Entries by Mary Williams

Rapid generation of a transgene-free powdery mildew resistant tomato by genome deletion (OA)

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Using a traditional breeding approach, introducing a single gene into a desirable cultivar requires repeated backcrossing. This lengthy process can be circumvented through genetic engineering (making transgenic plants), but consumer concerns and extensive, expensive regulatory hurdles have stifled many transgenic projects. New genome editing methods are likely to have fewer regulatory obstacles, so are a […]

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Zhangjian Hu

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Zhangjian Hu, featured first author of A Plant Phytosulfokine Peptide Initiates Auxin-Dependent Immunity through Cytosolic Ca2+ Signaling in Tomato Current Position: Graduate student in the Department of Horticulture, Zhejiang University, China Education: B.S. (2012) in Applied Biological Science (Horticulture), Zhejiang University, China Non-scientific Interests: Running, watching movies and cooking. Brief bio sketch: I chose horticulture […]

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Huan Zhang

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Huan Zhang, featured first author of A Plant Phytosulfokine Peptide Initiates Auxin-Dependent Immunity through Cytosolic Ca2+ Signaling in Tomato Current Position: Graduate student in the Department of Horticulture, Zhejiang University, China. Education: Bachelor’s degree (2013) from the College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing, China. Non-scientific Interests: Cooking, shopping and watching movies. Brief bio sketch: […]

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Suayib Üstün

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Suayib Üstün, featured first author of Bacteria exploit autophagy for proteasome degradation and enhanced virulence in plants Current Position: FEBS (Federation of European Biochemical Societies) long-term postdoctoral fellow at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden Education: PhD in Molecular Biology at the Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Non-scientific Interests: Travel, Cooking, Freeletics. Brief bio […]

Eight things that you should consider for securing the dream academic job

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By Yasin Dagdas Part of the Self-Reflection; series by and for early-career researchers You have been studying for ~15 years and finally you are at a crossroad where you will make an important decision to start cashing out your “delayed gratifications”. Although I strongly believe there are few no-return points in life, this decision will […]

Breakthrough Technology: Soft X-ray imaging of cellular carbon and nitrogen distributions in cyanobacteria (Plant Phys)

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Soft X-ray imaging is a promising new technology that can be used to measure elemental compositions of living cells. By adjusting the energy (wavelength) of the incident X-rays, it is possible to specifically measure C or N, which have different photo-absorption edges.  Teramoto et al. demonstrate the power of soft X-ray microscopy (SXM) by imaging […]

Scopoletin 8-hydroxylase-mediated fraxetin production is crucial for iron mobilization (Plant Physiol)

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As iron is often limiting in the environment, plants use many strategies to support iron uptake, including secretion of small molecules such as coumarins that can help to mobilize iron from the soil. Tsai et al. examined the role of a gene involved in fraxetin (7,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxycoumarin) production on iron uptake in Arabidopsis. SH8 expression is […]