Category: The Plant Cell: In Brief

Genetic recombination is the process by which novel genotypes are generated from the genetic material of both parents. In eukaryotes, homologous chromosomes synapse and recombine during meiotic prophase I, during which double-stranded breaks (DSBs) are formed by DNA topoisomerases such as SPO11. If large…

Early during seedling development and throughout their lives, plants sense and adapt to their constantly changing environment. Germinated seedlings perceive light which triggers a major developmental switch ultimately leading to photoautotrophic growth. This complex process, referred to broadly as photomorphogenesis,…

Every manufacture relies on a quality control process to ensure that the released product is without defects. Similarly, each transcript leaving the eukaryotic nucleus is subjected to mRNA surveillance, which helps to ensure that only flawless mRNAs are directed to translation. For example, transcripts…

If the planet does not turn to ash before 2050, farmers will need to produce twice as much on roughly the same available arable land to feed the ever-growing world population. But since the Green Revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, progress in crop yield has been incremental. And for good reason: most…

Precise trafficking of proteins to their proper destinations in the cell, whether to an organelle, a membrane, or the cytoplasm, is required for optimal cellular function. Because most plastid proteins are nucleus-encoded and translated in the cytoplasm, proper targeting and import relies on the presence…

In eukaryotes and archaea, protein-coding DNA is transcribed to messenger RNA (mRNA) via a preinitiation complex (PIC) composed of over 100 proteins, among them regulatory proteins, numerous transcription factors, and RNA polymerase II—the enzyme that produces precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). Although…

Successful development of the maize (Zea mays) kernel requires proper nutrient transport and signaling among its genetically distinct components: the embryo that gives rise to the next generation, the endosperm that nourishes the embryo, and the maternal tissues that surround the embryo and the endosperm…

R-loops are three-stranded nucleic acid structures composed of a DNA-RNA hybrid and a displaced single-stranded DNA. R-loops are stable structures as they form an intermediate A/B conformation of the RNA-DNA hybrid that is more stable than the B form of dsDNA or A form of the dsRNA. Recent evidence reveals…