At the beginning of 2018 Plant Physiology initiated a program to introduce several promising early-career scientists to the editorial board and engage their expertise in assessing and writing about research published in the journal. Over the past two years these scientists brought their passion for science to the journal, communicating to our readers each month […]
Ample evidence shows that rather than being homogenous, plasma membrane lipids and proteins form distinct nanodomains. Jallais and Ott review plant plasma membrane nanodomains, and their important contributions to receptor-mediated signaling. The authors discuss methods for the study of membrane nanodomains, and their function and composition including the roles of flotillins and plant-specific remorins. Lipids, […]
My dog is a fantastic companion, but it’s obvious he could never fend for himself; domestication has eliminated his ancestral survival skills. Likewise, most crop plants thrive under human care, but have lost many of the traits that would help them survive in harsh conditions. Preece and Peñuelas write a compelling article pointing out that […]
Deficit irrigation is water-conserving strategy in which a growing plant is given just enough but never too much water. Previous studies have shown myriad physiological changes caused by deficit irrigation including decreased growth rate and shoot:root ratio, and also a lower fruit water content. Here, Hou et al. review tomato fruit quality grown under deficit […]
Crop diversity is fundamental to safeguarding global food security. The high-yielding, input-responsive cultivars developed post-green revolution led to the replacement of traditional landraces that harbour beneficial genes and alleles governing biotic and abiotic stress resistance and nutritional quality improvement. Genebanks conserve these invaluable plant genetic resources (PGRs) for future crop improvement. The review by Masher […]
As their name suggests, phosphoinositide (PI) phosphatases remove phosphates from phosphoinositides (try saying that fast!). Because the phosphorylation status of a membrane-bound PI determines which proteins it interacts with, PI phosphatases and kinases contribute to membrane functions and dynamics. Here, Guo et al. explore the function of a SAC family PI phosphatase, which they identified […]
Phosphoinositides (PIs) are specialized membrane lipids that contribute to membrane nanodomains, which affect protein localizations and vesicle trafficking. Previous studies have implicated PIs in the polar localization of auxin-transporter PIN proteins, and, in roots, the PIN-regulators PAX and BRX. Here, Marhava et al. show that BRX and PAX recruit phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinases [PIP5Ks; kinases that convert […]
ABA enhances stomatal closure and so decreases transpiration. Several studies have shown that increasing ABA levels can increase water-use efficiency, so this strategy has been investigated with the goal of obtaining “more crop per drop”. Lamarque et al. investigated physiological and hydraulic effects of a tomato variety (sp12) overproducing ABA, starting with the hypothesis that […]
Review: The nanoscale organization of the plasma membrane and its importance in signaling – a proteolipid perspective Ample evidence shows that rather than being homogenous, plasma membrane lipids and proteins form distinct nanodomains. Jallais and Ott review plant plasma membrane nanodomains, and their important contributions to receptor-mediated signaling. The authors discuss methods for the study […]