Changes in photoperiod affect metabolism and development, as well as flowering time, hypocotyl elongation, freezing tolerance, stomatal opening, C-allocation and growth. Seaton and collaborators measured the Arabidopsis proteome under four photoperiods: 6h, 8h, 12h and 18 hours. At longer photoperiods, enzymes involved in primary and secondary metabolism and photosynthesis were more abundant, consistent with the […]
In proliferating tissues, plant cells start small and then expand to up to 100 times their original size. Sapala, Runions and collaborators studied the relationship between mechanical stress and shape to see if mechanical stress could affect the shape of epidermal cells. Simulations were run to see the effect of turgor-induced mechanical stress in single […]
It has been shown previously that cortical microtubule reorganization contributes to adaptation to salt stress; however, the upstream factors that signal this response are not know. Ethylene has been shown to regulate microtubule stability and organization in roots and etiolated hypocotyls. Ethylene signaling can be blocked using Ag+ in presence of NaCl; Dou et al. […]
In maize, it has long been known that the crossing of two inbred lines can produce a hybrid offspring with higher yield than the parents. Baldauf and collaborators have studied the gene expression of 6 hybrid lines coming from 7 distantly related inbred lines. One line, B73, was chosen as the common female parent, since […]
Nature Comms. Phytochromes can exist in two states: an inactive state Pr and an active state Pfr. They convert into each other by light absorption. They can also revert to the inactive state by a light-independent thermal relaxation process called dark reversion. Phytochrome B is the primary receptor for red light (R) and is strongly […]
Polar localized PIN FORMED (PIN) efflux carriers proteins organize directional auxin flow and accumulation. Most flowering plants have another family of PIN proteins called Sister of PIN1 (SoPIN1), which Arabidopsis and members of the Brassicacea family do not have. The grass Brachypodium dystachion has one SoPIN1 gene and two PIN1 genes: PIN1a and PIN1b. O´Connor […]
Quenopodiium quinoa is a highly nutritive and facultative halophyte pseudocereal whose cultivation has increased 10 fold in the last decades. However, the adaption to non-native areas is not easy to achieve and the limited genetic resources do not allow a breeding program. Zou and collaborators have generated a genome draft, covering 90.2% of the nuclear […]