Recent Posts

A cell surface player required for dehydration signaling in foxtail millet

Zhao, Zhang, Liu et al. identify an essential kinase for foxtail millet dehydration tolerance. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad200 By Yuxue Zhang and Meicheng Zhao Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology, Center for Agricultural Resources Research,…

ac4C modification of mRNA is required for plant development

Wang et al. reveal the wide occurrence and biological function of N4-acetylcytidine in plant mRNA. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad189 Huijie Liu and Mingjia Chen College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, P.R. China Background: Eukaryotic mRNA harbors more…

Overcoming barriers to bioengineering new disease resistance

Bentham, De la Concepcion et al. fine-tuned a plant immune receptor pair to allow for engineering new specificities while avoiding autoactivation. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad204 Adam R Bentham, Mark J Banfield Department of Biochemistry and Metabolism, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research…

A regulatory loop involving FLOWERING PROMOTING FACTOR1-like proteins, VERNALIZATION1, and FLOWERING LOCUS T1 represses flowering in Brachypodium distachyon

Liu et al. identify two proteins that repress flowering by acting on the florigen activation complex. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad190 Background: Timely flowering is critical for plant reproductive success. FLOWERING PROMOTING FACTOR1 (FPF1), a small protein without any known domains, has…

SYMPL sparks sensor development

Safi & Smagghe et al. explore liquid–liquid phase separation for developing fluorescent sensors of protein interaction and kinase activity in plants. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad188 By Wouter Smagghe1,2, Alaeddine Safi1,2 , Jelle van Leene1,2 and Steffen Vanneste3 1Department of…

Metacaspases meet stress granules

Ruiz-Solaní et al. examine how a cysteine protease interacts with stress granules, a type of membrane-less condensate, under heat stress and aging By Nerea Ruiz-Solaní1,2, Laia Armengot1,2 and Núria S. Coll1,3 1 Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Bellaterra…

The P-body component DECAPPING5 regulates flowering time via liquid-liquid phase separation

Wang et al. investigate role of the DCP5-SSF complex in the nucleus https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad151 Wanyi Wang, Chuanhong Wang, Yunhe Wang, Jing Ma. The National Engineering Lab of Crop Stress Resistance Breeding, the School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University. Background:…

Chloroplast double-stranded RNA can silence nuclear genes

Bélanger et al. investigate the silencing of nuclear genes mediated by chloroplast double-stranded RNA transgenes The Plant Cell (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad165 By Sébastien Bélanger Background: Plants have three genomes: the nuclear, the mitochondrial and the chloroplast…

The phosphatase PC1 switches off catalase to balance salt tolerance and growth

Cong Liu, Jianzhong Lin, and Xuanming Liu and colleagues show that the protein phosphatase PC1 dephosphorylates and deactivates CatC to negatively regulate H2O2 homeostasis and salt tolerance in rice. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad167 By Cong Liu, Jianzhong Lin, and Xuanming Liu Background:…