Plant roots constantly engage in nutrient and water uptake for crop productivity. Increasing the nutrient uptake efficiency of roots will promote sustainable agriculture by decreasing the need for fertilizer applications. To achieve this task, we need to understand the physiology of intact roots in their…

While much is known about the processes involved in stomatal movement and the processes involved in the transpiration of leaves, there has been no framework to bridge this micro-macro divide. Wang and colleagues bridge this divide through OnGuard2, a quantitative systems platform that uses the molecular…

How do plants ‘decide’ how to respond to so many conflicting stimuli? What has the final say in stomatal aperture control? Hassidium et al. investigate the role of the oscillator gene CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOICATED 1 (CCA1) during stomatal opening and determined if CCA1 is responsive to other stimuli.…

If you ever tried to compare the results from two different experiments, you probably realized that small variations in the environment have big impact on how the plants grow. There is a lot to be learned from how the variation in the environment affects plant phenotypes, but currently the description…

Review: Growth-mediated plant movements: hidden in plain sight ($) Time-lapse imaging reveals the slow movements of plants, such as phototropism and gravitropism. Harmer and Brooks review the molecular bases for these growth-mediated movements. While auxin has long been known to be involved in photo-…

By Takaki Yamauchi, Timothy D Colmer, Ole Pedersen, Mikio Nakazono Introduction Root acquisition of water and nutrients is essential for plant growth and crop productivity (Lynch, 2015). An improved understanding of root system development and functioning, to identify root traits contributing to…

The next generation of next-generation sequencing is upon us. Third-generation sequencing aims to provide long stretches of sequence – ultimately to the chromosome level – at bargain basement prices. Progress is being made toward those goals with the emergence of long-read sequencing techniques and…

By Gregory D. Reynolds, Chao Wang, Jianwei Pan, Sebastian Bednarek Introduction The plasma membrane (PM) serves as the interface between the cell and its environment. Accordingly, cells have the capacity to modulate their complement of PM-associated receptors, transporters, channels, lipids, and…