The defensive alkaloid gramine, present in barley and other grass species, plays an important role in protecting the plant from insect damage but poses challenges for ruminant palatability. Breeding strategies balance these factors by maintaining the protective function and making the grain palatable…

Soil microbial communities respond rapidly to stress, potentially leading to altered compositions in stressful environments and consequently impacting plant natural selection. Bolin and Lau investigated the influence of microbial responses to stress and persistent microbial legacy effects on plant selection.…

Afforestation initiatives are globally underway to replace naturally treeless ecosystems with native and non-native trees. The primary objective is to enhance atmospheric carbon capture as a means to combat climate change. This review seeks to illuminate the diverse impacts of afforestation, both positive…

Review: Chloroplast ion homeostasis Healthy plants require access to several mineral nutrients, which are usually taken up in ionic form. The details of nutrient uptake, distribution, and function have been painstakingly revealed over several decades. In this excellent new Tansley Review, Kunz et…

The et al. identified a chloroplast glutamate exporter in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell (2023). By Samantha The and Mechthild Tegeder, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad310 Background: Plants produce…

Zhao et al. discovered that MdYUC2a and MdYUC6b are targets of H3K27me3 modification mediated by MdBPC2-MdLHP1, which regulates auxin biosynthesis during apple growth. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad297 Haiyan Zhao, Shuyuan Wan, Yanni Huang, Xiaoqiang Li, Tiantian Jiao, Zhijun Zhang, Baiquan…

Schmidt-Marcec, Parish and colleagues characterize members of the MACERATOR (MACET) family of proteins in the context of cell division.  https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad304  By Sharol Schmidt-Marcec, Alyssa Parish, Tetyana Smertenko, Matthew Hickey, Bernard M.A.G. Piette, Andrei Smertenko Institute…

Jiang et al. explore the mechanisms underlying transposable element load variation in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.  https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad296 By Juan Jiang (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Ya-Long Guo (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences) Background:…