Wei Zeng, first author of Modulation of auxin signaling and development by polyadenylation machinery Current Position: Ph.D. candidate, Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China Education: M.S. in College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University, China Non-scientific Interests: Music, movie, badminton Brief bio: During my Ph.D. […]
Renuka Kolli, first author of Oxa2b is crucial for proper membrane insertion of Cox2 during complex IV biogenesis in Arabidopsis Current Position: PhD student at the department of Biology I, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany Education: 2014 – M. Tech in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India; 2009 – B. Tech in […]
In the new Cell Biology issue of Current Opinion in Plant Biology, editors Haswell and Dixit have chosen to focus on quantitative cell biology, arguing that, “if seeing is believing, then measuring is knowing.” Topics of the issue’s reviews span parts of the cell (including cell wall, cytoskeleton, stromules), things cells do (including morphogenesis) and […]
Although mulicellularity, and so also development, evolved independently in animals and plants, there are nevertheless some striking parallels in the mechanisms used to coordinate these processes. Ten Tesschur compares four developmental processes in plants to similar processes that occur in animal development. As examples, root growth and lateral root prepatterning is compared to body axis […]
Wheat production demands huge inputs of nitrogen as fertilizer, with accompanying financial and environmental costs. Zorb et al. discuss several strategies by which to maintain wheat yields and wheat quality while decreasing N use and wastage. Some of these are agronomic, such as ensuring that the N applications occur at times that are optimal for […]
In Arabidopsis, stomatal guard cells are specified following a set of conserved asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs), starting with a meristemoid mother cell. How do cells establish asymmetric divisions? Several proteins have been identified that are required for this, including BASL and POLAR, transcription factors including SPCH, as well as BIN2 and MAP kinases. BIN2 has […]
Much of our understanding of the molecular pathway for ABA response comes from studies on Arabidopsis. Thanks to genomic sequencing efforts, we know that this pathway is largely conserved amongst plants, including mosses. Jahan et al. extend this understanding to liverworts, drawing on the recently sequenced genome of Marchantia polymorpha. They identified five proteins as […]
Phosphate deficiency leads to arrest of primary root elongation. Previous work has shown that this arrest depends upon Fe, raising the possibility that Fe accumulation in the root apex is the cause of growth arrest. Several genes involved in low Pi response have been identified, including genes encoding the LPR1 ferroxidase, ALS3/STAR1 transporter complex and […]
Small RNAs are known to move between cells and even between organisms. Studies in mammals have shown that extracellular vesicles (EVs) can contribute to small RNA transport, and recently small-RNA containing EVs were identified in plants. Baldrich et al. extend this work with an analysis of the types of small RNAs contained in plant EVs. […]