Tag: Abiotic Interactions

Plant Science Research Weekly: February 14 February 14, 2020/in Blog, WWR Full Post /by Mary Williams Review: Deep learning for plant genomics and crop improvement One of the goals of plant science is to use the molecular phenotype (genome, transcriptome, proteome) to predict the…

Plants have strategies to cool themselves when the temperature is hot. These include increasing their rate of transpirational cooling through stomatal opening and raising their leaves, which can enhance air flow. Previous studies have shown a role for the heat shock proteins (HSPs) and their cochaperone…

Urban gardens are a great way to introduce people to plant science, to bring fresh food into areas underserved by grocery stores (“food deserts”), and can promote a sense of community. But as Cooper et al. observe, many potential sites can be contaminated with heavy metals (lead, cadmium) and metalloids…

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…