Recent Posts

ABA Balances Plant Growth and Metabolism

Yoshida et al. investigate how the phytohormone ABA balances normal growth and metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00766. By Takuya Yoshida and Alisdair R. Fernie, Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie.   Background: Abscisic acid (ABA) is a plant hormone that…

Digital imaging combined with genome-wide association mapping links loci to plant-pathogen interaction traits (Plant Phys.)

Resistance to plant pathogens is often studied as a qualitative trait than quantitative, focusing on the lesion size and pathogen numbers. However, resistance to generalist plant pathogens, such as Botrytis cinerea, is known to involve multiple genes. Fordyce et al. used high-throughput phenotyping…

The xerobranching response represses lateral root formation when roots are not in contact with water (Curr. Biol. - $)

Roots navigate through the soil, foraging for water and nutrients. Orman-Ligeza et al. observed that lateral root development is repressed when the roots are growing through the soil air spaces. Exposure to water deficit induced transcriptome reprogramming in barley roots of genes involved in many hormone…

Complete substitution of a secondary cell wall with primary cell wall in Arabidopsis (Nature Plants - $)

Plant cell walls are important for terrestrial lifestyle, providing support and directing the plant growth. The primary and secondary cell walls differ in their chemical composition and flexibility. Secondary cell walls are less perceptive to industrial degradation processes and therefore pose problems…

FERONIA receptor kinase contributes to plant immunity by suppressing jasmonic acid signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana (Curr. Biol. - $)

Receptor-like kinase FERONIA plays important role in the regulation of plant growth as well as interactions with the environment. In order to understand how FER affects plant growth Guo et al. examined global transcriptome changes in fer mutant. The authors observed that genes up-regulated by stress…

Abscisic acid-independent stomatal CO2 signal transduction pathway and convergence of CO2 and ABA signaling downstream of OST1 kinase (PNAS - $)

The global increase in CO2 concentrations results in the reduced opening of the stomata. Although reduction in the stomatal opening in response to drought relies on abscisic acid (ABA), less is known about the mechanism controlling stomatal aperture in response to elevated CO2. Hsu et al. examined stomatal…

The Arabidopsis negative regulator of root hydraulics XND1 is involved in abiotic and biotic stress responses  (Nature Comm.)

Proper uptake and management of water is essential for plant growth and adaptation to stress. However, there are gaps in the understanding of the genetics of root hydraulics, including the regulatory components. Tang et al. used a genome-wide associate analysis approach to identify XYLEM NAC DOMAIN 1 (XND1),…

ABA-mediated regulation of stomatal density is OST1-independent (Plant Direct)

Stomata are not only important for CO2 uptake, but are also important in limiting water loss when the water availability is running low. Stress hormone ABA activates protein kinase OPEN STOMATA 1 (OST1) leading to opening of ion channels, water efflux and stomatal closure. Increased levels of ABA decrease…

Members of the Arabidopsis FORKED1-LIKE gene family act to localize PIN1 in developing veins (J Exp Bot.)

Vascular system is one of the adaptive features for terrestrial plants. Polar localization of PIN1 is essential for creating directional auxin flow, resulting in vein pattern formation. Mariyamma et al. propose that FORKED1 (FKD1) and its homologues control the PIN1 polar localization. The team identified…