Entries by Plant Cell

An E3 ubiquitin ligase modulates brassinosteroid signaling by targeting the transcription factor BES1 to selective autophagy under sucrose starvation

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Wang et al. identify a mechanism by which plants reduce growth under sucrose starvation conditions. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab210 by Ping Wang and Yanhai Yin (Iowa State University)  Background: Plants fine-tune their growth and stress-response programs to adapt to the environment. Brassinosteroids (BRs), a major family of steroid growth-promoting plant hormones, are implicated in stress responses. […]

COMPASS functions as a module of the INO80 complex

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Shang et al. explore the function of a chromatin-remodeling complex in the regulation of gene expression. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab187 By Ji-Yun Shang and Xin-Jian He  Background: In eukaryotic cells, the INO80 chromatin remodeling complex uses energy derived from ATP hydrolysis to change chromatin structure and the accessibility of chromatin-related proteins to DNA. The histone methyltransferase […]

Engineering a wheat spike

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Li et al. investigated genes regulating wheat spike development and found that SQUAMOSA and SVP genes control the development of normal spikes. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab243 By Jorge Dubcovsky, Kun Li and Juan Manuel Debernardi, University of California, Davis, CA, USA Background: More than 750,000,000 tons of wheat grains are produced globally each year. These grains […]

Ubiquitylation and grain size in rice

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Gao et al. reveal a non-proteolysis-based mechanism by which polyubiquitin modification of a histone acetyltransferase modulates grain size. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab194 Background: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple crop that feeds over half of the world’s population and boosting rice yield therefore has critical implications for world food security. Our prior study revealed that GW6a is […]

Under Pressure: The cell wall of sieve elements is critical for sugar transport

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Julius, McCubbin, and Mertz, et al. explore the connection between cell wall synthesis and sugar transport. Tyler J. McCubbin1,4, Benjamin T. Julius1, and David M. Braun1 1Divisions of Plant and Biological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and the Missouri Maize Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 USA 4Bayer Crop Science, Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA Background: […]

Stigma retracted into anther tube needs two steps

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Shang and colleagues investigated the molecular mechanisms that contributed to stigma insertion during tomato domestication and improvement.  By Lele Shang, Jianwen Song and Yuyang Zhang, Huazhong Agricultural University  Background: In flowering plants, flower morphology influences pollination. In the tomato genus Solanum pimpinellifolum and other wild species with exserted stigma mainly undergo cross-pollination or exhibit higher […]

Shapeshifting in the amphibious plant, Callirtriche palustris

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Koga et al. identified a mechanism that produces heterophylly in aquatic plants grown either submerged in water or in air.  Plant Cell.  https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab192 By Hiroyuki Koga, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan. Background: Amphibious plants, which can grow both on land and in water, often exhibit heterophylly, which results in extensive […]

A “simple” plant that’s not so basic: 13 receptors perceive SL, KL, and more in moss

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Lopez-Obando et al. unravel the complex pathways for the perception of strigolactones and related compounds in the moss Physcomitrium patens.  By Ambre Guillory1, Mauricio Lopez-Obando2, Alexandre de Saint Germain3, and Sandrine Bonhomme3 1Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes Microbes Environnement (LIPME, INRAE), Toulouse, France 2Vedas corporación de Investigación e Innovación, Medellín, Colombia 3Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), Versailles, […]

Proteomics-based protein complex discovery in the developing rice aleurone-subaleurone

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Lee et al. use a co-fractionation mass spectrometry pipeline to predict the compositions of cytosolic protein complexes present during early rice seed development. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab182  Background: Many proteins act as components of multiprotein complexes that coordinate cellular processes such as vesicle trafficking, cell signaling, and metabolism. Moreover, the protein-protein interaction network functions […]