Recent Posts

Rapid single-step affinity purification of HA-tagged plant mitochondria (Plant Physiol)

In the middle part of the 20th century, cell biology leapt forward with the development of differential centrifugation methods for purifying subcellular compartments. However, these methods require large amounts of starting material and can suffer from contamination. Kuhnert et al. present a new simple…

Reprogramming of root cells during nitrogen-fixing symbiosis involves dynamic polysome association of coding and non-coding RNAs (Plant Cell)

Knowing RNA abundance is nice, but in most cases protein abundance is more biologically interesting. Traubenik et al. used TRAP  (Translating  Ribosome  Affinity  Purification) to examine efficiency of translation and contributions of non-coding and alternatively spliced RNAs during the establishment…

Identification of low-abundant lipid droplet proteins in seeds and seedlings (Plant Physiol)

The ability of seeds to pack nutrients into dense stable capsules transformed plants’ and animals’ ability to thrive on land (imagine getting through your day without eating any foods derived from seeds or animals that eat seeds). Within many seeds, nutrients are packaged in lipid droplets, with…

Plant Science Research Weekly: December 20th

Review: Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change Reading this review by Diaz et al. feels a bit like reading a bad report card. Although we know we’re failing in our role as Earth’s stewards, we don’t always want to be reminded of this. But,…

Mightier than Muscle: A Near-atomic View of Pollen Actin Filaments

Beyond its well-known role in muscle contraction, the cytoskeletal component actin participates in many critical cellular processes. Globular actin polymerizes into thin, flexible filaments that assemble into dynamic higher-order structures, such as bundles and networks. In addition to providing mechanical…

Recognizing Plant Cell authors: Fangming Wu

Fangming Wu, first author of Mediator Subunit MED25 Couples Alternative Splicing of JAZ Genes with Fine Tuning Jasmonate Signaling Current Position: Assistant Professor, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: Ph.D. in Beijing Normal…

Recognizing Plant Cell authors: Amy Baetsen-Young

Amy Baetsen-Young, first author of Fusarium virguliforme Transcriptional Plasticity Is Revealed by Host Colonization of Corn vs. Soybean Current Position:  Trait Development Lead at Syngenta Seeds in Stanton, MN, USA Education: Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at Michigan State University, MI, USA. M.S.…

A Key Upstream Regulator of the Iron Homeostasis Regulatory Network

Gao et al. identify a transcription factor that regulates the expression of the large majority of genes involved in the iron homeostasis regulatory cascade. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00541 By Fei Gao, Florence Vignols, and Christian Dubos BPMP, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, SupAgro,…

Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Boris Mayer

Boris Mayer, first author of Treatment analogous to seasonal change demonstrates the integration of cold responses in Brachypodium distachyon Current Position: PhD candidate, Department of Plant Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada Education: MSc (Plant Science), McGill University Non-scientific…