It is relatively simple to determine net O2 flux in leaves.  However, this data provides no information on the underlying processes responsible for this flux, namely gross oxygen production (GOP, water splitting), mitochondrial respiration in light, Rubisco oxygenation, and photorespiration.  In this…

Self Reflection Blog Series : For and by Early Career Scientists I do not see myself being particularly talented in negotiation since I grew up in a culture where a well-behaved is often rewarded with a certain degree of entitlement. Being modest and humble were the two virtual values emphasized during…

In its simplest definition, a plastid is an organelle that manufactures and stores essential chemical compounds used by its host cell. Numerous plastids exist beyond the familiar chloroplast. Chromoplasts synthesise and store carotenoid pigments, and provide their hosts with district yellow, orange or…

Seeds are hugely important, providing the opportunity for reproductive dormancy in seed-bearing plants and as a nutrient-dense food source for animals. Seed development involves the formation of three genetically distinct tissues, the embryo, seed coat and endosperm. Although normally dependent on fertilization…

We often hear that auxin controls plant growth. In a special issue of Current Biology focused on membranes, Béziat and Kleine-Vehn observe that due to its role in controlling the distribution of auxin transporters (and therefore auxin), it is also reasonable to say that vesicle trafficking controls…

A protein’s function and localization are often studied by fusing to it a small “tag” to enhance visualization (through the tag’s fluorescence or antibodies that recognize the tag). These tags are often assumed to have little effect on the protein of interest, but as Hurst et al. show using several…

Wang et al. analyse data from the 3000 rice (Oryza sativa) genome (3K-RG) project, identifying “29 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, 2.4 million small indels and over 90,000 structural variations”. The data of course strongly support the two major rice types (Indica and Japonica), but also…