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Phosphorylation of OsTGA5 by CKII switches rice defenses on against blast fungus

Yuqing Niu and Mo Wang Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Fujian University Key Laboratory for Plant-Microbe Interaction, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China Niu and colleagues elucidate how phosphorylation…

Xanthomonas inhibits host innate immunity by disrupting exocyst-dependent exocytosis

Michalopoulou et al. identified a core Xanthomonas effector that targets the host exocyst complex and disrupts host immunity. Plant Cell. (2022) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac162 By Vasiliki Michalopoulou1,2 and Panagiotis Sarris1,2,3 1 Department of Biology, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion,…

ANAC017 balances mitochondrial stress signaling and plant growth

He et al. discover how the transcription factor ANAC017 integrates primary stress responses to mitochondrial dysfunction with whole plant growth.  By Cunman He and Oliver Berkowitz Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia ARC Centre…

Alternative splicing orchestrates phosphate signaling and plant growth

Guo et al. demonstrate that alternative splicing of REGULATOR OF LEAF INCLINATION 1 modulates phosphate signaling and plant growth in the face of phosphate deficiency.  By Meina Guo, Wenyuan Ruan, and Keke Yi  Background: Phosphate (Pi) limitation represents a primary constraint on crop production.…

Orf2971: a link between chloroplast import and quality control in Chlamydomonas

Xing et al. investigate the link between chloroplast import and quality control in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac180 By Jiale Xing, Junting Pan and Wenqiang Yang Background: The chloroplast is an important bioreactor as well as a photosynthetic site. Approximately…

MAPKs target a viral nucleoprotein for defense

Ding et al. explore how MAP kinases affect virus propagation in plants and animal hosts.  Zhi-Hang Ding, Xian-Bing Wang, State Key Laboratory of Agro-Biotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China Background: Mitogen-activated protein kinase…

Similar yet different: A leaf photosynthetic cell type reveals its unique molecular blueprint

Procko et al. investigate the molecular identities of specialized photosynthetic cell types in leaves. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac167 By Carl Procko and Travis Lee. Salk Institute for Biological Studies, CA Background: Photosynthesis is arguably the most important biochemical process…

Lettuce homologs of KNOTTED1 and SAWTOOTH1 affect heading

An et al. identify the regulatory pathways that affect heading in lettuce.  Background: The formation of leafy heads is an important agronomic trait in some vegetable crops, such as lettuce, cabbage, and mustard. Having leafy heads facilitates harvesting and transportation, extends shelf life, and…

H2O2 regulates activity of the GSK3-like kinase BIN2

Lu et al. unravel a mechanism by which reactive oxygen species modulate brassinosteroid signaling through the GSK3-like kinase BIN2 Qing Lua,b, Eugenia Russinovaa,b a Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium b Center for Plant Systems Biology,…