Plant Physiology: News and Views

Author: Robert P. Skelton Institution: Dept. of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720; CA Commentary on Hochberg et al A new technique for rapidly quantifying xylem vulnerability curves In this volume of Plant Physiology, Hochberg et al. (2019) present a…

By Lynn GL Richardson The acid-growth theory was proposed over 40 years ago based on early observations that low apoplastic pH promotes growth in a pathway involving the plant hormone auxin (Rayle and Cleland, 1992; Hager, 2003; Arsuffi and Braybrook, 2018). Since this discovery, a clearer understanding…

Bethany Huot, Michigan State University Driving through the country on a lazy summer day with a nice gentle breeze, the lush fields of wheat, corn and soybean appear peaceful. What you cannot see is the quiet war plants are fighting against the insects and pathogens that have pulled up to a feast…

Signaling within and between cells is fast and dynamic. Such signals can involve the transport of charged ions that change membrane polarity or intercellular gradients, protein de/phosphorylation, protein interactions, and phytohormones, among others. The change in protein distribution in response to…

Organ boundaries are junctions that separate initiating lateral organs from the meristem or other plant parts. Cells at the boundary often exhibit slow growth rates and morphology distinct from that of the surrounding cells, and their development are controlled by complex gene networks. Lateral organ…

Plants rely on light for photosynthesis. As a consequence, plant growth is strongly shaped by light availability, to optimize photon absorbance in the green tissues. Seedlings that germinated underground grow quickly to escape from the darkness, while plants that are threatened to be overgrown by neighbors…

Plants emit scented volatile compounds to attract pollinators, or alternatively, as direct or indirect plant defense mechanisms. Direct defense involves compounds that are toxic, whereas an indirect defense uses volatiles to attract parasitoids of insect herbivores (Unsicker et al., 2009; Maag et al.,…

Tropic movement in plants (movement in relation to a directional stimulus) has fascinated thinkers since ancient times (reviewed in Whippo and Hangarter, 2006). This interest has led us to a good molecular understanding of how for example, plants direct their shoots towards light and their roots towards…