Recent Posts

SPY catalyzes O-fucosylation of hundreds of proteins to promote sugar-dependent plant growth

Bi, Shrestha, Zhang et al. elucidate mechanisms of sugar-dependent growth regulation. Yang Bi, Zhi-Yong Wang Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA Background: Extensive studies in animals have shown that the O-linked N-acetyl-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc)…

Out of the haze of DNA–protein crosslink repair

Dvořák Tomaštíková et al. study the role of SMC5/6 complex in repair of toxic DNA protein crosslinks in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell (2023). By Pecinka Ales and Eva Dvořák Tomaštíková Background: Cellular DNA is constantly damaged by various internal and external factors that eventually…

Evolution of C4 photosynthesis in the Cleomaceae

Hoang et al. examine the Gynandropsis gynandra genome to provide insight into genome evolution and the emergence of C4 photosynthesis in a sister family to the Brassicaceae.    Background: The Cleomaceae is the sister family to the Brassicaceae (including the model species Arabidopsis and Brassica…

Salt stress disturbs sugar metabolism

Fu et al. examine how salt stress affects sugar metabolism via the reactive oxygen species hydrogen peroxide.  Zheng-Wei Fu (State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, College of Life Sciences, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China) Background: Soil salinization is a serious…

Enzymes at the chloroplast and ER work together for ER lipid metabolism

Nguyen and Nakamura reveal that a crucial reaction step of endoplasmic reticulum-localized glycerolipid biosynthesis mediated by phosphatidic acid phosphatase requires both chloroplast- and ER-localized enzymes, representing the importance of inter-organelle communication in membrane lipid homeostasis. By…

Role of the PUB31–SPIRAL1 module in hypocotyl elongation

Zhou et al. explore how microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins interact in hypocotyl elongation at high temperature.  By Dingding Zhou, Xiaohong Wang, Xiangfeng Wang, and Tonglin Mao China Agricultural University Background: During growth responses to high ambient temperature (thermomorphogenesis),…

Run Han: The Plant Cell First Author

Run Han, co-first author of  “SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE2 stabilizes phytochrome-interacting factors PIF4 and PIF5 to promote Arabidopsis shade avoidance” and “Phytochromes enhance SOS2-mediated PIF1 and PIF3 phosphorylation and degradation to promote Arabidopsis salt tolerance”  Current Position:…

Liang Ma: The Plant Cell First Author

Liang Ma, co-first author of “Phytochromes enhance SOS2-mediated PIF1 and PIF3 phosphorylation and degradation to promote Arabidopsis salt tolerance” and “SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE2 stabilizes phytochrome-interacting factors PIF4 and PIF5 to promote Arabidopsis shade avoidance” Current Position:…

Parking the phragmoplast: division site positioning via cortical telophase microtubules

Bellinger and Uyehara et al. characterize a population of microtubules that contribute to division site positioning. By Aimee N. Uyehara1 and Carolyn G. Rasmussen1 1Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California,…