Category: Plant Physiology

The phytohormone auxin plays critical roles in various plant developmental programs by controlling cell expansion and polarity, as well as organ patterning. Auxin action relies on polar transport through different plant tissues. Auxin transport inhibitors are important tools for understanding auxin-dependent…

Plasmodesmata are membranous pores that span the plant cell wall creating both cytoplasmic and membrane continuums between cells. By interconnecting most cells throughout the entire plant body, plasmodesmata form a symplastic network that supports and controls the movement of molecules from cell to cell,…

Jing Fan, first author of CircRNAs are involved in the rice-Magnaporthe oryzae interaction Current Position: Associate Professor, Rice Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, China Education: 2010, Ph.D. in Botany, Chongqing University, China; 2005, B.S. in Bioengineering, Chongqing…

Plant hormones are frequently modified by glycosylation, hydroxylation, methylation and other conjugations, and these modifications can alter the hormone’s activity and stability (Wang et al., 2019). The phytohormone salicylic acid orchestrates effective defense and mediates local and systemic-acquired…

The land invasion by plants more than 500 million years ago was facilitated by the formation of mutualistic symbioses with fungi, through which the earliest plants gained access to mineral nutrients in exchange for photosynthetically fixed carbon (C). It was long hypothesized that this ancient mycorrhiza-like…

Wildfire smoke contains certain potent bioactive compounds (butenolides) that play a major role in regulating the germination of many plant species, predominantly grasses and shrub species from fire-prone ecosystems but also many non-fire-dependent plants such as rice (Oryza sativa), wild oats (Avena…

Gravity is a key determinant in orienting plant stems for proper growth and development. An intact and dynamic actin cytoskeleton is thought to be important for plants to respond to gravity; however, pharmaceutical treatment and mutant analyses have yielded conflicting results. In Arabidopsis (Arabdopsis…

High temperatures caused by climate change are predicted to decrease cereal productivity in many parts of the world. Yield losses due to rising temperatures have already been reported for major cereal crops including maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum sp.), and rice (Oryza sativa). These cereals together…