Recent Posts

Opinion. Feeling the heat: Searching for plant thermosensors (Trends Plant Sci)

How does a plant sense the elevation in atmospheric temperature? What are the missing links betweena rise in atmospheric temperature, its sensing, and responses triggered? Vu et al. discuss how conformational and structural changes of DNA, RNA and proteins could be the sensors to temperature change.…

Evolution of chloroplast retrograde signaling facilitates green plant adaptation to land (PNAS)

The evolution of signaling pathways in plants enabled the water to land transition, during which drought response was crucial for the adaptation to terrestrial habitats. Here, Zhao et al. reveal the role of drought- induced phosphoadenosine (PAP) in the regulation of abscisic acid (ABA) synthesis in…

Review: The metabolic response to drought (J Exp Bot) ($)

Understanding environmental stress in plants is undoubtedly important due to the consequences of climate change in crop productivity and survival of plants. Metabolomics based on liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS, GC-MS) allows an understanding of the metabolic…

Root xylem formation and vascular acclimation to water deficit involves endodermal ABA signaling via miR166 ($) (Development)

Abiotic stress influences plant development, with the phytohormone ABA playing an important role. Ramachandran et al. have demonstrated ABA mediated activation of microRNA 166, which regulates expression levels of the HD-ZIP III transcriptional factor family. Exogenously supplied ABA alters xylem patterning…

PILS6 is a temperature-sensitive regulator of nuclear auxin input and organ growth (PNAS)

Auxin, a plant hormone and major growth regulator, is fundamental for adaptations to climatic variation in shoots but its role in roots under elevated temperatures is more controversial. PIN-LIKES (PILS) 2, 3 and 5 proteins have previously been identified to restrict nuclear auxin signalling but the…

Leaf age dictates abiotic versus biotic stress signalling in Arabidopsis (PNAS)

Plants sense and respond to various external stimuli throughout their lifespan. During stress responses brought forth by abiotic or biotic factors, molecular and physiological adjustments mediated by distinct yet interconnected hormone pathways play critical roles in plant survival. Berens et al. investigate…

Auxin efflux carrier ZmPGP1 mediates root growth inhibition under aluminum stress (Plant Physiology)

Acid soils (pH < 5.5) mobilize aluminum (Al) in the rhizosphere, which damages the root meristem and hinders exploration for nutrients and water. Zhang et al. demonstrate that a mutation in ZmPGP1, an auxin transport protein, imparts enhanced root growth under toxic Al conditions. The enhanced root…

Hydrogen sulfide regulates energy production to delay leaf senescence induced by drought stress in Arabidopsis (Front Plant Sci)

Premature leaf senescence can occur due to a mutation of a L-cysteine desulfhydrase1 (DES1) gene that encodes an enzyme that produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a "gasotransmitter" with functions in plants as well as mammals. Jin et al. explored the physiological functions of H2S  in Arabidopsis. In addition…

A regulatory module controlling stress-induced cell cycle arrest in Arabidopsis (bioRxiv)

Progression of the cell cycle central to growth, but during stress conditions plants arrest cell cycle progression to enable the organism to survive. SUPPRESSOR OF GAMMA RESPONSE 1 (SOG1), a plant-specific NAC-type transcription factor, regulates the expression of almost all genes induced by double-strand…