Entries by Mary Williams

Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Abdellatif Bahaji

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Abdellatif Bahaji, first author of Plastidial phosphoglucose isomerase is an important determinant of seed yield through involvement in gibberellin-mediated reproductive development and biosynthesis of storage reserves in Arabidopsis Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow at the Instituto de Agrobiotecnología, Navarra, Spain Education: PhD in Plant biology, Department of Plant Physiology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain Non-scientific Interests: […]

Predominant Golgi-residency of the plant K/HDEL receptor is essential for its function in mediating ER retention (Plant Cell)

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Cells use a sophisticated sorting system to ensure that proteins get to the proper destination. Proteins that are supposed to stay in the ER carry special tags (KDEL or HDEL, recognized by the ERD2 receptor) that prevent them from being swept along with other proteins out of the ER and into the Golgi. Silva-Alvim et […]

Footprints of parasitism in the genome of the parasitic flowering plant Cuscuta campestris (Nature Comms)

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Even without knowing a lot about parasitic plants, you can probably guess some of the insights that come from the first parasitic plant genomic sequence. Because parasitic plants get their nutrients from another organism (functionally, they become heterotrophic), you might expect they would gradually lose the genes needed for nutrient uptake and for photosynthesis. You […]

Genome assemblies of maize lines Mo17 and W22: Extensive intraspecific variation, and resource for functional biology (Nature Genetics)

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The maize genome is largely composed of transposable elements, which is one reason maize has been such a powerful genetic model. However, these transposons also mean that there is a great deal of genetic variability between inbred lines, which can contribute to heterosis (hybrid vigor). In a pair of papers, Sun et al. report a […]

Genome-scale sequence disruption following biolistic transformation in rice and maize (bioRxiv)

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The two classic approaches to introducing DNA into a plant’s genome are by harnessing Agrobacterium tumefaciens’ fascinating gene-transfer skill, or by shooting the new DNA into the cell using a “biolistic” (gun) approach. Because of Agrobacterium’s restricted choice of hosts, the biolistic method has been preferred for monocots. Traditionally, regenerants are characterized phenotypically and by […]

Minimum requirements for changing and maintaining endodermis cell identity in the Arabidopsis root ($) (Nature Plants)

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Forward-genetic, loss-of-function studies have been invaluable in identifying factors necessary for the formation of the root endodermis. Drapek et al. used an ectopic expression approach to identify factors that are sufficient to produce endodermal-like cells in different root regions. They found that the combination of the key transcription factor SHR and the peptide ligand CIF2 […]

HAIRY MERISTEM with WUSCHEL confines CLAVATA3 expression to the outer apical meristem layers ($) (Science)

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The interaction between transcription factors WUSCHEL (WUS) and CLAVATA3 (CLV3) controls the size of the meristem. Although WUS is known to activate CLV3 expression, their expression domains don’t fully overlap, with CLV3 being restricted to the upper part of the meristem. Previously, in the multiple ham mutant (loss of function of HAIRY MERISTEM family) CLV3 […]

OST1 activation by the brassinosteroid-regulated kinase CDG1-Like 1 in stomatal closure ($) (Plant Cell)

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As gatekeepers between the outside world and the interior of the leaf, guard cells are extraordinarily sensitive to their environment. Closing keeps out pathogens and keeps in water vapor, but opening is needed to admit CO2. The web of interactions that control stomatal aperture are also correspondingly complex. Although ABA is well known as a […]