Research

Stem growth determines the final height of graminaceous plants and greatly influences productivity in cultivated species (e.g., short internodes in semi-dwarf rice varieties to increase lodging resistance) and adaptation in wild species (e.g., elongated internodes in tall deepwater rice to help survive…

In plant immunity, signal transduction is tightly modulated through mechanisms including controlled stoichiometry of key regulators. Dressano et al. identified the novel IMMUNOREGULATORY RNA-BINDING PROTEIN (IRR) as a negative regulator of immunity in both maize and Arabidopsis through a screen of Plant…

Drought is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting plant growth and development. MicroRNAs are a class of small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) consisting of 21-24 nucleotides, that play critical roles in many biological processes by regulating target gene expression. Apple is one of the most economically…

Disease spread within species-rich communities is hard to predict and prevent due to the dynamic transmission of parasites between multiple hosts that change in abundance and composition over time. To better understand the temporal dynamics of bee parasites in communities of plants and pollinators, Graystock…

Climate warming affects plant performance in warm and dry regions. In cold regions, warming stimulates growth and reproduction, but its effects can vary depending on location and species. Whether herbaceous plants can adapt to increasing temperatures is unclear and a matter of concern. In this study…

Review: Potential applications of plant biotechnology against SARS-CoV-2 For those of you about to start teaching again, here’s a great article to share with your plant science students, showcasing the ways that plant biologists are contributing to the international efforts to develop diagnostic…

Magdalena Julkowska, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4259-8296  Although plant genomes typically contain hundreds of miRNA encoding genes, we know little about how miRNA expression is regulated (Wang et al., 2019). The expression…

Nitrogen (N) is the most abundant element in Earth’s atmosphere. However, plants must capture this essential element from soil through their roots. To do this, legume roots forge symbioses with rhizobia to initiate nodule development. Root nodules provide rhizobia an environment suitable for converting…

Magdalena Julkowska, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4259-8296 Photosynthetic organisms can be found across most environments on Earth, including the most extreme ones. The McMurdo Valleys in Antarctica are among the driest…

McLoughlin et al. uncover the critical roles of autophagy in recycling amino acids and nitrogen-rich nucleotides, adjusting respiratory substrates, and the retention of assimilated nitrogen in maize during fixed-carbon starvation. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00226  Background:…

Many proteins have a clearly defined structure-function relationship – specific three-dimensional folds can be linked to specific protein functions. We do however know that many proteins – referred to as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) – lack rigid three-dimensional organisation. In recent…

Maitree Pradhan, first author of Argonaute 4 modulates resistance to Fusarium brachygibbosum infection by regulating jasmonic acid signaling Current Position: Post-doctoral fellow at Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany Education: PhD (Natural…

Rui Zhang, first author of Identification of the Key Regulatory Genes Involved in Elaborate Petal Development and Specialized Character Formation in Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) Current Position: Assistant Professor, State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany,…

Alexandra Jammer, first author of Early-stage sugar beet taproot development is characterised by three distinct physiological phases Current Position: I currently have two academic part-time jobs, working 75 % as a Lecturer at the University of Graz (Austria), and 25 % as a Postdoc researcher in a project…

Emily R. Larson, co-first author of Synergy among exocyst and SNARE interactions identifies a functional hierarchy in secretion during vegetative growth Current Position: Senior research associate, School of Life Sciences, University of Bristol Education: PhD: University of Vermont, Burlington VT…

Jitka Ortmannová, co-first author of Synergy among exocyst and SNARE interactions identifies a functional hierarchy in secretion during vegetative growth Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Education: PhD: Dept of Experimental Plant Biology,…

Kai Wang, first author of The CDK inhibitor SIAMESE targets both CDKA;1 and CDKB1 complexes to establish endoreplication in trichomes Current Position: Looking for a postdoctoral position Education: B. Sc. in Biological Sciences from Northwest A & F University, Yangling, China; M.Sc. in Biochemistry…

Marianne C. Kramer, first author of N6-methyladenosine and RNA secondary structure affect transcript stability and protein abundance during systemic salt stress in Arabidopsis Current Position: PhD Candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Education: B.S.…

Michael Greer, first author of SEIPIN isoforms interact with the membrane-tethering protein VAP27-1 for lipid droplet formation Current Position: Senior Director of Operations at Willow Biosciences Inc. www.willowbio.com Education: BSc. Biochemistry (Honors.) - University of Lethbridge 2006; MSc.…

Rodrigo Gomez, first author of Plastidic Δ6 Fatty-Acid Desaturases with Distinctive Substrate Specificity Regulat the Pool of C18-PUFAS in the Ancestral Picoalga Osteococcus Tauri Current Position: PhD Student, Autophagy Team, LBM (Membrane Biogenesis Lab) UMR 5200 CNRS – University of Bordeaux Education:…

Andries Temme, first author of Element content and distribution has limited, tolerance metric dependent, impact on salinity tolerance in cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Current Position: Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, USA Education: BSc…

Ashley E. Cannon, first author of  Seedling chloroplast responses induced by N-linolenoylethanolamine require intact G-protein complexes Current Position: Research Molecular Biologist, Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Pullman, WA Education: B.S. in Chemistry from Midwestern…

Changzhen Liu, first author of Oryza sativa RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase 6 Contributes to Double-strand Break Formation in Meiosis Current position: PhD Candidate of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: MSc in Developmental Biology…

Seed mass is a central trait in plant life history that impacts on seed production, germination, and establishment. Several studies have documented the variation in seed mass between species, but little is known about its variation among populations of the same species. In this paper, Zhang et al. tested…

Soil seed banks are classified into two types, depending on how long seeds remain viable in the soil before germination or decay: transient (< 1 year) or persistent (> 1 year). In turn, a species' ability to form a persistent seed bank presumably depends on seed traits and plant habitat. However,…

Different studies show that animal-dispersed pines have particular cone and seed structures to match their dispersers. However, most research has either addressed the changes in cone and seed traits in a single species over an environmental gradient or the differences between wind-dispersed and animal-dispersed…

The double coconut –Lodoicea maldivica (J.F.Gmel.) Pers. (Arecaceae: Coryophoideae)– is an endemic palm from Seychelles with the largest seed in the world: 0.5 m length and 25 Kg weight. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of this enormous seed, but they have not been formally…

Plants with myxodiaspory release mucilage upon imbibition of seeds (myxospermy, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana) or fruits (myxocarpy, e.g., Linum usitatissimum). This ability appears in several angiosperm families, but its evolutionary origin has seldom been studied. In this review, Viudes et al. synthesize our…

The complex genetic network behind the development of the ovule –the cell that will give place to seeds after fertilization– has been widely described in some model plants. However, ovules hold a high variability in integument number and morphology across seed plants. To understand the genetic mechanism…

Amaranth has been cultivated in Central and South America since Pre-Columbian times. Still, it exhibits features that are unexpected in domesticated plants, such as seed shattering and reduced seed size. Here, Setter et al. dissected the genetic signature of this crop’s domestication process, with…

Seed Evolution Special Issue This week "Plant Science Research Weekly," focuses on the evolution of seeds and includes a selection of recent papers that use varying approaches to increase our understanding of the origin and changes of different seed features. Since seeds are transversal to multiple…

Oldenkott et al. use evolution to their advantage by testing whether independently evolved RNA editors can reciprocally correct the errors of organellar transcripts. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00311. By Bastian Oldenkott and Mareike Schallenberg-Rüdinger, IZMB, University…

YES, you can submit a single PDF of your manuscript with your figures (and supplemental data) to The Plant Cell at first submission! We’ve realized that authors may not be aware of this, although it has been possible for some years. During submission you will notice that there are only two files…

Emily R Larson [email protected] School of Biological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK ORCID: 0000-0002-5498-8152 Pollen tube growth through plant pistil tissues requires interactions between the male and female cells to regulate compatibility (McCormick, 1998), and hormonal…

  Plants have been a source of fundamental discoveries on the nature, organization, and function of cells, from the first description of cells to the dissection of the secretory system, and from insights into the role of the cytoskeleton and cell wall in morphogenesis to the discovery…

When I was a kid, I remember keeping a bottle of wite-out with my pens for the inevitable spelling mistake. Now, in the digital age, I either let my word processor autocorrect spelling errors or wait for the red squiggly line under suspicious words. On any given day, a single (plant) cell by far out-writes…

Ananya Mukherjee [email protected] Affiliation University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 ORCiD : 0000-0003-1802-1806 Fatty acid synthesis is a ubiquitous pathway in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Plants synthesize fatty acids for a variety of uses including membrane bilayers and…

Contributed by Wei He, an Associate Professor in Northwest University, Xian, China.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1236-3047. You can read this post in Chinese here. I started teaching “Advance Plant Physiology and Biochemistry” for postgraduate students in Northwest University in China in 2013. In preparation…

Contributed by Wei He, an Associate Professor in Northwest University, Xian, China.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1236-3047. You can read this post in English here. 自2013年起，我开始承担西北大学高级植物生理生化课程的教学工作。在课程筹备之时，我偶然在网上发现了由The…

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the American Society of Plant Biologists’ Partnership with Oxford University Press The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is delighted to announce that it will partner with Oxford University Press (OUP) to produce and disseminate the ASPB journals…

Understanding how a single fertilized cell develops into a complex multicellular system has always been a challenging but fascinating topic of developmental biology. In both animal and plant species, it all starts with a simple spherical cell; afterward, two axes of polarity generate flat shapes,…

Biparental populations (BPPs) obtained by crossing two diverse inbred lines have long been used for dissecting the complex traits owing to their simplicity, ease of development and high power of detecting QTLs with a few hundred markers genotyped. Nonetheless, poor resolution and low genetic diversity…

When sea water freezes, it forms not a solid mass of ice, but rather a frozen matrix criss-crossed by tiny brine-filled channels. It is within these brine channels in the Antarctic sea ice that the psychrophilic (cold-loving) green alga ICE-L lives. How is it able to thrive in such a seemingly hostile…

Seasonal changes in ambient temperature greatly influence plant development. While the response to acute heat stress has been widely studied, the regulatory mechanisms that integrate naturally fluctuating temperatures – such as the progression of winter - remain largely unknown. This paper sheds…

Carbon concentration mechanisms (CCMs) refer to a diverse set of strategies by which photosynthetic organisms increase the amount of carbon dioxide available to the carbon-fixing enzyme Rubisco. The cyanobacterial CCM relies on the carboxysome, a membraneless microcompartment with a core of densely…

Gene regulation through microRNAs (miRNA) starts in the nucleus with transcription and processing into mature miRNA duplexes. Loading of miRNA into ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1) and the assembly of the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex was thought to be exclusively a cytoplasmic process, but new research reports…

Seed dormancy and desiccation tolerance impact on germination timing and soil seed bank formation. Here, Muthuthanthirige et al. conducted a thorough series of experiments and anatomical observations to determine the dormancy class and desiccation tolerance of three Strychnos (Loganiacae) species:…

The origin of seeds - the specialized structures that contain and protect the developing embryos- is a key event in plant evolution. Primitive seeds comprise an exposed nucellus surrounded by a lobate integument; in contrast, extant seeds have one or more integuments fully enclosing the nucellus.…

Root hairs are epidermal projections that help plants to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. Root hair development is initiated by the cumulative action of TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1, a WD40 domain protein), GLABRA3/ENHANCER OF GLABRA3 (GL3/EGL3, a bHLH), CAPRICE (CPC, a MYB), inhibited…

Guest Editor: Humberto Herrera-Ubaldo   Humberto is a postdoctoral Fellow at the de Folter Lab, in CINVESTAV-Irapuato (Mexico). He holds a PhD in Plant Biotechnology. During his career, he has focussed on the study of transcription factors guiding gynoecium and fruit development in Arabidopsis.…

Vacuolar-type ATPase (V-ATPase) is a highly conserved enzyme but functionally diverse among eukaryotic cells. V-ATPases couple the energy released by ATP hydrolysis to pump protons across membranes of many cell types. In Arabidopsis, the V-ATPases containing different isoforms of V-ATPase catalytic…

Wei Zhang ORCID: 0000-0002-5092-643X Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 1712 Claflin Road, Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA [email protected] Nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins serve as intracellular immune receptors in plants to…

Storage and remobilization of sugar molecules play important roles for the growth and survival of living organisms. Besides a few exceptions, animals store carbohydrates in the form of soluble glycogen while green plants and algae bank glucans as insoluble starch. Starch forms the basis of human nutrition…

Sun et al. found that Arabidopsis LUNAPARK, a protein evolutionarily conserved in eukaryotes, is an E3 ligase that promotes the degradation of ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE3, an ER fusogen. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc. 18.00937 By Jiaqi Sun, Hugo Zheng, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205…

What does your lab work on? My lab is interested in the regulation of leaf senescence (LS). As leaves sequentially age, they enter a regulated dismantling process that exports nutrients to growing and storage organs. Tell us about the key findings from your recent article in Plant Direct. We…

Physical access to regulatory DNA, including cis-regulatory sequences found within proximal promoters and distal enhancer elements, is a vital property of chromatin.  In turn, their access is determined by nucleosome occupancy and post-translational modification of histone proteins. A continuum of chromatin…

Dhineshkumar Thiruppathi 1,2  ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2018-3356 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis, Missouri 63132 1Lead author 2Author for contact: [email protected] The phytohormone auxin plays a major part in nearly every plant process, including growth…

Charles Copeland1 [email protected] 1Department of Plant Microbe Interactions, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, 50829 Cologne, Germany Plants rely on a complex innate immune system to recognize and respond to potential pathogens in their environment (Jones and Dangl, 2006).…

Panda et al. use third-generation sequencing to examine the transcriptome of genomic regions that do not encode genes. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00115  By Kaushik Panda – Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and R Keith Slotkin – Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and University…

ADP-RIBOSYLATION FACTOR (ARF) proteins play essential roles in vesicle trafficking by regulating the formation of membrane vesicles that move cargo throughout the cell. Their activity is controlled by specific guanine exchange factors (ARF-GEFs) that activate ARFs by catalyzing a GDP to GTP exchange…

Vivek K. Raxwal, first author of Nonsense mediated RNA decay factor UPF1 is critical for post-transcriptional and translational gene regulation in Arabidopsis Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher, Central European Institute of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic Education: PhD, Department of Botany,…

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent too much time in lockdown, but sometimes I find studies on cell signaling a bit impenetrable. Fortunately, this excellent review by Galindo-Trigo et al. has arrived, which elegantly walks the reader through the crowded world of receptor-like kinases and “how cells…

In an interesting evolutionary artifact, the genes encoding the small subunit of Rubisco, rbcS, reside in the nuclear genome, whilst those encoding RbcL persists in the chloroplast. The RbcS protein is translocated into the chloroplast where the holoenzyme forms. This complexity adds to the challenge…

This is an interesting paper that combines classical genetics with biochemistry and phenotypic analysis. Khangura et al. looked at maize lines with various allelic combinations of two loci that affect chlorophyll biosynthesis: the oil yellow1 (oy1) gene encodes magnesium chelatase, the first committed…

The cambium is a layer of actively dividing cells between xylem and phloem tissues that is responsible for the thickening of primary or lateral roots and stems. Root crops are tightly associated with the cambium regulatory mechanism which is less characterized in root as compared to shoot development.…

Plants have evolved exquisite regenerative capacities to repair wounds or even reform complete organs thanks to the proliferative activity of stem cell niches residing in meristems. Different types of injuries elicit different developmental and regenerative responses. However, a key player seems to be…

