Structural biology provides a key link between genotype and phenotype. Hirano et al. probe the structure of a heterodimer of plant-specific GRAS family transcriptional regulators [SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and SCARECROW (SCR)] as bound to the transcription factor JACKDAW (JKD). The GRAS family proteins (encoded by 33 genes in Arabidopsis and 66 in rice) are involved in […]
A considerable knowledge gap remains between the plant genome and the plant metabolome. To address this, Schläpfer et al. have developed a computational pipeline to identify metabolic enzymes, pathways, and gene clusters. Although metabolic genes are known to cluster in bacteria and fungi, until recently this phenomenon was not known to be widespread in plants. […]
The classic art of plant breeding involves carefully examining a genetically segregating population for traits of interest. Increasingly, high-throughput, automated phenotyping systems are being used; for example, robots can carry plants to imaging chambers for data collection. However, growth-chamber grown plants do not fully replicate the range of conditions experienced by field-grown plants. Tanger et […]
The distribution of metabolites in tissues can be determined in situ through the technique Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) (also known as MALDI-MSI). Duenas et al. used MALDI-MSI to analyze the distribution of thylakoid membrane lipids in maize, specifically comparing those of the the bundle sheath cells and mesophyll cells. […]
Plants produce a huge variety of specialized metabolites, many with roles in defense. Metabolic profiles rarely follow phylogenetic lines; in fact, closely related species often produce dramatically different suites of metabolites. When it comes to defense chemistry, it is advantageous to be different from your neighbor; species can carve out their own niche as a […]
Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants open their stomata at night, decreasing water loss and increasing water-use efficiency as well as drought tolerance. Males and Griffiths review the stomatal biology of CAM plants as compared to C3 plants. For example, CAM stomata are relatively insensitive to blue light, which is a powerful opening stimulus for C3 […]
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The seeds and fruits derived from the sexual reproduction of flowering plants constitute the major part of the human diet. Our capacity to generate sufficient crop yield is increasingly compromised by human population expansion, competition for land use, biodiversity loss, and global climate change. Hot days and heat waves are predicted to increase in frequency […]
From CIMMYT, by Brenda Wawa / February 23, 2017 “Smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Africa are facing a new threat as a plague of intrepid fall armyworms creeps across the region, so far damaging an estimated 287,000 hectares of maize. Since mid-2016, scientists with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and national […]