The fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus that infects European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) has caused a huge epidemic and cost millions of trees their lives. Downie describes the employment of molecular techniques to trace the origin of the fungus in Europe, and describes how the fungal life cycle contributes to pathogen diversity. He also describes the associative […]
Plants with thicker leaves are better able to retain water and deal with water-limiting conditions. Coneva et al. explored the genetic basis for leaf thickness by comparing introgression lines of cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and a species adapted to the desert (Solanum pennillii). They found that thicker leaves often had elongated palisade mesophyll cells and […]
Guard cells are crucial gatekeepers that control entry and exit of gases, water vapor, and pathogens. Rapid stomatal pore closure in response to pathogen perception or the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is supported by activation of the aquaporin (water channel) PIP2;1. Rodrigues et al. investigated the contribution of PIP2;1 in guard cell responses to the […]
Sugars produced in photosynthetically active mesophyll cells move into the phloem through a process known as phloem loading, but not all plants phloem load the same way. Some use a passive process in which sugars move down a concentration gradient into the phloem, but others use active transport processes. Some species use a “polymer trap” […]
Gibberella stalk rot (GSR) is a fungal disease of maize. Through QTL-seq, a whole genome sequencing method, Chen et al. identified a new resistance quantitative trait locus (QTL) Rgsr8.1 that confers broad-spectrum resistance to GSR. Two candidate genes were identified, one encoding an auxin response factor and the other a disease resistance protein. (Summary by […]
Brassinosteroid hormones (BRs) play significant roles in plant growth and development. Que et al. examined BR accumulation and the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis, signalling and catabolism of BRs in carrot (Daucus carota), a phytonutrient-rich crop. A key finding is the increase in petiole number and length upon exogenous BR treatment. (Summary by […]
Local adaptation and plant fitness (how plants perform on those localities) are strongly influenced by the seasonal timing of germination and flowering. Germination timing affects when a plant flowers and the selective environment under which flowering occurs. The other way around is also true, timing of flowering influence when seeds are set and dispersed, as […]
The nematode Heterodera schachtii is a parasite of the sugar beet. Understanding how H. schachtii parasitizes the plant is crucial to develop tools to minimize infestation and crop losses. From the H. schachtii transcriptome, the authors identified the sequence of a putative secreted effector protein containing a tyrosinase domain, termed Hs-Tyr. Hs-Tyr mRNA expression peaked […]
Editorial: Introducing Plant Direct Editor-in-Chief Ivan Baxter introduces the new journal Plant Direct, “a new journal from Wiley and the societies behind Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, and The Plant Cell” [that is, the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and Society for Experimental Biology (SEB)]. This new Open Access journal is a “sound science” […]