Haiyan Xiong, first author of Natural Variation in OsLG3 Increases Drought Tolerance in Rice by Inducing ROS Scavenging Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge, UK. Education: Ph.D., China Agricultural University Non-scientific Interests: Traveling, reading Brief bio: Haiyan got her PhD in 2014 from the Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding […]
Juan Ignacio Cagnola, first author of Long-day photoperiod enhances jasmonic acid-related plant defense Current Position: Post-Doctoral position at IFEVA-CONICET, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Education: Doctor of Agronomic Science, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires. Non-scientific Interests: Woodwork, aeronautics and space, football and building toys. Brief bio: Graduated as an agronomist (2008) and Doctor of Agronomic […]
Guoliang Yuan, first author of PROTEIN PHOSHATASE 2A B’α and β maintain centromeric sister chromatid cohesion during meiosis in Arabidopsis Current Position: PhD student, Department Plant and Crop, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University Education: Master of Landscape Architecture, Zhejiang University Non-scientific Interests: Movies, basketball, swimming, travelling Brief bio: I started to learn biology with my bachelor’s […]
Young children are curious by nature and their inquisitive minds are like sponges that take in everything that is happening around them. As a parent, a scientist, and an educator, I feel that my role is to teach children the basic rules of life in a fun and accessible way, while nurturing kids’ natural curiosity […]
News: CRISPR gene-edited plants subject to same restrictions as GMO plants On 25 July, the European Court of Justice ruled that “Organisms obtained by mutagenesis are GMOs and are, in principle, subject to the obligations laid down by the GMO Directive,” and “The Court of Justice takes the view, first of all, that organisms obtained […]
Stromules (or stroma-filled tubules) have been observed for more than 100 years, but uncertainty remains about their formation and function. Stromules are extensions of the plastid membrane that form highly dynamic tubule-like structures that sometimes interact with other plastids or organelles. Hypothetical functions include increasing the surface area of plastids (for increased transport), movement of […]
Pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas syringae produce an effector protein, AvrPphB. The indirect interaction between this bacterial effector and the Arabidopsis resistance (R) protein RPS5 has been characterized previously; AvrPphB is a cysteine protease that targets another plant protein, PBS1, causing it to activate RPS5. Carter and Helm et al. now show that the bacterial effector similarly […]
The diverse responses of rice to flooding are really interesting. Many varieties die, some survive by essentially becoming metabolically quiescent to conserve their energy (which involves the Sub1 pathway), and some, called deepwater rice, respond through rapid elongation that elevates their leaves above the floodwaters. Kuroha et al. further characterize the molecular basis for the […]
Cryptochromes (CRYs) are blue-light receptors that were first identified in plants more than 20 years ago, but with modes of action that have remained obscure. Yang, Mo, and Yu, et al. reassembled this blue-light signaling module in mammalian cells in order to better understand CRY function. Previously, they showed that in this system CRY2 absorbs […]