Soil seed banks allow plants to persist in fire-prone ecosystems. However, if seeds are buried too deep, seedling emergence can be inhibited. The maximum depth at which seeds can be buried without hampering recruitment is expected to be shaped by different seed traits, although this has been seldom tested.…

The plant apoplast is a sea of immune-related proteins that facilitate robust defense against pathogens. Rcr3 is a tomato secreted apoplastic protease that contributes to both basal defense and gene-for-gene resistance against pathogens. Rcr3 is activated by the cleavage of its autoinhibitory prodomain,…

PollenCounter is an open source, ImageJ based macro that splits RGB images of stained pollen grains into the primary channels. The program estimates pollen viability in plants through analyzing red (total number of pollen grains) and green (only viable pollen grains) images, after which the particles…

Review: Emerging mechanisms to fine-tune receptor kinase signaling specificity Maybe it’s because I’ve spent too much time in lockdown, but sometimes I find studies on cell signaling a bit impenetrable. Fortunately, this excellent review by Galindo-Trigo et al. has arrived, which elegantly walks…

Will B. Cody, first author of Native processing of sgRNA transcripts to create catalytic Cas9/sgRNA complexes in planta Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University Education: Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at Texas A&M University; B.S in Bioenvironmental Sciences at Texas A&M…

Ashley E. Cannon, first author of Lipophilic-Signals Lead to Organ-Specific Gene Expression Changes in Arabidopsis Seedlings Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr. Kent Chapman’s Lab at The University of North Texas Education: B.S. in Chemistry from Midwestern State University…

By Marcelo Lattarulo Campos [email protected] Integrative Plant Research Laboratory, Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá/MT, Brazil. A fundamental tenet of any immune system is the ability to detect the presence…

Gonzalez Solis et al. describe the metabolic, cellular, and physiological consequences of the complete loss of regulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00015  By Ariadna Gonzalez Solis and Edgar B. Cahoon  Background: Glycosphingolipids are molecules…

Discounts available for ASPB authors ASPB’s journals are continually evolving to improve the author experience so that researchers think of The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology first when deciding where to publish their best work. Most recently, we have negotiated a discount for authors who wish…

In order to survive attacks by pathogens and herbivores, plants have developed a variety of defense mechanisms and resistance strategies, including the production of defensive chemicals. Such defense chemicals, however, can have detrimental effects on growth or can introduce ecological costs by attracting…

Plant root systems alter their architecture upon encountering  spatial heterogeneity in the nutrient concentrations of the soil. For example, when roots are subjected to decreasing N availability that causes mild N deficiency, lateral root emergence increases moderately, whereas elongation of primary…

Kaushik Panda, first author of Long-read cDNA Sequencing Enables a 'Gene-Like' Transcript Annotation of Transposable Elements Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate in the Slotkin Laboratory at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, USA Education: Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics,…

Rajdeep Khangura, first author of Variation in maize chlorophyll biosynthesis alters plant architecture Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher in the group of Dr. Brian Dilkes, Department of Biochemistry and Center for Plant Biology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA Education:…

Melatonin is a highly conserved bioactive molecule present in all plant species. It is produced from serotonin through two consecutive enzymatic steps. Serotonin is converted into either N-acetylserotonin by serotonin N-acetyltransferase (SNAT) or into 5- methoxytryptamine by caffeic acid O-methyltransferase…

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, authors who have received an editorial decline decision from any journal in the ASPB suite of titles will have the option to transfer their submissions to any other ASPB journal. ASPB publishes three…

Apart from its well-known function in Suc unloading, cell wall invertase (CWIN), an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of Suc into Fru and Glc, also plays a role in sugar signaling and plant development.  As an  example of CWIN playing a role in plant development, Liao et al. (10.1104/pp.20.00400)…

Cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin are the brick and mortar of the plant kingdom, and how they are laid has substantial impacts on plant morphology.  Plant cell shape is dictated by the interplay between turgor pressure and heterogeneity in cell wall composition, whereby localized cell wall loosening…

Eva Hellmann, The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, CB2 1LR Cambridge, United Kingdom, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4591-2973 [email protected]   Small secreted peptides (SSPs) are short peptides that function as messengers and regulate a variety of processes in plants…

Wang et al. demonstrate that BRs play important roles in seedling development and survival during the initial emergence of seedlings from subterranean darkness into sunlight. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00057. By Lingyan Wang,Yanchen Tian, Wen Shi, Min Fan and Ming-Yi Bai,…

Firoz Ahmed, first author of pssRNAit-a web server for designing effective and specific plant siRNAs with genome-wide off-target assessment Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Education: Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from Jawaharlal…

Modern cultivated watermelons (Citrullus lanatus) are sweet tasting and tender, with intensely colored flesh that ranges in hue from yellow to deep red. These colors are produced by the accumulation of various carotenoids in the flesh cells. Red-fleshed watermelons that accumulate lycopene in their flesh…

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that is relatively mobile in the soil and has become a serious worldwide environment problem. Cd is easily taken up by plant roots where it can be loaded into the xylem and transported to above-ground tissues. Cd accumulation in the shoot inhibits plant growth and…

Meisha Holloway-Phillips Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Switzerland [email protected] The slogan, ‘more crop per drop’, which was popularised in the early 2000s, depicts the need to improve the productivity of crops for the same water inputs (Kijne…

As someone with a background in plant molecular genetics, I confess to occasionally forgetting about location. Reverse genetics is a powerful tool for picking apart gene networks, but in which organ do these genes act? Which tissue of that organ? Which cells of that tissue and which compartment of those…

Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) has a strange life strategy in that it requires two hosts to complete its sexual life cycle; wheat and barberry. In the absence of barberry, it reproduces clonally; clonal reproduction limits its ability to generate diversity and therefore its ability to evade plant…

To understand gene function, it is necessary to study loss-of-function phenotypes. However, knockouts of some genes are lethal, which makes it impossible to study their loss-of-function phenotype. Although here are inducible overexpression systems and inducible knockdown systems, as yet there has been…

Optogenetics has revolutionized mammalian biology by its ability to fine-tune gene expression in individual cells by pulses of light. However, its application in plants has been challenging because the white light required for plant growth misfires the system. Ochoa-Fernandez et al. solved this problem…

The leaf epidermis is composed primarily of undulated pavement cells arranged in a jigsaw puzzle-like architecture, with neighboring cells flawlessly interlacing with one another thanks to synchronized growth, thus making it an ideal model to study morphogenesis regulation. Seeking to better understand…

Widespread genome sequencing of individuals has revealed the high level of intraspecific variability in plant species. As such, constructing high-quality pan-genomes is a growing necessity to study dynamic plant genomes. Here, Liu et al. release the soybean pan-genome formed from sequencing 2,898 accessions,…

Under low N condition, plants form more lateral roots to facilitate N-uptake efficiency, and legumes such as Medicago truncatula develop more nodules to fulfill plant nitrogen requirements. Since both lateral root formation and nodulation are energy-consuming processes, plants balance these developmental…

Seed longevity (i.e., the inherent lifespan of a seed) is a polygenic feature that demands the coordination of multiple biological processes, and that shapes the persistence of seeds in the soil and the time they can be stored ex situ. Recent studies on this trait highlight the role of the antioxidant…

  Review: Banishing barberry: The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) has a strange life strategy in that it requires two hosts to complete its sexual life cycle; wheat and barberry. In the absence…

Maxuel de Oliveira Andrade, first author of The MAF1 phosphoregulatory region controls MAF1 interaction with the RNA polymerase III C34 subunit and transcriptional repression in plants Current Position: Postdoctoral Research, Biochemistry, Brazilian Bioscience National Laboratory (LNBio) - CNPEM, Brazil Education:…

Ariel Hernán Tomassi, first author of The intrinsically disordered protein CARP9 bridges HYL1 to AGO1 in the nucleus to promote micro RNA activity Current Position: PhD fellow at Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral (CONICET-UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina   Education: Ph.D. in Biological Sciences    Non-scientific…

Bastian Oldenkott, first author of Reciprocal complementation with moss and angiosperm editing factors Current Position: PhD Candidate in the Department for Molecular Evolution belonging to the Insitute for Cellular and Molecular Botany (IZMB) of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Education:…

Weiping Mo, first author of PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR-LIKE14 and SLENDER RICE1 interaction controls seedling growth under salt stress Current Position: Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Education: B.S. from South China Agricultural University (SCAU), and…

Bhuvan Pathak, first author of Recombinase-mediated integration of a multigene cassette in rice leads to stable expression and inheritance of the stacked locus Current Position:  Program Associate, University of Arkansas Education: PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology (2019) - University of Arkansas;…

Lena Maria Müller Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, USA Nitrogen (N) is a critical element in plant nutrition and an important building block of amino acids, nucleic acids, and secondary metabolites. Roots take up N mainly in the form of nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+). To feed a growing…

Waadt et al. use a suite of genetically encoded biosensors to monitor signaling compound concentration changes and how they overlap in time and space. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00892 By Rainer Waadt Background: To survive, plants need to sense the environment and adjust their growth…

Jiaqi Sun, first author of LUNAPARK Is an E3 Ligase that Mediates Degradation of ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE3 to Maintain a Tubular ER Network in Arabidopsis Current Position: Post-Doc Research Fellow, Biology Department, McGill University Education: B. Sc. in Agriculture from Zhejiang University, China;…

Maja Arsic, first author of Bio-imaging techniques reveal foliar phosphate uptake pathways and leaf phosphorus status Current Position: PhD student (University of Copenhagen and the University of South Australia) Education: Bachelor of Science (Advanced with Class I Honours), Griffith University…

Duncan Coleman, first author of The SUMO E3 ligase SIZ1 negatively regulates shoot regeneration Current Position: PhD Student, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo Education: MSc Biosciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Japan; BSc Biology, Biochemistry and Geography,…

Kate Johnson, first author of Xylem embolism spreads by single-conduit events in three dry forest angiosperm stems Current Position: PhD candidate, Discipline of Biological Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania Education: BSc and Hons from the University of Tasmania Non-scientific…

Fugui Zhu, first author of A CEP Peptide Receptor-like Kinase Regulates Auxin Biosynthesis and Ethylene Signaling to Coordinate Root Growth and Symbiotic Nodulation in Medicago truncatula Current Position: Postdoc, China Agriculture University Education: Ph.D. in China Agriculture University; B.S.…

Kim L Johnson La Trobe Institute for Agriculture & Food, Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia Email: [email protected] At least some of the clothing you are wearing is likely made of cotton, and you are not alone. Cotton…

Bacteria use stomatal pores as a point of entry to invade plant leaves. As a first line of defense, plants attempt to counteract this attack by restricting bacterial entry simply by closing the stomata. This happens via reduction in turgor pressure of the two guard cells flanking the stomatal pore, the…

Sugars have a key role in numerous cellular processes, and thus their storage and distribution are tightly controlled to ensure appropriate access when needed. In plants, the vacuole is the major storage organelle. The tonoplast (vacuole membrane) contains various transporters that regulate sugar and…

Ganguly et al. establish that a transporter protein helps stabilize cell wall deposition sites. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00700 By Anindya Gangulya and Ram Dixit Department of Biology and Center for Engineering Mechanobiology, Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63130, USA a…

Plant development is a regulated process of cell division, expansion, and differentiation. Membrane lipids are crucial to these processes, as illustrated in this review by Boutté and Jaillais. The authors discuss the major lipid components in the different membrane systems and how these vary in space…

Among all the mineral elements transported from the soil to the plant, cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As)- are toxic for all organisms whereas 13 micronutrients, including iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), are beneficial for both human and plant nutrition. Ideally, food crops should accumulate fewer soil contaminants…

In addition to its well-known nutritive function, the endosperm of seeds has a great deal of morphological, genomic and functional diversity. In this review, Rangan summarizes endosperm variability and the molecular mechanisms behind it. Although classically described as being triploid (2n from the mother…

The green plant lineage (Viridiplantae) has long been described as having a single origin (starting with the engulfment of a cyanobacteria-like endosymbiont) that has led to two phyla: the Streptophyta, including embryophytes (land plants) and some algae such as chara and nitella, and the Chlorophyta,…

Classical evolutionary theory states that the probability of a mutation occurring is independent of fitness consequences. However, reassessment of traditional assumptions is warranted with recent discoveries showing that cytogenetic (DNA sequences and epigenetic) features can affect local mutation probabilities.…

In linear electron transport (LET), electrons are passed from photosystem II to photosystem I, but it has not been clear which of two mobile electron carriers is responsible, plastocyanin (PC) or plastoquinone (PQ). PQ carries electrons from PSII to the cyt b6f complex and PC from there to PSI. Höhner…

In plants, stomata are involved in a host of responses, controlled by ion homeostasis in guard cells. In an attempt to understand the function of a plant chloride channel (CLC), CLCa, which transports chloride (Cl-) and nitrate (NO3-) in guard cells, Demes and colleagues sought to establish a relationship…

Optimal volume and turgor in the plant cell is important for metabolism, development and growth. Excessive diffusion of water into the cell will cause extreme swelling and a loss of cellular integrity. Members of the plasma membrane MscS-like (MSL) family of mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels play a…

Thorns are modified axillary shoots with a sharp tip that helps in deterring herbivores and are found among several families of angiosperms. Thorns develop from their meristem-like tip to their base, but unlike branches they are determinate organs. The mechanism of their terminal differentiation into…

Seed-bearing annual plants essentially get one shot at getting their reproductive timing right; too early and there won’t be enough stored nutrients to produce healthy seeds, and too late and the seeds might not mature fully before bad weather or rot sets in. Previously, the RAV (RELATED TO ABI3 AND…

Chemical communications between species are prevalent in nature. For instance, herbivorous insects can spot their host plants by sensing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants. Despite our knowledge about interactions between individual plant and herbivore species, little is known about…

Plant hormones such as jasmonates (JAs) and salicylic acid (SA) are known for their role in regulating plant growth under both abiotic and biotic stresses. These hormones, which are synthesized within the plant, can modulate cellular processes in targeted cells locally and can be moved to other parts…

Review: Feedback mechanisms between membrane lipid homeostasis and plant development Plant development is a regulated process of cell division, expansion, and differentiation. Membrane lipids are crucial to these processes, as illustrated in this review by Boutté and Jaillais. The authors discuss…

Author Anne-Sophie Fiorucci Affiliation Centre for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, Génopode Building, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. ORCID number 0000-0002-3254-5967 DNA replication allows doubling of the genomic content of a cell before…

Brumm et al. investigate how the protein GNOM activates dimers of the small GTPase ARF1 and inserts them very close to each other during vesicle formation. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00240 By Sabine Brumm 1,2 and Gerd Jürgens 1, ZMBP, University of Tübingen (1), Sainsbury…

Marc-Sven Roell1 ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2714-8729 1Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany [email protected] To cope with various abiotic and biotic stress factors, plants must be facile in adapting cellular…

Vitamin B12 (B12) is produced only by prokaryotes (Fang et al., 2017), but is also widely required among eukaryotes as an enzymatic cofactor. In the green lineage, the only B12-dependent enzyme is methionine synthase. Several green algae can synthesize methionine only thanks to B12 provided by mutualistic…

Kimura et al. illuminate a molecular mechanism to allow germinating seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana to adapt to dark and bright light conditions during hypocotyl phototropism.  Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00926 By Taro Kimura and Tatsuya Sakai; Graduate School of Science and Technology,…

Attending PB20? Join the ASPB publications team, including editors of The Plant Cell, Plant Direct, and Plant Physiology, for a live discussion about making great figures and illustrations! Wednesday, July 29, 1:30-2:30 EDT. This workshop will cover the production of artwork and illustrations that…

