Plant Physiology Focus Collections

Focus Collections are an online collection of papers intended to supplement Plant Physiology^® Focus Issues.
Papers published in Plant Physiology^® two years prior to and those published for up to two years after the
Focus Issue will be included.

Reactive Oxygen Species
The Reactive Oxygen Species Focus Issue first appeared in June 2006. This collection features articles
published since June 2004 and new content will be added through June 2008. Topics include reactive
oxygen species signaling and metabolism, oxidative stress homeostasis, and redox signaling research in plants.
Biology of Transpiration
The Biology of Transpiration Focus Issue first appeared in January 2007. This collection features articles
published since 2005 and new content will be added through January 2009. Topics include all
aspects of water transport, from gene expression to global modeling, including root water uptake,
regulation of water flow by aquaporins, long-distance transport and xylem hydraulics, guard cell
physiology and development, and mechanisms controlling transpiration from the leaf to the globe.
Legume Biology
The Legume Focus Issue first appeared in June 2007. This collection features articles published since
June 2005 and new content will be added through June 2009. Topics include genomics, model
legumes, interactions with microorganisms, regulations, signaling, and development.
Vector Systems for Plant Research and Biotechnology
The Vector Systems for Plant Research and Biotechnology Focus Issue first appeared in December 2007.
This collection features articles published since December 2005 and new content will be added through
December 2009. Topics include all aspects of plant expression vector systems designed for
state-of-the-art experimentation, including novel systems for multiple gene expression, protein tagging, induction and suppression of gene silencing, specialized vectors for monocot transformation, and virus-based vectors.
Plant-Herbivore Interactions
The Plant-Herbivore Interactions Focus Issue first appeared in March 2008. This collection features
articles published since March 2006 and new content will be added through March 2010. Topics include
molecular and biochemical aspects of the interaction, including recognition of herbivory, signaling
pathways that regulate host plant defense, volatile signals, tritrophic interactions, plant defense
chemistry, manipulation of plant defenses by herbivores, and natural variation in plant resistance to herbivores.
Membrane Trafficking
The Membrane Trafficking Focus Issue first appeared in August 2008. This collection features articles
published since August 2006 and new content will be added through August 2010. Topics include
structural and regulatory aspects of membrane trafficking and those that dissect function connections
between membrane trafficking and growth, development, defense, and signaling-related processes.
The Grasses
The Grasses Focus Issue first appeared in January 2009. This collection features articles published
since January 2007 and new content will be added through January 2011. Topics include analysis of
grass genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes along with articles describing seminal
discoveries on grass biology, development, biochemistry, and physiology. For inclusion in the
collection, we will highlight particularly articles that include a significant comparative component with
multiple Poaceae species, such that results may be expected to apply to multiple Poacea species
of grasses or to the entire grass family.
Plant Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens
The Plant Interactions Focus Issue first appeared in August 2009. This collection features articles
published since August 2007 and new content will be added through August 2011. Topics include
mechanisms of recognition as well as bacterial and plant molecules mediating the interactions. Articles
reporting on all areas of plant-bacterial interactions, including from gene expression to proteomics to
biochemistry, will be included in the collection.
Legume Biology 2009
The Legume Focus Issue first appeared in November 2009. This collection features articles published
since November 2007 and new content will be added through November 2011. Topics include
genomics, model legumes, interactions with microorganisms, regulations, signaling, and development.
Plant Systems Biology 2010
The Plant Systems Focus Issue first appeared in February 2010. This collection features articles
published since February 2008 and new content will be added through February 2012. Topics include
many different aspects of plant science, ranging from collections of physiological data with quantified
molecular parts lists (e.g., genes, expression levels, localizations) to abstract mathematical modeling of biological processes.
Plant Cell Walls
The Plant Cell Walls focus issue first appeared in June 2010. This collection features functions of
cell wall components in the molecular architecture of the wall and in plant growth and development,
including interactions with endogenous mechanisms of signal transduction, or in response to
pathogens or other environmental stimuli. Research articles reporting on all aspects of cell wall biology
from genetic functional analysis to biophysical studies will be included in this collection.
Enhancing Photosynthesis
A Plant Physiology issue focused on leaf photosynthesis appeared in January 2011. New articles will be added through January 2013. There is a growing realization of the need for a new “green revolution” in world agriculture to increase yields of food and bioenergy crops in a changing global climate. Increasing photosynthesis provides one attractive avenue to contribute to increases in crop yields. Research articles reporting efforts that are being made to enhance photosynthetic rate, capacity and efficiency, from genetic functional analysis to biophysical studies are included in this collection.
Plastid Biology
The Plastid Biology focus issue first appeared in April 2011. New content will be added until April 2013.
This collection features articles on all aspects of plastid biolgy, including evolution, genetic systems, photosynthesis, plastid-associated metabolic processes, plastid biogenesis and differentiation, integration of plastids into plant growth and development, plastid biotechnology,and all other
relevant topics.
Phosphorus Plant Physiology
The Phosphorus Plant Physiology focus issue first appeared in July 2011. New content will be added
until July 2013. This collection features recent developments in phosphorus acquisition and use
ranging from soil transformations to signal transduction and genomics.

