Category: The Plant Cell: In Brief

Stomata, from the Greek “mouths,” are tiny pores in the epidermis of many plant aerial tissues that are “fed” carbon dioxide for making sugar. But plants also lose water through these same pores via transpiration. Stomatal aperture regulation in response to environmental cues is therefore of…

Wheat (Triticum spp.), one of the oldest cultivated cereals, is a major food crop grown in many regions with temperate climates. At present, wheat is grown over a wider area than any other commercial crop. Given its importance, extensive marker-assisted breeding of wheat varieties has been undertaken…

The gibberellin (GA) hormone signaling pathway is a key regulator of major plant developmental processes such as seed germination, cell elongation, and flowering time. The influence of GA is mediated by DELLA repressor proteins which, in the absence of GA, inhibit the activity of transcription factors.…

Plant-viral interactions, like other plant-pathogen interactions, involve a molecular arms race. When plants mount a defense response against an unwanted viral invasion, the invaders eventually evolve mechanisms to thwart or sabotage the defense response, thus placing plants back under pressure to evolve…

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is a common early response to biotic or abiotic stresses. While an important messenger in both plants and animals, unrestricted accumulation of ROS has deleterious consequences such as cell death. Thus, the production of ROS is tightly controlled. A main component…

RNA degradation mechanisms control the quality and quantity of mRNAs and are crucial for plant cell viability. The major pathways for RNA degradation involve 5’-3’ or 3’-5’ exonucleolytic cleavage by exoribonucleases or the exosome complex, respectively, whereas targets of miRNAs are cleaved…

During cell division, accurate tethering and release of newly replicated sister chromatids is essential for ensuring that each daughter cell receives a full set of chromosomes. To accomplish this, cells use cohesins that act as the “chromosomal glue”. These cohesins are a group of ring-shaped protein…

At least five RNA polymerases (Pol I to Pol V) are known to exist in plant cells. Pol IV produces short transcripts that are converted into double-stranded RNAs by RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 2 (RDR2) and processed into 24-nucleotide (nt) small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by DICER-LIKE 3 (DCL3). These…