Research Blog

Plant Physiol. Herbicide resistance is a serious problem in contemporary agriculture. One of the most widely used herbicides, glyphosate, interferes with the activity of EPSPS (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase). Koo et al. previously showed that glyphosate-resistant waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus,…

Plant Direct. DNA repair occurs by several independent mechanisms, one of which is the mismatch repair (MMR) pathway. In prokayotes, MutS is a component of the mismatch repair pathway; homologous proteins in eukaryotes are known as MSH (MutS homologs). Sarma et al. set out to develop a hypermutable tomato…

Metabolites. Terpenes are derived from isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), which are produced in two separate pathways: in the cytosol (via mevalonate, MVA) and the plastid (via methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate, MEP). The products of terpene metabolism include numerous…

Nat. Plants. Soybean is the world’s sixth most produced crop and is economically important as a source of protein and oil in animal and human food, as well as having industrial applications.  Domestication of soybean has resulted in the absence of seed coat bloom, a powdery coating containing hazardous…

Nat. Plants. The current rate of crop plant breeding, limited by the long generation time of crop plants, is insufficient to address the needs caused by the enormous increase in the human population accompanied by climate change. Watson et al. have recently presented a method called ‘Speed breeding’…

PLOS One. Katharine Hubbard (@KEHplantsci) and Sonja Dunbar (@PlantSciSonja) are enthusiastic proponents of student-centered teaching, including guiding undergraduate students through the reading of scientific papers. In this new work they’ve evaluated how  undergraduate students compare to graduate…

PLOS Comp. Biol. No doubt, science communication is a struggle for many scientists and science institutions. There is an increasing need to improve public science understanding and/or engagement. Good science communication is crucial to help recruit next generation scientist, highlight science’s role…

Focus Issue: Cellular Dynamics Plant Physiology has released a focus issue on the topic of Cellular Dynamics, which includes Updates on topics ranging from Actin Dynamics to Wall Growth. The Editorial by Szymanski, Bassham, Munnik, and Sakamoto provides an excellent overview of the current state of…