Entries by Lekshmy Sathee

A Glimpse of #iFANS2023 and Highlights of ISPP-Young Scientist Session

February 9, 2023 in /by

The 2023 International Conference on Food and Nutritional Security conference (IFANS) was jointly organized by National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali; Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), Mohali; Indian Society for Plant Physiology (ISPP), New Delhi; Plant Tissue Culture Association of India (PTCA-I), Lucknow; International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi […]

Review: Not only turgor can shape plant growth!

January 27, 2023 in /by

Cell wall tensile stress and turgor pressure are two important determinants of cell growth. Turgor pressure has been regarded as a passive contributor, however recent evidence reviewed by Ali et al. suggests that turgor is an emergent property that determines growth. Wall stress and turgor pressure are inter-reliant and a defect in one component can […]

Modus operandi of Nod-independent symbiosis in Aeschynomene evenia (Plant Physiol)

September 9, 2022 in /by

Symbioses and nodule organogenesis processes that occur independently of Nod-factors are relatively unexplored. Quilbe et al. investigated the semi-aquatic legume Aeschynomene evenia, which has recently been shown to establish symbioses with Bradyrhizobium sp. that do not produce Nod factors. The authors used an EMS mutagenesis approach to generate mutations in genes known to be involved […]

NLP7-CRF-PIN, the nitrate-cytokinin-auxin crosstalk module, conveys root nitrate signals and regulates shoot growth adaptive responses (PNAS)

August 26, 2022 in /by

Nitrate, the prominent form of nitrogen used by most land plants, is a signal regulating plant growth and development. Nitrate sensing by roots not only regulates root development to facilitate nutrient foraging, but also the growth of distant plant organs. Cytokinin is a mobile signal coordinating nitrate dependent shoot growth responses. Abualia et al. show […]

DREB1C is a regulator of nitrogen use efficiency and flowering time in rice (Science)

August 12, 2022 in /by

To improve the profitability and sustainability of agriculture, there has been an extensive quest to identify regulators that boost nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) without compromising yield. Wei et al. identified a DREB family transcription factor based on RNAseq analysis of rice plants exposed to low N. Among the differentially regulated transcription factors, DREB1C showed a […]

ABA-INSENSITIVE1 activates ammonium transporter AMT1 in an ABA dependent manner (Plant Physiol)

July 29, 2022 in /by

To avoid ammonium toxicity, the ammonium transporters (AMTs) are tightly regulated by phosphorylation-dependent inactivation. The multifunctional kinase CIPK23 inactivates the AMT1s by phosphorylating conserved threonine residues (T460 in AMT1;1 and T472 in AMT1;2).  ABA-INSENSITIVE1 (ABI1) and ABI2 are members of clade A Protein Phosphatase 2 C, and core components of ABA signalling. ABI2 is a […]

CCA1 is a regulator of ABA-mediated abiotic stress tolerance in rice (Plant Physiol)

July 1, 2022 in /by

In rice, the circadian clock component gene Circadian Clock Associated 1 (OsCCA1) regulates flowering and nitrogen use efficiency. CCA1 is a MYB family transcription factor that follows a rhythmic expression pattern. Wei et al. confirmed the role of CCA1as a key hub in coordinating plant growth and abiotic stress adaptation. Transcript abundance of OsCCA1 was […]

Review: Molecular regulators of nitrate response in plants (Curr. Biol.)

June 17, 2022 in /by

Nitrate is the major form of nitrogen used by plants in an aerobic crop cultivation scenario. Lamig et al. review recent additions to the already vast knowledge of nitrate signaling. A first line of regulation concerns nitrate uptake through post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation of nitrate transporters. Both low affinity (NRT1) and high affinity (NRT2) nitrate […]

CLAVATA3/ESR-related 2 peptides regulate root sucrose level and root/shoot ratio in Arabidopsis (Plant Physiol)

May 27, 2022 in /by

Roots are dependent on shoot-produced sucrose for energy associated with growth and nutrient uptake. The CLAVATA3/ESR2-related peptides (CLEs) regulate several aspects of plant growth. Okamoto et al. present evidence on the involvement of CLEs in conveying the root sucrose demand to the shoot.  Carbon starvation upregulates CLE2 and CLE3 and increases the translocation of CLE2 […]