Archive: December, 2021

Gao et al. reveal a non-proteolysis-based mechanism by which polyubiquitin modification of a histone acetyltransferase modulates grain size. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab194 Background: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple crop that feeds over half of the world’s population and boosting rice…

Chloroplasts are indispensable for plant growth and physiological performance; not only for photosynthesis but also for many biochemical processes. Due to the endosymbiont origin of the chloroplast, chloroplast development requires sophisticated machinery to relay the signals between the nuclear and…

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness about the environmental impact of animal-based protein sources. Legumes such as chickpea (Cicer arientinum) are relatively cheap and sustainable sources of proteins, dietary fibres and micronutrients. Although there is a vast chickpea germplasm collection,…

Centromeres are chromosome regions that consist of tandemly repeated “satellite arrays” and harbor CENH3 centromeric histones. Centromeres are present in every eukaryotic cell and are important for kinetochore assembly, so they ensure chromosome segregation during cell division. In spite of the importance…

Several transcription factors (TFs) have been identified previously as responsive to cold and heat stresses in maize. Variation in TF binding sites (TFBS) determine changes in the expression of target genes in response to the aforementioned stresses. Traditionally, single varieties were used to study…

Auxin is a key hormone in almost all stages of the plant development and its main natural form is  indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). In Arabidopsis, several gene families are involved in auxin homeostasis. In this work, Hayashi et al. focus on the roles of DIOXYGENASE FOR AUXIN OXIDATION 1 (DAO1) which converts…

‘Fine tuning’ is a very significant process that takes place in the cell to correctly modulate plant responses. BOTRYTIS-INDUCED KINASE 1 (BIK1) is an important hub protein that is at the center of the signaling hub that controls defense responses. Hence, plants fine tune this important protein through…

Seed production was a decisive adaptation that appeared during plant evolution. Not in vain! The most diverse plant lineage today is that of the so-called seed plants, a group that includes gymnosperms and angiosperms. Therefore, it is not surprising that understanding seed origin and evolution has been…