Zhang et al. investigate the role of the OsCIF1/2–OsSGN3a/b signaling pathway in Casparian strip formation in rice. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad269 By Jixing Xia, of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, China. Background: The Casparian strip (CS) is a belt-like lignin-based…

Wei et al. show how hydrogen peroxide affects aluminum tolerance via its effects on the transcription factor SENSITIVE TO PROTON RHIZOTOXICITY 1 in Arabidopsis thaliana. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad281 By X. Wei, Y.F. Zhu, W.X. Xie, W.W. Ren, Y. Zhang, H. Zhang, S.J. Dai, and C.-F. Huang Background:…

Qian et al. investigate how the evolution of the thermostability of actin-depolymerizing factors enhances the adaptation of pollen germination to high temperature. The Plant Cell (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad280  By Qian D., Li T., Chen S., Wan D., He Y., Zheng C., Li J., Sun Z.,…

Anting Zhu et al. establish an approach to identify metabolites and their corresponding genes and pathways in wheat. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad286 By A. Zhu, M. Liu, Z. Tian, W. Liu, W. Chen et al.  National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement and National Center of Plant Gene…

As photosynthetic organisms, algae can harness solar energy to do useful things, from environmental cleanup to producing fuels and other beneficial molecules. This review by Goold et al. provides an overview of how algae can be valuable platforms for synthetic biology and metabolic engineering through…

This review by Berruto and Demirer calls for an interdisciplinary approach at the interface of experimental and computational frameworks to address the long-standing challenge of field application of beneficial soil microbiomes. This challenge persists due to our limited understanding of the complex…

As a writer and an editor, I am horrified by the idea that thinking can be replaced by artificial intelligence. But I do recognize that deep learning / machine learning / artificial intelligence can provide major opportunities for data analysis, as eloquently described in this review article by Murphy…

Plants that use C4 photosynthesis, whereby carbon is concentrated around RuBisCo in bundle sheath cells, have high water and nitrogen use efficiencies. Thus, understanding how C4 photosynthesis evolves is of much interest. The Flaveria genus provides a unique opportunity for this, as it contains species…