Recent Posts

A Central Role for Genetics in Plant Biology (Annu. Rev. Plant Biol.)

Plant biology as a field of study encompasses a rich plethora of subjects, some of which themselves are their own fields. Maarten Koornneef, in this memoir-style article, describes how genetics in particular shaped his career that saw the rise of Arabidopsis as the lovable poster child of plant biology…

Maternal control of seed size through the ovule

Li et al. investigate how Arabidopsis seed size is controlled by maternal tissues. By Ying Ju Li, Yang Yu and Ying Hua Su, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Shandong, China  Background: Seed size is determined by the coordinated development…

ATM safeguards Arabidopsis meiosis

Kurzbauer and colleagues combine genetic, genomic and cytological analyses to reveal the role of ATM during Arabidopsis meiosis.  By Marie-Therese Kurzbauer and Peter Schlögelhofer, Department of Chromosome Biology, Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, Vienna BioCenter Background: ATM is…

Dissection of cell-type-specific chromatin access

Tian et al. Background: Flowering time plays an important role in plant reproductive success. In the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, several flowering time pathways adjust flowering time in response to day length), hormones, and temperature (i.e. vernalization a period of cold). During photoperiodic…

Gene Expression Map of the Arabidopsis Stem

Shi et al. provide a high-resolution gene expression map of the Arabidopsis stem. The Plant Cell (2021) http://bit.ly/3pgWm4G  By Dongbo Shi and Thomas Greb  Bckground: Multicellular organisms are usually built of numerous different tissues with very special functions. These functions depend…

Single nucleus analysis of Arabidopsis seeds reveals new cell types and imprinting dynamics (bioRxiv)

Arabidopsis seeds consist of various tissue like seed coat, embryo, and endosperm. The endosperm provides the nutrient supplies to the growing embryo and has three domains namely, micropylar (surrounding embryo), chalazal (opposite end of the seed), and peripheral (in between micropylar and chalazal)…

In the Cold of the Night: how COR27 Regulates HY5 Activity and Integrates Light and Circadian Signals

Zhu et al. discover that the COR27 protein interacts with the central regulators of light-mediated development COP1 and HY5 and plays a critical role in hypocotyl elongation. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00192 By Wei Zhu (Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China)…

SPLICEd in the Seeds: Integration of ABA and Light Signaling in Arabidopsis

Dhineshkumar Thiruppathi 1,2  ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2018-3356 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis, Missouri 63132 1Author for contact: dthiruppathi@danforthcenter.org 2Lead author Plant development and adjustment to the environment require not only tight regulation of core…

Structural basis of salicylic acid perception by Arabidopsis NPR proteins (Nature) ($)

Salicylic acid (SA) is a critical hormone in plant-pathogen responses. The main receptors of this hormonal signal are a small family of NPR proteins (NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES). Although NPR1 is a positive regulator of defense signaling, NPR3 and NPR4 serve as negative regulators; they…