Recent Posts

Bridging the Gap Between Pathogen Detection and Defense Activation

Bi et al. provide a link between immune receptors and MAPK cascades. Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00981.   By G. Bi and J.-M. Zhou Background: Plants use numerous immune receptors localized at the cell surface to detect invading pathogens. These receptors send a warning signal…

Chloroplast Biogenesis in Germinating Seeds: A Multi-Dimensional Approach

Zizhen et al. perform electron tomography and correlative gene expression analyses of thylakoid assembly in greening Arabidopsis cotyledons Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00972 By Byung-Ho Kang Background: The chloroplast produces carbohydrates and molecular oxygen from water,…

A New Epigenetic Switch Regulating Histone Modification

Mateo-Bonmatí et al. have found novel components of the Arabidopsis epigenetic machinery. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00300  By Eduardo Mateo-Bonmatí, Lucía Juan-Vicente, Riad Nadi, and José Luis Micol Background: In multicellular organisms, most cells contain the same…

Metabolic Fate of Modified Nucleotides after RNA Turnover, an Overlooked Issue in RNA Modification

Chen et al. reveal a multilayer molecular protection system functioning in Arabidopsis and human cells https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00236 By Mingjia Chen and Claus-Peter Witte Background: RNA possesses over 100 distinct posttranscriptional modifications in eukaryotic species. N6-methyladenosine…

Sorbitol Modulates Apple Resistance to Alternaria

Meng et al. show that sorbitol acts as a signal regulating resistance to the fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata in apple.Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00231 By Dong Meng, B. Gillian Turgeon and Lailiang Cheng Background: Sugars produced by photosynthesis fuel plant growth and development,…

Evolution of Gene Regulation During Domestication

Liu, et al. examine how wound response and its control mechanism differs between domesticated and wild tomato. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00194. By Ming-Jung Liu and Shin-­Han Shiu Background: Two related species accumulate differences between each other over time. If one of the…

Dynamic Alternative Splicing Response to Cold

Calixto et al. demonstrate a rapid wave of alternative splicing as temperatures drop. The Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00177. By Cristiane Calixto and John Brown Background: Alternative splicing (AS) allows a single gene to produce more than one transcript, which can affect…

Old Gene, New Function

Xie et al. discover an EPSP synthase gene involved in the transcriptional regulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway in Populus trichocarpa The Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00168. By Meng Xie, Wellington Mechuro, Jin-Gui Chen, and Gerald A. Tuskan Background: 5-enolpyruvylshikimate…

Tectonic Movements Across the Tomato Genome

Corem et al. demonstrate a switch in DNA methylation patterns across the tomato genome. The Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00167. By Shira Corem, Tzahi Arazi and Nicolas Bouché Background: Crop genomes are covered by transposons, which are DNA sequences that can jump from one…