Recent Posts

CO2 Concentration in Chlamydomonas: Effect of the Pyrenoid Starch Sheath

Ananya Mukherjee ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1802-1806 amukherjee3@unl.edu University of Nebraska Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588    In the photosynthetic Calvin-Benson cycle, the enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) fixes CO2 into organic compounds. A major limitation…

A well-oiled machine: two fatty-acid exporters involved in seed oil biosynthesis

A well-oiled machine: two fatty-acid exporters involved in seed oil biosynthesis Mehran Dastmalchi mdastmalchi@brocku.ca Oilseed plants such as canola (Brassica spp.) are a massive, multi-billion dollar industry, with their lipids contributing to food, cosmetics, polymers and biofuels. For the…

Tuning to the signal of stress: sub-cellular regulation of abscisic acid receptor abundance by E3 ubiquitin ligases

Magdalena M. Julkowska Magdalena.Julkowska@kaust.edu.sa   Developmental and environmental changes are communicated systemically throughout the plant by various signals, ranging from electric currents to plant hormones. As the responses elicited by the systemic signals depend on the tissue…

Discovering Lipid Droplet Proteins—from Seeds to Seedlings

Lynn GL Richardson, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48843 During germination and early seedling establishment, embryos rely on stored energy for growth and cellular maintenance until photoautotrophic growth takes over. Proteins and lipids make up most of the energy-rich stores in the embryo,…

LACCASE2 negatively regulates lignin deposition of Arabidopsis roots

Lignin is a complex aromatic biopolymer in the secondary cell wall of vascular plants. It is crucial for providing physical strength and pathogen resistance to the plant. Lignified xylem vessels are also necessary for efficient water transport. Lignin is formed by oxidative polymerization of monomers…

Keep cool and open up: temperature-induced stomatal opening

When air temperatures rise above the comfortable level, plants initiate a cooling mechanism to prevent heat stress. High ambient temperatures induce a specific set of growth responses, termed thermomorphogenesis, which includes enhanced hypocotyl and petiole elongation, and leaf hyponasty (reviewed by…

A Tale of Two Isoforms: Calcium-dependent Inhibition of SnRK2 by SnRK-Calcium-binding Sensor

Magdalena Julkowska Magdalena.Julkowska@kaust.edu.sa  Reacting to the environment requires not only activating signaling cascades but also modulating the activity of individual components in a context- and time-dependent manner. For example, under non-stress conditions protein phosphatases 2C…

The protein phosphatase PP2A-B’γ takes control over salicylic acid to suppress defense and premature senescence

Amna Mhamdi Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, and VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium Address correspondence to amna.mhamdi@psb.ugent.be Long thought to be unselective and often referred to as "housekeeping" enzymes, type 2A Protein…

Paving the way for C4 evolution: study of C3-C4 intermediate species in grasses

C4 photosynthesis originated as an adaptation to low atmospheric CO2 concentrations 30-35 million years ago (Sage, 2016). Although accounting for only 3% of the vascular plants on earth, C4 plants contribute 25% of terrestrial photosynthesis (Westhoff and Gowik, 2010), thus providing a highly desirable…