Lichens are remarkable, complex symbiotic organisms. They have evolved multiple times independently, but all lichen include at least one fungal partner (the mycobiont) which they usually resemble morphologically, and at least one cyanobacterial or algal photosynthetic partner (the photobiont). This partnership provides environmental durability plus the power of photosynthesis, making lichen pretty ubiquitous; they can […]
Like all of Earth’s lifeforms, plants are already experiencing hardships due to the changing climate, and these stresses will get more extreme. Much effort has gone into breeding crops for climate resilience, less on trees which are both more diverse and less genetically tractable. Here, Allsup et al. provide an interesting approach to enhance tree […]
Recently, we highlighted a sexually deceptive daisy that mimics a female bee-fly to attract the male pollinators. In a recent preprint, Fattorini et al. take a closer look at the factors that specify the petal pigmentation pattern. The authors looked at three morphotypes with different spot patterns, colors, and frequencies. The authors used mass-spectrometry to […]
Recently, the United States designated Juneteenth as a new federal holiday, which celebrates freedom of the last large body of enslaved Black Americans following the American Civil War. However, the impact of chattel slavery persists: Black scientists face many obstacles to attaining an education and persisting in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and […]
Essay: The coming golden age of lichen biology Lichens are remarkable, complex symbiotic organisms. They have evolved multiple times independently, but all lichen include at least one fungal partner (the mycobiont) which they usually resemble morphologically, and at least one cyanobacterial or algal photosynthetic partner (the photobiont). This partnership provides environmental durability plus the power […]
Plant Cell Webinar: RNA Biology (Part 2) Celebrating the June 2023 Focus Issue on RNA Biology Recorded Wednesday, June 28, 2023 About This Webinar If DNA is the playbook of life, then RNA, in all its forms, is the company of actors that brings life into being. RNA is likely the original organic molecule that […]
Plant Cell Webinar: RNA Biology (1) Celebrating the June 2023 Focus Issue on RNA Biology Recorded Wednesday, June 14, 2023 About This Webinar If DNA is the playbook of life, then RNA, in all its forms, is the company of actors that brings life into being. RNA is likely the original organic molecule that gave […]
Biomolecular condensates are non-membrane-bound compartments containing proteins and RNAs with key functions in stress responses. In plants, they occur as several types with different properties and components, including stress granules and processing bodies. Protein domains such as prion-like domains and intrinsically-disordered regions provide stickiness and facilitate protein aggregation. Although much of what is known about […]
Callose is a polysaccharide with amorphous, gel-like properties that often serves as a transient matrix in plant cell walls. Callose deposition at plasmodesmata can regulate the movement of molecules between cells, transient callose deposition in phloem sieve elements occurs in response to stress, callose is deposited at the site at which some pathogens penetrate the […]