Nuclear Architecture and Dynamics
The Nuclear Architecture and Dynamics focus issue first appeared in January 2012. New content will be added until January 2014. This collection features articles on recent advances in and emerging understanding of nuclear architecture and dynamics in plant cells and their potential relevance to developmental and physiological processes. Research aimed at the broadly defined area of nuclear architecture and dynamics including, but not limited to, chromatin dynamics, biogenesis and dynamics of nuclear bodies involved in gene expression, and nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling of proteins

. Ubiquitin in Plant Biology
The Ubiquitin in Plant Biology focus issue first appeared in September 2012. New content will be added until September 2014. This collection features articles on the roles of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers in all areas of plant biology, including development and morphogenesis, hormonal and environmental responses, chromatin remodeling and histone modifications, and plant-pathogen interactions.
The Plant Physiology of Global Change
The Plant Physiology of Global Change focus issue first appeared in December 2012. New content will be added until December 2014. This collection features articles on all aspects of the impacts and interactions of global change on plants as well as the impacts of plants on global change. The scope of the collection includes adaptation to single and interacting global change factors, perception of and signaling in response to global change factors, the biology of global change mitigation, agricultural impacts of global change impacts on plant biotic interactions, and plant mitigation in response to global change.
Calcium Signaling
The Calcium Signaling focus issue first appeared in October 2013. New content will be added until October 2015. This collection covers aspects of the role of Ca2+ in signaling in plants, including, but not limited to, theregulation of Ca2+ in the cytosol, the regulation and role of Ca2+ in organelles, dynamics of Ca2+ signals, mechanisms of generation of Ca2+ signals, downstream processing of Ca2+ signals by Ca2+ sensors, Ca2+ regulated processes (including gene expression and physiology), and information encoding in Ca2+ signals.
Water
The Water focus issue first appeared in April 2014. New content will be added until April 2016. This collection features articles on aspects of water relations in plants and includes, but is not limited to, the molecular and physiological mechanisms regulating the water status in crops; water and movement in cells, tissues, organs, and whole plants; how plants respond to water deficit or flooding; hydraulic signaling mechanisms; and the ecophysiology of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.
Plant Roots
The Plant Roots focus issue first appeared in October 2014. New content will be added until October 2016. This collection covers recent advances that have challenged thinking about the root and its development plasticity in ways that could not have been predicted even a decade ago. It features articles that speak to our understanding of roots, including but not limited to nutrient uptake processes, their relationship to root structure and development, tissue differentiation and morphogenesis, and the rhizosphere.
Weed Control
The Weed Control focus issue first appeared in November 2014. New content will be added until November 2016. This collection features articles on the state of the art on herbicides, as well as the exploration of new technologies, such as the application of “omics” and chemical genetics. This collection will include fresh looks at basic research now needed to promote further innovation in this important branch of plant relational science, which underpins sustainable intensification in crop production.
Chromatin and Epigenetics
The Chromatin and Epigenetics focus issue first appeared in August 2015. New content will be added until August 2017. This collection focuses on the emerging relationship between epigenetics and phenotypic variation and the role of chromatin in plant-environment interactions. This collection showcases articles on topics including chromatin modification and remodeling, nucleosome positioning, small RNAs, cell fate, transcriptional responsiveness, acclimation, and genetic inheritance.
Ethylene
The Ethylene focus issue first appeared in September 2015. New content will be added until September 2017. This collection includes all aspects of ethylene as a plant signaling molecule. Topics include, but are not limited to, the mechanisms of ethylene biosynthesis and signaling, the role of ethylene in plant growth and development, and how ethylene mediates interactions and responses of the plant to its biotic and abiotic environment.
Metabolism
The Metabolism focus issue first appeared in November 2015. New content will be added until November 2017. This collection includes advances in next generation sequencing, gene and genome engineering, and sampling. Topics include advances in state-of-the-art approaches in plant metabolic pathways and interactions from the molecule to the whole-plant level, and the evolution of those processes. Special attention will be paid to emerging technologies and advances that promise to accelerate our understanding of metabolims.
Reactive Oxygen Species 2016
The Reactive Oxygen Species focus issue first appeared in July 2016. This collection includes novel methods such as subcellular ROS/redox imaging and redox proteomic methods, including the detection of sulfenylated and glutathanionylated proteins. Topics include updates on ROS/redox network function, its kinetic and spatial specificity, its targeted processes in metabolism, and its role in acclimation and development.
Ecophysiology
The Ecophysiology focus issue first appeared in October 2016. New content will be added until October 2018. This collection encompasses responses to biotic and/or abiotic stress under field and laborator conditions, whether at the cell, organ, or whole-plant scale. Studies that set molecular physiology in an ecological context, and research that provides a basis for scaling root- and shoot-level responses to canopy, ecosystem, and region for crops or natural vegetation, are included.
Flowering and Reproduction
The Flowering and Reproduction focus issue first appeared in January 2017. New content will be added until January 2019. This collection includes processes from flowering to fertilization, and embryo and seed development. Research articles on topics ranging from control of flowering time to processes underlying various reproductive strategies are included.

Stomata
Stomata Focus Collection 2017