Entries by Mary Williams

Review: Emerging mechanisms to fine-tune receptor kinase signaling specificity (COPB)

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent too much time in lockdown, but sometimes I find studies on cell signaling a bit impenetrable. Fortunately, this excellent review by Galindo-Trigo et al. has arrived, which elegantly walks the reader through the crowded world of receptor-like kinases and “how cells can exert highly localized control over the assembly, interaction […]

Modifying plant photosynthesis and growth via simultaneous chloroplast transformation of Rubisco large and small subunits (Plant Cell)

In an interesting evolutionary artifact, the genes encoding the small subunit of Rubisco, rbcS, reside in the nuclear genome, whilst those encoding RbcL persists in the chloroplast. The RbcS protein is translocated into the chloroplast where the holoenzyme forms. This complexity adds to the challenge of engineering Rubsico, and several efforts have been made to […]

Variation in maize chlorophyll biosynthesis alters plant architecture (Plant Physiol)

This is an interesting paper that combines classical genetics with biochemistry and phenotypic analysis. Khangura et al. looked at maize lines with various allelic combinations of two loci that affect chlorophyll biosynthesis: the oil yellow1 (oy1) gene encodes magnesium chelatase, the first committed step in chlorophyll production, and very oil yellow1 (vey1) is a cis-regulatory […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: July 17, 2020

Review: Emerging mechanisms to fine-tune receptor kinase signaling specificity Maybe it’s because I’ve spent too much time in lockdown, but sometimes I find studies on cell signaling a bit impenetrable. Fortunately, this excellent review by Galindo-Trigo et al. has arrived, which elegantly walks the reader through the crowded world of receptor-like kinases and “how cells […]

Author Editing Services

Discounts available for ASPB authors ASPB’s journals are continually evolving to improve the author experience so that researchers think of The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology first when deciding where to publish their best work. Most recently, we have negotiated a discount for authors who wish to improve their papers pre-submission by using a professional editing service. We have […]

ASPB journals announce journal portability initiative

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, authors who have received an editorial decline decision from any journal in the ASPB suite of titles will have the option to transfer their submissions to any other ASPB journal. ASPB publishes three journals: Plant Physiology (founded in 1926), The Plant […]

Review: Banishing barberry: The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain (Plant Pathology)

Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) has a strange life strategy in that it requires two hosts to complete its sexual life cycle; wheat and barberry. In the absence of barberry, it reproduces clonally; clonal reproduction limits its ability to generate diversity and therefore its ability to evade plant defenses. Barnes et al. take a […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: July 10, 2020

  Review: Banishing barberry: The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) has a strange life strategy in that it requires two hosts to complete its sexual life cycle; wheat and barberry. In the absence of barberry, it reproduces clonally; clonal reproduction limits its […]

The genome of Prasinoderma coloniale unveils the existence of a third phylum within green plants (Nature Ecol. Evol.)

The green plant lineage (Viridiplantae) has long been described as having a single origin (starting with the engulfment of a cyanobacteria-like endosymbiont) that has led to two phyla: the Streptophyta, including embryophytes (land plants) and some algae such as chara and nitella, and the Chlorophyta, encompassing most of the other algae including chlamydomonas, volvox, chlorella, […]