Aashima Khosla, first author of A series of dual-reporter vectors for ratiometric analysis of protein abundance in plants Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, USA Education: PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular…

Durian et al. searched for phosphorylation substrates of Arabidopsis CALCIUM DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE1 and found that it phosphorylates ORE1, a master regulator of senescence, demonstrating a link between calcium signaling and cell death.  Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00810 By Guido…

Heat shock proteins are rapidly induced by heat treatment and were among the first plant genes and proteins characterized in the early days of molecular biology, nearly 40 years ago. Waters and Vierling review the family of small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), which has been especially amplified in plants…

Research from the last three decades has discovered many genes and pathways involved in plant immunity and how they are connected. Here, Zhou and Zhang highlight new research regarding activation and signaling of cell surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and intracellular nucleotide-binding,…

The last two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in our understanding of plant microbiota. Fitzpatrick, Salas-González et al. highlight recent discoveries from culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches and discuss the future path towards integrating these approaches. Culture-independent…

Nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) are important components of the plant immune system. They are intracellular receptors that act downstream of the cell-surface receptors, and initiate the so-called effector-triggered immunity (ETI). In most plants, the NLR gene family is large and…

The outcome of a plant-bacteria interaction is determined by the bacterial virulence and plant immune systems. Individually, these systems, and to an extent their interactions, have been well studied. However, certain aspects of their interactions remain elusive, particularly how plant immunity affects…

Structural Variants (SVs) are large genomic deletions, insertions, and duplications with underexplored roles in determining plant phenotypes. Recognizing the extent to which SVs define quantitative trait variation was previously constrained by the fact that popular short-read sequencing technologies…

In Arabidopsis, multiple genetic pathways control the floral transition in response to external and internal stimuli. Among these, components of the autonomous pathway promote flowering by negatively regulating the central floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Despite the wealth of information on…

Ubiquitination is a process of adding ubiquitin (a small regulatory protein) to a substrate protein, leading to its degradation. A wide variety of cellular processes necessary for plant growth and development are regulated by ubiquitination. E3 ubiquitin ligases are the largest family of proteins involved…

This is a fascinating and very well-written paper that investigates the diversity of rubisco's kinetic properties. Rubisco’s relationship with its substrate CO2 is complicated by its relationship with O2, and it has often been suggested that for this reason rubisco is locked into a slow rate of catalysis.…

Stem cells are a group of undifferentiated cells that can divide and differentiate to form new organs. In Arabidopsis roots, the quiescent center (QC: the mitotically inactive group of cells) helps regulate the division of surrounding initials and maintain the stem cell fate. What makes the QC different…

Seeds are made out of two functionally distinct components: the seed coat and the seed reserves (which include endosperm and embryo). It is known that the relative contribution of these parts to the total seed mass varies greatly among species. Still, little is known about the evolution of each component's…

Review: Plant small heat shock proteins – evolutionary and functional diversity Heat shock proteins are rapidly induced by heat treatment and were among the first plant genes and proteins characterized in the early days of molecular biology, nearly 40 years ago. Waters and Vierling review the family…

Plants produce a plethora of specialized metabolites serving as a chemical arsenal against abiotic and biotic challenges during their lifetime. Core metabolites serve as building blocks for diverse decorating enzymes like oxidases, reductases or transferases that introduce new functionalities expanding…

Yuta Kikuchi, first author of Chloroplast autophagy and ubiquitination combine to manage oxidative damage and starvation responses Current Position: a company employee Education: MSc in Life Science, Tohoku University, Japan Non-scientific Interests: cooking, traveling, playing golf Brief bio:…

Fanfan Zhang, first author of The SUN domain proteins OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 play critical but partially redundant roles in meiosis Current Position: Post doctor, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: PhD in Genetics (Institute of Genetics…

Alessandra Boccaccini, first author of Low blue light enhances phototropism by releasing cryptochrome 1-mediated inhibition of PIF4 expression Current Position: Post-doctoral fellow at Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne Education: Ph.D. in “Life…

Zongcheng Lin, first author of Ectopic expression of a self-incompatibility module triggers growth arrest and cell death in vegetative cells Current Position: FWO senior postdoc fellow, VIB-UGent joint Center for Plant Systems Biology, Belgium Education: Bachelor, Harbin Institute of Technology;…

The plant immune system is largely centered around immune receptors that monitor for pathogen-derived signatures. Extracellular immunity is afforded through cell-surface receptors recognizing common microbial motifs like bacterial flagellin or fungal chitin (Boutrot and Zipfel, 2017). By contrast, intracellular…

Elisa Dell’Aglio1 and Amna Mhamdi2 1 Institut National des Sciences Appliquées-Lyon, 69100 Villeurbanne, France 2 Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, and VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium Address correspondence to [email protected]   Ascorbate…

Han et al. uncover regulatory DNA landscapes in root, stem, and leaf tissues of multiple grasses. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00716   By Kai Wang and Jinlei Han Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University  Background: Low temperature is a major environmental stress that affects…

Qiufang Shen, first author of Calmodulin HvCaM1 negatively regulates salt tolerance via modulation of HvHKT1s and HvCAMTA4 Current Position: Postdoc, Institute of Crop Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R.China Education: 2013/09-2018/06, PhD in Crop Science, Zhejiang University 2009/09-2013/06,…

Michela Osnato, first author of Genes of the RAV family control heading date and carpel development in rice Current Position: science communication manager (@secretlifeofaplantbiologist), member of the Plantae fellow program Education: MS in Plant Biotechnology and PhD in Plant biology and crop productivity…

Sophia G. Zebell Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA Manipulation of ripening, the process that turns hard, flavorless green tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) into the juicy, aromatic red fruits enjoyed worldwide, is of particular commercial…

Robyn Roberts, first author of Molecular characterization of differences between the tomato immune receptors Flagellin sensing 3 and Flagellin sensing 2 Current Position: Postdoctoral Scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute. Starting in August 2020 I will be an Assistant Professor at Colorado State…

A single genome gives rise to different cell types and organs in response to precise temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression, driven by developmental and environmental cues. These expression patterns are orchestrated by cis-regulatory elements, distal enhancers and gene-proximal promoters.…

Tian et al. identify the factors mediating localization of specific mRNAs in developing rice endosperm cells. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00111  by Li Tian and Thomas W. Okita  Background: Localization of mRNAs is a universal mechanism to efficiently drive protein targeting in eukaryotes…

Jishan Jiang, first author of Retrograde induction of phyB orchestrates ethylene-auxin hierarchy to regulate growth Current Position: Candidate for a tenure track faculty position, college of Grassland Science and Technology at China Agricultural University, Beijing, China Education: Ph.D; Forage…

Transcription factors (TFs) can be subject to multiple posttranslational modifications (PTMs) that affect protein stability, subcellular localization, interactions with corepressors and activators, and DNA binding activity of TFs, thereby influencing their regulatory activities on target genes. Recent…

Intrinsically disordered proteins lack a defined three-dimensional structure but often contain a simple amino acid composition with repeated  sequences that provide the basis for multivalent intermolecular interactions. Because of their unique structural flexibility, conformational adaptability, and…

Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLK) are one of the largest gene families in  plants. Research over the past decade has implicated LRR-RLKs and their selective interactions with secreted peptide hormones in a myriad of developmental processes. A conserved LRR-RLK with a burgeoning list…

Programmed cell death (PCD) in plants is closely associated with a wide variety of biological processes, including cell differentiation, aleurone layer formation, tapetum degradation, leaf and fruit resistance, pathogen invasion and abiotic stresses. Plant PCD is a complex genetically programmed mechanism,…

The rhizosheath, the sticky part of the rhizosphere, is the layer of soil that adheres to roots upon excavation of the root system. The stickiness of the layer arises from mucilage and other substances secreted by roots, soil microbes or both. Rhizosheaths preferentially form in drier soil and  are…

Upon germination, the vegetative pollen cell forms a long tubular protrusion, the pollen tube, which rapidly elongates through the pistil and transports the enclosed immobile sperm cells toward the egg and the central cell for double fertilization. To reach the female gametophyte, growing pollen tubes…

Abt et al. found that Arabidopsis SS5, a protein homologous to typical starch-synthesizing enzymes, is itself enzymatically inactive, but rather has an important role in the starch granule initiation process. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00946 By Melanie R. Abt and Samuel C. Zeeman, Institute…

Plants (embryophytes) are by definition multicellular, but we seek to understand them as the sum of the activities of individual cells. Much of this knowledge rests on information obtained through grinding up tissues  made up from several cell types. This review by Luo et al. describes methods for plant…

Alternative splicing is a process that can produce two or more transcript isoforms from a single gene and can increase protein diversity. FERONIA (FER) is a receptor-like kinase that serves as a receptor for the rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides that regulate multiple cellular activities in…

Among the stresses that sessile plants face, wounding is peculiar as it can be caused by both biotic and abiotic sources. While studies of wounding in animal systems have largely focused on the repair mechanisms, less is known about wound healing in plants. In an attempt to throw light on this, Hoermayer…

Responses to a changing environment require an interplay between primary and secondary messengers. Hormones like abscisic acid (ABA), auxin etc. act as a primary messengers, whereas molecules like Ca2+, reactive oxygen species (ROS), other cations and anions act as a secondary messenger. In this paper,…

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone involved in imparting tolerance to a variety of stress conditions. Importantly, ABA is involved in stomatal closure, mediated by the sucrose non-fermenting1-related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) family of proteins. To report SnRK2 activity in vivo, Zhang and co-workers…

Crop production is greatly influenced by the duration of the last stage of plant life cycle, senescence, through degradation of resources in leaves and remobilization of nutrients to developing seeds. Indeed, higher grain yield of important cereals such as maize and sorghum can be achieved by using stay-green…

  Developing drought tolerant plants is an important challenge in agriculture. Drought responses and plant growth are regulated by several signaling pathways, one of which is activated by brassinosteroids (BRs), a group of plant steroid hormones. In order to better understand the crosstalk…

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is a mutualistic relationship between plants and microbes in which plants supply fixed carbon to bacteria in exchange for nitrogen. During this process, the microbes use nitrogenase enzyme to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form, but the metabolic interaction…

Seed-seed interactions can control the germination of grassland species. The result of this interaction (i.e., germination being inhibited or promoted) presumably depends on the dominance and taxonomic relatedness of interacting species. However, the relative importance of these factors is poorly explored.…

Aphids are an important insect pest that can cause significant yield loss to crops, particularly through feeding damage and as vector for devasting plant pathogens. How aphids and other sap-feeding insects use their stylet to penetrate the plant vascular tissues is well studied but the factors involved…

Pathogens are one of many factors underlying pollinator decline.  Diseases can be transmitted from commercial honeybees to wild bees through flowers. Bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) are infected by the gut pathogen Crithidia bombi which is contracted at flowers by fecal-oral transmission. However, not…

Plants can recognize eggs of herbivorous insects deposited on leaves and mount defense responses to avoid the future threat of herbivory. Similar to plant hypersensitive response against pathogens, plants can cause localized cell death to defend themselves against insect eggs. This response is called…

Review Single-cell genomics and epigenomics: Technologies and applications in plants ($) Plants (embryophytes) are by definition multicellular, but we seek to understand them as the sum of the activities of individual cells. Much of this knowledge rests on information obtained through grinding up…

The control of gene expression is of fundamental importance for cellular life. In Eukaryotes, linear DNA is wrapped around nucleosomes that constitute a physical barrier to active transcription. Chromatin remodeling complexes modulate the composition, stability and positioning of nucleosomes therefore…

Madeleine Seale Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, United Kingdom [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-8924-3943   Responding to environmental stresses is crucial for plant survival. Research published this month in Plant…

Angkawijaya et al. investigate diacylglycerol kinase function in Arabidopsis phospholipid signaling and metabolism. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00251 By Artik Elisa Angkawijaya, Van C. Nguyen, Farrel Gunawan, and Yuki Nakamura, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia…

Ariadna Gonzalez Solis, first author of Unregulated Sphingolipid Biosynthesis in Gene-Edited Arabidopsis ORM Mutants Results in Nonviable Seeds with Strongly Reduced Oil Content Current Position: PhD Candidate in the Department of Biochemistry & Center for Plant Science Innovation at the University…

Natasha Navet, first author of Efficient targeted mutagenesis in allotetraploid sweet basil by CRISPR/Cas9 Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oregon State University, Corvallis-OR, USA Education: Ph.D. in Tropical Plant Pathology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. M.Sc. in…

Raimund Nagel University of Leipzig [email protected] Gibberellins (GA) are essential hormones that control plant development as major regulators of stem elongation, germination, dormancy, flowering, leaf senescence and fruit development (Hedden and Thomas, 2012). Their biosynthesis…

Membrane vesicle trafficking is the process of moving and distributing signaling molecules from their place of synthesis or capture to target locations inside or outside the cell. Vesicles, mobile membrane compartments produced from the endoplasmic reticulum, carry proteins and other molecules to an…

Michael Taleski, first author of The peptide hormone receptor CEPR1 functions in the reproductive tissue to control seed size and yield Current Position: PhD Candidate in the Djordjevic Lab, Australian National University (ANU), Division of Plant Sciences Education: B Science (Advanced) (Honours),…

Jores et al. adapt STARR-seq for identifying enhancers in tobacco leaves. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00155 By Tobias Joresa, Jackson Tonniesa,b, Michael W Dorritya, Josh T Cuperusa, Stanley Fieldsa,c and Christine Queitscha a Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington,…

What makes a paper *really* pioneering? This is the question we posed in a recent webinar. We asked each of our panelists to write a few words on this question, each focusing on a slightly different angle. In the recorded video (below), you can hear the panelists elaborate on these ideas. Here…

Wei Zhang Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 1712 Claflin Road, Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66502, USA [email protected] ORCID 0000-0002-5092-643X Plants have evolved many pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that localize to the cell surface. As the frontline…

We’re excited to announce the publication of The Plant Cell’s latest Teaching Tool, “Three-Way Interactions between Plants, Microbes, and Arthropods (PMA): Impacts, Mechanisms, and Prospects for Sustainable Plant Protection,” by Maria J. Pozo, Benedicte R. Albrectsen, Eduardo R. Bejarano, Eduardo…

Stomatal conductance, gs, is one of the most important and highly regulated plant processes. Lawson and Matthews review how guard cell metabolism, stomatal anatomy and patterning, and signals from the mesophyll affect gs which in turn affects plant productivity and water use efficiency. This is an excellent…

Continuous agricultural production is required to feed the growing population, and fertilizers are important factors determining the productivity of today’s high-input agriculture. Fertilizers increase the cost of production, some are produced from finite sources, and some create environmental concern,…

The rhizosphere is a continuous space for microbial colonization that comprises the rhizospheric soil, the rhizoplane (root surface), and the root endosphere, which is the apoplastic space in the root cortex. It is inhabited by unique populations of microorganisms, influenced by plant genotype and the…

Some of the most promising applications in synthetic biology need precise control of gene expression. For instance, metabolic engineering in plants requires the expression of enzyme-coding genes at a precise time, space, and quantity to ensure correct output. Recently, Belcher, Vuu, and colleagues engineered…

Plants and green algae can rapidly adapt to changing light conditions. Depending on light availability or other metabolic needs, Light Harvesting Complexes (LHC) II can be reallocated to photosystem I (PSI) from photosystem II (PSII) and vice versa. This is known as state transition and is mediated by…

