Entries by Idowu Obisesan

Review: Difficult situations cause blushing in plants, much as they do in people

As with people, plants blush in difficult circumstances. Situations such as nutrient stress make plants uncomfortable, resulting in the accumulation of anthocyanins in different plant tissues and color changes in the tissues. Jezek et al. reviewed how and why anthocyanins accumulate in foliar tissues in nutrient-deficient plants. Anthocyanins accumulate in anthocyanoplasts or anthocyanic vacuoles in […]

A novel CLAVATA1 mutation causes multilocularity in Brassica rapa

The CLAVATA1 receptor-like kinase and its ligand CLAVATA3 (CLV3) are associated with the CLAVATA-WUSCHEL pathway, which partly controls locule number (the seed-bearing structure of fruits). An increase in locule number is believed to increase the number of seeds and subsequently increase fruit size. Chow et al. investigated the effect of mutation of CLV1 on locule […]

Tansley Insight: Analyzing the impact of autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism on the nutrient regulation of TOR (New Phytol.)

A protein kinase, target of rapamycin (TOR), controls cell growth and metabolism in all eukaryotes. The role of TOR in regulating synthesis and breakdown of organic compounds in response to nutrients, hormones and cellular energy to promote growth and development is universal in autotrophs and heterotrophs. TORC1 is one of TOR complexes conserved for several […]