Size no longer matters: Cloning algal genes just became easier
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellEmrich-Mills and Yates et al. develop a method for the large-scale cloning of Chlamydomonas genes without sequence length or complexity limits. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab024
By Tom Z. Emrich-Mills, Gary Yates, and Luke C.M. Mackinder
Background: Chlamydomonas…
Recognizing Plant Physiology author Ana Clara Fanton
Plant Physiology: Author Profiles
Ana Clara Fanton, first author of Hydraulic consequences of enzymatic breakdown of grapevine pit membranes
Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate of Yale School of the Environment
Education: Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Non-scientific Interests:…
Recognizing Plant Direct first author Liza Esther Alexander
Plant Direct: Author Profiles
Dr. Liza Esther Alexander, first author of High spatial resolution imaging of the dynamics of cuticular lipid deposition during Arabidopsis flower development
Current Position: Associate Scientist I, Kemin Industries Inc, Des Moines, Iowa
Education: Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and…
Recognizing Plant Physiology author Catriona Walker
Plant Physiology: Author Profiles
Catriona Walker, first author of Integrated dominance mechanisms regulate reproductive architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus
Current Position: PhD student, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Education: MRes Plant Science (University of Glasgow), BSc Biology (University of Stirling)
Non-scientific…
Review: Ageing beautifully: can the benefits of seed priming be separated from a reduced lifespan trade-off? (J. Exp. Bot.)
Plant Science Research WeeklySeed priming is a family of presowing techniques that control water uptake in seeds, so they are dehydrated once metabolic activities have restarted but before the end of germination. Primed seeds have shown increased and more synchronized germination, especially under stressful conditions, making these…
Viewpoint: Bryophytes are not early diverging land plants (New Phytol.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyPhylogenetic trees demonstrate the evolutionary relationship between organisms, but sometimes these relationships are described by inappropriate terminology. In this Viewpoint, McDaniel observes that based on a phylogeny as drawn here, bryophytes (represented by the genus Physcomitrella, aka Physcomitrium)…
An evidence-based 3D reconstruction of Asteroxylon mackiei, the most complex plant preserved from the Rhynie chert (bioRxiv)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe Rhynie chert holds some of the oldest and best-preserved fossils of vascular plants (Rhynie is a village in north-east Scotland, and chert is a type of sedimentary rock). Analysis of thin section of fossils from here have provided the earliest cellular details of “rhizoid-based rooting systems,…
Trapped in traffic – redefining cellular responses to auxin pharmacology (Plant Physiol.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyUnderstanding cellular responses to the phytohormone auxin has always been a challenge and decades of work has constantly renewed our knowledge of the same. Here, Narasimhan and colleagues attempted to revisit and resolve the basis of differential action of naturally occurring auxin indole-3-acetic acid…
Structural insights into photosystem II assembly (Nature Plants)
Plant Science Research WeeklyPhotosystem II is a multisubunit enzyme complex in the thylakoid membranes of plant, algae, and cyanobacteria. Here, Zebret et al. used cryo-electron microscopy to produce high-resolution structural information of the intermediate complexes involved in the biogenesis and assembly of photosystem II from…