In contemporary society, outcomes often take precedence in determining one's identity. During job interviews, a few lines on a CV become the barometer of one's professional experience. Academic prospects hinge on the numerical value of a GPA. All too frequently, self-worth becomes intertwined with measurable…

If you weren’t around in the '80s, you missed some great times; the music, the fashion, the flower genetics! This historical perspective article by David Smythe nicely sums up those heady days with an account of how Arabidopsis thaliana blasted into the ranks of a top model organism, in part through…

The PIN-FORMED family of auxin transporters were first identified through genetic screens of Arabidopsis thaliana in the 1980s. Recessive pin mutants form a flowerless, pin-like inflorescence. Subsequent work showed that the encoded genes are membrane-localized auxin transporters and contribute to the…

Chloroplasts are the location of key processes including photosynthesis, starch synthesis and lipid synthesis. However, many chloroplast proteins have unknown functions,  a problem that can in part by addressed through high-resolution localization data. Here, 1034 putative chloroplast- localized proteins…

The accumulation of metabolites such as proline as compatible osmolytes is a protective mechanism against drought stress in plants. Similarly, under drought conditions, there is an observable increase in the accumulation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), including the essential amino acids isoleucine,…

C4 photosynthesis involves the compartmentalization of the photosynthetic reactions across bundle sheath and mesophyll cells, which requires cell-specific gene expression; however, we do not fully understand how this occurs or how photoperiod impacts it. Here maize (Zea mays) was grown in constant light/temperature…

Plant secondary metabolites like benzoxazinoid can alter biotic and abiotic soil properties to shape plant performance through plant-soil feedback, but how this feedback affects agricultural productivity and food quality in the field context is unknown. Here, the authors used large-scale agricultural…

In many biology textbook, plant pathology is introduced through the historical context of the 1840s great potato famine, caused by colonial ideologies and a virulent pathogen. This causal agent, Phytophthora infestans, is an oomycete that is still present in the environment and causing outbreaks of late…