Entries by Mary Williams

Mechanistic basis for the activation of membrane receptor kinases by SERK-family coreceptors (PNAS)

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LRR-RKs (Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor Kinases) are membrane-spanning receptor molecules that recognize a diverse array of signaling ligands. SERKs (SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR KINASEs) are co-receptors that are required for signal processing. Like LRR-RKs, SERKs span the membrane, with an intracellular kinase domain and an external LRR ectodomain, but the SERK ectodomain is smaller than that of […]

Review: The molecular control of tendril development in angiosperms (New Phytol.)

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There are obvious advantages to being a climbing plant; for example, climbing is a low-cost way to avoid being shaded by your neighbors. Tendrils, which evolved independently several times, are one climbing strategy (others include twining stems and sticky adventitious roots). Sousa-Baena et al. review the development of tendrils in several plant families. Although tendrils […]

Review. Autophagy: The master of bulk and selective recycling (Annu Rev Plant Biol)

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A functioning cell depends upon the appropriate production of proteins and macromolecules. The other end of the process, degradation and removal, is just as critical and just as selective. Marshall and Vierstra review autophagy (“self-eating”) in plants, connecting early work in yeast to genetic, metabolomic and physiological studies in Arabidopsis and other plant species. This […]

What We’re Reading: March 23rd

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Review. Autophagy: The master of bulk and selective recycling A functioning cell depends upon the appropriate production of proteins and macromolecules. The other end of the process, degradation and removal, is just as critical and just as selective. Marshall and Vierstra review autophagy (“self-eating”) in plants, connecting early work in yeast to genetic, metabolomic and […]

How to listen, download and subscribe to The Taproot podcast

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The Taproot podcast digs beneath the surface to understand how scientific publications in plant biology are created. In each episode, co-hosts Liz Haswell and Ivan Baxter take a paper from the literature and talk about the story behind the science with one of its authors. How to listen On a computer, the page introducing each […]