The effect of temperature on plant morphology is known as thermomorphogenesis. The phytohormone auxin is important for thermo-induced cell elongation. In Arabidopsis thaliana, Phytochrome-Interacting Factor 4 (PIF4) forms the central hub of the thermal response pathway and directly regulates auxin synthesis…

Chromatin changes are at the core of plant development and adaptation, as they constitute a crucial layer of gene expression control. The effects of different chromatin marks have historically been studied through mutations to the protein complexes depositing and removing the marks, which results in…

Flowering time is determined by both endogenous factors and environmental cues to ensure successful reproduction. ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 3 (EIN3) and EIN3 LIKE 1 (EIL1) are transcription factors which are the key downstream regulators of ethylene signal transduction. Rapid flowering is promoted by the…

It has always been of interest to the plant community to understand the mechanisms behind the evolution of diverse floral carotenoid pigmentation within a genus. In this paper, Liang et al. investigated the mechanism behind monkeyflowers (Mimulus spp.) speciation driven by the flower color locus, YELLOW…

Climate change profoundly impacts plant communities, for example, by changing the geographic range of some species and locally extinguishing others. Yet these changes take time, maybe a few years, to be observed. This lag between climate and plant communities changes could result from the soil seed bank…

The vertebrate adaptive immune system is truly an evolutionary marvel. With its ability to mix-and-match segments of immunoglobulin genes, a nearly unlimited diversity of antigens can be recognized. Plants lack this ability, greatly limiting the number of antigens (and pathogens) any individual can recognize.…

Review: Salt-tolerant crops: Time to deliver Few topics are as inherently interesting from both fundamental and applied perspectives as salt tolerance in crop plants. From the basic science side, cells have several strategies that they use to keep Na+ levels low in their cytosol in spite of what can…

Daewon Kim, first author of "The Raf-like MAPKKK INTEGRIN-LINKED KINASE 5 regulates purinergic receptor-mediated innate immunity in Arabidopsis" Current position: Research Scientist in Dr. Gary Stacey’ Lab, Division of Plant Science and Technology, University of Missouri-Columbia Education: Ph.D.…