Entries by Mary Williams

Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Jeremy Jewell

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Jeremy Jewell, first author of Extracellular ATP shapes a defense-related transcriptome both independently and along with other defense signaling pathways Current Position: Postdoc, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, USA Education: PhD, Molecular Plant Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, USA; MSc, Plant Science, Montana State University, Bozeman, USA: BSc, Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Montana State […]

A bidirectional switch controls sexual dimorphism in the liverwort (EMBO J)

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Bryophytes spend most of their lifecycle in the haploid, gametophytic form, of which there are two types, male (sperm forming) and female (egg forming). Hisanaga et al. investigated the genetic basis that determines sex in the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. Their findings are fascinating. A single genetic locus acts as a switch, to specify either […]

AP2-like transcription factor SUPERNUMERARY BRACT controls rice seed shattering and seed size (Plant Cell)

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Non-shattering seed, or seed that stays attached to the stem when mature, is a key domestication trait that makes harvesting easier. Previous studies have identified several domestication genes that suppress the formation of the seed’s abscission zone, thus preventing shattering. Jiang et al. used a genetic approach to identify ssh1, which suppresses seed shattering; SSH1 […]

Chloroplasts navigate towards the pathogen interface to counteract Phytophthora infection (bioRxiv)

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Chloroplasts have diverse roles in plant defense, including contributing to the production of defense compounds. Toufexi, Duggan et al. show new data indicating the dynamic relocation of chloroplasts to the contact point of the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Infection also causes an increase of stromule formation (stromules are chloroplast membrane extensions implicated in defense). The […]

Root branching toward water involves posttranslational modification of transcription factor ARF7 ($) (Science)

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Roots do amazing things, particularly in terms of how they optimize their growth in response to their very local environment including water, nutrients, microbes, and physical obstructions. Branching in regions of contact with water is called hydropatterning, and previous studies showed that an auxin gradient forms in response to differential water contact. Orosa-Puente, Leftley, von […]

Review: Computational approaches to design and test plant synthetic metabolic pathways (Plant Physiol)

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As photosynthetic organisms, plants are desirable and potentially cost-effective chassis for the production of novel compounds, but they are also inherently metabolically complex. Synthetic metabolic pathways can also improve upon nature by making plants more metabolically efficient. Küken and Nikoloski review methods to design novel synthetic metabolic pathways for expression in plants. As the authors […]

Genome-scale fluxome of Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973 using transient 13C-labeling data (Plant Physiol)

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Synechococcus elongates UTEX 2973 (also known as Synechococcus 2973) has the fastest doubling time of known cyanobacteria, completely replicating itself in just over two hours. This fast growth rate makes it an interesting platform for industrial applications. Hendry et al set out to understand what makes it so fast, using genome-scale Isotopic Non-Stationary-13C-Metabolic Flux Analysis […]

What We’re Reading: January 18th

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Physiologia Plantarum Special Issue: Root Biology The year 2019 kicks off with a special issue on root biology, with all articles free to access for six months. Topics include interactions of roots with parasites and symbionts, root branching, transport in the root system, and roots of woody species. (Summary by Mary Williams) Physiologia Plantarum January […]