Recent Posts

Designing Drought Resistant Crops for Temperate Climates

Töpfer et al. created a combined leaf metabolism/gas exchange model to predict water saving and productivity in temperate climates. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00132 By Nadine Töpfera and R. George Ratcliffeb .....a Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben,…

Designer for Pollen Wall Surface Pattern Formation

H. Li et al. identified and characterized a new genetic factor that controls grass-specific pollen wall pattern formation in rice. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00551 By HuanJun Li, Yu-Jin Kim and Wanqi Liang Background: Pollen, the male gametophyte in flowering plants, is…

SUMOylation and the Regulation of Aluminum Resistance

Fang and Zhang et al. show that SUMOylation and deSUMOylation regulate the stability of a transcription factor, thereby influencing aluminum resistance in Arabidopsis. Descriptive paragraph. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00687 Background: Aluminum (Al) is a primary constraint for crop…

LACCASE8: An Important Component of a Gene Toolkit for Engineering C-lignin in Crops

Wang et al. uncover the role of Laccase8 from the model system Cleome hassleriana in initiating C-lignin polymerization. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00598   By Xin Wanga,b,, Chunliu Zhuoa,c, and Richard A. Dixona aUniversity of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #311428,…

Persulfidation of ATG4 negatively regulates autophagy

Ana M. Laureano-Marín, Ángeles Aroca, et al. explore the role of persulfidation in the regulation of autophagy. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00766  by Cecilia Gotor, Ana M. Laureano-Marín, Ángeles Aroca Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones…

Getting to the Root of Plant Morphometrics, one DEEP Picture at a Time

Hüther et al. develop a new pipeline to extract phenotypic traits from plant pictures with minimal supervision from the user. The Plant Cell (2020) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00318 By Patrick Hüther, Niklas Schandry, Katharina Jandrasits, Ilja Bezrukov and Claude Becker Background: To understand…

Surprise –salicylic acid receptors can do so much!

Liu et al. investigate the diverse roles of the salicylic acid receptors NPR1, NPR3 and NPR4 in local and long-range plant immunity. The Plant Cell (2020).  https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00499 By Yanan Liu1,2, Tongjun Sun2,3 and Yuelin Zhang2 (1 College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural…

How circadian changes in metabolism affect hybrid vigor

Zhi Li, Andan Zhu, et al. compare inbred and hybrid lines to explore how daily changes in metabolic pathways affect hybrid vigor. The Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00320  Background: Heterosis or hybrid vigor refers to the superior growth or fitness in the hybrid progeny compared to one…

In a nutshell: Finally connecting PI3P to autophagy and endosomal sorting

Liu et al., generate a novel collection of mutants impaired in PI3P biosynthesis and discovered new features and functions of this phosphoinositide in intracellular trafficking. The Plant Cell (2020). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00285 By Richard S. Marshall and Richard D. Vierstra, Washington University,…