Entries by Mary Williams

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Rene Schneider

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Rene Schneider, featured first author of Two Complementary Mechanisms Underpin Cell Wall Patterning during Xylem Vessel Development Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Education: PhD (2013) Bio-Physics, Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Diploma (2008) Physics, Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Non-scientific Interests: Bushwalking, camping, community-building and just being active […]

Author Interview: Emily Larson

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Geraint Perry from GARNet (@GARNetweets) interviewed Emily Larson (@erlarson_phd), author of “Clathrin Heavy Chain subunits coordinate endo- and exocytic traffic and affect stomatal movement” published recently in Plant Physiology. Emily Larson from the University of Glasgow talks clathrin, balloons and the publication process as part in our discussion about her recent Plant Physiology paper entitled […]

A look back at the first season of the Taproot Podcast

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July 2017 marked the debut of a new podcast that digs beneath the surface to understand how plant science publications are created. The Taproot Podcast was developed and is hosted by Elizabeth (Liz) Haswell (Professor at Washington University in St. Louis) and Ivan Baxter (Research Computational Biologist with the USDA-ARS Plant Genetics Research Unit at […]

Review: Secondary growth as a determinant of plant shape and form

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Secondary growth from the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem, increases the plant’s girth. It also produces wood (secondary xylem) and important fibers like flax, jute and hemp (secondary phloem). Ragni and Greb review secondary growth in plants. They start with a review of the evolutionary history of secondary growth (which includes both gains and losses), […]

Review: Exocyst, exosomes, and autophagy in pollen-stigma interactions ($)

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Some plants are able to suppress inbreeding through a system called self-incompatibility, in which “self”-pollen is unable to reach “self” eggs. Self-incompatibility has evolved multiple times and takes several forms. Goring reviews the cellular processes of self-incompatibility that occur in Brassicaseae in pollen-stigma interactions, the “first checkpoint in pollen selection”. Pollen coat proteins are involved […]

Review: The structure-to-function missing link of plasmodesmata: ($)

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Plasmodesmata are tiny channels between cells that allow intercellular movement of messages and metabolites as well as pathogens. They are structurally complex and usually have a central strand of endoplasmic-reticulum (the desmotubule) that passes between adjacent cells, connected by spoke-like elements to the plasma membranes that line the channel. Nicolas et al. speculate on how […]

Receptor-mediated chitin perception in legume roots is functionally separable from Nod factor perception ($)

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Small molecules are crucial for the recognition of friends and foes. For example, Nod factors are N-acetylglucosamine-derived “friend” signals produced by bacterial microsymbionts. Chitin is an N-acetylglucosamine-derived fungal wall polymer that plants perceive as indicating the presence of an enemy.  The question of how plants perceive their friends and enemies became even more perplexing when […]

Opinion: Plant cytokinesis: Terminology for structures and processes

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Cell division in plants is a structurally beautiful process that involves striking and dynamic changes in the cytoskeleton, endomembranes, and nucleus. However, as authors Smertenko et al. observe, “Current plant cytokinesis terminology was developed using data generated by fluorescence microscopy of live or fixed cells, electron microscopy of chemically or cryofixed cells, and genetic strategies,” […]

A pair of papers that redefines the pyrenoid, the eukaryotic CO2-concentrating organelle

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Photosynthesis in aquatic organisms is made difficult due to the low solubility of CO2 in water. Algae such as Chlamydomonas rheinhardtii overcome this limitation through a carbon-concentrating organelle called a pyrenoid. Two papers in Cell redefine our understanding of the pyrenoid structure. Mackinder et al. (10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.044) tagged pyrenoid-localized proteins and examined their locations as well […]