The diversity in plants’ adaptations and evolution is vast. One driver of this variety gaining traction in evolutionary studies is gene co-option, or “tinkering”, the ability to repurpose existing genes for new purposes. In a recent review by Di Stilio and Garcia, the authors bring together recent…

Spirogyra is not your typical bottom-of-the-lake green sludge. It is a freshwater green alga in the class Zygnematophyceae. This group is considered to contain the closest living relatives of land plants. Since the true ancestor of land plants is extinct, we look to this group for clues about how plants…

A recent study from Miguel Blázquez´s lab addressed the question of how plants integrate light and temperature information through a comparative analysis of four plant lineages, from algae to flowering plants. Catarino et al. compared Ostreococcus tauri (a chlorophyate alga), and three streptophytes, …

Iron is essential for plant growth and development, but its availability in soil is often limited. Besides absorbing iron from the soil, plants can also reuse iron stored in their cell walls, although the mechanisms regulating this process remain unclear. In a recent study, Chunyan Tu and colleagues…

As leaves age, they gradually lose chlorophyll and begin to turn yellow, a process known as leaf senescence. Although this process helps plants recycle nutrients, delaying it can be beneficial for crops where leaf quality matters. Luden and colleagues investigated how the transcription factor AHL15 influences…

The root system architecture of dicot plants relies on lateral root spacing. Lateral roots are primed via auxin maxima in the main root that mark prebranch sites where lateral roots may later develop. A big debate in plant science is what drives this periodic auxin signaling that primes lateral rooting.…

How does a plant determine the angle at which a new lateral root should grow? A recent study by Farkas et al. reveals that the answer may depend not only on how plants perceive gravity, but when they perceive it. Lateral roots initially emerge almost perpendicular to the primary root before developing…

Karrikins (KARs) are a class of molecules that are hypothesized to mimic an undiscovered plant hormone KL (KAI2 Ligand). The signaling cascade triggered by KAR/KL is initiated by the  α/β-hydrolase, KAI2, and can regulate several traits like germination, stress tolerance, and others. KAI2 is related…