The introduction of CRISPR-Cas technology in 2012 marked a significant advancement in global genome editing, yet its potential remains largely untapped in Africa, where it could address crucial challenges in agriculture, public health, and medicine. However, several obstacles hinder its full realization,…

For many reasons, the voices of researchers from the Global South often go unheard. Many of these reasons are financial; big international conferences are frequently held at places that require distant travel, and registration and travel fees can be beyond the reach of modestly-funded scientists.  Visa…

In the dark, plants modify thylakoid stacking to alter electron transport and reduce photodamage. More photosystem II (PSII) is located in thylakoids within stacked grana, which promotes cyclic electron transport. Upon light exposure, there is granal unstacking, which increases the amount of linear electron…

The mechanisms of apical dominance and bud outgrowth have puzzled generations of plant scientists, and over a century various hypotheses have been scrutinized. Two main hubs of regulation – auxin canalization (movement of auxin from a bud into the main stem) and the branching transcription factors…

Polyploidy, arising from whole-genome duplication, is a common phenomenon in plant species. However, newly formed polyploids are often infertile and the mechanism(s) by which they adapt to their new karyotypes remain unclear. In this article, Westermann and colleagues chemically induced the formation…

Type-IV glandular trichomes, which produce acylsugars, are effective deterrents against herbivory in Solanum, but they only persist in the juvenile stage of the cultivated tomato (S. lycopersicum). Therefore, these trichomes serve as a marker for the transition from juvenile to adult phases in developmental…

Targeting a given protein for degradation at a specific time can be very useful when investigating its function in the cellular context. In this paper, Huang et al. present an inducible protein degradation system tailored for plants, named E3-DART. The system is based on the specific interaction between…

Review. Chloroplast ATP synthase: From structure to engineering I remember how amazed I was the first time I saw an animation of ATP synthase doing its job. This fantastic engine is largely conserved across the domains of life, with some variation as highlighted in this review of the chloroplast…