By Sabyasachi Mandal Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA Background: Acylsugars are specialized metabolites secreted through the trichomes (plant hairs) of many plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). These compounds provide protection against herbivores and plant pathogens. Acylsugars are glucose and sucrose esters of both branched-chain fatty acids and straight-chain fatty acids. […]
Xiang et al. elucidate transcriptome dynamics and gene activities during embryogenesis and grain development in modern wheat and its progenitors. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00397. By Daoquan Xiang, Teagen D. Quilichini, Peng Gao, and Raju Datla Aquatic and Crop Resource Development, National Research Council Canada, 110 Gymnasium Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0W9, Canada Background: Wheat is […]
Sidney L. Shaw Dept. of Biology (and Physics), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 sishaw@indiana.edu How cell expansion is controlled to achieve a specific cell morphology remains one of the frontier questions in plant biology. The carefully guided extension of the plant cell wall produces a remarkable variety of cell shapes, and in a larger context, […]
One of the key aspects of pathogenesis is the ability to sabotage host defenses and, to this end, plant pathogens produce a remarkable set of effector proteins that target host defenses at multiple levels. Plants, in turn, have defenses to counteract these effectors; one key aspect of this is the ability to recognize the presence […]
Amna Mhamdi Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, and VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium Address correspondence to amna.mhamdi@psb.ugent.be NONEXPRESSER OF PR GENES 1 (NPR1) controls plant immunity and is key to salicylic acid (SA)-dependent signaling pathways. First identified via a genetic screen, NPR1 is named after the npr1 mutants […]
Boachon et al. explore metabolic processes associated with floral defense. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00320 By Benoît Boachon, University of Lyon, UJM-Saint-Etienne, CNRS, BVpam FRE 3727, Saint-Etienne, France. Danièle Werck-Reichhart, Institute of Plant Molecular Biology of CNRS, UPR 2357, University of Strasbourg, France Background: Flowers have an essential role: they ensure plant reproduction. Flowers of the […]
Carotenoid pigments not only produce the vibrant yellows and oranges of flowers, fruits, and autumn leaves, but they also are important in both plant and human health. They act both as accessory pigments in photosynthetic light harvesting and as photoprotectants that absorb excess energy during photosynthesis. β-carotene is a well-known dietary carotenoid that, when converted […]
Maria Grazia Annunziata Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany. Annunziata@mpimp-golm.mpg.de ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8593-1741 Rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) is the central enzyme of photosynthetic carbon assimilation in the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. It catalyses the carboxylation of one molecule of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) producing two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate (3PGA), from which sugars, starch, amino acids […]
Huang et al. uncover how SnRK1 kinase complex promotes the autophagy activity by phosphorylating ATG6 under prolonged dark conditions. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00066 By Huang Xiao and Faqiang Li, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China Background: Plants have evolved a catabolic process called autophagy (‘self-eating’) to promote their survival under nutrient starvation […]