Much of what is written about the impacts of climate change on food production is focused on the abiotic stresses that plants will experience, but biotic stresses will be equally impactful, as discussed in this fine review by Singh et al. The challenges in predicting climate impacts on plant disease severity are complicated in part […]
It’s pretty obvious that plants are not simply balls of cells. Their shapes and patterns are determined in large part through processes that cause cells to grow and divide asymmetrically, through the establishment of cell polarity. When I set out to read this review I was a bit nervous, expecting to be overwhelmed by differential […]
Male – female, egg – sperm: how did these animal-centric terms come to be applied to plants? This question is addressed in this interesting essay by Subramaniam and Bartlett. As they observe, the language we use to talk about plant reproduction is largely rooted in the language of animal reproduction, and reflects the conventions and […]
Review: Climate change impacts on plant pathogens, food security, and paths forward Much of what is written about the impacts of climate change on food production is focused on the abiotic stresses that plants will experience, but biotic stresses will be equally impactful, as discussed in this fine review by Singh et al. The challenges […]
By Yunde Zhao (Plant Physiology EIC) and Mary Williams (Plant Physiology Features Editor) The mission of the Assistant Features Editor (AFE) program is to help disseminate exciting discoveries published in Plant Physiology and to advance young scientists’ careers. This past January, Plant Physiology welcomed 19 new Assistant Features Editors to the editorial board. Together with […]
Cellulose is an important and useful biopolymer, present in plant cell walls and synthesized at the plasma membrane by protein complexes called cellulose synthase complexes (CSCs) composed of multimers of cellulose synthase (CESA). CESAs are embedded in the membrane and move along the membrane as they polymerize cellulose. In a new study, Huang et al. […]
Water uptake by roots is controlled by two factors: the architecture of the root system, and its hydraulic capacity. The later property is largely determined by the anatomical and physiological properties of the root cells, which include things like suberization and the presence of aquaporins (regulated water channels). Rishmawi et al. characterized multiple parameters on […]
Review: Resolving metabolic interaction mechanisms in plant microbiomes Life is spurred forward by the power of metabolic interactions. Within the plant microbiome, microbial communities use diverse mechanisms to thrive, survive, and multiply. In this review, Pacheco & Vorholt describe the interplay of metabolic interactions within plant microbiomes and review current approaches. Plants host a wide […]
Genetic studies can suggest that two proteins function in the same pathway, but how can we figure out if they share the same space? In this review, Xu et al. provide an overview of proximity labeling, a method to identify proteins that co-localize in space. Proximity labeling uses a biotin ligase which is incubated with […]