Recent Posts

Evolution of Trichome Development in Fruits

Arteaga et al. report that some natural populations of Arabidopsis have trichomes on fruits. They exploit this previously unknown trait to explore the genetic underpinnings of trichome development and their evolutionary relevance. Plant Cell http://bit.ly/3byAMFl By Noelia Arteaga, Belén Méndez-Vigo,…

Natural Allelic Variation Improves Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Rice

Zhang, Zhu, Shen, Ji et al. discover a way to enhance nitrogen use efficiency and grain yield in rice. The Plant Cell (2020) https://bit.ly/3s3bLb3  Background: Nitrogen (N), an essential element for crop growth, is provided to plants by external fertilizer application. However, the excessive use…

The Battle Between Modifications on Chromatin

Dong, LeBlanc, Poulet et al. investigate genomic stability in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell (2020) https://bit.ly/3nhgdQ5  By Jie Dong, Chantal LeBlanc, Axel Poulet, and Yannick Jacob  Background: DNA is the genetic material used by all living organisms on Earth. The faithful replication of DNA…

The Role of Ethylene and Ethylene Response Factors in the Heat Stress Response

Summary: Huang et al. elucidate a link between ethylene signaling and heat stress responses. Plant Cell https://bit.ly/3pTjNBK By Jianyan Huang, Xiaobo Zhao, Marco Bürger, Yurong Wang, Joanne Chory Background: Temperature is an environmental factor that has one of the most dramatic effects on…

A DEAD-box RNA Helicase Plays Critical Roles in Zygote Division and Stem Cell Homeostasis in Arabidopsis

Hou et al. report a DEAD-box helicase as a component of the RNA microprocessor complex and highlight its importance in embryogenesis. Plant Cell http://bit.ly/2LhT7LO By Xiu-Li Hou,a,b Xiu-Fen Song,a,b Chun-Ming Liua,b,c a Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese…

Gene Expression Map of the Arabidopsis Stem

Shi et al. provide a high-resolution gene expression map of the Arabidopsis stem. The Plant Cell (2021) http://bit.ly/3pgWm4G  By Dongbo Shi and Thomas Greb  Bckground: Multicellular organisms are usually built of numerous different tissues with very special functions. These functions depend…

ZmABI19 Takes Center Stage during Maize Grain Filling and Development

Yang and colleagues set out to untangle the network of transcription factors controlling O2 expression during maize seed development By Tao Yang and Yongrui Wu, National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology…

Neolignans: treasure shields in seeds

Keiko Yonekura-Sakakibara, Masaomi Yamamura et al. identify factors that play essential roles in the biosynthesis of seed-coat protective neolignans. Plant Cell. http://bit.ly/3mseqae By Keiko Yonekura-Sakakibara and Kazuki Saito, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science Background: Neolignans…

Small Cells, Big Impact: RNA-Protein Complexes in a Cyanobacterium

Riediger et al. investigate the RNA-protein complexome of a photosynthetic cyanobacterium. The Plant Cell. https://bit.ly/3njpBn4 By Matthias Riediger and Wolfgang R. Hess Background: Cyanobacteria are a unique group of bacteria with the ability to perform plant-like photosynthesis. Like their…