Perspective: Multiplying the efficiency and impact of biofortification through metabolic engineering As heterotrophs, we are what we eat. One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to end all forms of hunger, including the “hidden hunger” that results from nutrient deficiencies. Van Der…

Review: The second decade of synthetic biology: 2010–2020 I guess if this were a normal year, we’d be spending time looking back over the past decade, but Covid-19 has made anything pre-2019 seem like a different lifetime. Still, here’s a retrospective you don’t want to miss. Meng and…

Review: Less is more, natural loss-of-function mutation is a strategy for adaptation Gene gain through duplication and gene loss through loss-of-function (LoF) mutations determine genetic variation underlying diversification and adaptive evolution. In this review, Xu and Guo highlight the importance…

Review: Dry architecture: towards the understanding of the variation of longevity in desiccation- tolerant germplasm ($) Most seeds, pollen grains, and fern spores are desiccation-tolerant, meaning they remain viable after drying to low water contents. Given this property, they can be stored in cold…

Review: The hornworts: morphology, evolution and development Bryophytes and vascular plants share a land plant as a common ancestor, but they have evolved independently for more than 400 million years. Recent genomic studies of model bryophytes, particularly mosses and liverworts, have provided insights…

Guest Edited by Michela Osnato. I completed my studies at the University of Milan (ITALY), with a M.S. in Plant Biotechnology and a PhD in Plant Biology and crop productivity. The plasticity of plant development has always fascinated me. For this reason, I decided to investigate regulatory genes…

Review. Roles of plant retinoblastoma protein: cell cycle and beyond The cell cycle is at the heart of processes such as cell division, fate acquisition and cell cycle exit towards differentiation. Decades of cell cycle research in animals and yeast have outlined the main components that control the…

Review. Imaging flowers: a guide to current microscopy and tomography techniques to study flower development Flowers bear the reproductive organs and determine the reproductive success of plants by producing fruits and seeds. Flowers usually include four whorls of organs: sepals, petals, stamen…