Entries by Michela Osnato

KIN10 promotes stomatal development through stabilization of the SPEECHLESS transcription factor (Nat. Commun.)

Plants communicate with the environment through stomata (i.e., pores found on leaf surfaces) and regulate gas exchange depending on internal and external cues by optimizing stomata density. Still, how plants integrate metabolic and environmental signals remain to be determined. Here, Han and colleagues discovered that stomatal index in Arabidopsis leaves decreased under conditions associated with […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: 18 September 2020

Guest Edited by Michela Osnato. I completed my studies at the University of Milan (ITALY), with a M.S. in Plant Biotechnology and a PhD in Plant Biology and crop productivity. The plasticity of plant development has always fascinated me. For this reason, I decided to investigate regulatory genes controlling the development of vegetative and reproductive organs […]

The calcium-permeable channel OSCA1.3 regulates plant stomatal immunity (Nature)

In plants, the perception of environmental threats induces a peak of calcium ions (Ca2+) in the cytosol that triggers signal transduction pathways leading to stomatal closure as defense response. In Arabidopsis, the mechanosensitive Ca2+ channel OSCA1 regulates water transpiration in response to abiotic stress, yet, a similar Ca2+channel involved in plant response to pathogens has […]

Synthetic conversion of leaf chloroplasts into carotenoid-rich plastids reveals mechanistic basis of natural chromoplast development (PNAS) ($)

Biofortification aims at increasing the content of health-promoting nutrients in edible parts of the plant. As an example, enhancing the production of carotenoids – natural pigments that provide the yellow to red color – in crops could prevent vitamin A deficiency in humans. In nature, carotenoids accumulate in specialized organelles called chromoplasts, which differentiate from […]

Antagonistic regulation of the gibberellic acid response during stem growth in rice (Nature)

Stem growth determines the final height of graminaceous plants and greatly influences productivity in cultivated species (e.g., short internodes in semi-dwarf rice varieties to increase lodging resistance) and adaptation in wild species (e.g., elongated internodes in tall deepwater rice to help survive flooding). In this article, Nagai and coworkers identified key regulatory factors involved in […]

REVIEW: Shared Structural Principles Across Kingdoms ($) (Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol)

Understanding how a single fertilized cell develops into a complex multicellular system has always been a challenging but fascinating topic of developmental biology. In both animal and plant species, it all starts with a simple spherical cell; afterward, two axes of polarity generate flat shapes, and a third axis originates folded shapes. The combination of […]

Temperature-dependent growth contributes to long-term cold sensing ($) (Nature)

Seasonal changes in ambient temperature greatly influence plant development. While the response to acute heat stress has been widely studied, the regulatory mechanisms that integrate naturally fluctuating temperatures – such as the progression of winter – remain largely unknown. This paper sheds new light on the activation of VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE 3 (VIN3), a key regulator of […]

Review. Plant nutrition for human nutrition: Hints from rice research and future perspectives

Among all the mineral elements transported from the soil to the plant, cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As)- are toxic for all organisms whereas 13 micronutrients, including iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), are beneficial for both human and plant nutrition. Ideally, food crops should accumulate fewer soil contaminants but more essential elements in their edible portions. […]

The 3′ processing of antisense RNAs physically links to chromatin-based transcriptional control (PNAS)

In Arabidopsis, multiple genetic pathways control the floral transition in response to external and internal stimuli. Among these, components of the autonomous pathway promote flowering by negatively regulating the central floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Despite the wealth of information on RNA-mediated chromatin silencing of FLC, the molecular link between FLOWERING TIME CONTROL (FCA)- […]