Category: WWR Full Post

Review:  Venus Flytrap: How an excitable, carnivorous plant works The one sure-fire way to get children excited about plants is to show them how a Venus flytrap works. But how does it work? We’ve all heard that the trap “counts” the number times it is triggered, and that it requires two or…

Guest Editor: Dr. Elisa Dell’Aglio Elisa holds a PhD in Plant Biochemistry from the University of Grenoble – CEA (France) and just finished a first Post-Doc at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She has been a Plantae Fellow since September 2017. Her work is aimed at understanding how cofactors,…

Review: The origin and evolution of mycorrhizal symbioses Many fungi are pathogens that kill or weaken their plant hosts. However, there are also many species that form beneficial relationships with plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. One of these mutualisms is the mycorrhizal association between a…

Commentary. 10KP: A phylodiverse genome sequencing plan Nobody doubts the great insights we have gained about plant diversity and evolution from genome sequencing, but the patchy nature of available genomes within the plant phylogeny remains a problem. Cheng et al. describe the 10KP (10,000 Plants)…

Review. Autophagy: The master of bulk and selective recycling A functioning cell depends upon the appropriate production of proteins and macromolecules. The other end of the process, degradation and removal, is just as critical and just as selective. Marshall and Vierstra review autophagy (“self-eating”)…

Letters: Auxin and vesicle traffic Three letters to Plant Physiology address the role of vesicles in auxin transport, discussing the evidence and conclusions from a recently published paper from three perspectives. Does auxin accumulate in endocytic vesicles? If so, how, and why? The Letters address…

Review. Plant evolution: landmarks on the path to terrestrial life "Simply put, land plants evolved once; the biological significance of this singularity is writ large across the surface of the globe." When I consider the incredible diversity found in life's rich tapestry, I'm continually amazed that…

This week's edition is guest edited by Arif Ashraf (@aribidopsis), a graduate student of United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Japan and Graduate student ambassador of American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). His research interest is understanding the hormonal interplay…