A weekly plant science research roundup curated and summarized by our Plantae Editors and Fellows
This is such an engaging and though-provoking review article. I’d love to ask a group of students to think about what makes a tree a tree, including such questions as: How do we define trees? Do woody plants share a single origin? How many angiosperms are woody? The answer to those questions and more…
Photosynthetic organisms were long believed to only use visible light for energy capture, until the discovery of far-red photosynthesis challenged this view. Far-red photosynthesis is thought to be enabled…
I expect we’ve all been captivated by images of the beautiful spiral chloroplasts in the Spirogyra genus of filamentous algae, and who could forget that name? A new paper by Goldbecker et al. presents…
Phosphorus (P) is one of the indispensable macronutrients that fuel plant growth and development. However, most soil P is locked in insoluble complexes with heavy metals, making it largely inaccessible…
A recent study by Pi et al. decoded previously unknown mechanism through which a virus manipulates the plant defense pathway for successful infection. Focusing on the interaction between barley and the…
Salicylic acid (SA) is best known as a central hormone orchestrating plant immune response, including the hypersensitive reaction and systemic acquired resistance. Beyond defense, SA also influences plant…
Through their roots, plants live in close association with many soil microorganisms, including fungi and bacteria that help them grow. Beneficial fungi help plants cope with stress, and in return, the…
Plants depend on innate immune systems to recognize microbial invaders or damages that signal danger. This discrimination must be extremely precise: they must welcome beneficial microbes that support nutrient…
If you’ve ever looked closely at a tomato flower, you might have noticed that its anthers cluster together in the center of the flower, making the pollen inaccessible to most insects. Tomato flowers…
The urgent need to support and sustain plant research is indisputable, but sometimes plant education, the foundation upon which research rests, doesn’t get the same support. In January 2025, a group…
This is an interesting and engaging review article, written by a team from Bayer US Crop Science, on how mutations (broadly defined) have benefited plant domestication and breeding. While it briefly covers…
This review by Somssich et al., part of a forthcoming Focus Collection on Metabolites, provides an overview of the chemical arsenal of defense compounds in plants. Playfully titled “Guns in Rosettes”,…
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.
