Recent Posts

Salt stress disturbs sugar metabolism

Fu et al. examine how salt stress affects sugar metabolism via the reactive oxygen species hydrogen peroxide.  Zheng-Wei Fu (State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, College of Life Sciences, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China) Background: Soil salinization is a serious…

Enzymes at the chloroplast and ER work together for ER lipid metabolism

Nguyen and Nakamura reveal that a crucial reaction step of endoplasmic reticulum-localized glycerolipid biosynthesis mediated by phosphatidic acid phosphatase requires both chloroplast- and ER-localized enzymes, representing the importance of inter-organelle communication in membrane lipid homeostasis. By…

Role of the PUB31–SPIRAL1 module in hypocotyl elongation

Zhou et al. explore how microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins interact in hypocotyl elongation at high temperature.  By Dingding Zhou, Xiaohong Wang, Xiangfeng Wang, and Tonglin Mao China Agricultural University Background: During growth responses to high ambient temperature (thermomorphogenesis),…

Parking the phragmoplast: division site positioning via cortical telophase microtubules

Bellinger and Uyehara et al. characterize a population of microtubules that contribute to division site positioning. By Aimee N. Uyehara1 and Carolyn G. Rasmussen1 1Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California,…

Cell differentiation in the tapetum

Wu et al. investigate tapetum differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell (2023). By Yue Lou Background: The tapetum is the innermost layer of the four cell-layered anther wall. In Arabidopsis, the tapetum undergoes cell differentiation and transitions into secretory cells. Most nutrients…

Green means go: Green light and hypocotyl elongation

Hao et al. explore the role of green light in plant growth and development. By Yuhan Hao, Hongtao Liu National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai,…

Top-tier transcription factor AtNLP2: When nitrogen meets carbon and energy

Durand et al. explore the role of an NLP transcription factor in the plant nitrate response. By Mickaël Durand 1,2,3 and Anne Krapp1 1 Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, 78000, Versailles, France 2 Université de Poitiers, UMR CNRS 7267, EBI Ecologie…

Defining the repertoire of fungal effector proteins deployed during plant infection

Yan et al. explore the changes in gene expression that take place during rice blast disease. By Xia Yan and Nick Talbot from The Sainsbury Laboratory, UK. Background: The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae causes a devastating disease that threatens global rice (Oryza sativa) production, destroying…

A Raf-like MAP kinase kinase kinase regulates purinergic receptor-mediated innate immunity in Arabidopsis

Kim et al. explore how extracellular ATP recognition triggers the innate immune response. By Daewon Kim1, Dongqin Chen1,3, Nagib Ahsan2,4,5, Gabriel Lemes Jorge2, Jay J. Thelen2 and Gary Stacey1,2,* 1Division of Plant Science and Technology, C.S. Bond Life Science Center, University of Missouri,…