Plants need several mineral nutrients for their optimal growth and development. This is contingent on a proper nutrient balance particularly between the two most required essential elements, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus. Even though considerable success has been achieved in understanding the molecular…

As in animals, plants produce microRNAs that are also key developmental regulators. Unlike some animals, plants are more exposed to environmental factors that alter cellular processes. Ré et al. show here that phenotypic defects produced by loss-of-function mutations in key proteins of Arabidopsis miRNA…

Plants and associated microbes co-exist and co-evolve over time. The rate of evolution is higher in pathogens as compared to plants. Although the phenotypic consequences of rapid evolution in pathogens are well studied, changes at genomic level are not as well known, and are the subject of a recent review…

The bearing habit refers to the location of flower buds in woody plants. For walnut cultivars, lateral bearing is preferred for its yield superiority. Deciphering its genetic architecture would improve seedling and sapling selection. Here, Aradhya et al. performed a SNP-based linkage map to estimate…

Genome sequencing has become (relatively) cheap and easy, but assigning functions to the genes identified remains challenging—even in exhaustively studied species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, where functions of ~30% of genes remain unknown. Many of these genes likely have functions that are essential,…

The allotetraploid species white clover (Trifolium repens) resulted from hybridization of two diploid European species whose extant relatives are found only in limited regions–– T. occidentale is a creeping clover found only in saline areas near the shores of Western Europe and T. pallescens is found…

Li et al. reveal a complex regulatory network defining mitochondrial, chloroplast and endoplasmic reticulum function. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00885 By Lu Li1, Anastasiya Lavell2, Xiangxiang Meng1, Oliver Berkowitz1, Jennifer Selinski1, Allison van de Meene3, Chris Carrie4, Christoph…

Bhuvan Pathak, co-first author of Heat-shock inducible CRISPR/Cas9 system generates heritable mutations in rice Current Position: Senior Graduate Assistant Education: PhD candidate, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA; MS Agronomy (2010) University of Florida, Gainesville; MS in Biotechnology…