Recent Posts

Breakthrough Technology: Soft X-ray imaging of cellular carbon and nitrogen distributions in cyanobacteria (Plant Phys)

Soft X-ray imaging is a promising new technology that can be used to measure elemental compositions of living cells. By adjusting the energy (wavelength) of the incident X-rays, it is possible to specifically measure C or N, which have different photo-absorption edges.  Teramoto et al. demonstrate the…

Translational coincidence in Arabidopsis (Mol Syst Biol)

Changes in photoperiod affect metabolism and development, as well as flowering time, hypocotyl elongation, freezing tolerance, stomatal opening, C-allocation and growth. Seaton and collaborators measured the Arabidopsis proteome under four photoperiods: 6h, 8h, 12h and 18 hours. At longer photoperiods,…

An epigenetic origin behind the transgenerational fitness decline in chromatin assembly impaired plants (New Phytol) ($)

Packaging of nuclear DNA in chromatin is critical for the maintenance of genome integrity as well as fundamental cellular processes such as DNA replication and transcription. Chromatin assembly is mediated by histone chaperones, such as Chromatin Assembly Factor 1 (CAF-1). CAF-1 ensures faithful replication-coupled…

TSO1 and MYB3R1 form a regulatory module to coordinate cell proliferation with differentiation (PNAS)

In order to ensure proper development, plants need to balance cell proliferation and differentiation. Mutation in TSO1 causes disorganization of cell layers, leading to drastic reduction in fertility. A mutagenesis screen for rescue of fertility in the tso1-1 background identified  MYB3R1 as major partner…

Biosynthesis of redox active metabolites in response to iron deficiency in plants (Nature Chem Biol)

Iron is an essential but poorly bioavailable micronutrient that serves as a co-factor in many processes involved in electron- or oxygen-transfer. Land-plants evolved at least two distinct mechanism for iron uptake based on chelation of iron by phytosiderophores, that are produced only by grasses, or…

Scopoletin 8-hydroxylase-mediated fraxetin production is crucial for iron mobilization (Plant Physiol)

As iron is often limiting in the environment, plants use many strategies to support iron uptake, including secretion of small molecules such as coumarins that can help to mobilize iron from the soil. Tsai et al. examined the role of a gene involved in fraxetin (7,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxycoumarin) production…

GSN1 coordinates grain number and grain size (Plant Cell)

Grain yield is determined by both grain number and grain weight. There is often a trade-off between these traits; for example, increased grain number is often associated with decreased grain weight. Using a forward-genetic approach, Guo et al. have identified a rice gene, GRAIN SIZE AND NUMBER1 (GSN1)…

Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors ensure formation of one functional megaspore per ovule (PLOS Genet)

Usually the female germline starts with one MMC (megaspore mother cell) per ovule that becomes four megaspores through the process of meiosis. Out of these four, only one survives to produce a functional megaspore (FM); the other three undergo a degeneration process. The FM forms the embryo sac. In this…

An SPX-RLI1 module regulates leaf inclination in response to phosphate availability in rice (Plant Cell)

The angle at which a rice leaf bends affects its ability to intercept light and also the density at which the plants can be sown. Previous work has shown that brassinosteroid hormones and the BRASSINOSTEROID UPREGULATED1 (BU1) gene affect leaf angle. Ruan, Guo, Xu et al. investigated the role of phosphate…