Entries by Arif Ashraf

Faculty Job: Myths & Realities – an interview with Cătălin Voiniciuc

About you · Describe your journey from student to newly appointed faculty   PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Group Leader, Designer Glycans lab – (since 01.2019) Research Associate, Markus Pauly lab – (05.2016 – 12.2018) Postdoctoral Researcher, Björn Usadel lab – (02.2016 – 04.2016) PhD Researcher, Björn Usadel lab – (12.2012 – 01.2016) Visiting Doctoral Student, Helen North lab – (03.2014 – 04.2014) Research Assistant/Technician 2, George Haughn lab – (09.2011 […]

Faculty Job: Myths & Realities – an interview with Mary Heskel

About you Describe your journey from student to newly appointed faculty   I started my undergraduate degree somewhat begrudgingly taking introductory biology at the University of Pennsylvania. Half of that introductory course was taught by Dr. Scott Poethig, a corn geneticist, whose lectures forced me to think about plants in a new light. I continued taking […]

A mechanistic framework for auxin dependent Arabidopsis root hair elongation to low external phosphate (Nature Comms)

Plants respond to a low phosphate environment through increased elongation of root hairs. Bhosale et al. showed that low external P increases levels of the auxin (IAA) in Arabidopsis roots through the TAA1 (TRYPTOPHAN AMINO TRANSFERASE 1)-mediated auxin biosynthesis pathway. At the same time, the auxin influx carrier AUX1 facilitates shootward auxin transport in low-P […]

Cytokinin modulates context-dependent chromatin accessibility through the type-B response regulators ($) (Nature Plants)

The cytokinin-based response is assumed to be achieved through context-dependent transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Potter et al. analyzed cytokinin-induced alterations in chromatin accessibility using ATAC-seq (Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using Sequencing) and combined these results with RNA-seq and  chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-seq datasets. Their results suggest that differentially accessible regions are adjacent to cytokinin-regulated genes and mostly […]

CONSTITUTIVE TRIPLE RESPONSE 1 and PIN2 coordinately regulate indeterminate root growth (Plant Sci)

Méndez-Bravo et al. explored the mechanism for the dramatic phenotype of the ctr1 mutant (CONSTITUTIVE TRIPLE RESPONSE 1), which inhibits both cell division and elongation. In the ctr1-1 mutant background, auxin response is induced at the root tip and an increase in expression of the auxin transporter PIN2 is observed. The authors also found a […]

PID/WAG-mediated phosphorylation of PIN3 mediates polarity switches during gravitropism (Sci Reports)

Auxin distribution depends on the polar localization of PIN-FORMED or PIN proteins. Based on different development and environmental stimuli, PIN proteins switch polarity to redirect the auxin flux. Additionally, phosphorylation of PIN is required for its function. For instance, PIN3 phosphorylation is required for PIN3 polarization and hypocotyl gravitropic response. Grones et al. showed that […]

A Golgi-released subpopulation of the trans-Golgi network mediates protein secretion in Arabidopsis ($)

The plant trans-Golgi network (TGN) plays the role of early endosomes and acts as hub for the both secretory and vacuolar trafficking pathways. Two types of TGN, GA-TGN (Golgi-associated TGN) and GI-TGN (Golgi-released independent TGN), have been observed in plants. Here, Uemura et al. explore the cellular and physiological roles of GI-TGN. They show that […]