Tag: Abiotic Interactions

Water and nutrient availability are a major limiting factors for plant productivity. Plant have evolved a series of complex adaptive features that help them to survive in the hostile environment. Upregulation of lignin biosynthetic genes in roots under salt and water stress have been reported in some…

Nagashima et al. investigate molecular mechanisms for the sorting of a membrane protein KORRIGAN 1 (KOR1) in plant cells. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00714 By Y. Nagashima1, and H. Koiwa1,2 1Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center and Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas…

ABA enhances stomatal closure and so decreases transpiration. Several studies have shown that increasing ABA levels can increase water-use efficiency, so this strategy has been investigated with the goal of obtaining “more crop per drop”. Lamarque et al. investigated physiological and hydraulic effects…

Much of our understanding of abiotic stress response comes from studies on short-lived annual plants, for good reasons: they are small and easy to study, their short-generation time makes them amenable to genetic studies, and most of our food comes from annual plants. Trees are more difficult to study,…

Reading this review by Diaz et al. feels a bit like reading a bad report card. Although we know we’re failing in our role as Earth’s stewards, we don’t always want to be reminded of this. But, in this case we need to read and act on the suggestions for improvement. The authors review the findings…

COP9 signalosome (CSN) is a conserved multi-subunit complex in higher eukaryotes that was originally identified as a regulator of plant photomorphogenesis. It functions by regulating ubiquitin-mediated protein stability, through the deneddylase enzymatic acitivity of the CSN5 subunit. CSN5 is encoded…

With global temperatures rising, tolerance to heat is becoming increasingly important as a breeding target for crop plants, but it is a highly complex response that includes processes including plant cooling capacity, growth recovery, and maintenance of photosynthesis. Using Arabidopsis, Gao et al. developed…

Although the first signaling peptide identified in plants, systemin, is involved in stress responses, developmentally important peptide signals have largely occupied the limelight. This Tansley Review by Chen et al. summarizes recent insights into peptides with a role in stress responses: wounding, pathogen…