Sims et al. examine the mechanisms protecting the highly repetitive ribosomal DNA from double-strand break formation and homologous repair during meiosis. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00367 Background: Meiosis is a specialized cell division in sexually reproducing organisms, where one round of DNA…

By Lynn GL Richardson The acid-growth theory was proposed over 40 years ago based on early observations that low apoplastic pH promotes growth in a pathway involving the plant hormone auxin (Rayle and Cleland, 1992; Hager, 2003; Arsuffi and Braybrook, 2018). Since this discovery, a clearer understanding…

By Jennifer Mach, Science Editor I don’t know how polyploids get their chromosomes paired correctly in meiosis— I can’t even sort my socks. Sometimes I give up and pair random socks, but plants can’t go with random pairings, because that’s a route to death, and with genomes in the dozens…

Anahit Galstyan, first author of Auxin promotion of seedling growth via ARF5 is dependent on the brassinosteroid-regulated transcription factors BES1 and BEH4 Current Position: Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany Education:…

Nishikant Wase, first author of Remodeling of Chlamydomonas metabolism using synthetic inducers results in lipid storage during growth Current Position: Senior Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA Education: 2011 PhD Department of Chemical and Biological…

Adrian Dauphinee, first author of Chemical screening pipeline for identification of specific plant autophagy modulators Current Position: NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at SLU, Uppsala  Education: PhD in Biology  Non-scientific interests: travel, cycling, graphic design, hockey, swimming, kayaking,…

By Gregory Bertoni Symbiotic associations with microorganisms are widespread among both woody and herbaceous plant species, including most agronomic crops (Brundrett and Tedersoo, 2018). Mycorrhizal fungi provide their hosts with mineral nutrients absorbed from the soil in exchange for fixed carbon…

Bethany Huot, Michigan State University Driving through the country on a lazy summer day with a nice gentle breeze, the lush fields of wheat, corn and soybean appear peaceful. What you cannot see is the quiet war plants are fighting against the insects and pathogens that have pulled up to a feast…