Protein Editing for Multi-Tasking
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellZauner et al. investigate the mechanism of protein re-purposing. The Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00963.
By Florian B. Zauner, Elfriede Dall and Hans Brandstetter
Background: Plants cannot run away from herbivores, drought, or heat. To withstand adverse conditions, plants have…
TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 and Wheat Inflorescence Architecture
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellDixon et al. (2018) investigate the regulation of wheat inflorescence architecture by TEOSINTE BRANCHED1. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00961
Background: Grass inflorescences are composed of many seed-producing flowers (or florets) that are arranged on branches called spikelets. The number…
ONE GENE: DIFFERENT mRNAs, DIFFERENT TISSUES, DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellNapoli et al. show that mRNA splicing variants have tissue- and developmental stage-specific activity in flower development https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00840.
By Roberta Ghelli and Patrizia Brunetti
Background: Plants that are self-pollinating contain both male (stamen) and female (pistil)…
Pathogenic Bacteria Use A “Self-Eating” Process to Trick Plants
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellÜstün et al. show that pathogenic Pseudomonas enhances the autophagic turnover of proteins in Arabidopsis https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00815.
By Suayib Üstün and Daniel Hofius
Background: Autophagy and the proteasome are the major pathways for protein degradation in eukaryotes. While the…
Developing High-Yield Early-Maturation Crops by Manipulating Nitrogen Utilization
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellWang et al. investigate the function of OsNRT1.1A in rice. Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00809.
By Wei Wang, Bin Hu and Chengcai Chu
Background: To cope with an increasing global population and decreasing availability of arable land, improving crop yield is a major agricultural…
Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis: Plant Homologs of the Clathrin Uncoating Factor Auxilin
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellAdamowski et al. use CRISPR to investigate the function of plant auxilin proteins https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00785.
By Maciek Adamowski
Background: Endocytosis is one of the basic pathways of cellular trafficking. By endocytosis, proteins located in the plasma membranes, for instance receptors,…
Switching off Seed Maturation Genes in Seedlings
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellChen et al identify AGL15 as a direct target of HSI2-dependent transcriptional repression in Arabidopsis seedlings https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00655.
By Naichong Chen and Randy Allen
Background: The developmental transition from seeds to seedlings is a critical step in the plant life cycle.…
RecQ Proteins: Masters of Genome Surveillance
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellWiedemann et al. show that RecQ6 in Physcomitrella enhances homologous recombination and gene targeting https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00632.
Background: All living cells have mechanisms to protect their DNA against breaks during duplication and against damage by UV-light or chemicals. RecQ helicases…
Small Peptide PSK Induces Plant Immunity Against Botrytis cinerea
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellZhang et al. show how PSK initiates Ca2+- and auxin-dependent immunity https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00537.
By Huan Zhang, Zhangjian Hu and Kai Shi
Background: During plant-microbe interactions, some small secreted peptides are secreted into the apoplast between plant cells as damage-associated…