Areas of expertise Chloroplast biology; gene expression; photosynthesis; evolutionary genetics. Ralph Bock is a Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and a Professor at the University of Potsdam. He received undergraduate and MSc degrees from the University of Halle, Germany and a PhD from the University of Freiburg. Dr. Bock uses […]
Rakesh David, featured first author of Transcriptome-wide Mapping of RNA 5-Methylcytosine in Arabidopsis mRNAs and non-coding RNAs Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Adelaide. Education: PhD, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Science Division, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Australia. Non-scientific Interests: Cycling, cricket, movies and reading. […]
By Peter J Franks, Joseph A Berry, Danica L. Lombardozzi, and Gordon B Bonan The colonization of land by plants and their interaction with biogeochemical and atmospheric processes transformed continental climate and hydrology. Stomata, which evolved to optimize the biological economics of plant carbon uptake in exchange for water loss, play a crucial role in […]
By Shin-ichiro Inoue, and Toshinori Kinoshita Light-induced stomatal responses were first reported 23 by Francis Darwin (1898). Stomata open in response to light, including blue and red light (Shimazaki et al., 2007). Red light induces stomatal opening via photosynthesis in the mesophyll and guard cell chloroplasts (Mott et al., 2008; Suetsugu et al., 2014). In […]
PLOS Computational Biology has a series of “Ten Simple Rules” articles. Here is one for undergraduate researchers, “Ten simple rules to make the most out of your undergraduate research career” by Megan Yu and Yu-Min Kuo Here are the rules, read the article for elaboration Rule 1: Start early Rule 2: Know your foundational knowledge […]
May 2017, MIT Technology Review by James Temple Reinventing Rice for a World Transformed by Climate Change UC Davis plant geneticist Pamela Ronald wants to create rice varieties that can survive in harsher conditions, including more frequent droughts. “Pamela Ronald stands in front of two rows of rice plants, sprouting from black plastic pots, in […]
Areas of expertise Chromosome biology, epigenetics, dosage compensation, polyploidy, heterosis, gene silencing, synthetic chromosomes, genomic balance. James Birchler is Curators’ Professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He completed his BS degree at Eastern Illinois University and his PhD at Indiana University. Research interests of the Birchler laboratory include structure and behavior of chromosomes, centromere […]
Areas of expertise Intracellular protein trafficking, clathrin-dependent trafficking, membrane biogenesis, microtubules, polar growth, the phragmoplast, the cell wall. Sebastian Bednarek is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his PhD from Michigan State University. He is an expert on intracellular protein trafficking and membrane biogenesis and his work […]
Why we’re writing What We’re Reading and how you can contribute…. (more) Nature Outlook Supplement: Food Security (OA) Nature has published an Outlook feature on the topic of Food Security with the following overview articles, all useful for teaching: Food security, Nutrition: A world of insecurity, Agrobiodiversity: The living library, Bioengineering: Solar upgrade, […]