Liu et al. elucidate the regulation of FT movement by a MCTP-SNARE complex. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00960 By Lu Liu and Hao Yu, Department of Biological Sciences and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore Background: The transition to flowering is the most dramatic phase change in flowering plants, which is crucial for […]
Nearly every aspect of growth, morphogenesis, physiology, and stress response is influenced by cell/tissue-type specific gene expression. Transcription factors (TFs) recognize cis-regulatory elements and signal transcription machinery for gene regulation, and the interaction between TFs and their target genes creates spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression. Accurate functional annotation of these regulatory sites is essential for […]
Yu et al. study the function of FY in alternative polyadenylation. The Plant Cell (2019) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00545 Zhibo Yu, Juncheng Lin, Qingshun Quinn Li Background: Polyadenylation of eukaryotic messenger RNAs (mRNAs) involves the addition of a ‘tail’ of dozens to hundreds of adenosine (A) nucleotides to an mRNA. Polyadenylation requires poly(A) signal recognition, cleavage, and addition […]
Author: Robert P. Skelton Institution: Dept. of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720; CA Commentary on Hochberg et al A new technique for rapidly quantifying xylem vulnerability curves In this volume of Plant Physiology, Hochberg et al. (2019) present a novel way to rapidly assess the xylem vulnerability of leaves that combines the […]
Ye et al. uncover how the kinase activity of BIN2 helps balance plant growth and cold stress responses. Plant Cell (2019) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00058 Background: Cold stress is an environmental factor that limits the growth and geographic distribution of plants. It is important to understand how plants respond to cold stress, which would provide helpful information for […]
Burgess et al characterize genome-wide patterns of transcription factor binding to provide insight into the architecture associated with C4 photosynthesis gene expression. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00078 By Steven James Burgess (University of Cambridge, UK) and Ivan A. Reyna-Llorens (University of Cambridge, UK) Background: Photosynthesis comes in various shapes and forms. In its most efficient incarnation, carbon […]
Sims et al. examine the mechanisms protecting the highly repetitive ribosomal DNA from double-strand break formation and homologous repair during meiosis. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00367 Background: Meiosis is a specialized cell division in sexually reproducing organisms, where one round of DNA replication is followed by two cell divisions. This generates gametes with half the genetic content. Importantly, genetic […]
By Jennifer Mach, Science Editor I don’t know how polyploids get their chromosomes paired correctly in meiosis— I can’t even sort my socks. Sometimes I give up and pair random socks, but plants can’t go with random pairings, because that’s a route to death, and with genomes in the dozens of Gb in tens of […]
By Gregory Bertoni Symbiotic associations with microorganisms are widespread among both woody and herbaceous plant species, including most agronomic crops (Brundrett and Tedersoo, 2018). Mycorrhizal fungi provide their hosts with mineral nutrients absorbed from the soil in exchange for fixed carbon compounds produced by the plant host. Similarly, symbiotic rhizobial bacteria in the root nodules […]