The rhythm of the light: how light and the clock drive cycling of transcript levels in barley
Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous among living things. A core set of so-called clock genes and their products assemble an oscillatory network that provides a rhythm to anticipate dawn and dusk (Hsu and Harmer, 2014). The circadian clock regulates the day/night rhythms of plants and light itself has many…
METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and Ripening in Vivipary
During fruit ripening in tomato and other flowering plants, the seeds contained within the fruit normally become dormant. However, under certain physiological conditions, seeds can germinate within fruits, a phenomenon called vivipary. Vivipary can substantially reduce yield and product quality in vegetables,…
The Multifaceted Roles of UPF1 in Gene Regulation
Raxwal et al. uncover the roles of the RNA helicase and ATPase UPF1 in regulating gene expression. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00244
By Vivek K. Raxwal and Karel Riha
CEITEC Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Background: Gene expression, i.e., the…
Calmodulin and Salt Tolerance
Salt stress is a major abiotic factor restricting crop growth and productivity. Excess sodium (Na+) causes ion toxicity and ion imbalances. Maintaining lower Na+ accumulation in shoots is crucial for salt tolerant plant species and genotypes under salt stress. Lower shoot Na+ accumulation in plants…
Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels and Temperature Stress
Extreme temperatures often negatively impact plant productivity. Both heat and cold induce transient Ca2+ influx into the cell cytoplasm. Cui et al. (10.1104/pp.20.00591) have investigated the function of two closely related cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel (CNGC) proteins, OsCNGC14 and OsCNGC16,…
Apical Membrane Traffic In Pollen Tube Tips
Pollen tubes elongate very rapidly at rates of several micrometer per minute and strictly in one direction: this process involves the intense local secretion of cell wall material at the tube tip. Consequently, there is a massive incorporation into the plasma membrane (PM) of excess membrane material…
Dwarfed no longer: how one mutant can help the other
Willems et al. establish that meristem organization and development rely on Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome-mediated breakdown of a cyclin.
Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00208
By Alex Willemsa,b and Lieven De Veyldera,b
aDepartment of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics,…
Cutin Synthesis and Deposition
The waxy cuticle that covers the aerial parts of leaves, fruits, and nonlignified stems of land plants is chemically heterogeneous, with lipids representing between 60% to 80% of the cuticle, depending on the plant organ and species. These lipids can be polymerized, represented by cutin, or non-polymerized,…
Stimulating photosynthetic processes increases productivity and water-use efficiency in the field (Nature Plants)
Yield potential in crops is determined by the efficiency of photosynthetic rates, which is a critical target for improvement. Previous studies have shown that photosynthetic carbon assimilation and plant biomass can be improved by the stimulation of either regeneration of RuBP (the five-carbon sugar…