Usually the female germline starts with one MMC (megaspore mother cell) per ovule that becomes four megaspores through the process of meiosis. Out of these four, only one survives to produce a functional megaspore (FM); the other three undergo a degeneration process. The FM forms the embryo sac. In this study, Cao et al. took […]
Plant roots are an excellent system to study the interactions between endogenous (phytohormones) and exogenous (abiotic stresses) stimuli. The root can be considered as three sections: the meristematic zone (where active cell division occurs), the transition zone (acting as a boundary between meristem and elongation zones), and the elongation and differentiation zone (where cells elongate […]
The phytohormone auxin is transported in a polar fashion through PINs (PIN-FORMED) and PGPs (P–GLYCOPROTEIN) as auxin efflux carriers and AUX1 and LAXs (LIKE-AUX1) as influx carriers. Previous experiments from oat coleoptiles and corn root hairs indicate that one of quickest auxin responses is cell membrane depolarization. In this study, Dindas et al. used Arabidopsis root […]
The cross-talk between cytokinin and auxin has been well established from different developmental perspective. In this article, Zhang et al. have explored the role of cytokinin and auxin cross-talk in floral meristem (FM) determinacy. The authors demonstrated that auxin induces the expression of ARF3 (AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR3) and ARF3 regulates both cytokinin biosynthesis and signaling. […]
Plant growth is regulated seasonally, but our knowledge is limited about how their growth is inhibited or re-initiated seasonally. Looking at hybrid aspen, in this article, Tylewicz et al. explored how seasonal cycles of growth and dormancy help perennial plants adapt during winter. In the long days of summer, FT1 (FLOWERING LOCUS T 1) is […]
Much of the ethylene biosynthesis and signaling pathway has been characterized from study of the dicot Arabidopsis. In this study, Ma et al. have characterized the ethylene insensitive mutant mhz3 from rice. MHZ3 is a membrane protein localized to the endoplasmic reticulum that interacts with OsEIN2 (ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE2). OsEIN2 contains a Nramp-like membrane-spanning domain and […]
BRI1 (BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1) is a plasma-membrane localized brassinosteroid (BR) receptor that is endocytosed to internal membranes following BR binding. In this study, Zhou, Liu et al. provide a mechanistic model of BRI1 endocytosis through ubiquitination. They identified two E3 ubiquitin ligases, PUB12 and PUB13, responsible for the ubiquitination of BRI1. Additionally, they showed through a […]
Root hair outgrowth requires the plant hormone auxin and polarized tip growth and cell wall deposition. Schoenaers et al. showed that the plasma membrane-localized receptor-like kinase ERULUS (ERU) regulates tip growth in root hairs. ERU is regulated by auxin via ARF7 and ARF19 transcription factors, which directly bind to the promoter of ERU. The function […]
Plant growth and development consist of highly organized cellular patterns and depend on the directional growth and orientation of cells. Understanding microtubule dynamics is key to deciphering the formation of cellular shape and growth direction. In this research, Chakrabortty et al. employed analytical and computational modeling approaches to simulate microtubule dynamics. They used confocal images […]