Higashi et al. investigate the function of a heat-inducible lipase in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00347 By Yasuhiro Higashi and Kazuki Saito Background: Land plants suffer from high-temperature stress, exacerbated by climate changes in recent years. Heat stress can cause membrane damage, and plants have developed a mechanism to change the membrane lipid composition […]
Liao et al. performed comparative phylogenomic analysis on rice centromeres. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00163 By Yi Liao and Mingsheng Chen Background: Centromeres are necessary for faithful chromosome segregation in eukaryotic organisms. The genomic regions conferring centromere function/identity in most plants and animals are composed of large arrays of satellite repeats, surrounded by other highly repetitive […]
Irmisch et al. investigate enzymes of the ornamental plant montbretia involved in a complex flavonoid biosynthetic system relevant to human health. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00406 Background: Type-2 diabetes is a major health challenge of the 21st century requiring new treatments. Plants produce a vast array of natural products that are widely used in traditional and modern medicine. […]
Chen et al. investigate the mechanism of MCD1’s action in chloroplast Z-ring positioning in dividing chloroplasts. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00189 Background: Chloroplasts are specialized photosynthetic organelles in plants that evolved from an ancient photosynthesizing cyanobacterium through endosymbiosis. Like their ancestors, chloroplasts replicate by binary fission, which is initiated by the bacteria-like cytoskeletal FtsZ ring (Z-ring) at mid-chloroplast. A […]
Schreier et al. investigate the role of a plastid malate dehydrogenase in early chloroplast development. Plant Cell 30: 1745-1769 Background: Malate dehydrogenases (MDH) are enzymes that are widespread in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. MDH interconverts oxaloacetate and malate, using either NAD or NADP as a cofactor. In plant cells, forms of MDH are found in several subcellular compartments. […]
Bi et al. provide a link between immune receptors and MAPK cascades. Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00981. By G. Bi and J.-M. Zhou Background: Plants use numerous immune receptors localized at the cell surface to detect invading pathogens. These receptors send a warning signal into the cell that triggers defenses to fend off pathogens. Much […]
Zizhen et al. perform electron tomography and correlative gene expression analyses of thylakoid assembly in greening Arabidopsis cotyledons Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00972 By Byung-Ho Kang Background: The chloroplast produces carbohydrates and molecular oxygen from water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. The protein complexes that carry out photosynthesis are located in an elaborate and continuous network of […]
Mateo-Bonmatí et al. have found novel components of the Arabidopsis epigenetic machinery. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00300 By Eduardo Mateo-Bonmatí, Lucía Juan-Vicente, Riad Nadi, and José Luis Micol Background: In multicellular organisms, most cells contain the same genetic information. However, the genes that are active or inactive differ among cells of different tissues, organs, etc. The mechanisms […]
Chen et al. reveal a multilayer molecular protection system functioning in Arabidopsis and human cells https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00236 By Mingjia Chen and Claus-Peter Witte Background: RNA possesses over 100 distinct posttranscriptional modifications in eukaryotic species. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal modification in messenger RNAs. It modulates mRNA characteristics influencing RNA processing, translation, and RNA decay. […]