Breker et al. provide a large collection of mutants in cell-cycle-essential pathways in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00071. By Michal Breker Background: The cell division cycle is a set of tightly regulated and orchestrated events that lead to accurate duplication of all cellular constituents and their division to two daughter cells. Appropriate division is […]
Poitout et al. study how plants forage for nutrients in the soil https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00011. By Arthur Poitout and Sandrine Ruffel Background: Nitrate, NO3– (the preferential nitrogen [N] source for most of higher plants) is spread unevenly in the soil due to its high mobile property, a phenomenon known as spatial NO3– heterogeneity. To face this constraint, […]
Seung et al. identify two plastidial coiled-coil proteins that play an important role in initiating starch granules in Arabidopsis chloroplasts https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00219 By David Seung, Tina B. Schreier, Léo Bürgy, Simona Eicke and Samuel C. Zeeman. Background: Starch is the major form of carbohydrate storage in plants and a vital source of calories in our diet. It is produced […]
Chen et.al. demonstrate that phosphatidic acid mitigates S-RNase signaling in pollen by stabilizing the actin cytoskeleton. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00021 By Jianqing Chen, Peng Wang, Shaoling Zhang, and Juyou Wu Background: The success of sexual reproduction in flowering plants is entirely dependent on communication between pollen (carrying male gametes) and the pistil (female organ of […]
Zheng et al. reveal that plant endogenous peptides and their receptors initiate stomatal closure to prevent microbes’ entry, thus enhancing plant immunity. The Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00701. By Xiaojiang Zheng and Sheng Luan. Background: Unlike animals, plants can’t walk away from their unfavorable environments. To recognize invading microbes, plants have evolved specialized pattern recognition receptors […]
Lu et al. show that diterpenoids contribute to disease resistance in rice. Plant Cell. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00205 Background: Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important food crop. Diseases caused by the fungal blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae and bacterial leaf blight pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae cause significant losses. Upon microbial infection plants produce natural products that are assumed to […]
Segami et al. investigate cellular phosphate homeostasis in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00911 Background: Many biological reactions, including the biosynthesis of DNA, RNA, proteins, and polysaccharides, produce inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi). However, accumulation of PPi at high levels suppresses cell activities, such as the biosynthesis of these macromolecules. Therefore, hydrolysis of PPi and maintenance of low PPi […]
Wang et al. show that abscisic acid-inducible genes encode lipid degrading enzymes that release polyunsaturated fatty acids from chloroplast lipids as precursors for jasmonic acid production leading to biotic defenses in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00250 By Kun Wang and Igor Houwat Background: Land plants are immobile, yet they constantly encounter changing environments rich in challenges to […]
Ramesh et al. discover a malate-GABA transporter that may play a role in signaling envioronmental condtions and metabolic status in plant cells. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00864 Background: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a signaling molecule in mammalian nervous systems where it regulates specific channels that conduct chloride ions in the brain controlling mood. Plants rapidly accumulate GABA […]