Potassium ions (K+) play a variety of important roles in plant physiology and are maintained at a high concentration in the cytosol relative to the available K+ in the environment. Potassium may accumulate to an even higher concentration in the vacuole, where it helps to regulate turgor pressure. During periods of potassium scarcity, the plant […]
The thylakoid membranes are located in the stroma of chloroplasts and house the machinery for the photosynthetic light reactions. They emerge largely de novo during the transition from pro-plastids into mature, photosynthesizing chloroplasts. Generating new thylakoid membranes requires a supply of lipids, the biosynthesis of which is thought to occur on the chloroplast inner envelope. […]
The transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) plays a central role in organization of the shoot meristem. The three-helix bundle homeodomain in WUS can bind to several distinct DNA sequence motifs in many target genes promoters, but a structural view of these binding events has been lacking. Here Sloan et al. solve the structure of the WUS […]
Separation of male and female flowers on different individuals, called dioecy, has evolved independently many times in flowering plants from hermaphroditic ancestors. A long-standing theory predicts that specialized X and Y sex chromosomes can evolve in dioecious species when mutations occur in two tightly linked genes with antagonistic effects on male and female development. In […]
In flowering plants, fertilization occurs when a pollen tube, growing down the transmitting tissue, arrives at the ovule, ruptures, and releases its content of sperm cells. The pollen tube is guided towards the ovule by LUREs, small cysteine-rich secreted peptides. Timely rupturing and sperm release depend on the ovule-expressed receptor kinase FERONIA. In this paper, […]
In stressful situations, such as high light and nutrient scarcity, the chloroplast may experience increased proteotoxicity due to a surge in damaging reactive oxygen species. In response, a signal is sent to the nucleus to increase production of many proteins, including proteases and chaperones to help mitigate the damage. This damage control pathway has been […]
Life cycles in sexually reproducing plants and algae alternate between diploid (sporophytic) and haploid (gametophytic) generations. The haploid gametophyte produces gametes that mate to generate the diploid sporophyte, which in turn undergoes meiosis to generate haploid spores. Development must be coordinated with these life cycle-dependent changes in ploidy, so that mating and meiosis take place […]