Entries by Mary Williams

Update: Temporal dynamics of stomatal behaviour: modelling,and implications for photosynthesis and water use

Stomata control gaseous exchange between the leaf and bulk atmosphere limiting CO2 uptake for photosynthesis and water loss by transpiration, and therefore determine plant productivity and water use efficiency. In order to function efficiently, stomata must respond to internal and external signals to balance these two diffusional processes. However, stomatal responses are an order of […]

Are GMOs good or bad? From the video series “Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell”

Amazing – over 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours – this is a popular video series! Here is a list of sources from the YouTube page: SOURCES: #What is natural: GM insulin: http://bit.ly/2ncHaW5 Genetic engineering for thousands of years: http://bit.ly/2eCHKfi http://bit.ly/2mLCvPm CRISPR: http://bit.ly/2ncI2uN # Are GMOs bad for your health GMOs and gene […]

Changes in the chloroplastic CO2 concentration explain much of the observed Kok effect: a model ($)

When the uptake of CO2 (A) is plotted against absorbed irradiance (I), at low I there is a noticeable bend that occurs around the light compensation point (I where CO2 release due to mitochondrial respiration is balanced by CO2 uptake by photosynthesis). When the slopes of both parts of the curve are extrapolated back to […]

Identification of Arabidopsis genic and non-genic promoters

A promoter is a region that “determines the position, direction, frequency, and timing of transcription”.  A cell can decode the sequence of the promoter to ensure appropriate transcription, but we still can’t. Tokizawa et al. performed a large-scale survey of promoters by sequencing regions upstream of transcription start sites. They identified promoters corresponding to 80% […]

Hierarchically aligning 10 legume genomes establishes a family-level genomics platform

Many legumes are important crops, and to date ten legume genomes have been sequenced, including soybean, common bean, mung bean, and two species of wild peanut. Wang et al. used hierarchical comparative genomics analysis of the ten legume genomes, which enabled them to detected gene colinearity between and within genomes, identify colinearity-supported homologs, orthologs and […]

Opinion: Increasing crop yield and resilience with trehalose 6-phosphate ($)

Trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) is a disaccharide formed from two glucose sugars, and more importantly is a signal of glucose availability and regulator of energy homeostasis. Acting via the protein kinase SnRK1, T6P controls the allocation of carbon, leading the plant down a “feast” (growth) or “famine” (survival) metabolic and growth pathway. Paul et al. review […]

Commentary: Widespread contamination of Arabidopsis embryo and endosperm transcriptome datasets

Knowing where a gene is expressed provides valuable information about its function, but that information is compromised if the RNA source is contaminated by other tissues. Schon and Nodine investigated the extent to which Arabidopsis embryo and endosperm transcriptome datasets are affected by tissue contamination. Using seed coat-specific RNAs as markers of maternal tissues and […]

Canopy near-infrared reflectance and terrestrial photosynthesis

A model is only as good as the data that go into it (garbage in, garbage out), so any effort to improve remote sensing data will contribute to better global models. Badgley et al. describe a new parameter, near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRV), that more accurately quantifies photosynthesis at the global scale (Gross Primary Productivity, […]