Non-invasive imaging technologies like computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have revolutionized medicine by improving diagnostics and guiding treatment. Due to its versatility, MRI also holds potential for plant sciences, where it can be used to visualize and quantify metabolites…

Osmosis, driving water uptake and transport, is crucial for plants. It supports nutrient uptake, turgidity, and overall plant health. In hyperosmotic conditions, caused by drought, salinity, and cold stress, water loss triggers osmotic responses. A key question is: what sensors detect osmotic changes?…

The regulated expression of genes is fundamental to all biological processes, including development, cell growth, and responses to environmental signals. Transcription factors (TFs) are sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins that play a central role in transcriptional regulation by directly interacting…

In most land plants, carbon fixation into a three-carbon compound by the enzyme Rubisco takes place in the leaf mesophyll cells; these are called C3 plants. However, a different and more efficient pathway has evolved independently many times, in which a four-carbon metabolite is first produced in the…

Strigolactones (SLs), a group of carotenoid-derived small signaling molecules and a class of phytohormones, play key roles in regulating various growth and developmental processes in plants. Additionally, they act as rhizosphere signaling molecules that promote symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)…

What if plants could teach us about aging? Understanding how and why living organisms age is a fundamental question in biology and medicine. While most research focuses on humans, the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana offers unique insights into how organisms age. In a recent study, Dai et al. analyzed…

Inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsP) are plant signaling molecules that regulate phosphate homeostasis and related metabolic processes. But a global phosphate crisis, due to resource depletion and environmental pollution from excess phosphate, has raised the need for phosphate management. Freed et al. investigated…

The reduction in crop yields caused by pathogens and pests poses a significant challenge to global food security. Genetic engineering, aimed at strengthening plant defense mechanisms, offers a cost-effective solution for disease control. However, this approach often comes with a growth penalty, commonly…