Plant Science Research Weekly: October 4th
Blog, WWR Full PostLetter. 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
Blog, WWR Full PostEvolutionary flexibility in flooding response circuitry in angiosperms ($)
Flooding is unpredictable and can lead to plant death due to insufficient oxygen (hypoxia). Some plant species and varieties are better able to survive periods of submergence. Here, Reynoso et al. looked at gene networks…
Plant Science Research Weekly: Sept. 20th
Blog, WWR Full PostReview: Plant networks as traits and hypotheses: Moving beyond description ($)
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,…
Plant Science Research Weekly: Sept. 13
Blog, WWR Full PostReview: Revolutions in agriculture chart a course for targeted breeding of old and new crops ($)
A few traits are associated with domestication across many species. Eshed and Lippman provide an overview of the changes to plant stature and flowering time that have been repeatedly selected by our…
Plant Science Research Weekly: September 6th
Blog, WWR Full PostReview: Metabolite control of translation by conserved peptide uORFs: The ribosome as a metabolite multi-sensor
Not all mRNAs are translated equally. Between 25–50% of eukaryotic mRNAs have an upstream open reading frame (uORF) that affects translation of the main ORF (mORF). Usually the presence…
Plant Science Research Weekly: August 30th
Blog, WWR Full PostA modular cloning toolkit for genome editing in plants
Genome editing with the CRISPR/Cas system is now widely used in functional studies across biological sciences including plant biology. Typically, this system involves a DNA nuclease and a guide RNA that directs the nuclease to a specific location…
Plant Science Research Weekly: August 23rd
Blog, WWR Full PostReview: Developmental thermal responses in Arabidopsis
Plants can modify their growth in response to environmental challenges. In a recent review, Vu et al. summarize the molecular mechanisms underlying high temperature responses during the Arabidopsis life cycle. At early stages, high temperature…
Plant Science Research Weekly: August 16th
WWR Full PostReview: Structural biology of cell surface receptor–ligand interactions
In recent months, a flurry of papers have come out that reveal new insights into the structural interactions of cell-surface receptors with each other and with their ligands. This timely review by Moussu and Santiago captures…
Plant Science Research Weekly: August 9th
Blog, Research Blog, WWR Full PostPhyscomitrella STEMIN transcription factor induces stem cell formation with epigenetic reprogramming
Insights into transcription factors (TFs) in non-flowering plants are increading thanks to the establishment of new bryophyte model organisms. In new work, Ishikawa et al. present STEMIN1, a Physcomitrella…