days we'll remind you of some of the big stories and successes that came from our community. These stories were highly accessed…

Highlights of plant science 2017. Mar-Apr

The last week of the year is the time to look back and reflect. We like to take this opportunity to recognize the good work done by the plant science community. Over the next few days we'll remind you of some of the big stories and successes that came from our community. These stories were highly accessed…

Highlights of plant science 2017. Jan-Feb

The last week of the year is the time to look back and reflect. We like to take this opportunity to recognize the good work done by the plant science community. Over the next six days we'll remind you of some of the big stories and successes that came from our community. These stories were highly accessed…

Review: On the selectivity, specificity and signaling potential of long-distance movement of messenger RNA

Regulation of transcription occurs at the cell-type specific level, but transcribed messenger RNA is mobile and can move between tissues through plant vasculature, serving as a long distance messenger. Many mRNA molecules have been identified in the phloem sap, suggesting that mRNA transport goes through…

Review. Grasses: The original Vikings ($)

The Vikings were notorious raiders for centuries, pillaging and looting the shores throughout the northern hemisphere. Through their successful raids, the Vikings established colonies that grew into states and countries, among these Normandy, England, Sicily, and Russia. The success of the Vikings is…

LTR_retriever: a highly accurate and sensitive program for identification of long terminal-repeat retrotransposons

Transposable elements are a major part of plant genomes. Long-terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR (LTR-RTs) alone make up 78% of the maize genome (retrotransposons use a “copy and paste” transposition method meaning that a single source element can generate numerous clones of itself, leading to…