Category: The Plant Cell

Plant cell growth is often limited by the availability of two key nutrients, phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). As in mammals and yeast, a kinase known as TOR (target of rapamycin) is a key nutrient-responsive regulator of primary metabolism and cell growth in plants (Gonzalez and Hall, 2017; Dobrenel…

Smit et al. uncover a feed-forward loop that controls vascular development in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00562 By Margot E. Smit1, Siobhán M. Brady2, and J. Peter Etchells3 1 Stanford University 2 UC Davis 3 Durham University  Background: Vascular tissues…

Brendan O’Leary, first author of Metabolite regulatory interactions control plant respiratory metabolism via Target of Rapamycin (TOR) kinase activation Current Position:  Postdoc, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia Education:…

Descriptive paragraph. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00682 By Hui Zhuang and Yunfeng Li Background: The spikelet, often mistaken for a “flower”, is actually an inflorescence unit and can produce one or more florets in some species of grass. This implies that it could be possible…

Stalk lodging, a structural failure in which crop stalks break prior to harvest, can result in high grain moisture, reduce grain quality, and cause harvesting difficulties. For the popular high-yielding cereal maize (Zea mays), lodging may result in global annual yield reductions of approximately 5-20%…

Beyond its well-known role in muscle contraction, the cytoskeletal component actin participates in many critical cellular processes. Globular actin polymerizes into thin, flexible filaments that assemble into dynamic higher-order structures, such as bundles and networks. In addition to providing mechanical…

Fangming Wu, first author of Mediator Subunit MED25 Couples Alternative Splicing of JAZ Genes with Fine Tuning Jasmonate Signaling Current Position: Assistant Professor, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Education: Ph.D. in Beijing Normal…

Amy Baetsen-Young, first author of Fusarium virguliforme Transcriptional Plasticity Is Revealed by Host Colonization of Corn vs. Soybean Current Position:  Trait Development Lead at Syngenta Seeds in Stanton, MN, USA Education: Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at Michigan State University, MI, USA. M.S.…