Recent Posts

N6-methyladenosine mRNA modification dynamics in plant immunity

Prall et al. explore how post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA mediated by methylation at the N6 position of adenine affects plants preparedness and reactivity to pathogen stress.  Wil Prall and Brian Gregory, University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology  Background: To determine how plants…

Regulation of a calcium-dependent protein kinase in response to osmotic stress

Fan et al. explore how ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis regulates the levels of active kinase in plant responses to osmotic stress. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad173 Wei Fan and Zixing Li School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China Background:…

The NLR receptor ZAR1 has been guarding receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases since the Jurassic

Adachi et al. explore the conservation of a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat immune receptor. Hiroaki Adachi1,2,3, Toshiyuki Sakai1,2, Jiorgos Kourelis1, Hsuan Pai1, Jose L. Gonzalez Hernandez4, Yoshinori Utsumi5, Motoaki Seki5,6,7, Abbas Maqbool1 and Sophien Kamoun1*  1The Sainsbury Laboratory,…

SKIPping over JAZs to improve seed maturation and viability

Vishal Varshney and Manoj Majee, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad199 Vishal Varshney et al. investigate the F-box protein SKIP31 in Arabidopsis, revealing a role for this protein in seed maturation,…

A New Look at Virus Movement: An Unexpected Role of dsRNA-Induced Immunity

Huang et al. investigate the mechanisms of dsRNA-induced pattern-triggered immunity against viruses. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad176 Manfred Heinlein (Institut de biologie moléculaire des plantes, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France) Background: Plants use different…

Guard Cell Walls: Who Calls the Shots?

Zheng et al. demonstrate that polar stiffening of guard cell walls is essential for stomatal functioning. By Lin Zheng and Hongzhi Wang Beijing Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,…

The Molecular Switch Governing the Heat Stress Response in Wheat

Wang et al. explore how SUMOylation of a key transcription factor affects heat stress responses in wheat. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad192 By Jie Liu and Haoran Wang; Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis and Utilization (MOE), Beijing Key…

Jasmonate-regulated gibberellin catabolism slows rice growth during herbivory

Jin et al. identify a mechanism for rice growth suppression during herbivore attack. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad191 Gaochen Jin1, Jinfeng Qi2, Hongyue Zu1, Shuting Liu1, Jonathan Gershenzon3, Yonggen Lou1, Ian T. Baldwin4, Ran Li1,* 1State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Ministry of…

Quinone Biosynthesis in Plastids and Cyanobacteria

Stutts et al. explore an evolutionary mystery in quinone biosynthesis. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad202 By Lauren Stutts1, Scott Latimer1, Zhaniya Batyrshina1, Gabriella Dickinson1, Hans Alborn2, Anna K. Block2, and Gilles J. Basset1 1Department of Horticultural Sciences, University of…