A weekly plant science research roundup curated and summarized by our Plantae Editors and Fellows
Plants. When we read this word, what comes to mind might be a rose, a tomato plant, or an oak tree. But plants belong to a green lineage that is far more diverse than what we encounter in daily life. This lineage also includes unicellular green algae. The evolution of the green lineage spans over a billion…
During meiosis, the cell division process that generates four distinct gametes, chromosomes exchange genetic material during homologous recombination. Homologous recombination is a complex process that…
Protein domains lacking a rigid structure, known as Intrinsically Disordered Regions (IDRs), play important roles in many cellular processes, including protein quality control, protein-protein interactions,…
Large, A-type starch granules are desirable for nutritional and industrial purposes due to their gelatinization properties. However, the average wheat starch granule is small (less than 30 µm) compared…
The Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia-0 (Col-0) accession is often treated as a standard reference genotype shared by plant researchers worldwide. However, a new study by Tadros et al. shows that decades of…
Green leaves are essential for photosynthesis and crop productivity, but the genes that maintain normal leaf development can also influence other aspects of plant growth. In this study, Wang et al. investigated…
For successful fertilization, sperm must reach the egg. Most land plants deliver non-motile sperm through a pollen tube. However, the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha retains the ancestral form of fertilization,…
Root nodules are specialized organs that house nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria. Previously, bulk tissue transcriptomics suggested that root nodules and lateral roots share most transcriptional programs…
The interactions between different types of plants, pests, and the predators that hunt them shape the health of entire landscapes, but it has been hard to predict what happens when you mix more plant species…
A lichen is a unique composite organism formed through close interactions between a filamentous fungus (mycobiont) and its photosynthetic partners [algae and/ or cyanobacteria, referred together as photobiont(s)].…
Plant breeders have long relied on genetic markers to predict how crops will perform, but many important traits such as yield, flowering time, and stress responses are shaped by complex interactions between…
How do plants decide where to invest their resources when nutrients and energy are limited? A new study highlights trehalose-6-phosphate (Tre6P), a key sugar-status signal, as a critical coordinator. Previous…
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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