Category: The Plant Cell

Li et al. identify a module regulating seed dormancy in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell (2019). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00449 By Xiaoying Li Background: Grain crop production is important for human survival. Pre-harvest sprouting is a worldwide natural disaster that seriously affects crop yields…

All photosynthetic organisms, from cyanobacteria to flowering plants, must continuously adjust to changing light conditions to maximize photosynthetic efficiency while protecting their delicate photochemical centers. During photosynthesis, light energy is preferentially captured by photosystem I (PSI)…

In a pioneering study, Wilkop et al. characterized the type of polysaccharide cargo transported in specific plant vesicles. Plant Cell (2019) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00854.      By Destiny Davis, Thomas Wilkop, Michael  Hahn, and Georgia Drakakaki, University of California, Davis  Background:…

Choudry et al. show that the mRNA export protein ALY1 enables genome-wide RNA-directed DNA methylation, transposon repression and transgene silencing though the efficient export of the AGO6 mRNA. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00624 By Sarah Choudury Background: Transposons, sometimes…

Abiotic stresses constitute a global threat to agricultural crop production and natural ecosystems. One of the most prominent abiotic stresses is drought, which dramatically alters plant physiology and morphology. Studies in model organisms have shed light into how plants respond to drought stress, including…

Plants constantly face the threat of attack from many directions. Organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi must be blocked from entering a plant’s cells, or quickly targeted for destruction once inside. Within the plant genome itself, transposable elements lie in wait for reactivation. In addition,…

Baccolini and Witte present a revised model for nucleotide catabolism in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00899 Chiara Baccolini, Leibniz Universität Hannover Prof. Dr. Claus-Peter Witte, Leibniz Universität Hannover Background: Nitrogen is a key element for plant growth…

Jiao ZHAN, co-first author of The cytochrome b6f complex is not involved in cyanobacterial state transitions Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher, Kirilovsky lab, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Gif sur Yvette, France; Assistant researcher, Institute of Hydrobiology,…