A weekly plant science research roundup curated and summarized by our Plantae Editors and Fellows
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of the first genome sequence of a plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, (see https://doi.org/10.1038/35048692). As this review by Bevan et al. observes, this exciting accomplishment was met with some skepticism by those who felt that it was not likely to…
Most food crops are relatively intolerant to soil salinity, yet globally soils are becoming increasingly salinized. This excellent review by Raza et al. pulls together the myriad approaches that are being…
Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) constitute a large family of membrane-bound proteins in plants. The Arabidopsis genome encodes over 600 RLKs, while the rice genome contains more than 1,000. RLKs are best…
Mycorrhizal symbiosis is widespread in nature, occurring in approximately 90% of terrestrial plant species, and played a crucial role in enabling plant colonization of land over 450 million years ago.…
Plant metabolism varies substantially between developmental stages, cell types, and intracellular environments. Similarly, biochemical responses to abiotic stress often deviate between neighboring cell…
Stochasticity is an important feature of genes, allowing for variability in their abundance and activity prior to ‘fine-tuning’ at later periods of development. Kong et al. describe this feature in…
Plants are immobile and their cells are contained within cell walls, yet they demonstrate vast post-embryonic developmental plasticity. Evidence shows that the fate of the cell is likely determined by…
As rice has expanded northwards from its center of origin, it has been exposed to deeper and longer periods of cold. Male fertility is particularly sensitive to cold. Song et al. designed a clever strategy…
Legume plants are renowned for their ability to form symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria (rhizobia) in specialized root tissues called nodules. This symbiosis enables the conversion of…
At the height of the Covid pandemic, epidemiologists carried out mass sequencing of the circulating virus populations to track their movements and the emergence of new variants. Such molecular epidemiological…
The May 2025 issue of The Plant Cell has a focus on Arabidopsis and how this simple model plant has had an outsized impact on our understanding of pretty much everything botanical (and beyond). Alongside…
Plant biologists are critical players in the pursuit of crop enhancement and other real-world solutions to today’s pressing problems, yet few of us know how to translate our research into tangible economic…
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.
