This article poses the interesting question of whether we can use our knowledge of plant cell wall-modifying, carbohydrate-active enzymes to produce biobased materials. Specifically, the authors point out that much of the hemicellulose contained in agricultural and wood fiber could provide a starting…

Many studies have demonstrated the importance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in communication between plants. VOCs emitted by a plant damaged by herbivory promote defenses in nearby plants. It is thought that these compounds may have originated as intra-plant signals, capable of moving long-distances…

Although clusters of functionally related genes are common in prokaryotes, until recently it was thought that they were not a feature of eukaryotic genomes. However, several studies have identified biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in plants. Many of these gene clusters include sets of enzymes that act…

Albert Einstein once said, “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” Libraries house vast troves of information for readers to explore, analyze, and use. With the exponential increase in data, libraries have also evolved into digital databases and online platforms.…

The hourglass model of embryogenesis was proposed in the 1990s, and extended to green plants and fungi in the 2010s. During animal embryogenesis, the very earliest stages (post fertilization) are morphologically quite different from each other, and the later stages are quite different, but in the middle…

Plants undergo a series of physiological processes when transitioning from the juvenile to the vegetative phase, and then vegetative to the reproductive phase. RNA-Seq offers substantial potential for uncovering the transcriptional landscape underlying these developmental transitions. However, developmental…

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a vital starchy crop essential for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. A recent study on cassava by Rüscher et al. provides important insights into the plant’s sugar control mechanisms as the roots expand, produce large amounts of…

Don’t miss this exciting Virtual Issue from New Phytologist on “plant-microbe-microbe” interactions. That’s not a typo – many of the articles address the signals that coordinate such multi-factorial interactions, as there is a growing recognition that interrelations between microbes influence…