Recent Posts

Mapping the Routes of Systemic Signaling in Arabidopsis

Zandalinas et al. identify the plant tissues that mediate systemic reactive oxygen signaling in response to high-light stress in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00453 By Sara I Zandalinas and Ron Mittler University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA  Background: Plants constantly…

Post-transcriptional regulation of nutrient transporters

Author: Stefanie Wege ORCID: 0000-0002-7232-5889 stefanie.wege@adelaide.edu.au Affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, PRC, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond 5064, South Australia, Australia   Most…

Stem diameter fluctuations provide a new window into plant water status and function

Author: Robert Skelton rskelton@saeon.ac.za Affiliation: South African Environmental Observation Network, Private Bag X7, Claremont, 7735, South Africa Knowledge of the spatio-temporal dynamics of water storage in plant stems is fundamental to understanding plant physiological function under…

Translational regulation of PHOSPHATE 1 affects shoot phosphate levels and biomass

Eva Hellmann, The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, CB2 1LR Cambridge, United Kingdom eva.hellmann@slcu.cam.ac.uk Phosphorus (P) is an essential plant nutrient and makes up part of membranes, DNA and RNA; it also serves as energy currency in the form of ATP cycling. It is involved…

An Alternative Route for Astaxanthin Biosynthesis in Green Algae

Tianhu Sun ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2513-1387 Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 ts753@cornell.edu Astaxanthin is the reddish carotenoid pigment that gives color to shrimp, salmon, and flamingo. However, these animals…

Tomatoes turn pale in the heat: high temperature reduces red and green pigmentation via phytochromes

The gardeners among us know that direct sunlight is a prerequisite to obtain full-sized, bright red tomato  (Solanum lycopersicum) fruits. Indeed, light increases the accumulation of yellow and red carotenoid pigments, particularly lycopene, in ripe tomato fruits while it also boosts chlorophyll levels…

Hydration-dependent phase separation of a prion-like protein regulates seed germination during water stress (bioRxiv)

Plant seeds can remain dormant for several years under stress conditions and subsequently germinate once favorable conditions return. Even though this phenomenon has been known for many years, what keeps the seed from germinating during the unfavorable conditions, especially during water deficit conditions,…

Feasting While Fasting: How Autophagy Helps Maize Survive Carbon Starvation

Most macro-molecular components of plant cells (e.g., proteins, lipids, and even entire organelles) are subject to an ongoing process of recycling to both rejuvenate aging structures and optimize the allocation of cellular nutrients. A major recycling route is autophagy, which occurs under normal conditions…

Cold, but not freezing: the ICE-L genome ($) (Current Biology)

When sea water freezes, it forms not a solid mass of ice, but rather a frozen matrix criss-crossed by tiny brine-filled channels. It is within these brine channels in the Antarctic sea ice that the psychrophilic (cold-loving) green alga ICE-L lives. How is it able to thrive in such a seemingly hostile…