Amplicon sequencing of microbial DNA is a gold standard for analyzing the relative abundance of microbes in host-associated microbiomes. To gain more accurate insights into microbiome changes, it is crucial to know the absolute abundance of microbes, which can be analyzed by integrating relative abundance…

Plant strengtheners, synthetic chemical elicitors, have been shown to enhance plant resistance against various insect pests without toxic effects on the environment, but evidence is lacking for a significant increase in crop growth and yield after using these elicitors. To address this, Wang et al. studied…

Plants detect microbes by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that sense common conserved structures called microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and trigger the innate immunity responses. Chan et al. identified a new player in the Arabidopsis immune response known as STRESS INDUCED FACTOR 2…

Review: Functions of anionic lipids in plants Moving materials within and out of cells requires that membranes carry identification labels, but when the membrane itself moves, that ID label must be updated. These requirements are met ingeniously by the anionic lipids, which are both a modifiable information…

Nat Graham, first author of Plant genome editing and the relevance of off-target changes Current Position: Molecular Biology Scientist at Pairwise – Durham, North Carolina, USA Education: Ph.D. in Biology, University of Missouri - Columbia Non-scientific Interests: brewing beer, cooking, hiking Brief…

Anindya Ganguly, first author of FRA1 Kinesin Modulates the Lateral Stability of Cortical Microtubules Through Cellulose Synthase-Microtubule Uncoupling Protein Current Position: Research Assistant Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, USA Education: BS and…

Chenyong Miao, first author of Increased power and accuracy of causal locus identification in time-series genome-wide association in sorghum Current Position: PhD candidate in the Schnable lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Education: Ph.D. in Agronomy (in progress ) at the University…

Sabine Brumm, first author of Coordinated activation of ARF1 GTPases by ARF-GEF GNOM dimers is essential for vesicle trafficking in Arabidopsis Current Position: Post-Doc, Sainsbury Laboratory University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Education: Ph.D. from University of Tübingen, ZMBP, developmental…