Plant Physiology: On The Inside

In rice (Oryza sativa), both the male and female floral organs are produced in the same flower: thus, only rarely do rice grains result from cross-pollination. Since cross-pollination is difficult in rice so, too, is the production of hybrid seed. Plants with defective stigmas may have commercial value…

Membrane proteins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and are trafficked through the Golgi, from which they are sorted to the plasma membrane, tonoplast, or other target membranes. In all eukaryotes, secretory traffic to the plasma membrane is mediated by SNARE proteins. In Arabidopsis, three…

Many plant species actively reorient their organs in response to dynamic environmental conditions. Petiole hyponasty is an upward movement of petioles driven by a higher rate of cell expansion on the lower (abaxial) compared with the upper (adaxial) side. Hyponasty is common among rosette species facing…

SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) comprise a highly conserved superfamily of proteins in all eukaryotic cells and play important roles in membrane fusion events involved in the delivery of membranes, proteins, and soluble cargos. SNARES form a core complex…

Upon exposure to light, many leaf and stem cells acquire photosynthetic competence by converting pale etioplasts into green chloroplasts. Deetiolation involves the concerted and synchronized activity of a highly complex biogenesis program. Thylakoid membranes must develop from disassembling prolamellar…

Abiotic stress conditions such as drought and salt stress increase isoprene synthesis and emission in many plant species. The carbon and energy cost of isoprene production has been found to vary depending on the plant species and environmental conditions. For example, trees that normally produce isoprene,…

Frost is one of the most severe abiotic stresses a plant can experience, and exposure to frost is a limiting factor for many species in temperate and arctic regions. Only a few ancestrally tropical angiosperm lineages have managed to colonize temperate biomes.  Although the grass subfamily Pooideae…

The importance of Ca2+ in animal physiology led to the development of an extensive pharmacological toolbox to manipulate specific groups of Ca2+ channels. Simple drug treatments allow for the manipulation of specific Ca2+ channels, thereby providing insights of which Ca2+ channels are involved in any…