Recent Posts

Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Xin-Qiao Du

Xin-Qiao Du, First author of The Transcription Factor MYB59 Regulates K+/NO3- Translocation in the Arabidopsis Response to Low K+ Stress Current Position: Ph.D, State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Education:…

The Identity of an Unstable Pigmenting Factor

Wittmeyer et al. discover a CACTA element that regulates ufo1 epialleles. Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00546 By Kameron Wittmeyer and Surinder Chopra Background: A single gene can produce different outcomes depending on when, where, and at what levels it is turned on. A classical…

The Complex Evolution of Desiccation Tolerance

VanBuren et al. examine the evolution of desiccation tolerance in Lindernia. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00517. By Robert VanBuren and Dorothea Bartels Background: Plants have evolved numerous strategies over the last ~400 million years to overcome water limitations. The…

Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Hao Chen

Hao Chen, first author of Hierarchical Transcription-Factor and Chromatin Binding Network for Wood Formation in Populus trichocarpa Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, USA. Education:  2011-2017 MS and PhD in Forestry,…

Integrating Coexpression Networks with GWAS

Schaefer et al. integrate co-expression networks from three diverse maize gene expression data sets with genome wide association study data to prioritize genes related to the maize grain ionome. Plant Cell  https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00299 Background: Genetics examines the relationships between…

More than Ca Signaling - the pH Face of the Ca Coin

Behera et al. show that cytosolic Ca2+ transients induced by different stimuli are linked to cytosolic pH transients. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00655. By Alex Costa (University of Milan), Richard Morris (John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park), and Markus Schwarzländer (University…

Smashing barriers in biolistic plant transformation

A foundation of modern biotechnology is the ability to stably introduce foreign DNA into an organism. The two most widely used methods, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and biolistics, are both steeped in a rich history of creative exploration into the molecular unknown. Agrobacterium research accelerated…

How a Cyst Nematode Alters Plant Host Gene Expression

Vijayapalani et al. find a sugar beet cyst nematode protein effector that epigenetically regulates plant rRNA gene dosage, which is a crucial requirement to promote cyst nematode parasitism. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00570. Background: Cyst nematodes are plant-parasitic animals that…

Recognizing The Plant Cell first authors: Patricia Baldrich

Patricia Baldrich, first author of Plant Extracellular Vesicles Contain Diverse Small RNA Species and Are Enriched in 10 to 17 Nucleotide "Tiny" RNAs Name: Patricia Baldrich Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Meyers Lab, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Education: PhD in Molecular…