Plant Science Research Weekly

A weekly plant science research roundup curated and summarized by our Plantae Editors and Fellows

RECENT SUMMARIES

September 18, 2020/by Carlos A. Ordóñez-Parra

Review: Trade‐off between seed dispersal in space and time (Ecol. Lett.)

Seeds can be dispersed in space (i.e., away from their mother plants) or time (i.e., delayed germination via seed dormancy or persistent soil seed banks). These contrasting strategies have traditionally been considered to increase reproductive success, but our understanding of their relationship is…

September 18, 2020/by Sunita Pathak

Review: Plant–microbiome interactions: from community assembly to plant health (Nat. Rev. Microbiol)

The association of plants with communities of beneficial microbes, called plant microbiota, has…

September 18, 2020/by Vijaya Batthula

A prion-like domain in ELF3 functions as a thermosensor in Arabidopsis (Nature)

As sessile organisms, sensing the external conditions is critical for plants to complete their life cycle…

September 18, 2020/by Michela Osnato

KIN10 promotes stomatal development through stabilization of the SPEECHLESS transcription factor (Nat. Commun.)

Plants communicate with the environment through stomata (i.e., pores found on leaf surfaces) and…

September 18, 2020/by Jesus Leon

Development and cell cycle dynamics of the root apical meristem in the fern Ceratopteris richardii (bioRxiv)

Roots are essential organs for nutrient and water uptake and have been extensively investigated in…

September 18, 2020/by Katy Dunning

Mini foxtail millet as a new C4 model species (Nat. Plants) ($)

The three most widely adopted plant models all use C3 photosynthesis, but discoveries made in these…

September 18, 2020/by Daniela Ramos

Cuscuta australis (dodder) parasite eavesdrops on the host plants’ FT signals to flower (PNAS)

Plants sense environmental cues, such as day length, to induce flowering and successfully reproduce.…

September 11, 2020/by Jesus Leon

Review. Roles of plant retinoblastoma protein: cell cycle and beyond (EMBO J.)

The cell cycle is at the heart of processes such as cell division, fate acquisition and cell cycle exit…

September 11, 2020/by Mary Williams

Letter. Planting equity: Using what we know to cultivate growth as a plant biology community (Plant Cell)

COVID-19 has derailed everyone’s lives and plans; 2020 is truly an “annus horribilis.” Yet clearly…

September 11, 2020/by Elisa Dell'Aglio

The vitamin B1 family grows: detection and roles of thiamine triphosphate in plants (Plant Direct)

The term “vitamin B1” indicates a family of molecules that includes thiamine, thiamine monophosphate…

September 11, 2020/by Tatsuya Nobori

Real time quantitative imaging of transcriptional activity at the single cell level (bioRxiv)

How plants transcriptionally operate developmental programs and responses to stress in time and space…

September 11, 2020/by Vijaya Batthula

Single nucleus analysis of Arabidopsis seeds reveals new cell types and imprinting dynamics (bioRxiv)

Arabidopsis seeds consist of various tissue like seed coat, embryo, and endosperm. The endosperm provides…

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Each week, the Plantae editors select new plant science research articles to highlight. The short summaries describe the question addressed and key findings, with links to the article. Suggestions? Join/Sign-in to the community to participate in the discussion.

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Mary Williams, Editor

As Plantae Editor, Mary works tirelessly to ensure that our team is creating interesting and valuable content for the community. Mary pursued a traditional academic path (BS in Biochemistry at Berkeley, Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology at Rockefeller, Postdoc in Plant Science at Berkeley); her research focused on transcriptional regulation, root development, and phosphoinositide signaling.

Ideas? Sign-in to Plantae, then you can connect with Mary and send her a direct message.