Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) are essential nutrients for plants and also the animals that eat them. Human deficiencies of these elements are not uncommon. Here, Alcock et al. used Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy to measure the elemental composition of a mutagenized population of Brassica rapa. They identified a line carrying a recessive mutation […]
Review: CRISPR screens in plants: Approaches, guidelines, and future prospects We don’t need to remind you of the tremendous positive impact that CRISPR-based technologies have had on the life sciences through enabling any gene to be edited precisely. Here, Gaillochet et al. provide an up-to-date review of a lesser-known application of CRISPR, its use in […]
Plantae Presents: Sophia Stone and Sjon Hartman Recorded April 14 Sophia Stone: The ubiquitin-proteasome system at the crossroads of abiotic and biotic stress tolerance Sophia Stone earned her PhD at York University, Canada, and completed an HFSP long-term fellowship at the University of California-Davis, USA. She currently holds the George S. Campbell Chair in […]
Plantae Presents: Ksenia Krasileva, Christine Diepenbrock, and Rory Craig Special Event: The Plant Cell Focus Issue on the Biology of Plant Genomes Recorded Wed April 7th – 4 pm EDT, 1 pm PDT 9 pm BST, Thurs April 8th 8 am NZT Advances in genome sequencing have yielded insights into aspects of plant biology; elucidating […]
A conversation with Beronda Montgomery Recorded April 6, 2021 Beronda Montgomery is a Foundation Professor at Michigan State University in the departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. The Montgomery Lab pursues a common research theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which […]
We marvel at the ability of starfish to regenerate an arm, or a lizard a new tail, but even more impressive than these feats is the ability of a plant root system to create lateral roots when and where they are needed. This root system plasticity has been long studied, with a wealth of insights […]
The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, are devastating crop pests that lower yields and transmit viruses. They feed off more than 600 species, most of which produce toxic phenolic glycosides. Xia et al. investigated how the whiteflies manage to avoid the effects of the toxin. They found convincing evidence that this group of insects, but not […]
Update: Lateral root formation and nutrients: nitrogen in the spotlight We marvel at the ability of starfish to regenerate an arm, or a lizard a new tail, but even more impressive than these feats is the ability of a plant root system to create lateral roots when and where they are needed. This root system […]
Roots and shoots exist in different environments and have different functions, but each depends on the actions of the other. In recent years, many factors have been identified that move from root to shoot or vice versa to integrate their actions; these include hormones, small RNAs, peptides, and transcription factors. This fascinating review article takes […]