Small signaling peptides are cleaved from precursor proteins by the action of proteases and are also subject to other post-translational modifications. Subtilases (SBT) are mostly extracellular proteases, but SBT6.1 is membrane-localized at the Golgi and plasma membranes. Furthermore, it has been shown…

In nature, plants face multiple environmental stresses simultaneously. Plant responses to combined stresses are often not merely the sum of responses to individual stresses; in the tissue that initially perceive stresses (local tissue), plants can integrate different stress signals to elicit unique responses.…

Climate change severely affects plant growth and jeopardizes yields of essential seed crops such as rice. Still, the mechanisms underlying the synergistic regulation of abiotic stress response and important agronomic traits remain poorly understood. Dong et al. cloned and characterized a major QTL in…

Strigolactones (SL) are germination cues for parasitic plants, as their seeds will not germinate until they perceive SL exuded from the host plant.  In contrast, gibberellins (GA) are the dominant germination hormone in non-parasitic plants; GA-mediated degradation of DELLA repressors permits germination.…

Dioecy (male and female flowers residing on distinct individuals) has independently arisen several times in angiosperms, yet the genetic basis of dioecy remains obscure. Here, Müller et al. reveal a single gene that acts as a sex-determination switch throughout the Populus genus. A negative regulator…

Since dispersal is crucial for the assembly of plant communities, a better understanding of its relation to climate is needed to predict plant communities' responses to changes in the environment. However, this kind of association is still missing in tropical alpine ecosystems –one of the most vulnerable…

Review: Guard cell metabolism and stomatal function Stomatal conductance, gs, is one of the most important and highly regulated plant processes. Lawson and Matthews review how guard cell metabolism, stomatal anatomy and patterning, and signals from the mesophyll affect gs which in turn affects plant…

Junhua Kong, co-first author of METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and ripening modulate vivipary during tomato fruit development Current Position: Research Assistant, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: PhD from University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; MSc from Hangzhou…

Weiwei Chen, co-first author of METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and ripening modulate vivipary during tomato fruit development Current Position: Associate Professor, Research Centre for Plant RNA Signaling and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Genetic Improvement and Quality Control of Medicinal Plants, College…

Mengqin Yao, co-first author of METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and ripening modulate vivipary during tomato fruit development Current Position: MSc student, Research Centre for Plant RNA Signaling and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Genetic Improvement and Quality Control of Medicinal Plants, College of…

By now, you would think we’d know everything about cellulose, given its status as the most abundant biopolymer on Earth and its simple chemical composition. Cellulose is composed of β-1,4-D-glucose units assembled into straight chain polymers. These rod-like molecules are packed into strong microfibrils…

Baggs et al. look for key immune genes bases on their presence/absence patterns in different plant species. The Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00903 by Erin Baggs, University of California, Berkeley, USA Ruby O’Grady, The John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK…

During development, seeds pack away large amounts of storage nutrients in the form of starch, proteins, and lipids (typically triacylglycerides), but the ratios of these storage products vary tremendously between seed types. Because of the obvious agricultural implications, researchers have long sought…

Shinichiro Komaki, first author of Functional analysis of the plant chromosomal passenger complex Current Position: Assistant Professor, Division of Biological Science, NAIST, Japan Education: Ph.D., Bioscience, NAIST, Japan Non-scientific Interests: listening to music, finding clover mutants Brief…

Liza Esther Alexander, first author of Maize Glossy2 and Glossy2-like Genes Have Overlapping and Distinct Functions in Cuticular Lipid Deposition Current Position: Bioscience Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow, Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University Education:…

Regulation of stomatal opening and closing in plants in response to environmental cues continues to be well studied (García-León et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020), as it is important for balancing the intake of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis (PS) with the release of water during transpiration. But…

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 system and simultaneously modify the physicochemical…

Over the past decade, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has been used for de novo assembly of crop genomes (i.e., tomato, potato) under the motto “If it tastes good, let’s sequence it”. By contrast, the One Thousand Plant (1KP) Initiative set out to obtain transcriptomic data of phylogenetically…

The colonization of land by a single streptophyte algae lineage around 450 million years ago culminated in the evolution and radiation of all terrestrial flora, the embryophytes. Adapting and thriving in the land environment required many morphological and physiological innovations, as well as the acquisition…

Plants produce a rich diversity of chemical compounds. In fungi, the genes encoding specialized biosynthetic pathways are frequently arranged in contiguous loci forming biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC). In plants, BGCs are not common, however, some cases have been found in angiosperms. Among the known…

Carnivorous plants attract, trap, digest, and import nutrients from small animal prey, enabling these plants to thrive in nutrient-poor soil. Palfalvi et al. sequenced, annotated, and compared draft genomes from the family Droseraceae for the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), the waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda…

Starfruit is a sweet and sour fruit that has a shape of a five-point star. It belongs to the Oxalidaceae family and is a fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to tropical Southeast Asia. The fruit is consumed in many parts of the world and is known for its many economic, medicinal and…

Heterosis is phenomenon that occurs when crossbred individuals show qualities (such as such as size, growth rate, fertility, and yield) that are superior to those of both parents. In maize, heterosis can be explained in terms of hybrid vigor, and this has been well studied using traditional breeding.…

Parthenocarpy, or the ability to make fruit without fertilization, is desirable for many reasons including the opportunity to make seedless fruits and a greater resiliency in crop production in the face of climate change. Matsuo et al. identified a new gene involved in parthenocarpy, starting with a…

Low water availability limits seed germination in arid environments, such as the ones that Agave plants inhabit. As a result, vegetative propagation has been considered their most effective and successful method of reproduction. However, agaves produce several hundreds of seeds, and their natural populations…

Abscisic acid (ABA), is implicated in reversible inhibition of seed germination (emergence of radicle) and post-germination seedling establishment (formation of green open cotyledons) during unfavorable conditions. Yadukrishnan et al. analyzed the role of light in ABA- mediated inhibition of post germination…

PIN FORMED (PIN) proteins are known for their directional auxin transport capacity. Ashraf et al. found that auxin transporter PINs have sequence similarity to bacterial arsenite transporter arsB, yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae arsenite transporter SsAcr3, and arsenic hyperaccumulator fern Pteris vittata…

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…

Matthew Neubauer, first author of Loss of the Arabidopsis Acetyltransferase NAA50 Induces ER Stress and Immune Responses and Suppresses Growth Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University Education: B.S., Biology, Loyola University…

Van Cam Nguyen, co-first author of A Pair of Arabidopsis Diacylglycerol Kinases Essential for Gametogenesis and ER Phospholipid Metabolism in Leaves and Flowers Current Position:  Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate Institute of Biotechnology at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) Education: M.S.…

Artik Elisa Angkawijaya, co-first author of A Pair of Arabidopsis Diacylglycerol Kinases Essential for Gametogenesis and ER Phospholipid Metabolism in Leaves and Flowers Current Position: Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science…

Laura Armbruster, first author of NAA50 is an enzymatically active Nα-acetyltransferase that is crucial for development and regulation of stress responses Current Position: PhD Candidate, Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, Germany Education: M.Sc. in Molecular Biotechnology…

Maxwell Ware, first author of A Chlorophyte alga utilizes alternative electron transport for primary photoprotection Current position: Post-doctoral fellow at Colorado State University Education: M.Sci in Biological Sciences, University of Birmingham (UK); PhD in Biological and Chemical Sciences,…

Nutrient amendment experiments suggest that B12 limits phytoplankton growth in many aquatic ecosystems.  Eukaryotic algae cannot synthesize B12 and must instead obtain it from certain B12-producing prokaryotes. In many algae, B12 is required as a cofactor for the B12-dependent Met synthase enzyme (METH),…

Plant small secreted peptides (SSPs) have emerged as an important class of regulatory molecules involved in plant growth, development, plant-microbe interactions, and stress tolerance. SSPs are typically encoded within preproteins of 100–250 amino acids, that are subsequently processed into shorter…

Joseph Gage, first author of Ten Years of the maize Nested Association Mapping Population: Impact, Limitations, and Future Directions Current Position: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in the Buckler Lab at Cornell University Education: B.S. in Plant Sciences and Communications from Cornell University; M.S.…

Over 80 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been described in ripe kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.), with the most important odor-active compounds  typically being straight-chain esters and C6 aldehydes and alcohols. Another odorant proposed to be important in the flavor of ‘Hort16A’, one of three…

Erin Louise Baggs, first author of Convergent loss of an EDS1/PAD4 signaling pathway in several plant lineages reveals co-evolved components of plant immunity and drought response Current Position: PhD Candidate, Krasileva Lab, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley Education:…

Chao Zhang, first author of OsATM safeguards accurate repair of meiotic double-strand breaks in rice Current Position: Lecturer, College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University Education: Ph.D. in Genetics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Non-scientific…

Fruit ripening results in changes in pigmentation, enhanced aromas and flavors, and flesh softening. The ripening process involves massive changes in gene expression patterns. RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN) is a transcription factor that plays a major role in regulating fruit ripening in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).…

Tobias Jores, first author of Identification of plant enhancers and their constituent elements by STARR-seq in tobacco leaves Current Position: Postdoctoral scholar, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA Education: PhD in Biochemistry, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry,…

Ruohan Xie, first author of Seasonal zinc storage and a strategy for its use in buds of fruit trees Current Position: PhD student, College of Environmental & Resource Science, Zhejiang University, China Education: Ph.D. in College of Environmental & Resource Science of Zhejiang University,…

Cadmium (Cd) negatively impacts plant yield by causing growth inhibition, chlorosis, or even the death of entire plants. Cd interferes with the uptake and translocation of other ions, damages protein and DNA/RNA functions, and increases the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). An increasing…

Aashima Khosla, first author of Structure-function analysis of SMAX1 reveals domains that mediate its karrikin-induced proteolysis and interaction with the receptor KAI2 Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, USA Education:…

Andrew Guzman, first author of Tomato Atypical Receptor Kinase1 is involved in the regulation of pre-invasion defense Current Position: Graduate Student in Dr. Mary Beth Mudgett’s laboratory at Stanford University Education: PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford…

The calcium sensor Calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) participates in calcium signal transduction by interacting with CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK). CBL-CIPK pathways have been reported to participate in a range of biological processes. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), there are 10 CBLs…

Rolletschek et al. examine the role of cellular plasticity in oil-protein balancing. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00879 By Hardy Rolletschek and Ljudmilla Borisjuk Leibniz Inst Plant Genet & Crop Plant Res (IPK) Gatersleben, Germany Background: Seeds of some crops like…

Sam Wilson, first author of Rethinking the influence of chloroplast movements on non-photochemical quenching and photoprotection Current Position: PhD student, Department of Biochemistry, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London Education: BSc Biochemistry, Queen…

Amy Klocko, first author of RNAi of AGAMOUS genes in sweetgum alters reproductive organ identity and decreases fruit persistence Current Position: Assistant Professor of Plant Genetics, Department of Biology, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Education: Bachelors…

Veder Garcia, first author of TRIPP is a Plant-specific Component of the Arabidopsis TRAPPII Membrane Trafficking Complex with Important Roles in Plant Development Current Position: Scientist, Seer Inc. Redwood City, California, USA Education: BS Biological Sciences with Honors in Cell Biology…

MYB proteins are a group of transcription factors that are highly conserved in all vertebrates and were first implicated in avian myeloblastosis (leukemia). Subsequently, they were shown to be cellular proto-oncogenes that regulate production of blood cells in animals. MYB proteins contain a DNA-binding…

Zhongtao Jia, first author of The root foraging response under low nitrogen depends on DWARF1-mediated brassinosteroid biosynthesis Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany Education: PhD in Molecular Plant…

Flütsch et al. examine how starch degradation and light-regulated membrane transport control stomatal opening kinetics. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00802 By Sabrina Flütsch and Diana Santelia Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Background: Stomatal…

The plant immune system has been a keenly researched area in plant sciences in the past decade. Elicitors present in microbes are compounds that induce response from plants when under attack. These elicitors are conserved in many pathogens and are called microbe associated molecular patterns (MAMPs).…

Shade avoidance is a complex phenomenon in which plants avoid shade by altering their developmental program in various ways including early flowering, hypocotyl elongation, and more. Many photoreceptors and transcription factors (TFs) are involved in regulating shade avoidance, including the bHLH (basic…

Plants can increase their growth and biomass proportionately to an increase in nutrient dose and, conversely, their growth is limited by limiting nutrients. In this study, Swift et al. explored the molecular underpinnings of the nutrient dose-response phenomenon. The authors first show that nitrogen-dose…

Auxin forms spatial gradients that are implicated in organ morphogenesis. However, it is not known how temporal auxin gradients are integrated with the spatial information. In this paper, Galvan-Ampudia, Cerutti et al., showed using a ratiometric quantitative auxin reporter (quantitative DII-VENUS) that…

Auxin controls virtually all facets of growth and development. This plant hormone is sensed by TIR1/AFB F-box receptors which promote ubiquitin-mediated degradation of AUX/IAA transcriptional repressors, releasing ARF transcription factors from inhibition. Phylogenetic analyses divide the ARF family…

Synthetic genetic circuits allow the reconstruction of metabolic pathways in plant systems for production of many natural products including pharmaceuticals. A challenge in genetic engineering these circuits is precisely and predictably regulating gene expression, especially when genes may be desired…

Originating in China’s Yangtze Valley ~9,000 years ago, rice (Oryza sativa) is a staple food for over half of the world’s population. While rice domestication has been well-researched, studies addressing the species' diversification and spread post-domestication are lacking. Here, Gutaker et al. tell…

Is it possible to simultaneously increase two incompatible features like grain yield and stress tolerance? Yin et al. suggest that optimizing cytokinin distribution in plant tissues is a promising strategy for that. ARGONAUTE2 (AGO2) and BIG GRAIN3 (BG3) genes work together promoting at the same time…

Fire shapes tropical savannas through direct (i.e., heat and smoke) and indirect (i.e., opening gaps) effects on the vegetation. However, its effects on seeds from neotropical grasses have seldom been addressed. In this paper, Dariel and Fidelis assessed the longevity and the impact of fluctuating temperatures…

While infection by pathogens and the reciprocal immune responses are well studied in plants, the influence of other abiotic factors on these processes is not very clear. In an attempt to understand the role of light on plant defense, Gao and colleagues have shown that the AVRvnt1 effector protein secreted…

Bumblebees receive nutrition from flowers in exchange for aiding plant fertilization. This mutualistic relationship relies on timely availability of flowers for the pollinators, but annual variation in flowering time in changing environments can pose a challenge. Pashalidou and Lambert et al. now found…

Mycotoxins are fungal toxins with harmful health effects on humans and other animals. Fusarium head blight is a fungal disease of wheat inflorescences that can contaminate the grain and harm its consumers. Previously, Fhb7 was identified in the wheat relative Thinopyrum elongatum as a quantitative trait…

Review: The bHLH network underlying plant shade-avoidance Shade avoidance is a complex phenomenon in which plants avoid shade by altering their developmental program in various ways including early flowering, hypocotyl elongation, and more. Many photoreceptors and transcription factors (TFs) are involved…

Translation of RNA information into protein is a fundamental process ensuring the production of functional proteins in cells. Transfer RNA (tRNA) is a vital component of the translation machinery as it delivers the correct amino acids to the elongating peptide chain based on codon-anticodon recognition.…

Yan et al. discovered that MYB30, an R2R3-MYB family transcription factor, is a negative regulator of Arabidopsis photomorphogenic development and promotes PIF4 and PIF5 accumulation under prolonged red light irradiation. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00645 By Yan Yan and Jigang Li, China…

