In this exciting paper, Zhang, Luo, Marand et al. combined several powerful techniques to investigate the program underlying soybean seed development. They used RNA sequencing to profile gene expression from single nuclei (snRNA-seq). They also carried out single-cell sequencing of assays for transposase-accessible…

The precise control of cell division orientation drives plant 3D structure formation, enabling radial and longitudinal growth. The SPL pathway is closely linked to age-related processes in the shoot, driving the vegetative transition from juvenile to adult phases by regulating specific morphological…

It seems that there is no end to the surprises that RNA provides. To the old-school trio of mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA, the past 20 years have added miRNA, siRNA, tasiRNA and others, all with unique and specific roles in regulating gene activity. More recently, evidence has been accumulating that demonstrates…

Focus Issue: Hypoxia and Plants The January 2025 issue of Plant Physiology has a focus on “Hypoxia and Plants”. This field has made a lot of progress recently in understanding plant responses to low oxygen, from the molecular to physiological and developmental levels. The focus issue includes…

For a plant, form is function. Despite the diversity of forms that exist in nature, plant root diversity is notoriously understudied compared to their aerial counterpart. This review by Ramachandran and Ramirez et al. aims to revitalize the field of root form-function research by accentuating the vast…

Anthropogenic climate change has introduced tremendous uncertainty about the future of all life on Earth. As primary producers, threats to plants are transduced up the food chain to their consumers, including people, which is why there is a great need to develop resilient plants that are able to sustain…

Plasmodesmata are important for intercellular communication in plants. They are formed through incomplete cytokinesis during which there is no “final cut” of the communication between daughter cells. Unlike animal cells that have a single bridge between cells, plants create several hundreds of plasmodesmata…

Light is both a source of energy for photosynthesis and a key environmental signal that regulates plant growth. Seedlings grown in darkness exhibit elongated hypocotyls and shorter roots, while light promotes shorter hypocotyls and longer roots. Cryptochromes (CRYs), as blue-light receptors, mediate…