Tag: Abiotic Interactions

Light and temperature are two major factors affecting plants’ growth. Jiang et al. discovered a circuit (EBF1/2-PIF3-CBF) that integrates light and freezing tolerance by integrating EBF1/2 (EIN3-BINDING F-BOX 1/2), PIF3 (PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 3) and CBF (C-REPEAT BINDING FACTOR). In light,…

Root cortical senescence (RCS) is a type of programmed cell death found in the Triticeae tribe. RCS is unrelated to the formation of root cortical aerenchyma or the loss of the root cortex due to secondary growth in dicots. Conceivably RCS may benefit the plant by reducing maintenance respiration in…

Chilling to 4° induces cell death in a subset of cells at the Arabidopsis root tip, the CSCDs (columella stem cell daughters, located just distal to the quiescent center). Hong et al. show that this cell death is dependent on cell division and that it is an active, programmed response. Blocking this…

Kim et al. explored the molecular basis for the drought tolerance previously observed for mutants of histone deacetylase HDA6. They observed that genes involved in acetate production are upregulated in hda6 mutants and in drought-stressed plants. Furthermore, acetate biosynthesis mutants are more sensitive…

By Fulton E. Rockwell, and N. Michele Holbrook The structure of leaf vasculature viewed over a broad phylogenetic scale from lycophytes to eudicots correlates with stomatal conductance (gs), providing the basis for the hypothesis that increasing vein density drove the evolution of high fluxes in angiosperms.…

Water deficit (WD) is one of the main environmental stress factors affecting crops and global food security. Acclimation to WD, however, enables plants to maintain growth under unfavorable environmental conditions. To shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying WD acclimation, Rymaszewski et al.…

This study by Ramamoorthy et al. showed that survival of plants under drought conditions is not a sufficient goal for breeding. Rather,  yield for biomass and food production under water deficit is a better target. Chickpea genotypes having better root growth and higher root density showed better grain…

An experimental study by Tomeo and Rosenthal with soybean cultivars  demonstrated that there exists genotypic differences in mesophyll conductance (gm),  and that the potential exploitation of this trait may increase crop productivity. It was found that there exists a proper coordination mechanism…