ACCELERATED CELL DEATH 6 (ACD6) positively regulates the signaling of the plant defense hormone salicylic acid (SA). It was originally identified by the study of natural variation in defense responses of Arabidopsis thaliana. The naturally hyperactive ACD6-Est-I allele confers broad-spectrum disease…

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is the most destructive disease of citrus and currently has no cure. Current management practices are also not effective. Huang et al. used comparative analysis of small RNAs and mRNAs between HLB-sensitive and…

Symbiotic interactions between legume plants and compatible rhizobia bacteria lead to the formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules in the host plant root. Compatibility between rhizobia and host plants is determined by various factors like plant species-specific flavonoid secretion, extracellular polysaccharides…

Plant cells sense endogenous and exogenous molecules through proteins localized to the cell surface. While numerous ligands that mediate a variety of developmental and stress processes are known, cognate receptors for many ligands remain unidentified. Rhodes and colleagues have now shown the Arabidopsis…

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are conserved protein kinases in eukaryotes that participate in signaling from cytoplasmic to chromatin events to allow transcription reprogramming. MAPKs play prominent roles at the chromatin level. Rayapuram et al. report a chromatin-associated phosphoproteome…

Review: On tree longevity Everyone enjoys hearing about ancient trees that have been alive since various events in human history, but did you ever stop to wonder why some trees live for millennia and others don’t? If so, you’ll want to read this Tansley Review by Piovesan and Biondi. One of their…

China Lunde, first author of A mixed-linkage (1,3;1,4)-β-D-glucan specific hydrolase mediates dark-triggered degradation of this plant cell wall polysaccharide Current Position: Staff Research Associate IV, UC Berkeley, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology in the laboratories of Drs. Sarah Hake,…

Jesús Montiel González, first author of Distinct signalling routes mediate intercellular and intracellular rhizobial infection in Lotus japonicus Current Position: Postdoc at Aarhus University, Denmark Education: PhD. Biochemical Sciences, Institute of Biotechnology (U.N.A.M., Mexico) Non-scientific…