Phytophthora are plant-destroying oomycetes. Within this genus are several infamous disease-causing agents: P. infestans of the potato late-blight fame, P. sojae of soybean root rot, P. ramorum of sudden oak death, and many other lesser-known species. This fine new review by Boevink et al. explores the…

The ability of biological systems to self-repair is a huge motivator in all sorts of synthetic biology projects. Taking this cell-as-factory to the next step comes the question of how often do the parts need replacing? Tivendale et al. address this through a discussion of Catalytic Cycles until Replacement…

Linking phenotype to genotype is a major obstacle in plant biology, and conventional approaches (linkage analysis, association mapping) have limitations. Here Gage et al. review the past, present, and future impacts of a maize Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population developed throughout the 2000s.…

Stomata are the pores on the plant surface surrounded by a pair of guard cells that control gaseous exchange and water loss. Among the many genes involved in stomatal patterning and development, EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR 1 (EPF1) and STOMAGEN encode signaling peptides and acts as negative (inhibitor)…

In order to grow upwards into the dry atmosphere, plants need to keep their elevated tissues hydrated and functional. In vascular plants this is achieved by a lignified water transport system in conjunction with stomatal regulation of gas exchange and the encasement of photosynthetic tissues in an impermeable…

Lateral root starts development starts with an asymmetric cell division in the founder cell. In this study, Fernandez et al. explored the role of peptide signaling this process. The authors started with the previous finding that GOLVEN peptides are involved in lateral root initiation, as overexpression…

Seed oils and anthocyanins play several roles in plant physiology and are promising substances for crop engineering given their benefits for human health. Recent studies proposed that melatonin –a potent antioxidant present in all plant species– regulates the deposition of these metabolites in seeds,…

Biofuels can be obtained from bioenergy crops such as sorghum, maize and sugarcane. However, the production of bioethanol is still more expensive than that of petroleum. Given the importance of replacing conventional fossil fuels with renewable liquid fuels, the biorefinery system should be improved…

Iron is an essential element for most living organisms, including plant-associated bacteria. As iron is insoluble in most soils, many soil-borne bacteria scavenge iron using siderophores, a chemically diverse group of secondary metabolites with a high affinity for iron. Siderophores are known to drive…

Antagonist interactions between microbes of the phyllosphere stabilize the microbiome and some “hub” organisms can exert strong effects on community structure. The yeast family Ustilaginales contains several apathogenic species that are microbial antagonists that can inhibit infection from diverse…

Review: Devastating intimacy: the cell biology of plant–Phytophthora interactions Phytophthora are plant-destroying oomycetes. Within this genus are several infamous disease-causing agents: P. infestans of the potato late-blight fame, P. sojae of soybean root rot, P. ramorum of sudden oak death,…

Michael J. Skelly [email protected] To ensure optimal growth and development, plants must precisely control gene expression networks in a tissue-specific manner. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally silence genes by binding to complementary…

The root epidermis presents an elegant model to study cell differentiation. Based on positional cues, Arabidopsis distinguishes two epidermal cell types. Cells in the H position, adjacent to the junction of two cortex cells, have the capacity of developing root hair identity, whereas the non-hair cells…

It might be a little known fact, even among plant biologists, that in embryos of many species of the Fabaceae, most oilseed plants and Arabidopsis thaliana embryos can photosynthesize within the seed (Tejos et al., 2010). We do not know why plant embryos have this capacity, since embryos are surrounded…

Plant cell walls provide mechanical support to plant cells, determine their size and shape, and influence plant development and stress responses. The plant cell wall is composed mainly of polysaccharides, including cellulose, hemicellulose and pectins, with smaller amounts of phenolic polymers and proteins…

Yu Zhang, first author of Astaxanthin is ketolated from zeaxanthin independent of fatty acid synthesis in Chromochloris zofingiensis Current Position: PhD candidate, Laboratory for Algae Biotechnology & Innovation, Peking University Education: PhD candidate in Bioengineering (Peking University);…

Yan Yan, first author of MYB30 Is a Key Negative Regulator of Arabidopsis Photomorphogenic Development that Promotes PIF4 and PIF5 Protein Accumulation in the Light Current Position: Post-doc, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education:…

Descriptive paragraph. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00140 By Bing Wang and Qian Xu, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Background: Strigolactones (SLs) are carotenoid-derived plant hormones that control many aspects of plant development, such…

Decades of research in evolutionary genetics has shown that genomic plasticity, in particular variation in gene copy number, is a favored mechanism to provide rapid adaptation to adverse environmental conditions through increase in gene dosage. Gene amplification has been observed across kingdoms and…

Lunin et al. describe a structural and biochemical analysis of the enzyme XOAT1, responsible for the acetylation of the cell wall component xylan, with potential applications in cell wall modification for better biomass valorization. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00028 By Vivek…

Streptophytes are a grade of mostly freshwater algae that transitioned into land, a singularity that in turn gave rise to all present terrestrial flora. This passage along the hydrological gradient that culminated in land habitation required key adaptations to overcome previously unencountered terrestrial…

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) have repetitive protein sequences but lack a defined 3D structure and are deployed to do some challenging functions that a protein with a defined 3D structure cannot perform. One such IDP, Oryza sativa REPETITIVE PROLINE-RICH PROTEIN (OsRePRP) is involved in inhibiting…

Photomorphogenesis is the growth and development of plants in response to light. The phytochrome family of photoreceptors absorbs red and far-red light, and in Arabidopsis the most abundant phytochromes are phyA and phyB. PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs) repress photomorphogenesis, and under red…

Cellulose is an indispensable component of plant cell wall formation. Cellulose is synthesized at the plasma membrane by a cellulose synthase complex (CSC) made up of at least 18 monomeric cellulose synthases (CESAs). In this study, Huang et al. used a chemical genetic approach to explore the structure…

Flower development has always been a fascinating field of research in plant biology. While molecular studies in the past focused on regulatory genes involved in the formation of floral organs in model species, current investigations are addressing the genetic determinants underlying the huge variety…

Heavy metals are a potential threat to human health, especially in areas with high industrial activity where the metals leach in the soil to contaminate underground water. These metals are a threat to plants too, resulting in stunted growth and their eventual death. Wu et al. carried out a mechanistic…

Bacterial infections are a serious issue for crop plants and it is thus imperative to understand the mechanisms employed by plants to develop resistance against pathogens. Malukani et al. have identified a receptor kinase in rice, WALL-ASSOCIATED KINASE-LIKE 21 (OsWAKL21.2) that perceives pathogen-induced…

Host perception is crucial for soil-borne microbes to successfully colonize plant roots. Ding et al. conducted transcriptome analysis of the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum (Fg) in the presence of its host plant Brachypodium distachyon (Bd), either without direct contact (precontact) or during colonization.…

NPR1 (NONEXPRESSER OF PR GENES1) is a master regulator that controls expression of over 2000 genes during plant defense. NPR1 interacts with transcription factors to activate expression of defense genes, but the mechanism is poorly understood. Chen et al. determined that in the presence of salicylic…

Global environmental change brings new challenges to plants at different levels, including seed development and persistence. For example, the increasing ground-levels of ozone (O3) can affect seed viability, as a result of changes in the mother plant antioxidant machinery. These responses might depend…

Review: Evo-physio: on stress responses and the earliest land plants Streptophytes are a grade of mostly freshwater algae that transitioned into land, a singularity that in turn gave rise to all present terrestrial flora. This passage along the hydrological gradient that culminated in land habitation…

Magdalena M. Julkowska, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, ORCID: 0000-0002-4259-8296 [email protected] Water transport is essential for many physiological processes in vascular plants. One of the forces driving water transport across roots…

Dhineshkumar Thiruppathi 1,2  ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2018-3356 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis, Missouri 63132 1Lead author 2Author for contact: [email protected]   Potassium (K+) is the most abundant intracellular cation in all living organisms…

Over 450 million years of land plant evolution has led to the acquisition of diverse and often overlapping sets of defense responses that limit pathogen infection. Decades of research has uncovered canonical immune pathways that provide resistance to specialist (hemi)-biotrophic pathogens relying on…

Sheng Huang, first author of The ZIP transporter family member OsZIP9 contributes to root Zn uptake in rice under Zn-limited conditions Current Position：Ph.D. student at Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Japan Education: 2017-present, Ph.D. student in Institute of Plant…

Garcia et al. discover a plant-specific component of TRAPP membrane trafficking complexes with important roles in plant development. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00044.  By Veder Garcia and Zhi-Yong Wang Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA  Background:…

Lucia Montini, first author of Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry imaging of metabolites during sorghum germination Current Position: Researcher at M4I Institute, Division of Imaging Mass Spectrometry, University of Maastricht Education: MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry,…

Bryan Leong, first author of Specialized metabolism in a non-model nightshade: trichome acylinositol biosynthesis Current position: Post-doctoral associate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Last lab at Michigan State University Education: Ph.D. in Plant Biology, Michigan State University Non-scientific…

Nitrogen is an essential component of amino acids, nucleic acids, and even chlorophyll. Plants cannot grow without it. However, acquiring nitrogen is difficult as plants cannot use the most common form, atmospheric nitrogen (N2). To solve this, a select group of flowering plants have evolved to harness…

Author: Stefanie Wege [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-7232-5889 Affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, PRC, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond 5064, South Australia, Australia   In…

Ning Zhang, first author of Tomato wall-associated kinase SlWak1 depends on Fls2/Fls3 to promote apoplastic immune responses to Pseudomonas syringae Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Ithaca, NY, USA Education: PhD in Horticulture and Crop Science…

Ge et al explore the function of a transcription factor that functions upstream of a master regulator of tracheary element differentiation. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00689 By Shating Ge1, Juan Xu2, and Shuqun Zhang3 1 College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University,…

Hardy Rolletschek, first author of Cellular plasticity in response to suppression of storage proteins in the Brassica napus embryo Current Position: Project leader at the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Research group “Assimilate Allocation and NMR”, Department of Molecular…

Titouan Bonnot, first author of Omics Data Reveal Putative Regulators of Einkorn Grain Protein Composition under Sulfur deficiency Current Position: Post-doctoral research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Dawn Nagel at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), Department of Botany and Plant Sciences Education:…

Kaori Yoneyama, first author of Hydroxyl carlactone derivatives are predominant strigolactones in Arabidopsis Current Position: Assistant Professor, Ehime University Education: BS & MS, Utsunomiya University; PhD, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Non-scientific Interests: watching children,…

Seed size is a major component of seed yield. Unveiling the control of seed size provides a theoretical foundation for developing new strategies to boost crop production in the context of global food security. How plants determine their seed size is also a fascinating question in developmental biology.…

Qian Xu, co-first author of  Strigolactone and Karrikin Signaling Pathways Elicit Ubiquitination and Proteolysis of SMXL2 to Regulate Hypocotyl Elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana Current Position: Currently unemployed Education: PhD in Genetics at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology,…

Lei Wang, co-first author of Strigolactone and Karrikin Signaling Pathways Elicit Ubiquitination and Proteolysis of SMXL2 to Regulate Hypocotyl Elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana Current Position: Post doctor, Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Education:…

Tightly controlled genetic programs regulate developmental phase transitions within distinct tissues and cells. This is especially true for the vegetative-to-reproductive and reproductive-to-seed developmental phase changes that ensure the production of gametes capable of generating viable seed upon…

Craig Schenck, first author of Role of Cytosolic, Tyrosine-Insensitive Prephenate Dehydrogenase in Medicago truncatula Current Position: NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow Education: B.S. Plant Biology, Ohio, University; M.S. Molecular Biology, Ohio, University; Ph.D. Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison Non-scientific…

Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 1712 Claflin Road, Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA [email protected] Male fertility in angiosperms requires specific spatiotemporal gene expression patterns and cellular differentiation during male reproductive development (Wilson…

Huang et al. identify a new cellulose synthase inhibitor. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00202.  By Lei Huang and Chunhua Zhang  Background: Cellulose is a polymer of b-1,4-D-glucose that serves as an essential source of everyday objects such as cloth, paper, and biofuel. Plant cellulose…

An Quoc Pham, first author of Arabidopsis Lectin Receptor Kinase P2K2 is a second plant receptor for extracellular ATP and contributes to innate immunity Current posotion: Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, University of Missouri – Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA Education: PhD in plant Sciences, University…

Markus Alahuhta, co-first author of Molecular mechanism of polysaccharide acetylation by the Arabidopsis xylan O-acetyltransferase XOAT1 Current Position: Research Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Education: Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Oulu, Finland Non-scientific Interests:…

Vivek Bharadwaj, co-first author of Molecular mechanism of polysaccharide acetylation by the Arabidopsis xylan O-acetyltransferase XOAT1 Current Position: Staff Scientist at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado Education: PhD Chemical Engineering Non-scientific Interests:…

Hsin-Tzu Wang, co-first author of Molecular mechanism of polysaccharide acetylation by the Arabidopsis xylan O-acetyltransferase XOAT1 Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia Education: B.S. and M.S. in Forestry and…

Vladimir V. Lunin, co-first author of Molecular mechanism of polysaccharide acetylation by the Arabidopsis xylan O-acetyltransferase XOAT1 Current Position: Scientist IV, Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Lab Education: PH.D. In Chemistry awarded by the Institute of Crystallography of…

Kamal Kumar Malukani, first author of Dual activities of receptor like kinase OsWAKL21.2 induce immune responses Current Position: Research Associate in the lab of Dr. Ramesh V. Sonti at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India. Looking for postdoc in plant-microbe interaction. Education:…

If you close your eyes and think about the most delicious fruit you have ever tasted, it is likely that one specific characteristic will come to mind (and mouth!): its sweetness. Humans have a natural appreciation of plant sugars, and it is no surprise that enhanced sugar content is among the most desired…

In a world full of herbivores and mechanical stresses, the ability to sense and respond to wounding is crucial for plants, as injuries open doors for phytopathogen entry and allow uncontrolled evaporation. Wounding triggers local and systemic defenses that heal injuries, make plants taste unpleasant…

Chan, Panzeri, et al. show how a receptor-like kinase regulates stomatal immunity by phosphorylating an anion channel that mediates closure of stomata. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00578  By Ching Chana,b and Laurent Zimmerlia aDepartment of Life Science and Institute of Plant Biology,…

Arabidopsis as a model system has been intensively studied over the past twenty years, but the proteome of Arabidopsis has been less well characterized. Here, Mergner et al. report the first 30-tissue-type integrated proteome, phosphoproteome and transcriptome atlas of Arabidopsis. The data cover the…

Among the myriad small interfering RNAs, 21- and 24-nucleotides siRNAs control plant development and immunity through mRNA cleavage and RNA-directed DNA methylation, respectively. Still, the regulation and biological function of 22-nt siRNAs remain unresolved. In this report, Wu and coworkers investigated…

Plants are sessile organisms and as such they must be highly responsive to environmental cues including temperature, and adjust their growth and development accordingly. Considering that mean global surface temperatures are expected to continue to rise dramatically in the 21st century, it is crucial…

Stomata are the pores surrounded by a pair of guard cells on the plant epidermis that help in gaseous exchange. The number and spacing of stomata are regulated by a series of phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation events of key transcription factors through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)…

Desiccation tolerance (i.e., the capacity of surviving with very low water content) is widespread in seeds and pollen, but quite rare in vegetative organs. Most authors agree that in angiosperms it originated multiple independent times from rewiring seed desiccation tolerance pathways. Here, Pardo et…

The nucleus is an organelle with tremendous shape flexibility in response to environmental cues; it has been described as the “plastic, elastic, and fantastic” organelle. The change in nuclear geometry based on mechanical stress is well documented from single cell studies in culture, but the question…

