A New Look at Virus Movement: An Unexpected Role of dsRNA-Induced Immunity
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellHuang et al. investigate the mechanisms of dsRNA-induced pattern-triggered immunity against viruses.
https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad176
Manfred Heinlein (Institut de biologie moléculaire des plantes, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France)
Background: Plants use different…
Guard Cell Walls: Who Calls the Shots?
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellZheng et al. demonstrate that polar stiffening of guard cell walls is essential for stomatal functioning.
By Lin Zheng and Hongzhi Wang
Beijing Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,…
The Molecular Switch Governing the Heat Stress Response in Wheat
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellWang et al. explore how SUMOylation of a key transcription factor affects heat stress responses in wheat.
https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad192
By Jie Liu and Haoran Wang; Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis and Utilization (MOE), Beijing Key…
Review: Till death do us pair: Co-evolution of plant–necrotroph interactions
Plant Science Research WeeklyThis interesting and well-written review by Derbyshire and Raffaele takes a step back from the molecular interactions between plant and pathogen and discusses them in light of co-evolutionary processes. The review starts with a useful introduction and definition of concepts about “robustness” in…
Spotlight: Super-pangenomes for improved breeding
Plant Science Research WeeklySometimes more really is better, and I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to genomic information, more is better. Here, Raza et al. highlight the great value of super-pangenomes. A pan-genome is defined as the entire set of genes within a species, created by combining sequences of many individuals.…
Chloroplast proteostasis prevents aggregation of Huntington’s disease-causing human polyQ protein
Plant Science Research WeeklyCertain human neurodegenerative disorders are caused by aggregation of disordered proteins. In particular, Huntington’s disease is caused by aggregation of a protein called huntingtin, which contains long stretches of glutamine (Q). Llama et al. observed that proteins with long stretches of glutamine…
Altering chloroplast biogenesis leads to increased yields in rice
Plant Science Research WeeklyTranscription of chloroplast genes is carried out by the plastid encoded polymerase (PEP) with help from PAPs (PEP-associated proteins). PAP3 is important for chloroplast development in Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana, however its role in crops has not been fully elucidated. Here Seo et…
Staining starch granules in living plants
Plant Science Research WeeklyStarch granules are synthesized in the leaves of chloroplast during the day and degraded in the subsequent night. To visualise starch granules the tissue usually has to be fixed, which prevents live imaging. Here Ichikawa et al. set out to find a highly specific dye to image starch granules in living…
When and how did carrots turn orange?
Plant Science Research WeeklyCarrots were not always orange, and a new paper by Coe, Bostan, Rolling et al. sheds new light into the history of carrot domestication and improvement, i.e., how we went from white, knotty carrots to the orange, smooth ones that are now consumed all over the world. The authors published a new version…