Entries by Mary Williams

Mutation in sorghum LOW GERMINATION STIMULANT 1 alters strigolactones and causes Striga resistance

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Strigolactones are both hormones that control shoot architecture and signals that promote interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and promote germination of detrimental parasitic weeds such as Striga asiatica and Striga hermonthica. Gobena et al. mapped and cloned a sorghum gene, LOW GERMINATION STIMULANT 1 (LGS1), previously identified as conferring less stimulation of germination in Striga. […]

Malate-dependent Fe accumulation is a critical checkpoint in the root developmental response to low phosphate

April 20, 2017 in , /by

Phosphate is a limiting nutrient in soil and not very mobile, so roots respond strongly to low Pi soils by the cessation of elongation of the primary root with accompanying stimulation of lateral root and root hair production. Previously, the accumulation of iron (Fe3+) in the apoplast of root meristem cells with accompanying callose deposition […]

Pea border cell maturation and release involve complex cell wall structural dynamics

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Border cells form at the root tip and are shed during growth, protecting the sensitive root apex from damage as it pushes through the soil. Mravec et al. investigated the cell wall chemistry, carbohydrate distributioion and expression of cell-wall modifying genes to determine the mechanism by which border cells separate from their neighboring cells. Their […]

What We’re Reading: April 21

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Review: Rubisco activases: AAA+ chaperones adapted to enzyme repair Rubisco, the fundamental enzyme required for photosynthetic carbon fixation, is susceptible to inactivation by the inhibitory binding of various metabolites. Rubisco activases (Rca’s) are enzymes that remodel Rubisco and facilitate the elimination of the inhibitor. All photosynthetic organisms have Rubisco activases that share a AAA+ domain. […]

The preprophase band of microtubules controls the robustness of division orientation in plants ($)

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Every student of plant cell biology learns that the future plane of cell division is marked very early in mitosis by the preprophase band (PPB), a band of microtubules that forms around the periphery of the cell. Prior experimental studies have suggested that the PPB is necessary for proper placement of the mitotic spindle and […]

LOCALIZER: Subcellular localization prediction of both plant and effector proteins in the plant cell

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Proteins carry sequence tags that are read by cellular machineries that deliver the proteins to their proper destinations, which include the nucleus, mitochondria and plastid. Many pathogen effector proteins have acquired such targeting tags too, but for these can sometimes be cryptic to bioinformatics tools trained on native plant proteins. Sperschneider et al. have developed […]

Exploiting maize genetic diversity: Metabolomic, enzyme activity profiling, and metabolic modelling to link leaf physiology to kernel yield ($)

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

The path from genome to phenome is difficult to predict. Cañas et al. tried to identify biochemical markers that are correlated with kernel yield that could be selected for in breeding. Specifically, they collected data from metabolomics, enzyme activity assays and metabolic modeling, taken during the vegetative phase and the grain filling state 15 days […]

A circRNA from SEPALLATA3 regulates splicing of its cognate mRNA through R-loop formation ($)

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in , /by

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently discovered form of stable, covalently-closed RNA found in all domains of eukaryotic life. The origins and functions of circRNAs have been under intensive investigation. Often, circRNAs consist of one or more exons, often corresponding to skipped exons from genes that are alternatively spliced (AS), but the relationship between circRNA […]