N2-fixing rhizobia bacteria are able to establish symbiotic interactions with legumes in specialized organs called root nodules. Identifying elite rhizobia that are both competitive for nodule occupancy and effective in N2 fixation in agricultural environments is crucial for maximizing the yield of legumes.…

Tissue-resolved multi-omics atlas of Arabidopsis Arabidopsis as a model system has been intensively studied over the past twenty years, but the proteome of Arabidopsis has been less well characterized. Here, Mergner et al. report the first 30-tissue-type integrated proteome, phosphoproteome and transcriptome…

Besides making our daily lives sweeter, sugars are the most important energy source in all organisms. Balancing their availability and regulating their partitioning between tissues are major determinants for growth and development. In plants, sucrose is the main product of photosynthesis and is transported…

Ching Chan, first author of STRESS INDUCED FACTOR 2 regulates Arabidopsis stomatal immunity through phosphorylation of the anion channel SLAC1 Current Position: Post-doctoral researcher, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Education: PhD in Biology (The Chinese University of Hong Kong); MPhil and BSc in Biochemistry…

The formation of the mature female gametophyte is one of the most complex processes in plants. It requires successive rounds of diploid mitosis, followed by meiosis and finally haploid mitosis, not to mention cell differentiation and cell degeneration in the multicellular gametophyte. Since the female…

Molin et al. describe the sequence and gene organization of an extrachromosomal circular DNA element, the eccDNA replicon, that confers resistance to the herbicide glyphosate in amaranths. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00099 By William Molin a and Christopher Saski b, a USDA-ARS,…

Javier Brumos, first author of Structure-function analysis of interallelic complementation in ROOTY transheterozygotes Current Position: Research Scholar in the Alonso-Stepanova laboratory, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, Program in Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC,…

Gibberellins (GAs) and abscisic acid (ABA) affect plant development in an opposite manner. GA is generally considered a growth promoting hormone, whereas ABA signaling, triggered in response to stress, counteracts the GA effects and restricts growth under suboptimal conditions (Vanstraelen and Benkova,…

Ananya Mukherjee ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1802-1806 [email protected] University of Nebraska Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588   Climate change is expected to make drought far more severe and frequent for plants all over the world (Bartlett et al., 2016). Drought affects yield, growth, and development…

Contrary to animals, sex chromosomes in flowering plants (angiosperms) have evolved at least hundreds of times independently, providing an opportunity to unravel the mechanisms underlying their repeated evolution. In the XY system, the Y chromosome dominantly confers male identity: XY individuals…

Liu, Ren et al. discover how a natural allele of tRNA-modifying GTPase gene PDD leads to pleiotropic developmental defects in rice. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00660.  By Hui Liu and Pingli Lu Fudan University and Henan University  Background: Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are components…

Linking genotype to phenotype is a major challenge in plant biology. Phenotypic variation observed between individuals of a same plant species is the consequence of a vast array of genetic variation, including Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and small or large structural variants including Copy…

Tianhu Sun ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2513-1387 Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 [email protected] Plant cells harbor a varying number of chloroplasts and chloroplasts multiply by division to maintain the continuity…

Ribeiro, Lacchini et al. discover a seed-specific transcription factor that helps determine the composition of the defense compounds saponins in developing Medicago truncatula seeds. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00609  By Elia Lacchini, Alain Goossens, and Jacob Pollier VIB-UGent…

Madeleine Seale Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, United Kingdom [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-8924-3943 Wood formation occurs via radial proliferation of vascular cambium cells and the deposition of secondary cell wall layers…

Fichtner et al. transformed the embryo-lethal mutant tps1 with variants of the TPS1 gene to identify critical domains for function and localization of the gene product. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00837 By Franziska Fichtner1,2 and John Lunn1, 1Max Planck Institute of Molecular…

Rust fungi are a diverse group (more than 7800 species) of phytopathogenic fungi that cause considerable economic loss. (Coincidently, I’m writing on Robigalia, the Roman “anti-rust” festival, which dates from before we understood that microbes, not gods, cause disease). Figurero et al. have written…

Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) has been the absolute star of plant science research for more than 40 years, being the ideal model organism for its ease of handling and transferable knowledge to crops. In this review, Cesarino and coworkers explain how advances in "omics" technologies, together with…

Conventional approaches to connect phenotype to genotype, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS), are often limited by the quality of the species’ reference genome, and frequently neglect to detect structural variants that are common in plant genomes. Here, Voichek and Weigel present a “No-Genome-Required-GWAS”…

The thylakoid membranes inside the chloroplasts house the major protein complexes required for photosynthesis, including photosystems I and II (PSI/II), the b6f complex and ATP synthase. To optimize photosynthetic efficiency, the distribution and abundance of these complexes are dynamically regulated…

Photosystem II (PSII) is a protein complex located in the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts that is involved in executing the initial reaction of photosynthesis in plants. When plants are exposed to extreme temperature conditions, PSII gets damaged. To repair the damage, one of the core proteins of…

In this paper, Moreno et al. investigate how nitrate affects the balance between cell proliferation and cell expansion in shoots during early seedling development. They note that the cells in Arabidopsis cotyledons undergo considerable enlargement, and that the increase in cell size is correlated with…

Adjacent cells in plants are connected by cytoplasmic connections called plasmodesmata (PD) and the movement through PD is called symplastic movement. Studies have shown that auxin transport between cells is protein-dependent, but it is not clear whether it can also move freely in the symplastic pathway.…

Aquaporins, also known as plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIP), are a large group of transporters that facilitate water transport through membranes. In this article, Rahman et al. explored the role of aquaporins in the cold stress response. They found that two aquaporin genes, PIP1;4 and PIP2;5,…

Colonization of the terrestrial environment by land plants (embryophytes), a monophyletic clade that evolved from freshwater streptophyte algae, forever changed Earth by transforming biogeochemical cycles. The evolution of stomata was a key adaptation that allowed the colonization of terra firma. Present…

Plants have a variety of secondary metabolites that are associated with defense against pathogens, but the mode of action of such metabolites is poorly understood. Wang et al. revealed that the Arabidopsis secondary metabolite sulforaphane (SFN), which is derived from aliphatic glucosinolate, suppresses…

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential secondary messengers for rapid transmission of local and long-distance signalling in plants. Respiratory oxidase homologs (RBOHs) are the family of enzymes in plants that produce extracellular ROS, with RBOHD being the primary oxidase in Arabidopsis for ROS…

Pseudonectaries do not secrete nectar like nectaries. So, what are their ecological functions? Are there any morphological and anatomical differences between them and true nectaries? How do they develop and evolve? Liao et al. examined pseudonectaries of Nigella damascene to answer these questions. The…

The dispersal syndrome hypothesis states that frugivores and fleshy-fruited plants coevolve by exerting selective pressures on each other. Even though this idea still prevails, some theoretical issues could make this scenario improbable. As a result, a new chicken-or-egg dilemma appeared: are the frugivores…

Review: Evolution of virulence in rust fungi — multiple solutions to one problem Rust fungi are a diverse group (more than 7800 species) of phytopathogenic fungi that cause considerable economic loss. (Coincidently, I’m writing on Robigalia, the Roman “anti-rust” festival, which dates from…

Shoot architecture is a key ecological and agricultural trait that impacts biomass, the potential to harvest light, planting density, and the reproductive success of a plant. Branching is a prominent feature of plant shoot architecture. A shoot branch develops from an axillary bud, which is located in…

Hongchao Li, first author of Maize plant architecture is regulated by the ethylene biosynthetic gene ZmACS7 Current Position: Ph.D. student, National Maize Improvement Center, China Agricultural University Education: Ph.D. student in Crop Genetics and Breeding and M.Sc. in Agricultural Extension…

Ananya Mukherjee ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1802-1806 [email protected] University of Nebraska Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588    In the photosynthetic Calvin-Benson cycle, the enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) fixes CO2 into organic compounds. A major limitation…

Stephanie Klein, first author of Multiple integrated root phenotypes are associated with improved drought tolerance Current Position: PhD Candidate, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA Education: B.Sc. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA Non-scientific…

Shengjin Liao, first author of Cell wall invertase is essential for ovule development through sugar signaling rather than provision of carbon Current Position: Assistant Professor, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS) Education: PhD in Biological Sciences, B. Biotech (Hons)…

Eukaryotic gene expression is largely governed by transcription factors (TFs), the nuclear proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences and determine when and where genes are turned on. Transcriptional gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that modulate developmental processes and environmental responses consist…

A well-oiled machine: two fatty-acid exporters involved in seed oil biosynthesis Mehran Dastmalchi [email protected] Oilseed plants such as canola (Brassica spp.) are a massive, multi-billion dollar industry, with their lipids contributing to food, cosmetics, polymers and biofuels. For the…

Sözen et al. describe two independent MAPK signaling cascades that are each activated with different kinetics, providing an immediate and delayed response to herbivore feeding. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00917 By Cécile Sözen, Marie Boudsocq and Jean Colcombet, Université…

Wei Hu, first author of Regulation of monocot and dicot plant development with constitutively active alleles of phytochrome B Current Position: Assistant project scientist at Prof. J. Clark Lagarias’ Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California Davis, USA Education:  PhD,…

Magdalena M. Julkowska [email protected]   Developmental and environmental changes are communicated systemically throughout the plant by various signals, ranging from electric currents to plant hormones. As the responses elicited by the systemic signals depend on the tissue…

Wu et al. found that FUSCA3, which regulates seed development, is localized to specific cells of the ovule and seed coat and is itself regulated by BASIC PENTACYSTEINE (BPC) proteins.  Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00764 By Sonia Gazzarrini (University of Toronto, Dept. Biological Sciences…

Deborah Petrik, first author of BdGT43B2 functions in xylan biosynthesis and is essential for seedling survival in Brachypodium distachyon Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN Education: PhD in Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, 2015 M.S.…

Lipid flippases hydrolyze ATP to flip lipids across a membrane bilayer toward cytosolic facing leaflets, whether that be from the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane (PM) or luminal leaflet of internal membranes. Flippases are proposed to be involved in multiple processes, such as flipping specific…

Variation in leaf morphology across the angiosperms is impressive and abounds. Leaves are the primary photosynthetic organ for most angiosperms, acting as the primary sites of light capture and gas exchange. Typical of grass leaves, maize leaves are strap-like and simple, with unelaborated margins. Leaves…

Potassium (K+) serves important roles in plants for the control of cellular pH, regulation of membrane electric potentials and cell turgor, and as a cofactor in essential metabolic processes including protein synthesis. Plasma membrane voltage-gated K+ channels are crucial for K+ uptake, release, and…

Calcium (Ca) deficiency symptoms often occur in crops because Ca is mainly translocated by the transpiration stream, and conditions that affect transpiration can cause Ca deficiency. Because Ca is translocated via the transpiration stream, it tends to accumulate more in older, expanded leaves and less…

Aquaporins belonging to the plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) subfamily are key players in determining membrane water permeability. Since the overall root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) depends on the integration of conductivity from three pathways (symplastic, apoplastic and transcellular), it…

Fruit aromas attract seed-dispersal agents in nature and are critical determinants of human fruit choice.  In the process of constructing a peach (Prunus persica) core germplasm collection, Peng et  al. (10.1104/pp.19.00964) analyzed the characteristics of peach cultivars in the National Fruit Germplasm…

Chloroplasts divide by binary fission, a process that is driven by a ring-like multiprotein complex spanning the inner and outer envelope  membranes (OEMs) at the site of division. DYNAMIN-RELATED PROTEIN 5B (DRP5B/ ARC5), a cytosolic component of the chloroplast division machinery, is thought to function…

Chen-Kun Jiang, first author of Insight into the Diversification and Evolution of R2R3-MYB Transcription Factors in Plants Current Position: Doctoral candidate, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China Education: B.S., School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China Non-scientific…

Rodrigo Siqueira Reis, first author of Modulation of shoot phosphate level and growth by PHOSPHATE1 upstream open reading frame Current Position: Postdoc at University of Lausanne, Switzerland Education: PhD in Molecular Biology (University of Sydney, Australia), MSc in Biochemistry (UFRJ, Brazil)…

Franziska Fichtner, first author of Functional features of TREHALOSE-6-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASE1 - an essential enzyme in Arabidopsis thaliana Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia Education: PhD in Molecular…

Marianne Slaten, first author of mGWAS Uncovers Gln-Glucosinulate Seed-Specific Interaction and its Role in metabolic Homeostasis Current Position: PhD candidate, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA Education: PhD student in the research group of Dr. Ruthie…

Ting Ting Xiao, co-first author of A Homeotic Mutation Changes Legume Nodule Ontogeny into Actinorhizal-type Ontogeny Current position: Postdoc researcher at Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia Education background:…

Defeng Shen, co-first author of A Homeotic Mutation Changes Legume Nodule Ontogeny into Actinorhizal-type Ontogeny Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher, Group of Tonni Grube Andersen, Department of Plant Microbe Interactions, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, 50829 Cologne, Germany Education:…

Flowering plants have witnessed multiple cycles of whole-genome duplication (WGD) over the past 200 million years of evolution. Typically, WGD increases genome size and gene content, followed by gene loss, or fractionation, depending on functional categories. Certain classes of genes are retained as…

Faye McDiarmid, co-first author of Virus-mediated transient expression techniques enable gene function studies in black-grass Current Position: Scientific Technician at Rothamsted Research Education: BSc at University College London (UCL) Non-scientific Interests: Gardening, cooking, shopping,…

Macarena Mellado-Sánchez, co-first author of Virus-mediated transient expression techniques enable gene function studies in black-grass Current Position: PhD student in the group of Cristina Barrero-Sicilia at University of Hertfordshire and Plant Impact, United Kingdom Education: Ph.D. in Plant…

The increasing global population causes an increasing need for food, but the changing climate means increasing drought occurrences. The April 17 2020 special issue of Science focusses on drought and its effects on food and the environment. The issue includes a fine review by Gupta et al. that provides…

High soil salinity has implications greater than what meets the eye; in addition to the apparent ‘ionic’ stress caused by the toxic sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) ions, it causes osmotic stress (drought-like condition), altered potassium (K+) homeostasis, inhibition of photosynthesis and a plethora…

Environmental cues can affect the structure and function of proteins. To get broad empirical information about the effect of temperature on protein stability, Jarzab, Kurzawa, Hopf et al. generated an atlas of proteome thermal stability across 13 model organisms, including bacteria, yeast, worm, fish,…

Intraspecific phenotypic variability can be attributed to differences at the genome level such as copy number variations (CNVs). CNVs are large DNA fragments which differ in number between individuals and likely have a crucial evolutionary role. Due to the 1001 Genomes Project, over 1,000 Arabidopsis…

Genome duplications are common in plants and thought to be an important contributor to evolutionary innovations, but the increase in ploidy that results from a genome duplication also presents challenges for reproduction. Because there are four sets of homologous chromosomes in the derived tetraploid…

Potassium ions (K+) play a variety of important roles in plant physiology and are maintained at a high concentration in the cytosol relative to the available K+ in the environment. Potassium may accumulate to an even higher concentration in the vacuole, where it helps to regulate turgor pressure. During…

Aquaporins, also known as water channels, are conserved across all kingdoms. In plants, the plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) subfamily controls membrane water permeability. Maize aquaporin PIP2;5 is highly expressed in roots. By reverse genetic approaches, Ding et al. showed that overexpression…

Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) act as signaling receptors, are the largest plant-specific protein kinase family, and are involved in myriad developmental activities and defense systems. Due to the large number of proteins in this group, their diversification and consequent redundancy…

Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) are clonally propagated by stem cuttings, which depends on the formation of adventitious (stem-borne) roots. In this paper Chen at al., showed the function of microRNA encoded peptides (miPEPs) in adventitious root formation of cultured grape plantlets. MicroRNA biogenesis…

Roots have many specialized cells arranged in concentric circles that are functionally homologous among various plant species but with varying cell-type-specific developmental programs. To further understand these developmental programs, Kajala et al. performed TRAPseq (Translating Ribosome Affinity…

Foliar water uptake (FWU); water uptake through the leaf surface, is observed in several species and helps in drought conditions through water uptake from fog, snow, dew and rain. In this paper, Schreel et al. showed trichomes as a major source of FWU in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) plants. Trichomes are…

The large apoplastic intercellular space of plant leaves creates nutrient-rich niches for microbial colonization. To date, whether and how plants control the composition of leaf microbiota is poorly understood. Chen et al. reported that the Arabidopsis quadruple mutant (min7fls2efrcerk1 or mfec)…

Cuscuta (dodders) are parasites that survive on other host plants.Liu et al. found more than 1500 proteins are transferred between Cucuta and host plants forming a sort of interplant chemical communication. Furthermore, proteins could move between two hosts that are connected by dodder bridges, and retain…

In 1985, Marianna Nikolaeva, Marina Razumova, and Valentina Gladkova published the Reference Book on Dormant Seed Germination. There they provided details on the germination ecology of different plant species –mostly from Northern Europe and Russia. However, since the original publication was in Russian,…

Reviews: The physiology of plant responses to drought, and forests and drought ($) The increasing global population causes an increasing need for food, but the changing climate means increasing drought occurrences. The April 17 2020 special issue of Science focusses on drought and its effects on…

Daniel Solymosi, first author of Cytochrome cM decreases photosynthesis under photomixotrophy in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Current Position: PhD student in the Photosynthetic Microbes research group, Molecular Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Turku, Finland Education: BSc…

Keylla Bicalho, co-first author of A Seed-Specific Regulator of Triterpene Saponin Biosynthesis in Medicago truncatula Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at Metabolomics Core – VIB/UGent, Gent, Belgium Education: PhD and MSc in Organic Chemistry – Natural Products at Federal University…

Elia Lacchini, co-first author of A Seed-Specific Regulator of Triterpene Saponin Biosynthesis in Medicago truncatula Current Position: Postdoctoral scientist, VIB-UGENT Center for Plant System Biology, Ghent Belgium Education: B.Sc. Crops and Plant Sciences, University of Milan, Italy; M.Sc. Plant,…

Bianca Ribeiro, co-first author of A Seed-Specific Regulator of Triterpene Saponin Biosynthesis in Medicago truncatula Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, Belgium Education: PhD in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at Ghent University, Belgium; MSc in Genetics and Plant Breeding…

Li et al. report a regulatory module that controls the initiation of axillary meristems, thereby determining plant branching. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00012 By Yu Li and Yunhai Li State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, CAS Centre for Excellence in Molecular…

Adrien Burlacot, first author of Membrane inlet mass spectrometry at the crossroads of photosynthesis, biofuel and climate research Current Position: Post Doc, Biosciences and Biotechnology Institute of Aix-Marseille Education: PhD in Plant Science, Aix-Marseille University Non-scientific Interests:…

Justine Sucher, first author of Phylotranscriptomics of the Pentapetalae reveals frequent regulatory variation in local plant responses to the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Current Position: Post-doctoral Fellow in Syngenta Education: PhD in molecular biology at UZH (Zürich University),…

Plant cell walls are one of the great engineering feats of nature, providing immense structural strength and durability. The core components of plant cell walls (pectin, hemicellulose, and cellulose) can occur in different proportions and vary in their structure and assembly, thus allowing cell walls…

Liu et al. identify new connections between known regulators of seed dormancy, acting through modulation of ABA biosynthesis and signaling. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00026 By Fei Liu and Yong Xiang, Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome…

Plants that fail to flower at the right time will lose out on seed production. Hence, the transition from vegetative growth to the reproductive phase depends strongly on environmental signals. Cold winter temperatures and long days are seasonal cues that stimulate flowering through vernalization and…

Sucher et al. reveal that regulatory divergence of conserved genes makes a major contribution during the response of Pentapetalae plants to a fungal pathogen. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00806 Background: Necrotrophic plant pathogens actively kill host cells to cause disease. This…

Many filamentous pathogens invade living plant cells with specialized intracellular infection structures (haustoria) that promote microbial growth. Cytological studies demonstrate that the haustoria of fungal and oomycete pathogens are separated from host cell cytoplasm by a highly differentiated and…

“The goal of synthetic biology is to advance the ability to dependably and consistently design or reprogram living organisms and to fabricate products from biologically-derived materials.” In this review, Patron focuses on the principles derived from engineering that are foundational to synthetic…

CRISPR technologyhas become indispensable for basic plant biology research and has the potential to profoundly impact future agriculture. Zhang et al. provide an overview of CRISPR technology and discuss how this technology will revolutionize future crop breeding. CRISPR technology can not only introduce…

Archeological remains and genetic analyses of ancient DNA have revealed that the loss of seed dispersal marks the onset of domestication for sexually reproduced crops such as cereal, legume and oils seed crops, for which annual cultivation is based on sowing seeds. In contrast, less is known about the…

Most of the current methods for assessing seed viability are time-consuming and destructive. As an alternative, some authors have suggested using procedures based on delayed luminescence; an ultra-weak light emitted by biological materials exposed to illumination. Here, Adeboye and Börner review the…

The thylakoid membranes are located in the stroma of chloroplasts and house the machinery for the photosynthetic light reactions. They emerge largely de novo during the transition from pro-plastids into mature, photosynthesizing chloroplasts. Generating new thylakoid membranes requires a supply of lipids,…

In multicellular organisms, the patterning of different cell types in spatial arrays is regulated through several mechanisms, one of which is lateral inhibition, a process well characterized in metazoans. In this process, an individual cell transmits signals to neighboring cells to instruct a different…

The AT-hook motif nuclear localized (AHL) transcription factor family has one or two DNA-binding motifs to bind to AT rich DNA regions, and they also have a conserved PPC-DUF domain for protein-protein interactions. AHLs affect a wide range of biotic and abiotic responses but the mechanism of how they…

Plasticity in plant development comes from the meristematic cells that are maintained throughout plant growth and among other things produce lateral organs such as shoot branches.  In this paper, Cao et al. show that the self-activation loop of SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM), a meristem marker gene that encodes…

Plant cells are known to initiate local and systemic signaling in response to certain stressful conditions to safeguard cells in the immediate vicinity as well as that are far from the site of stimuli. In this study, Cheval and co-workers have characterized a pathway in plant cells for sensing and responding…

Parasitic plants develop unique structures called haustoria that penetrate into the host plant vasculature, from which they take nutrients. During this process, haustorial epidermal cells differentiate into specialized cells called intrusive cells, which eventually re-differentiate into a xylem bridge…

Understanding seed aging is crucial to comprehend seed longevity in the field and to design ex situ conservation programs. However, the mechanisms behind seed aging are underexplored. In this paper, Mira et al. assessed the changes in DNA integrity and methylation between aged and non-aged seeds of Mentha…

To date, archeobotanical and genetic studies indicated four centers of plant cultivation in the early Holocene: China and the Near East in the Old World, and southwestern Mexico and northwestern South America in the New World. Recent research of Lombardo et al. revealed that Llanos de Moxos (Bolivia)…

Review. Beyond natural: Synthetic expansions of botanical form and function “The goal of synthetic biology is to advance the ability to dependably and consistently design or reprogram living organisms and to fabricate products from biologically-derived materials.” In this review, Patron focuses…

Isha Kalra, first author of Chlamydomonas sp. UWO 241 exhibits high cyclic electron flow and rewired metabolism under high salinity Current Position: Ph.D. candidate, Microbiology Department, Miami University Education: B.E. (Hons.) Electronics and Instrumentation + MSc. (Hons.) Biological Science…

In the legume-rhizobium root nodule, nitrogen fixing rhizobia are accommodated inside plant cells. In the Medicago – Sinorhizobium model system, the internalization of rhizobia into the host plant is triggered by Nod factors secreted from the symbiotic bacteria. The signals are perceived by the host…

Xixi Zhang, first author of Arabidopsis Flippases Cooperate with ARF GTPase Exchange Factors to Regulate the Trafficking and Polarity of PIN Auxin Transporters Current Position: Predoctoral visiting scientist in Prof. Jiří Friml’s lab at Institute of Science and Technology, Austria (IST Austria);…

Żmieńko et al. generate a catalog of large copy number variations in Arabidopsis, shedding light on the genetic basis of phenotypic variation. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00640 By Agnieszka Żmieńko and Marek Figlerowicz, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences,…

Yinghui Li, first author of Exogenous sodium diethyldithiocarbamate, a Jasmonic acid biosynthesis inhibitor, induced resistance to powdery mildew in wheat Current Position: post-doctoral researcher Education:  PhD and Master, College of Agriculture, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China Non-scientific…

Thieffry et al. give a definitive answer to the question of divergent transcription initiation in Arabidopsis, and discover that if left unchecked, it would lead to rampant RNAi. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00815 By Albin Sandelin 1,2, Peter Brodersen 1 and Axel Thieffry 1,2,…

Lynn GL Richardson, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48843 During germination and early seedling establishment, embryos rely on stored energy for growth and cellular maintenance until photoautotrophic growth takes over. Proteins and lipids make up most of the energy-rich stores in the embryo,…

Zhang et al. elucidate the role of flippases in the polarity and trafficking of PIN auxin transporters. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00869 By Xixi Zhang and Jiří Friml Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria  Background:…

In all multicellular organisms, tissue patterning and organogenesis are governed by asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) and the cellular exchange of positional cues. Plants, unlike animals, undergo post-embryonic organogenesis due to the maintenance of stem cells in specialized niches. One such niche, the…

Cécile SÖZEN, first author of Wounding and insect feeding trigger two independent MAPK pathways with distinct regulation and kinetics Current Position: Currently unemployed, looking for a postdoc position in Plant or Marine biology in Maine (USA) Education: PhD in the “Stress signaling” group…

Zhou et al. develop and test potential gene regulatory networks in maize. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00080 By Peng Zhou and Nathan Springer Background: Transcription factors (TFs) play critical roles in regulating the expression of genes. A single TF can control the expression of…

Jian Wu, first author of Spatiotemporal restriction of FUSCA3 by class I BPCs promotes ovule development and coordinates embryo and endosperm growth Current Position: Assistant professor, Department of ornamental horticulture, China Agricultural University (since May 2019) Education: PhD in ornamental…

Javier Galdón Armero, first author of An SEM resource for locating loci influencing epidermal development in tomato reveals a new role for Mixta-like in leaves Current Position: Field Trial Expert at Seipasa Education: 2014-2018: PhD in Plant Science at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 2010-2014:…

Mike Muszynski, first author of The Maize Hairy Sheath Frayed1 (Hsf1) Mutation Alters Leaf Patterning Through Increased Cytokinin Signaling Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaiʻi…

Delf Kah, co-first author of Durotropic growth of pollen tubes Current Position: PhD student at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany  Education: M.Sc. in Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany  Non-Scientific Interests: music, cooking, chess  Brief Bio: I am a PhD student…

Ronny Reimann, co-first author of Durotropic growth of pollen tubes Current Position: Editor for chemistry and biology at the publishing house C.C.Buchner, Germany  Education: PhD in Biology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany; M.Sc. in Biotechnology, HS Lausitz - University of Applied Sciences,…

In eukaryotes, active import of large signaling molecules and proteins over 40kD in the nucleus is mediated by aptly named “importin” proteins. As there are considerably fewer importins than there are cargos, determining how cargo-transporter specificity is mediated constitutes a challenging issue…

Taro Kimura, first author of Arabidopsis ROOT PHOTOTROPISM2 is a Light-Dependent Dynamic Modulator of Phototropin1 Current Position: Post-doctoral researcher at Niigata University Education: Ph.D, Master of Science and BSc at Niigata University Non-scientific Interests: reading, driving, baseball Brief…

Zhao et al. investigate the function of a GDSL lipase in ethylene signaling in rice roots The Plant Cell (2020). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00840 By He Zhao and Jinsong Zhang, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Background: The plant hormone ethylene…

This is an interesting paper and certainly one to share with students. Nosek and Errington argue that how we usually think of as “replication”, repeating a study and observing the same results, is incorrect. Instead, they argue for abroader definition of replication, as something that supports the…

Graduate studies are challenging times, fraught with uncertainty and stress. Dewa et al. addressed this problem head on by developing a required, credited course for first-year graduate students, “Tools for Becoming a Successful Professional and for Enhancing Your Well‐Being and Work Environment”.…

Pigmented rice varieties are those in which a pigment is deposited in the bran, the outer layer of the grain. The pigment can be from brown to red (proanthocyanidins) or from purple to black (anthocyanins). In the course of domestication, humans have selected against the genetic factors responsible for…

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are widely used to link natural genetic variation to trait variation, with a single or a select few correlated traits assessed. High-throughput phenotyping allows the scoring of hundreds of individuals for various traits at several time points. An undeniable consequence…

Firefly luciferase constructs are extensively used for gene expression studies but require a reaction with an exogenous substrate, so expression to some extent reflects tissue penetrance. Khakhar et al. designed customizable auto-luminescence constructs based on a fungal bioluminescence pathway (FBP)…

Some “superfoods” have high nutritional value due to the presence of carotenoids, which prevent degenerative diseases like cancer. In plants, these pigments are biosynthesized and stored by plastid organelles called chromoplasts. Chromoplast number and size define total carotenoid accumulation. ORHis,…

The transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) plays a central role in organization of the shoot meristem. The three-helix bundle homeodomain in WUS can bind to several distinct DNA sequence motifs in many target genes promoters, but a structural view of these binding events has been lacking. Here Sloan et al.…

Post-translation modifications like ubiquitination and deubiquitination are important to maintain protein homeostasis and in turn plant growth. DA1, and DA1-RELATED PROTEIN 1, 2 (DAR1, DAR2) are latent peptidases activated upon ubiquitination by E3 ligases BIG BROTHER (BB) and DA2. In this paper, Vanhaeren…

Sugarcane is one of the major crops for sugar and ethanol production and has been successfully used for first generation ethanol production through sucrose fermentation, but second generation ethanol production, through cell wall depolymerization, is still limited. Aerenchyma formation in sugarcane root…

Separation of male and female flowers on different individuals, called dioecy, has evolved independently many times in flowering plants from hermaphroditic ancestors. A long-standing theory predicts that specialized X and Y sex chromosomes can evolve in dioecious species when mutations occur in two tightly…

High yielding crops are often less resistant to pathogens and vice versa, suggesting that there is an underlying mechanism co-regulating development and disease resistance in plants. Yan et al. identified a transcription factor in cucumber (CsIVP) that regulates vascular development and resistance to…

Auxin regulates various aspects of plant growth and development and it also contributes to plant defense. Auxin activates downstream signaling by promoting degradation of the repressor Aux/IAA proteins to liberate the key transcription factors ARFs (auxin response factors). Pathogens have been known…

Both polyploidy (i.e., having more than two sets of chromosomes) and seed traits influence plant fitness. However, the interaction between these two factors is underexplored. Here, Stevens et al. tested the effect of polyploidy and seed developmental environment on 1) seed viability and mass; 2) seed…

