Multicellularity is without doubt a fantastic fluke. We know that it arose independently in plants and animals, but how many times? And is there a common “predisposition” to multicellularity in the universal common ancestor? These are the questions addressed in this review by Niklas and Newman. Looking across the green lineage, the authors explore the […]
In the middle part of the 20th century, cell biology leapt forward with the development of differential centrifugation methods for purifying subcellular compartments. However, these methods require large amounts of starting material and can suffer from contamination. Kuhnert et al. present a new simple and fast method for isolating plant mitochondria through affinity tagging. They […]
Knowing RNA abundance is nice, but in most cases protein abundance is more biologically interesting. Traubenik et al. used TRAP (Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification) to examine efficiency of translation and contributions of non-coding and alternatively spliced RNAs during the establishment of symbiosis between Medicago truncatula and Sinorhizobium meliloti. The authors found numerous genes that show […]
The ability of seeds to pack nutrients into dense stable capsules transformed plants’ and animals’ ability to thrive on land (imagine getting through your day without eating any foods derived from seeds or animals that eat seeds). Within many seeds, nutrients are packaged in lipid droplets, with specific proteins such as oleosins instrumental to their […]
Review: Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change Reading this review by Diaz et al. feels a bit like reading a bad report card. Although we know we’re failing in our role as Earth’s stewards, we don’t always want to be reminded of this. But, in this case […]
In a fascinating twist to the gravitropism story, Yoshihara and Spalding have managed to make a plant with shoots that don’t ignore gravity, but actually respond in the entirely inappropriate away. The LAZY genes were first identified from a rice mutant with a decreased response to gravity. In Arabidopsis there are five genes in this […]
Chloroplasts are able to sense and respond to environmental signals. They send retrograde signals that inform the nucleus about their developmental stage and integrity. In response, the nucleus adjusts gene expression to optimize chloroplast recovery and adaptation. Back in 1993, a screen for genotypes that lack the repression of nuclear photosynthesis genes in response to […]
This week we start with a short summary contributed by Charlotte Gommers hghlighting several papers published in 2019 that revealed new insights into an enigmatic plant gene, GUN1. Research update: GUN1 hit the mark in 2019 Chloroplasts are able to sense and respond to environmental signals. They send retrograde signals that inform the nucleus about their […]
Crop yields are vulnerable to rising temperatures and changes in precipitation. Here, Gaupp et al. model the projected crop yields at 1.5 versus 2.0 degrees of additional warming, as part of the HAPPI experiment (perhaps a misnomer: Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts). The authors look at risk of extreme weather events […]