Plant Science Research Weekly

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

RECENT SUMMARIES

December 1, 2023/by Mary Williams

Review: Paternal imprinting in Marchantia polymorpha

Humans and flowering plants spend most of their lives in a diploid state with two copies of each chromosome in most cells, but to reproduce they produce haploid gametes through meiosis. By contrast, bryophytes (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses), spend most of their lives in the haploid state. They produce…

December 1, 2023/by Xiaohui Li

Review: The exocyst complex is targeted by pathogen effectors

The exocyst complex is a conserved octameric protein complex in eukaryotic cells. Its primary function…

December 1, 2023/by Indrani Baruah

Review: CLAVATA signaling in plant-environment interactions

CLAVATA 3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION-related (CLE) peptides and CLAVATA type receptors have been well…

December 1, 2023/by Rose McNelly

Review: Increasing yields of barley and wheat through inflorescence architecture

The Triticeae is an important tribe of crops that contains both barley and wheat. As the global population…

December 1, 2023/by Xiaohui Li

RALF4 prevents pollen tubes from growing crazy

Pollen tubes are characterized by extremely fast elongation growth. Previously, small peptides known…

December 1, 2023/by Mary Williams

Lateral root branching promoted by ammonia borane-dependent H2

Molecular hydrogen (H2) has been shown to have several cellular benefits, most notably serving as an…

December 1, 2023/by Mary Williams

Evolution of the thermostability of actin-depolymerizing factors enhances pollen germination at high temperature

In angiosperms, pollen germination leads to a period of extensive polarized growth of the pollen tube,…

December 1, 2023/by Rose McNelly

Subsidiary cells mediate stomatal closure in maize

Stomata are pores on leaves which enable gas exchange. In grasses, stomata are surrounded by dumbbell-shaped…

December 1, 2023/by Arpita Yadav

Ferns unleashed: Novel insecticidal proteins IPD113 challenge Bt resistance

Insect pests pose a significant threat to global crop production, with lepidopteran species like corn…

December 1, 2023/by Mary Williams

Graduate student mentorship as a target for diversifying biology

The quality of student-advisor relationships is one of the top predictors of research progress and sense…

November 10, 2023/by Mary Williams

Review: Till death do us pair: Co-evolution of plant–necrotroph interactions

This interesting and well-written review by Derbyshire and Raffaele takes a step back from the molecular…

November 10, 2023/by Mary Williams

Spotlight: Super-pangenomes for improved breeding

Sometimes more really is better, and I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to genomic information,…

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ABOUT

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.

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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.