Review. Lighting the way: Compelling open questions in photosynthesis research Photosynthesis is fundamental to life on Earth and a topic that all plant biologists should have a good understanding of, but it is also an incredibly complex set of processes, reactions and structures spanning great temporal and spatial distances. In this new Commentary by Eckardt […]
There is increasing evidence that silicon (Si) application to soils or leaves can promote plant growth through various means, including enhancing tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses, but the mechanisms of this growth promotion are not always clear. Here, Bardhan et al. review how Si can promote drought tolerance, focusing on the soil-root interface. Starting […]
Recently, we have gained tremendous insights through live-cell imaging using fluorescent tags that bind specifically to various cellular components. Here, Besten et al. present a new set of cell wall-specific tags that bind specifically to cell walls and reveal selected wall properties. The authors developed a non-toxic, boron-based synthetic molecule, CarboTag, that binds to cell […]
Pyrenoids are structures that concentrate carbon dioxide around Rubisco, most commonly studied in green algae such as Chlamydomonas. However, hornworts, one of the three types of bryophytes (along with liverworts and mosses) also have a pyrenoid-based CO2-concentrating mechanism (pCCM), unique among land plants. Here, Robison et al. characterize the pCCM in the model hornwort Anthoceros […]
Plant resistance genes encode proteins that trigger immune responses when they recognize pathogen effectors. Their activation must be carefully regulated, as overexpression of activation of R genes usually causes a decrease in growth rate. Here, Sun et al. investigated the role of alternative splicing of a potato R gene called RB. They showed that in […]
Review: Stem cells of the vascular cambium Vascular cambium cells are meristematic cells responsible for secondary growth. Lineage tracing studies in Arabidopsis and poplar show the presence of single bifacial stem cells in each radial cell file that produce xylem inwards and phloem cells outwards. In a recent review, Wybouw et al. discuss the concept […]
I think one of the most important lessons a scientist learns is to cross-check their findings with a different approach in order to determine if the findings are reasonable. This interesting article by Oliveira-Filho and Campos-Silva et al. lays out several examples of using back-of-the envelope or Fermi calculations to “gauge reality”. The authors provide […]
Many bryophytes and other non-seed plants are tolerant to vegetative desiccation, which is thought to have been necessary for colonization of land. By contrast, most seed plants lack this capacity, although they retain desiccation tolerance in their pollen and seeds. However, some seed plants, known as resurrection plants, have re-evolved vegetative desiccation tolerance probably through […]
In this article by Haverroth et al., the authors explore plant-water dynamics in the shoot during and after waterlogging, using as a model Phaseolus vulgaris, which is particularly sensitive to waterlogging. One of the interesting findings is that early after waterlogging and prior to leaf dehydration, stomatal pores close and leaf hydraulic conductivity declines; the […]