When we speak about rice, we’re often referring to one of two domesticated species, Oryza japonica or Oryza indica. However, there are an additional 25 species in the genus Oryza. These so-called wild relatives harbor substantial genetic diversity that holds promise for crop improvement. Here, Prakash…

What do you do when you’ve identified a gene that you know is important, but you don’t know how it functions? Usually, you can get hints from homology searches, overexpression studies, or the identification of protein domains, but sometimes those approaches don’t work. That’s where the story…

The infection modes of microbes in hosts can be reversible and can range from pathogenic to mutualistic, depending on the environmental conditions. The plant-associated fungus Colletotrichum tofieldiae (Ct) has been shown to promote primary root growth and increase shoot fresh weight of Arabidopsis in…

Understanding the genetic basis of local adaptation of a species is an important but thorny problem. Now that whole genomes are readily characterized, it’s not hard to see lots of differences between populations, but pulling meaning and demonstrating functional consequences out of those differences…

Review: Rapid auxin signaling: Unknowns old and new You might think you’ve read enough about auxin, but I recommend you take this opportunity to read one more article, this very interesting and enjoyable review by Fielder and Friml. Auxin has figured prominently in both the classical and molecular…

We’re living in a time of increasing awareness of environmental degradation, but this awareness is often not accompanied by opportunities for direct actions. Here, Munschek et al. describe conservation gardening (growing endangered native plants) as a strategy by which people can support local biodiversity.…

Ma, Han, et al. explore the molecular mechanism underlying the interplay between light and salt stress pathways. Background: The Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS) pathway is evolutionarily conserved and essential for plant adaptation to salt stress. The protein kinase SOS2 functions as a network hub in…

Han, Ma, et al. reveal the mechanistic connection between shade avoidance responses and salt-induced responses. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad119 Background: Sun-loving plants compete with their neighbors for sunlight by initiating shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). Phytochromes are plant photoreceptors…