Recent Posts

Dissecting and modeling zeaxanthin- and lutein-dependent nonphotochemical quenching in Arabidopsis thaliana

Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. Xanthophylls zeaxanthin and lutein are involved in the nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) pathway which is triggered in response to excess photons. The roles of zeaxanthin and lutein in NPQ are studied using mathematical models and Arabidopsis mutants. The authors hope that future…

What We're Reading: January 19th

This week's papers were seleted by Renee Dale. Renee is a PhD student in biology and an MS student in statistics at Loiusiana State University who is studying mathematical biology and biostatistics for plant biology applications. She is also working on an educational video game! Renee selected these…

Update: Mitochondrial energy signaling and its role in the low oxygen stress response of plants

By Stephan Wagner, Olivier Van Aken, Marlene Elsässer, Markus Schwarzländer Abstract Cells of complex organisms typically rely on mitochondria for energy provision. The amount of energy required to sustain cellular activity can vary strongly depending on external conditions. Vice versa, constraints…

Update: The SnRK1 kinase as central mediator of energy signalling between different organelles

By Bernhard Wurzinger, Ella Nukarinen, Thomas Nägele, Wolfram Weckwerth, Markus Teige Abstract The evolutionary conserved SnRK1 kinase complex is a key regulator in adjusting cellular metabolism during starvation, stress conditions and growth promoting conditions. Over the last two decades extensive…

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Olivier Godfroy

Olivier Godfroy is featured first author of DISTAG/TBCCd1 Is Required for Basal Cell Fate Determination in Ectocarpus Current Position: Research assistant in the Translational Gene Therapy group, Nantes Hospital Education: PhD in Plant Biotechnologies at the National Institue of Agriculture Research…

Out of Uganda: An Aggressive Crop Killer That Threatens Global Food

Fungal disease in wheat crops has been a serious but controllable problem, but a newer strain of what’s called “stem rust” has scientists worried. January 8, 2018 by Kerstin Hoppenhaus & Sibylle Grunze The video below is the first part in a six-part series examining the scourge of Ug99,…

Focus Issue: Cellular Dynamics

Plant Physiology has released a focus issue on the topic of Cellular Dynamics, which includes Updates on topics ranging from Actin Dynamics to Wall Growth. The Editorial by Szymanski, Bassham, Munnik, and Sakamoto provides an excellent overview of the current state our understanding of plant cell dynamics.…

Review: Declining oxygen in the global ocean and coastal waters ($)

Science. Oxygen levels have been declining in oceans since the middle of the 20th century, largely because of global warming phenomena and human-driven nutrient enrichment of coastal regions. These effects have enhanced microbial oxygen intake, altering the cycles of nutrients and carbon, and lowering…

Ten simple rules for biologists learning to program

PLOS Comp. Biol. Plant biologists need basic programming skills (see Friesner et al. for a discussion of why this is true and how to achieve it).  As part of the “Ten Simple Rules” series in PLOS Computational Biology, Carey and Papin describe Ten simple rules for biologists learning to program.…