Asis Shrestha, first author of An ancestral allele of pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase1 promotes proline accumulation and drought adaptation in cultivated barley Current Position: Doctoral student, Plant Breeding, INRES, University of Bonn, Germany Education: Masters of Science in Agriculture Sciences and Resource Management in Tropics and Sub-tropics, University of Bonn, Germany Non-scientific interests: Traveling, hiking, music and […]
Shumaila Muzammil, first author of An ancestral allele of pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase1 promotes proline accumulation and drought adaptation in cultivated barley Education: Doctorate, University of Bonn, Germany Non-scientific interests: Traveling, reading Brief Bio: I completed my MSc (hons) Agriculture from University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. In 2012, I joined Department of Plant Breeding, University of Bonn […]
Jesús Beltrán, first author of Specialized Plastids Trigger Tissue-specific Signaling for Systemic Stress Response in Plants Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Pennsylvania State University Education: BSc in Biology, MPhil in Biology, PhD in Biology-Plant Science Non-scientific Interests: Parks, art, wildlife documentaries Brief bio: My first research experience was at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) […]
Everybody mentors, but usually without much training in how to be an effective mentor. I recommend that you have a look at Beronda Montgomery’s short article, “From Deficits to Possibilities: Mentoring Lessons from Plants on Cultivating Individual Growth through Environmental Assessment and Optimization.” The article makes the simple but effective suggestion that most of us […]
The Rhynie chert (near the village of Rhynie, Scotland; chert is a type of sedimentary rock) is an important site for plant biologists as it holds some of earliest and best preserved land-plant fossils. Hetherington and Dolan examined more than 600 thin sections prepared from this site, specifically looking for fossil evidence of early roots. […]
When it comes to evading pests and pathogens, stealth comes in handy. Anything that advertises “food here” is an invitation. Therefore, the work of Hu et al. shouldn’t be surprising, but it is a great story. Phytosiderophores such as benzoxazinoid are secreted by roots to chelate iron and facilitate its uptake. Hu et al. found […]
Most of the proteins that function inside of mitochondria or chloroplasts are encoded in the nucleus, translated in the cytosol, and imported through one or two membrane-localized translocons. (In mitochondria the outer- and inner-membrane translocons are called TOM and TIM, and in chloroplasts they are TOC and TIC). Mitochondrial studies indicate that proteins are translocated […]
Wheat is a tough nut to crack, as it is hexaploid, comprising three diploid genomes (the A, B and D genomes). The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium has released a fully-annotated wheat reference genome, and Ramírez-González et al. present a thorough analysis of its transcriptome. Although in many cases the corresponding genes from each of […]
Kopittke et al. review the use of synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy as a tool to quantify and localize diverse elements in plants. The authors describe how this method can be used to study nutrients in plants and human foods, as well as metal hyperaccumulating plants, and toxic metal(oid) accumulation. Future applications might include the use […]