Entries by Camila Ribeiro

Redox regulation of NADP-malate dehydrogenase is vital under fluctuating light environment (PNAS)

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Redox switches regulate photosynthetic reactions and are mediated by conserved cysteine pairs, activated by reduction under light and deactivated by oxidation in the dark. Those reactions are mediated by thioredoxins (Trx). Usually, only plastidic and not cytosolic isozymes show these redox switches. As an example, the redox-regulated enzyme malate dehydrogenase (MDH) produces malate using NADPH […]

Review: Hot topic: Thermosensing in plants (Plant Cell Environ.)

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Climate change has increased global temperatures and affected agriculture in recent years. Heat stress can negatively impact plant growth, development, metabolism, fertility, and immunity. To generate resilient plants that will endure warmer weather conditions, it is imperative to understand how plants perceive and cope with heat stresses. In this review, Hayes et al. report what […]

Small subunits can determine enzyme kinetics of tobacco Rubisco expressed in Escherichia coli (Nature Plants)

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Rubisco is the enzyme responsible for the fixation of CO2 to ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) during photosynthetic reactions. However, this enzyme has some functional issues, such as a slow catalytic turnover rate and sensitivity to temperature and CO2, and it catalyzes a competing oxygenation process in C3 plants. Crops have reached a photosynthetic yield plateau that could […]

Root angle modifications by the DRO1 homolog improve rice yields in saline paddy fields (PNAS)

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The spatial configuration of roots is a complex and critical trait for productivity that is impacted by abiotic stresses such as drought, waterlogging, and salinity. Soil salinity is expected to affect 50% of agricultural land worldwide by 2050. This research describes that the loss of function of qSOR1 (quantitative trait locus for SOIL SURFACE ROOTING […]

Structural basis of salicylic acid perception by Arabidopsis NPR proteins (Nature) ($)

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Salicylic acid (SA) is a critical hormone in plant-pathogen responses. The main receptors of this hormonal signal are a small family of NPR proteins (NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES). Although NPR1 is a positive regulator of defense signaling, NPR3 and NPR4 serve as negative regulators; they also interact with NPR1 in a SA-mediated manner. Previous efforts […]

Stimulating photosynthetic processes increases productivity and water-use efficiency in the field (Nature Plants)

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Yield potential in crops is determined by the efficiency of photosynthetic rates, which is a critical target for improvement. Previous studies have shown that photosynthetic carbon assimilation and plant biomass can be improved by the stimulation of either regeneration of RuBP (the five-carbon sugar that CO2 attaches to) or the electron transport chain. López-Calcagno et […]