Plant Science Research Weekly: November 15
Review: Genetic strategies for improving crop yields
Simply put, as food demand increases due to population growth and increased affluence, crop yields are likely to decrease due to the changing climate. Plant scientists will be familiar with many research avenues that aim to address this disconnect,…
Plant Science Research Weekly: November 8
Review: Exchange of small regulatory RNAs between plants and their pests
Trans-species small RNAs are the latest class in the family of signals that move between plants and their attackers. Hudzik et al. review this topic, covering small RNAs that move from plant to pest and from pest to plant. The…
Plant Science Research Weekly: November 1
Review: Celebrating 20 years of genetic discoveries in legume nodulation and symbiotic nitrogen fixation
Legumes are important crops because they are protein-rich, as a consequence of symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF). In the past 20 years, through forward and reverse genetics more than 200 genes…
Plant Science Research Weekly: October 25th
Review: Interplay between turgor pressure and plasmodesmata during development
Plasmodesmata, small cytoplasmic channels connecting adjacent cells, allow small molecules to move and redistribute information and resources. Plasmodesmatal aperture is highly regulated, which is crucial to development…
Plant Science Research Weekly: October 18
Guest Editor :
Suresh Damodaran
I am a postdoctoral research associate in Dr. Lucia Strader’s lab at WUSTL. My primary area of interest is understanding the role of plant hormones in development. I completed my graduate degree in Dr. Sen Subramanian’s lab at SDSTATE. Twitter: @SureshDamod
Design…
Plant Science Research Weekly: October 11
This week’s Plant Science Research Weekly is guest edited by Arif Ashraf. He is a postdoc at Facette lab in the University of Massachusetts Amherst and his research focus is deciphering the asymmetric cell division during stomatal development. He is working as an ASPB ambassador, Plantae Fellow, Co-founder…
Plant Science Research Weekly: October 4th
Letter. The human health benefits from GM crops
If you’ve ever spoken publicly about GM crops, you’ve probably heard people express concern about how eating GM crops might affect their health. Smyth lays out a positive case for the human health benefits of GM crops, which will be a useful resource…
Plant Science Research Weekly: September 27th
Evolutionary flexibility in flooding response circuitry in angiosperms ($)
Flooding is unpredictable and can lead to plant death due to insufficient oxygen (hypoxia). Some plant species and varieties are better able to survive periods of submergence. Here, Reynoso et al. looked at gene networks…
Plant Science Research Weekly: Sept. 20th
Review: Plant networks as traits and hypotheses: Moving beyond description ($)
In Star Wars Episode 2, Obi Wan identifies the location of a missing planet by walking through a 3D projection of the galaxy. I’ve always hoped that if we obtain enough data and figure out how to display it properly,…