The circadian cycle affects almost all eukaryotic cells. In the case of plants, circadian rhythms affect many processes including the supply of carbon during the night for respiration and growth, and many other agricultural traits. The use of this knowledge for adapting agronomic practices or to alter circadian rhythms in crops through breeding and gene […]
Some plants such as Zea mays partition different components of the photosynthetic pathway in mesophyll cells (MC) and bundle sheath cells (BSC) in a process known as two-cell C4 photosynthesis. For example, light-harvesting reactions carried out by photosystem I and II (PSI and PSII) occur only in the mesophyll cells. Due to the way these […]
Photosynthesis occurs in several ways, only one of which releases oxygen as a product. As oxygen-breathing organisms, we are totally dependent on oxygenic photosynthesis, which is restricted to cyanobacteria and green plant plastids. In this review, Sánchez‐Baracaldo and Cardona examine how recent genomic data and improved evolutionary methods have helped to understand the evolution of […]
Most plants use the C3 photosynthesis pathway, however many have evolved strategies like C4 photosynthesis that accumulate CO2 around RuBisCO. Burgess et al. performed DNAseI-SEQ in three C4 plants: S. bicolor, Z. mays and S. italica, and one C3: B. dystachion, to offer an insight into the cis-element architecture associated with C3 and C4 photosynthesis. […]
In the grass family (Poaceae), the subfamily Pooideae, which includes economically important species like wheat, barley and forage grasses like ryegrass, dominates cold temperate habitats, although the ancestors of this group probably were adapted to tropical climates. Schubert et al. investigated the evolution to cold acclimation in the Pooideae subfamily. A cold acclimation followed by […]
Understanding mechanisms for assembly of plant communities involves estimating different interactions among coexisting species, and how environmental change might affect those interactions. Peréz-Ramos et al. address how functional traits and their plasticity relate to the mechanisms that allow species to coexist. They studied ten annual species under two contrasting water availability conditions (control and drought). […]
Little is known about the stimuli that regulate time intervals for new leaves production (plastochrone) at the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Oxygen is a diffusible molecule with potential to regulate this process. The use of a micro-scale Clark-type oxygen electrode allowed Weits et al. to measure oxygen at the SAM. A low oxygen niche was […]
In bread wheat, the VERNALIZATION 1 (VRN1) gene is induced after cold exposure and short days, promoting flowering. In some species the vernalization effect of cold temperature can be lost or reversed after a short exposure to a high temperature (∼35°C); this process is referred as de-vernalization. Very little is known about this response or […]
Regulation of flowering in time and space in perennials like Arabis alpina involves two systems. One uses orthologs to FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) from A. thaliana; in A. alpine is called PERPETUAL FLOWERING 1 (PEP1) and its repression enables flowering after vernalization. The other system uses microRNA156 (miR156), which allows the flowering response after vernalization […]