Entries by Mary Williams

Suppression of plant hypoxia responses by cysteine oxidases and arginyl transferases that initiate transcription factor turnover by N-end rule pathway

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Flooding “drowns” plants by depriving them of oxygen, leading to hypoxia and ultimately death. Ethylene-responsive transcription factors (ERFs) have been identified that induce expression of genes to support anaerobic metabolism and are critical for hypoxia survival. ERFs are selectively destabilized in normal oxygen environment (normoxia), through a turnover response known as the N-end rule pathway, […]

The emergence, evolution, and diversification of the miR390-TAS3-ARF pathway in land plants ($)

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Trans-acting small interfering RNAs (tasiRNAs) are unique to plants. They are the products of TAS genes, but they function to regulate other genes (thus the name “trans-acting”). The production of tasiRNAs requires miRNAs, which bind to and ultimately lead to cleavage of the primary TAS transcript. TAS3 is the best studied TAS gene. Its production […]

H2A monoubiquitination in Arabidopsis is generally independent of LHP1 and PRC2 activity

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Gene silencing by chromatin marks occurs in plants and animals, but there are often some differences in the details. Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and PRC2 were first characterized in animals and shown to repress gene expression in part through histone modification; PRC1 has histone H2A E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, and PRC2 has histone H3 […]

Opinion: Ménage-à-trois hypothesis of plastid endosymbiosis ($)

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It is well established that plastids are derived from the primary endosymbiosis of an ancient cyanobacterium into a eukaryotic host cell, but this understanding does not explain all of the evidence, nor does it explain how the nascent endosymbiont evaded the host cell’s defense mechanisms. Recently, the ménage-à-trois hypothesis (MATH) was proposed. According to MATH, […]

Review: Environmental regulation of intrinsic photosynthetic capacity: an integrated view ($)

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Photosynthetic capacity varies hugely within an individual over time, between individuals in different environments, and between species. Demming-Adams et al. review the processes that affect intrinsic photosynthetic capacity. Plants modulate their intrinsic photosynthetic capacity according to input (e.g., shade-grown plants generally have a lower capacity than plants growing in bright light), and demand (e.g., rate […]

Review: How multifaceted salicylic acid combats disease in plants and humans

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The journal BMC Biology publishes occasional Question and Answer articles, including a series on plant signals. In the latest installment of this series, Dempsey and Klessig write about the hormone salicylic acid (SA) and how it combats disease in plants and humans. The article focuses on SA in plants (synthesis, signalling, and function) but the […]

Correspondence: Discussion about the US National Academies GE crop report ($)

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A series of letters has been published in Nature Biotechnology on the topic of the US National Academies report Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects. From Dec 2016, US National Academies report misses the mark. In the April 2017 issue, authors of the report and others reply to the Dec letter:  Elevating the conversation about […]

Launching Botany Live! for Fascination of Plants Day

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May 18th is the Fascination of Plants Day, and we want to help in this international effort to highlight the importance of plants and plant science. Therefore, we’re supporting the #BotanyLive e-event! In a nutshell, we’re asking planty folks (curious, enthusiasts, professionals) to share something about their fascination with plants online. We’re particularly recommending the […]