High yielding crops are often less resistant to pathogens and vice versa, suggesting that there is an underlying mechanism co-regulating development and disease resistance in plants. Yan et al. identified a transcription factor in cucumber (CsIVP) that regulates vascular development and resistance to…

Auxin regulates various aspects of plant growth and development and it also contributes to plant defense. Auxin activates downstream signaling by promoting degradation of the repressor Aux/IAA proteins to liberate the key transcription factors ARFs (auxin response factors). Pathogens have been known…

Both polyploidy (i.e., having more than two sets of chromosomes) and seed traits influence plant fitness. However, the interaction between these two factors is underexplored. Here, Stevens et al. tested the effect of polyploidy and seed developmental environment on 1) seed viability and mass; 2) seed…

Functional traits have shown promise for their ability to improve predictions of interspecific plant responses to environmental factors, but most trait-based studies have not addressed the role of intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in trait-environment relationships. ITV may be directly or indirectly…

White paper: Introducing plant biology graduate students to a culture of mental well‐being Graduate studies are challenging times, fraught with uncertainty and stress. Dewa et al. addressed this problem head on by developing a required, credited course for first-year graduate students, “Tools…

McKinnon et al. investigate the effects of a membrane on the folding of a thylakoid protease. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00797 By Lucas McKinnon and Steven Theg Background: Inside a chloroplast is the light-absorbing membrane called the thylakoid, which contains many different proteins…

Plant Science Careers in Space Biology Recorded Thursday, April 9, 2020 About This Webinar Plant science careers in the space program. Really? For many plant biologists, the concept of working for NASA or contributing to space exploration might be rather unexpected. However, career opportunities…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…