Entries by Mary Williams

Variable mesophyll conductance among soybean cultivars sets a tradeoff between photosynthesis and water-use-efficiency

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An experimental study by Tomeo and Rosenthal with soybean cultivars  demonstrated that there exists genotypic differences in mesophyll conductance (gm),  and that the potential exploitation of this trait may increase crop productivity. It was found that there exists a proper coordination mechanism between  gm and the physiology of leaf photosynthesis. The gm which alters the CO2 […]

TAL effector driven induction of a SWEET gene confers susceptibility to bacterial blight of cotton

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Plants undergo photosynthesis in leaves to produce carbohydrates sucrose and starch. The sucrose is transported to other parts of the plants via sugar transporters called SWEET proteins. In addition, certain plant pathogens activate SWEET genes to invade their host. As shown in this paper, during bacterial blight of cotton (BBC) disease, in cotton GhSWEET10 is […]

Elevated temperature drives a shift from selfing to outcrossing in the insect-pollinated legume, faba bean (Vicia faba)

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The effects of climate change on agriculture to human health have been well discussed in both scientific and public domains. In plants, changes in climate might affect interactions between the plants and their insect pollinators due to variable availability of pollinators in severe weather conditions, thus affecting reproductive success of plants and crop yield. In […]

A plant cryptochrome controls key features of the Chlamydomonas circadian clock and its life cycle

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Animals and plants have divergent sets of blue light receptors, called Cryptochromes. However, green alga Chlamydomonas has both animal-like and plant cryptochrome (pCRY). The presence of multiple cryptochrome suggests specific roles in different pathways in respective organisms. In this paper, Müller et al explore the biological functions of pCRY using a mutant with reduced pCRY […]

The composition of the Arabidopsis RNA Polymerase II Transcript Elongation Complex reveals the interplay between elongation and mRNA processing factors

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Gene expression is regulated at multiple levels such as genome, transcription, RNA processing and nuclear export, translation, and post-translation. Functional mRNA levels are regulated at transcription stage where RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) controls initiation and elongation of mRNA. In particular, the C-terminal domain of RNAPII defines the elongation phase along with Transcript Elongation Factors (TEFs). […]

Review: Zooming in on plant hormone analysis: Tissue- and cell-specific approaches ($)

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Throughout plant life cycle, from germination till reproduction, every event is regulated by a highly complex network of hormones. Unlike animals where hormones are synthesized in specific glands, each plant cell is able to produce hormones. However, hormones are synthesized in specific organs in plants. Recent advancements in tools have enabled plant scientists to study […]

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, May 2017

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Jennifer Wisecaver, featured first author of A Global Co-expression Network Approach for Connecting Genes to Specialized Metabolic Pathways in Plants Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University. Education: PhD (2012) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona. BS (2007) Biological Sciences, Humboldt State University. Non-scientific Interests: Spending time with family, friends, and […]

An Emerging Paradigm? RxLR Cleavage Before Effector Secretion

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Eukaryotic pathogens are responsible for devastating plant diseases that threaten food supplies globally – think potato blight caused by the oomycete Phytophora infestans, rice blast caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, and wheat stem rust caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. These pathogens secrete effector proteins that condition the host cells for […]

What We’re Reading: June 9th

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This week’s What We’re Reading is curated by Sridhar Gutam, Senior Scientist, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Nidhi Sharma, Research Specialist, Stanford University. Nidhi Sharma is a researcher in Dominique Bergmann’s lab at Stanford University. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and did post-doctoral work with Dr. Kathy Barton at Carnegie […]