1. NAASC have had diversifying awards for the annual Arabidopsis conference (ICAR) in place since 2004, and have been thinking about this and planning around DEI, particularly with respect to race and ethnicity, career stage, and gender. 2. We have made progress over the years, particularly with our…

Yuko Yamamoto, first author of "Enhancement of Arabidopsis growth by non–24 hour day–night cycles" Current Position: Researcher in TOYOTA BOSHOKU CORPORATION, Japan Education: PhD in Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences at Nagoya University (Japan), working at TOYOTA BOSHOKU CORPORATION…

Jing Peng, first author of “COP1 positively regulates ABA signaling during Arabidopsis seedling growth in darkness by mediating ABA-induced ABI5 accumulation” Current Position: Postdoc, China Agricultural University Education: B.S. (2016) from Shanxi Agricultural University; Ph.D. (2022) from…

The neurological condition Huntington’s disease is caused by mutated versions of the Huntingtin gene that encode expanded stretches of polyglutamine repeats, resulting in protein aggregation. However, despite the widespread presence of polyglutamine repeat regions in plant proteomes, similar pathologies…

Synthetic biology aims to engineer and redesign components of natural organisms for useful purposes.  One of the most prolific areas of synthetic biology is based on the engineering of photoreactive proteins with signaling potential, such as photoreceptors. Natural photoreceptors consist of a prosthetic…

The vascular plant body composed of root and shoot is specified during embryogenesis, but most flowering plants can also develop additional root systems post-embryonically: lateral roots, as a response to wounding, or shoot-borne roots (“adventitious” roots, literally meaning “in the wrong place”).…

Generally, evolution is driven by natural selection, but not always. Human activities lead to the creation of unique niches, and other organisms must adapt accordingly. Cities are unique niches that are significantly different from rural areas and natural conditions. The urban habitat provides plants…

The seed germination niche is the set of environmental conditions in which a seed can germinate. This collection of requirements is expected to be tuned to the climate each species encounters in its natural habitat, but this hypothesis remains to be formally tested. Here, Carta and colleagues make use…