Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) stably regulates gene expression by initiating repressive histone methylation (specifically, trimethylation of histone H3 at Lys27, H3K27me3). Xiao et al. investigated how PRC2 targets the genes it silences. They identified several Polycomb response elements (PREs) that are binding sites for transcription factors which interact with PRC2. When selected PREs were […]
A plant’s life begins with the fusion of haploid egg and sperm cells to produce a diploid zygote. Many of the processes that control early development are under the control of the maternal genome, but at some point there is a shift towards zygotic control. Chen et al. investigated when this shift occurs through transcriptomic […]
Many plants are not simple diploids (two copies of each chromosome) but are instead are the result of various forms of polyploidization (for example, whole-genome duplication or interspecific hybridization). Polyploidization can disrupt well-established controls over gene expression levels, transposon silencing and other epigenetic processes. Previous studies have indicated that one of the two geneomes (known […]
Mu et al. mapped a QTL previously shown to control fruit weight in tomato, and named the responsible gene Cell Size Regulator (CSR). They found that CSR-D, the derived allele, increases cell size and is widespread in Solanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum, but not in ancestral tomatoes with smaller fruit. The encoded protein is uncharacterized but […]
Cultivated apples (Malus domestica) trace their roots to Kazakhstan 4000 – 10,000 years ago, and since then have been propagated, transported, hybridized to other Malus species, and domesticated. Duan et al. sequenced more than 100 diverse accessions to trace apple’s history and identify loci subjected to selection. “During the domestication process, cultivated apples retained the […]
Although future negative impacts on crop yields expected from rising temperature are well known to plant scientists, there are still some members of the broader public that need to be made aware of this problem. Zhao et al. combined four different methods of assessing the impact of increasing temperatures on yields of wheat, rice, maize, […]
Doublday and Connell ask whether scientific writing has to be so dull, and conclude that there is room for improvement. They are quick to argue that sensationalism and inaccuracy are not acceptable, but that it is possible for scientific writing to be both objective and charismatic. However, for the culture of scientific writing to change, […]
Review: Auxin signaling Leyser summarizes our current understanding of the what, how and why of what auxin does (and doesn’t) do. For example, she points out that, “Auxin does not instruct cells to do anything in particular, but rather it influences the behavior of cells according to their pre-existing identity.” She also observes that cells […]
Some plants can only flower after a cold period. This cold period has been shown to cause epigenetic gene silencing of an inhibitor of flowering, which in Arabidopsis is encoded by FLC. Yang and Berry et al. explore the mechanism by which FLC is epigenetically silenced in response to cold. Previous studies showed that the […]