Flowering time is regulated by FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), its paralog TWIN SISTER OF FT (TSF), and related proteins.  Banana (Musa spp.) is an economically-important day-neutral plant with a months-long vegetative phase prior to flowering.  The banana cultivar Grand Nain has 14 FT/TSF-like genes spread…

Diversification in plants is driven by many factors, but one trait, plant size, has been systematically overlooked, in contrast with the zoological field where the influence of body size on diversification has long been recognized. In this Viewpoint paper, Boucher et al. try to convince us why we…

This week's edition is guest edited by Ian Street. Ian is a plant scientist, the writer and editor of The Quiet Branches Blog, The Resources Editor at The AoB Blog and an Associate Editor at The POSTDOCket and co-host of The Recovering Academic podcast. He can be found on Twitter @IHStreet.   Plant…

In this episode, Ivan and Liz talk with Luca Comai, a Professor of Plant Biology at the Genome Center at University of California, Davis. We discuss a paper he published as part of his transition from industry to academia that he feels illustrates a mistake he made in choosing a research direction. We…

Published on Apr 28, 2016 How do you juggle a toddler in a research lab? Very carefully. This talk looks at issues facing women (or any caregiver) in scientific careers, along with examples from women who have found ways to be successful as parents and as scientists. As a member of the Biology…

Publications are important, but these days it takes more than a couple of nice papers to move your career to the next level. Also, increasingly scientists are looking outside the (academic) box for their next career move. ASPB provides many ways through which scientist can build their careers and…

Soils exhibiting high mechanical impedance as a result of soil compaction or drying, limit root elongation and adversely affect soil exploration and resource uptake. When soil mechanical impedance is increased, root elongation rate decreases within hours and may entirely cease, leading to significant…

Root cortical senescence (RCS) is a type of programmed cell death found in the Triticeae tribe. RCS is unrelated to the formation of root cortical aerenchyma or the loss of the root cortex due to secondary growth in dicots. Conceivably RCS may benefit the plant by reducing maintenance respiration in…