Although plants clearly perceive and respond to changes in temperature, it has not always been clear how they perceive temperature and its changes. Evidence for temperature sensing through membrane fluidity, protein stability and, more recently, the reversion of phytochrome to its inactive form has been…

The root apex is an excellent tissue in which to study the mechanisms that control cell division and differentiation, as the cells produced by the root apical meristem form files of increasing age as they are moved away from the tip. In Arabidopsis, many mutant and reporter lines have contributed to…

Jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivatives including methyl jasmonate (MeJA) mediate diverse responses to wounding and herbivory and also help to control the growth-defense trade off. JA’s core signaling components have mainly been identified through genetics approaches in Arabidopsis, but gaps remain…

There’s only one thing worse than having a parasite suck the life juices out of you, and that’s having a parasite suck the life juices out of you while simultaneously injecting you with miRNAs to increase your vulnerability. Shahid et al. looked at microRNAs isolated from dodder (Cuscuta campestris),…

FRET-FLIM (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer – Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) is a method that allows detection of interactions between two fluorescently-tagged molecules. Camborde and Jauneau et al. describe the use of FRET-FLIM to identify interactions in leaves between GFP-tagged…

Review: Promiscuity, impersonation and accommodation: Evolution of plant specialized metabolism ($) The huge set of chemical pathways beyond the conserved primary metabolic network is described as specialized metabolism (formerly known as secondary metabolism). The diversity of specialized metabolites…

Gibberellins (GA) have a role in cell proliferation in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). GA binds to the receptor GID1, leading to DELLA protein degradation, thus promoting stem growth. In absence of GA, DELLAs inhibit growth. In this paper, Serrano-Mislata et al. explore how DELLAs, mainly GAI and RGA,…

The relationship between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi has persisted for 400 million years, but we are still learning about the biochemistry of this interaction. MacLean, Bravo and Harrison review how plants attract, recognize, and accommodate their fungal partners, from pre-contact through…