Liu et al. demonstrate how manipulating ZmEXPA4 gene expression in developing maize ears alleviates the prolonged anthesis and silking interval in response to drought. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab083 By Boxin Liu and Feng Qin Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University Background: Maize is the only monoecious […]
Wang et al. report how chromatin architecture reorganization shapes transcriptome patterns during polyploidization and domestication of soybean. The Plant Cell (2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab081 By Longfei Wang and Qingxin Song Background: Soybean and common bean are important sources of vegetable protein for humans and livestock. These two legumes originated from a common ancestor that underwent a whole-genome […]
Deng and colleagues show how the microtubule-associated protein WDL4 contributes to apical hook opening to protect seedligns from damage by soil particles By Jia Deng, Xiangfeng Wang, Ziqiang Liu, and Tonglin Mao, China Agricultural University Background: When seedlings emerge through the soil to reach the surface, the apical hook protects the shoot apical meristem and […]
Li et al. investigate how Arabidopsis seed size is controlled by maternal tissues. By Ying Ju Li, Yang Yu and Ying Hua Su, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Shandong, China Background: Seed size is determined by the coordinated development of maternal and zygotic tissues. The diploid embryo, […]
He et al. demonstrate that Mediator complex subunits have functions beyond their known roles in transcription. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab079 By Huaming He, Patrick Willems, Frank Van Breusegem, and Amna Mhamdi Background: Plants often face challenging environments to which they respond by adjusting gene transcription or protein activity. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are metabolites spontaneously produced […]
Xing et al. find that Arabidopsis plants ward off pathogen infection by limiting iron availability. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab075 By Yingying Xing, Deepak D. Bhandari, and Jun Liu Background: Iron is an essential nutrient for most lifeforms. Organisms get their iron from their diet. Similarly, plant pathogens too get their iron from the plants they infect. […]
Mascher et al. use long-read sequencing to explore the complex genome of barley. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab077 Martin Mascher, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research Gatersleben, Germany Mona Schreiber, University of Marburg, Germany Background: The genome encodes the entire genetic information of an organism. It is stored as a DNA nucleotide sequences in […]
FEATURED FIGURE CAPTION: Live imaging of Phytophthora infestans (magenta) growing on Nicotiana benthamiana cells (cyan). Cells that are colonized by the pathogen show increased numbers of vesicles (bright cyan dots) compared to cells that haven’t been colonized yet. Petre, Contreras, et al. investigate how the microbe responsible for the Irish potato famine manipulates plant cell […]
Winkelmüller, Entila, Anver et al. uncover the considerable variation in gene expression patterns in closely related Brassicaceae species during pattern triggered immunity. Plant Cell By Thomas M. Winkelmüller, Frederickson D. Entila, Shajahan Anver, and Kenichi Tsuda Background: Plants are surrounded by many microorganisms. To react to these microbes, plants have evolved receptors to sense conserved […]