Functional traits have shown promise for their ability to improve predictions of interspecific plant responses to environmental factors, but most trait-based studies have not addressed the role of intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in trait-environment relationships. ITV may be directly or indirectly…

White paper: Introducing plant biology graduate students to a culture of mental well‐being Graduate studies are challenging times, fraught with uncertainty and stress. Dewa et al. addressed this problem head on by developing a required, credited course for first-year graduate students, “Tools…

McKinnon et al. investigate the effects of a membrane on the folding of a thylakoid protease. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00797 By Lucas McKinnon and Steven Theg Background: Inside a chloroplast is the light-absorbing membrane called the thylakoid, which contains many different proteins…

Muszynski et al. explore the mechanisms controlling tissue organization in developing leaves. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00677 By Michael G. Muszynski, University of Hawaiʻi – Mānoa  Background: Leaves are responsible for capturing sunlight and carbon dioxide that provide…

Yang et al. probe the biosynthetic activity of a protein involved in cell wall deposition. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00637 Jiyuan Yang, Erik Nielsen. Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA  Background:…

Genetic recombination is the process by which novel genotypes are generated from the genetic material of both parents. In eukaryotes, homologous chromosomes synapse and recombine during meiotic prophase I, during which double-stranded breaks (DSBs) are formed by DNA topoisomerases such as SPO11. If large…

Lignin is a complex aromatic biopolymer in the secondary cell wall of vascular plants. It is crucial for providing physical strength and pathogen resistance to the plant. Lignified xylem vessels are also necessary for efficient water transport. Lignin is formed by oxidative polymerization of monomers…

Alex Harkess, first author of Sex determination by two Y-linked genes in garden asparagus Current Position: Assistant Professor, Auburn University; Faculty Investigator, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology Education: B.S. Botany, Miami University (OH); Ph.D. Plant Biology, University of Georgia Non-scientific…

MD Asraful Jahan, first author of Glyceollin Transcription Factor GmMYB29A2 Regulates Soybean Resistance to Phytophthora sojae Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114,…

Chao-Yuan Yu, first author of The unfolded protein response modulates a phosphoinositide-binding protein through the IRE1-bZIP60 Current Position: PhD candidate in Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan and Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung-Hsing…

Liu et al. discover how members of the photosensory-signaling pathway orchestrate circadian clock gene expression to regulate plant responses to daily changes in the light environment. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00981  Background: Plants use an endogenous time-keeping mechanism known…

Early during seedling development and throughout their lives, plants sense and adapt to their constantly changing environment. Germinated seedlings perceive light which triggers a major developmental switch ultimately leading to photoautotrophic growth. This complex process, referred to broadly as photomorphogenesis,…

Claudio Calvaruso, first author of Specific Lhc proteins are bound to PSI or PSII supercomplexes in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana Current Position: PhD candidate at the Institut für Molekulare Biowissenschaften, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany Education: PhD candidate at the Goethe…

An-Shan Hsiao, first author of An Intrinsically Disordered Protein Interacts with Cytoskeleton for Adaptive Root Growth under Stress Current Position: Postdoctoral scientist, University of Cambridge, UK Education: PhD in Plant Molecular Biology, The University of Hong Kong M.Sc. in Plant Biology,…

With COVID19 ravaging across the globe, the medicinal value of plants and related research fields e.g., phytochemistry, ethnobotany, etc., is presently in focus. The drug development chain, though extremely promising, is not an immediate solution as it is a long, multistep process. Nature Plants highlights…

What are the chances that homologs of a vital animal protein could be found in plants, and how much structural and functional similarity would they share? These questions led to the discovery of Calcineurin B-like (CBL) and CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK) protein families in plants. In this review,…

Throughout evolutionary time polyploidization events have occurred frequently, increasing the gene copy number (gene dosage) of multiple angiosperms. The gene balance hypothesis proposes that there is selection on gene copy number to maintain the stoichiometric balance between dosage-sensitive genes…

The vascular cambium, a meristematic tissue responsible for xylem and phloem production, is an ancestral trait in angiosperms, however, its loss has independently occurred in at least 5 flowering plant lineages. One of such is the Nymphaeales, which includes Nymphaea thermarum, an emergent model for…

Jasmonic acid (JA) is involved in fertility, seed emergence and defense. JA perception and signal transduction are well understood, but there is limited understanding of the JA responsive genome regulatory program since only one or a small number of components are usually studied at once. Zander et al.…

Plant grafting is an agricultural technique that joins plant tissues (e.g., the shoot and root) to confer beneficial traits from one plant to another. Although interfamily grafting is difficult in general, Notaguchi et al. found that Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb) has a strong potential to graft with phylogenetically…

Processes like photosynthesis and growth follow a well-defined rhythm driven by a 24-h internal clock that is controlled by three principal interacting transcription–translation feedback loops: the morning, central, and evening loops. The Evening Complex (EC), which is active at the end of the day,…

Plants evolved molecular mechanisms to integrate seasonal changes with developmental programs. For example, warmer temperatures and increasing day-length mark the transition from winter to spring, and trigger flowering. Now, the synchronisation of ambient temperature and photoperiod is perturbed by global…

The volume of water required for a given crop yield is largely influenced by the plant's Water Use Efficiency (WUE). Considering that the majority of the water taken up by plants is lost through transpiration, WUE can be improved by modulating stomatal opening. Besides light and temperature, stomatal…

Much remains to be learned about the sensing and signaling mechanisms controlling growth in response to drought. To dissect how plants control drought via autophagy, Bao et al. found a plant-specific protein, COST1 (CONSTITUTIVELY STRESSED 1) containing a DUF641 (domain of unknown function 641) domain,…

In flowering plants, fertilization occurs when a pollen tube, growing down the transmitting tissue, arrives at the ovule, ruptures, and releases its content of sperm cells. The pollen tube is guided towards the ovule by LUREs, small cysteine-rich secreted peptides. Timely rupturing and sperm release…

Seedling establishment is seldom addressed in trait-based ecology. Advocating for the importance of this stage of a plants' life, Larson et al. assessed how functional traits varied in newly emerged seedlings and how this was related to their phylogeny and survival under drought. The authors germinated…

Editorial: Redeploying plant defences With COVID19 ravaging across the globe, the medicinal value of plants and related research fields e.g., phytochemistry, ethnobotany, etc., is presently in focus. The drug development chain, though extremely promising, is not an immediate solution as it is a long,…

Galileo Estopare Araguirang, first author of The 4 Arabidopsis Choline/Ethanolamine Kinase Isozymes Play Distinct Roles in Metabolism and Development Current Position: PhD Candidate (Biochemistry) in Prof. Philip Wigge’s Lab under the prestigious International Max Planck Research School- Primary Metabolism…

Qin et al. show that PI(4,5)P2 functions as a susceptibility factor for plant disease. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00970 By Li Qin and Yangdou Wei. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Background: Biotrophic plant pathogens such as powdery mildews and rusts require…

Laurent Mombaerts, co-first author of Differential effects of day-night cues and the circadian clock on the barley transcriptome Current Position: 2019 – now Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Systems Control group, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg Education: 2019…

Lukas Müller, co-first author of Differential effects of day-night cues and the circadian clock on the barley transcriptome Current Position: Patent engineer at a patent law firm in Munich, Germany Education: 2005 – 2008: Bachelor of Science in agricultural sciences at the Technische Universität…

Yong Yang, first author of RNAi-based screen reveals concerted functions of MEKK2 and CRCK3 in plant cell death regulation Current Position: Research Assistant in the National Navel Orange Engineering Research Center, Gannan Normal University, Jiangxi, China Research Experience: Joint-Ph.D. in the…

Xinbin Dai, co-first author of MtSSPdb: the Medicago truncatula Small Secreted Peptide Database Current Position: Sr. Computational Biologist, Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA Education: Post-doc in plant biology division at Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation, United States; PhD in plant…

Clarissa Boschiero, co-first author of MtSSPdb: the Medicago truncatula Small Secreted Peptide Database Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA Education: Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Animal Science at São Paulo State University, Brazil Non-scientific Interests:…

Every manufacture relies on a quality control process to ensure that the released product is without defects. Similarly, each transcript leaving the eukaryotic nucleus is subjected to mRNA surveillance, which helps to ensure that only flawless mRNAs are directed to translation. For example, transcripts…

Grunewald et al. identify a flavonoid transporter required for the deposition of flavonol-b-1,2-linked diglycosides to the outer pollen wall in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00801 By Stephan Grunewald and Thomas Vogt, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry,…

If the planet does not turn to ash before 2050, farmers will need to produce twice as much on roughly the same available arable land to feed the ever-growing world population. But since the Green Revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, progress in crop yield has been incremental. And for good reason: most…

Galdon-Armero et al. present an image resource that can be used to identify natural variation in leaf epidermal development in tomato. The Plant Cell (2020). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00127 By Javier Galdon-Armero and Cathie Martin, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK Background: Just like our…

Precise trafficking of proteins to their proper destinations in the cell, whether to an organelle, a membrane, or the cytoplasm, is required for optimal cellular function. Because most plastid proteins are nucleus-encoded and translated in the cytoplasm, proper targeting and import relies on the presence…

Na Li, co-first author of Pseudo Response Regulators regulate photoperiodic hypocotyl growth by repressing PIF4/5 transcription Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: B.S. in College…

In eukaryotes and archaea, protein-coding DNA is transcribed to messenger RNA (mRNA) via a preinitiation complex (PIC) composed of over 100 proteins, among them regulatory proteins, numerous transcription factors, and RNA polymerase II—the enzyme that produces precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). Although…

Peng Zhou, first author of Meta Gene Regulatory Networks in Maize Highlight Functionally Relevant Regulatory Interactions Current Position: Post-doctoral Associate in Dr. Nathan Springer lab at the University of Minnesota Education: Ph.D. (Plant Pathology) in University of Minnesota; M.Sc. (Forensic…

Antosz et al. show that the ability of RNA polymerase II to cleave transcripts is required for proper transcription and plant growth. Wojciech Antosz and Klaus Grasser, University of Regensburg https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00891   Background: In plants as in other eukaryotes, nuclear…

Yunliu Zeng, first author of Sensory-directed Genetic & Biochemical Characterization of Volatile Terpene Production in Kiwifruit Current Position: Associate Professor at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), China Education: Ph.D. and Master of Pomology at HZAU, China; BSc of Horticulture…

Lucas McKinnon, first author of Membrane Chaperoning of a Thylakoid Protease whose structural stability is modified by the Protonmotive force Current Position: PhD candidate at University of California, Davis Education: PhD in Plant Biology (expected March 2020), B.S. in Biological Sciences (UC Davis,…

Nitrogen (N) is one of the seventeen essential nutrients for a plant to complete its life cycle and is one of the most important determinants of productivity of various crops globally. Nitrate (NO3‑) and ammonium (NH4+) are the major plant-available forms of N. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of N…

A major update in plant genome information is taking place. Two independent groups have published genomes of hornwort species from the Anthoceros genus. Both papers arrive at similar conclusions supporting the model of a single “Setaphyta” clade, with hornworts sister to liverworts and mosses. These…

The time at which flowers appear is critical for plant reproductive success. As such, the vegetative to reproductive growth transition is governed by several cues: environmental (photoperiod, temperature) and endogenous (gibberellins, age). Here, Sang et al. used an elegant forward-genetics approach…

The embryo sheath is a glycoprotein structure formed during seed maturation in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, its function and its persistence after germination have been uncertain. Here, Doll et al. examined germination and seedling establishment of krs mutants deficient in the KERBEROS peptide that…

Cell death, like all other cellular processes, is controlled by a highly complex signaling network. A search for the targets of Arabidopsis calcium dependent protein kinase1 (CPK1) by Durian and co-workers has revealed that it phosphorylates ORESARA1 (ORE1), a master regulator of leaf senescence responses,…

Plants took hundreds of million years to evolve from aquatic to land environments. Biotic and abiotic stress adaptation contributed to the transition. In this preprint, Romani et al. elucidated functions of the transcription factor CLASS I HOMEODOMAIN LEUCINE-ZIPPER (C1HDZ) in the early land plant Marchantia…

Plant cells are entrapped in rigid cell walls, so morphogenesis relies on asymmetric cell division (ACD) and positional cues to regulate tissue patterning. The Arabidopsis phloem is a good system to study tissue patterning due to its relatively simple composition: sieve elements (SEs) and companion cells…

In stressful situations, such as high light and nutrient scarcity, the chloroplast may experience increased proteotoxicity due to a surge in damaging reactive oxygen species. In response, a signal is sent to the nucleus to increase production of many proteins, including proteases and chaperones to help…

As sessile organisms, plants must not only respond to a single stress, but multiple stresses at the same time. To understand the DNA regulatory elements that mediate the transcriptional response to heat, drought and combined heat and drought stress, Azodi et al. utilized the known transcription factor…

Pathogens have evolved a suite of effector proteins that are secreted into plants and aid successful colonization. AvrPtoB is a well-conserved effector of pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae strains that targets multiple plant defense-related proteins and is required for pathogen virulence and bacterial…

Physiologically dormant seeds shift between dormancy (i.e., unable to germinate), conditional dormancy (i.e., germination restricted to a narrow set of conditions), and non-dormancy (i.e., germination under a wide range of conditions) in response to environmental changes. This mechanism –known as dormancy…

Review. Signalling pathways underlying nitrogen-dependent changes in root system architecture: from model to crop species Nitrogen (N) is one of the seventeen essential nutrients for a plant to complete its life cycle and is one of the most important determinants of productivity of various crops globally.…

Couso et al. developed a TOR kinase assay for Chlamydomonas and show how subunit LST8 senses phosphorus availability and modulates cell growth. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00179 By I. Couso, M.E. Pérez-Pérez, M.M. Ford, E. Martínez-Force, L.M. Hicks, J.G. Umen, and J.L. Crespo. Background:…

In C4 species, the expression of photosynthesis genes is partitioned such that leaf mesophyll and bundle sheath cells accumulate different components of the photosynthetic pathway. The expression of nucleus-encoded photosynthesis genes is modulated both by photoreceptor activity and by a network of…

Under hypoxia, Acetyl-CoA Synthetase (ACS), an enzyme that synthesizes acetyl CoA, recovers carbon that would otherwise be lost from the plant as ethanol. Plastid-localized ACS metabolizes cellular acetate and contributes to the de novo biosynthesis of fatty acids and Leu. On the other hand, a peroxisome-localized…

Zinc (Zn) is a metallic element that is essential for all living organisms. Zn serves as a catalytic or structural cofactor in a large number of enzymes including alcohol dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and regulatory proteins such as transcription factors containing Z-finger domains. Accordingly,…

Secondary cell walls play important roles in providing long-distance water transport, mechanical support, and plant defense. The main components of secondary cell walls are cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The synthesis of lignin monomers involves the phenylpropanoid pathway, which is also shared…

Baune et al. explore the roles of a metabolite transporter in two different locations in a single cell. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00959  By Marie-Christin Baune, Hannes Lansing, Antje von Schaewen University of Münster, Germany   Background: The oxidative pentose-phosphate…

The elucidation of plant temperature signaling networks is confounded by the fact that commonly measured physiological outputs of temperature change (e.g., stem elongation and flowering time) can be temporally and spatially distant from the temperature perception event, requiring intercellular, intertissue,…

As a cold-hardy species, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), is a useful model for the investigation of the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying cold acclimation in plants. Chloroplasts harbor the enzymatic machinery required for photosynthetic CO2 fixation, starch production, nitrite and…