The economic importance of angiosperms, whether for food, ornamentals, timber, pharmaceuticals, or any other commercial product is easy to prove. However, their origin is not. Evolutionary biologists have long debated the origin of flowering plants. Fu et al., have unearthed fossils from the Early Jurassic period that suggest angiosperms may have been here longer than […]
Floral heteromorphy (differences in form) in Primula has long been of interest to plant biologists. Over 150 years ago, Charles Darwin recognized the importance of this floral anatomy for promoting cross-pollination. In heterostylous Primula species, plants produce either, pin or thrum flowers. Pins have a long style and low anthers, whereas thrums have a short […]
Cryptochromes are a class of flavoproteins found in plants and animals that are sensitive to blue light. In Arabidopsis, cryptochromes are involved in many important physiological processes including de-etiolation, flowering, circadian rhythms, cotyledon opening and expansion, anthocyanin accumulation, and root growth. In economically important crops, these photoreceptors could be manipulated to influence horticultural traits such […]
In rice, successful completion of meiosis to generate haploid cells is essential for seed production and propagation. This process is complex, requires precise regulation, and produces visible changes in the structure of chromosomes. In this paper, Zhao et al., characterize a sterile rice mutant with defects in leptotene, an early stage of prophase I in […]
Welcome to the penultimate 2018 collection of plant research highlights. Starting this week, for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes we are renaming the series “Plant Science Research Weekly“. We thank contributors and readers for their ongoing support. We started this project more than two years ago (October 2016) for several reasons. Firstly, as a one-stop-shop […]
A list of book recommendations from our community with a focus on Plant Sciences Current Topics The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest Species by Carlos Magdalena Carlos is a tropical plant horticulturalist at the Royal Botanic Garden Kew in London. He acquired the nickname “Plant Messiah” after a journalist from his home country […]
A list of book recommendations from our community that are not directly related to plant science, but are still good reads “I’d recommend scientists to get out of the wormhole and read something else… Something historical, philosophical, or something as far removed from science as is possible. Something beautifully written that might end up with […]
A list of book recommendations from our community with a focus on Professional Development Research Skills At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator by Kathy Barker (2004) At the Bench is the unique and hugely successful handbook for living and working in the laboratory, an essential aid to understanding basic lab techniques and how research groups work at a […]
Part of the Self-Reflection; series by and for early-career researchers Your application has arrived at the top of the stack and you have passed the phone/web interview evaluation! Now all you have to do is ace the academic interview to land that faculty position you’ve been dreaming of for months. How? There are few who would […]