The plant vacuole makes up to 90% of the cell volume and its dynamics are important for regulating growth, development and stomatal movement. Membrane fusion between the vacuole and the smaller vesicles is at the heart of central vacuole establishment. Homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) tethering complex was previously shown to mediate vacuolar […]
Giberellins (GA) are plant hormones that have diverse role in plant growth and development. Although many GAs have been identified, only few of them show functional activity in plants. GAs are perceived by the GID1 receptor, which is widespread in vascular plants and structuraly similar to carboxylesterases (CXEs). Yoshida et al. examined the evolutionary establishment […]
Small RNAs constitute a unique signal transduction mechanism by targeting specific mRNAs and causing a direct down-regulation of target gene expression. Mobile RNAs are known to act as positional cues in developing tissues or to signal stress responses at the systemic level. Although plasmodesmata serve as miRNA gateways in cell-to-cell movement, we know very little […]
Signals determining tissue polarity are fundamental to proper organ development. Asymmetry across the entire organ arises due to to polarity fields. Although there are numerous examples of proteins that express preferential polar localization in the cell, the mechanism that coordinates the polarity field across the whole organ level is still unknown. Mansfield et al. used […]
Roots explore the soil for available water and nutrients, with deep roots providing water from the lower soil layers (Uga et al., 2015) and highly branched roots searching the soil for less-mobile nutrients such as phosphate, zinc, and manganese. Root architecture results from plant developmental programs, which are modified by environmental cues. The development of […]
Root system architecture is primarily determined by branching of the lateral roots. The position of a new lateral root is determined by oscillating auxin concentrations in the main root meristem. To understand the nature of auxin oscillations Van den Berg and ten Tusscher developed a multiscale root model integrating realistic root tip architecture, auxin reflux […]
The plant hormone auxin is a major player in determining root growth and architecture, but we are just starting to understand how auxin distribution is altered by abiotic stresses. Kover et al. discuss how the “upside-down fountain” of auxin in the root is affected by abiotic stress conditions. Auxin transporters not only contribute to the […]
Plants need to navigate and adjust their growth according to the environmental clues, such as light or gravity. Asymmetric distribution of auxin is necessary for organ bending. Abbas and colleagues show that conversion of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) into methyl-IAA (Me-IAA) is important for asymmetric auxin distribution. Mutation of IAA carboxyl methyltransferase 1 (IAMT1) resulted in […]
Low temperature is one of the environmental factors limiting the plant distribution. Yet there are some plants that can survive freezing temperatures, such as Boechera stricta, native to the Rocky Mountains, spread across a broad range of elevations. Arisz and colleagues observed that freezing tolerance was higher in the LTM ecotype (found in the northern […]