Entries by Mary Williams

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

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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, […]

Plastocyanin is the long-range electron carrier between photosystem II and photosystem I in plants (PNAS)

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In linear electron transport (LET), electrons are passed from photosystem II to photosystem I, but it has not been clear which of two mobile electron carriers is responsible, plastocyanin (PC) or plastoquinone (PQ). PQ carries electrons from PSII to the cyt b6f complex and PC from there to PSI. Höhner et al. have taken advantage […]

Genes of the RAV family control heading date and carpel development in rice (Plant Physiol)

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Seed-bearing annual plants essentially get one shot at getting their reproductive timing right; too early and there won’t be enough stored nutrients to produce healthy seeds, and too late and the seeds might not mature fully before bad weather or rot sets in. Previously, the RAV (RELATED TO ABI3 AND VP1) family of transcription factors […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: July 3rd

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Review: Feedback mechanisms between membrane lipid homeostasis and plant development Plant development is a regulated process of cell division, expansion, and differentiation. Membrane lipids are crucial to these processes, as illustrated in this review by Boutté and Jaillais. The authors discuss the major lipid components in the different membrane systems and how these vary in […]

Plant Biology 2020 workshop: Get Your Message Across: A Guide to Artwork and Illustrations for Better Impact and Clarity

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Attending PB20? Join the ASPB publications team, including editors of The Plant Cell, Plant Direct, and Plant Physiology, for a live discussion about making great figures and illustrations! Wednesday, July 29, 1:30-2:30 EDT. This workshop will cover the production of artwork and illustrations that effectively convey information and complex concepts. The workshop will consist of […]

Review: Plant small heat shock proteins – evolutionary and functional diversity (New Phytol.)

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Heat shock proteins are rapidly induced by heat treatment and were among the first plant genes and proteins characterized in the early days of molecular biology, nearly 40 years ago. Waters and Vierling review the family of small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), which has been especially amplified in plants and even more so in angiosperms. […]

Convergent loss of plant immune receptors and signaling pathways (Plant Cell)

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Nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) are important components of the plant immune system. They are intracellular receptors that act downstream of the cell-surface receptors, and initiate the so-called effector-triggered immunity (ETI). In most plants, the NLR gene family is large and diverse. In exploring this gene family, Baggs et al. found a small number of […]

Highly active rubiscos discovered by systematic interrogation of natural sequence diversity (EMBO J)

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This is a fascinating and very well-written paper that investigates the diversity of rubisco’s kinetic properties. Rubisco’s relationship with its substrate CO2 is complicated by its relationship with O2, and it has often been suggested that for this reason rubisco is locked into a slow rate of catalysis. The plant enzymes are certainly very slow […]