Recent Posts

A molecular framework for ethylene-mediated tomato fruit development

Huang et al. unravel the roles of ethylene in tomato fruit growth and ripening.  Background: Fruit development is an intriguing evolutionary strategy that functions in both seed protection and seed dispersal. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has long been used as a model system to uncover mechanisms…

Tick tock: TIME FOR COFFEE regulates far-red light inhibited hypocotyl growth

Wang et al. explore how the circadian clock regulates phytochrome A abundance and activity to mediate far-red light inhibited hypocotyl growth. Background: To enhance plant adaptability to natural conditions, the circadian clock is synchronized and entrained by light via photoreceptors. Intriguingly,…

Cauliflower mosaic virus uses Arabidopsis RNA processing body components to its advantage

Hoffmann et al. discover how Arabidopsis RNA processing body components are co-opted by Cauliflower mosaic virus to evade translational repression. By Gesa Hoffmann and Anders Hafrén, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences  Background: Viruses are unique in their ability to reuse and recycle…

The effector SCRE6 in U. virens functions as a MAP kinase phosphatase to suppress rice immunity

Zheng et al. reveal a novel fungal infection strategy. Xinhang Zheng (China Agricultural University), Fu Huang (Sichuan Agricultural University), and Wenxian Sun (China Agricultural University) Background: Rice commercial production is severely threatened by several important diseases including…

Chloroplasts: reporting at the door

Loudya et al. report that complementary mutations in TIC100 of the chloroplast inner envelope membrane can cause reductions or corrective improvements in chloroplast protein import, highlighting a role in signalling. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac153 By Naresh Loudya, Paul Jarvis and…

A handshake between auxin and gibberellin in the cambium

Hu et al. demonstrate how the interactions of gibberellin and auxin signaling components regulate cambial activity during wood formation in poplar. By Jian Hu, Changzheng Xu, and Keming Luo  Background: In trees, the vascular cambium is the population of stem cells that laterally divide and as…

FERONIA holds the key to a better understanding of the molecular interplay in diverse biological processes

Hongqing Guo, Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Iowa State University Wang and colleagues explore the transcriptome, proteome, and phosphoproteome in wild-type and fer mutant plants to dissect known and new functions of the receptor kinase FER. Background: FERONIA (FER) is a…

Chloroplast in Translation: How the tomato RNA-binding protein SlRBP1 regulates translation of nuclear transcripts that encode chloroplast proteins

Ma et al. reveal the role of a key tomato RNA-binding protein in translating the nuclear transcripts that encode chloroplast proteins via its association with a eukaryotic translation initiation factor Background: The nuclear genome encodes most of the proteins that are found in chloroplasts; these…

A new player in eudicot primary cell walls: β-Galactoglucomannan is similar to xyloglucan

Yu et al. find a hemicellulose that has similar function, structure, and biosynthesis to the well-studied hemicellulose xyloglucan  Authors: Li Yu, Yoshihisa Yoshimi, Paul Dupree. Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, UK. Background: Plant primary cell walls need to be rigid enough…