Molecular events marking the onset of berry ripening in grapevine (Plant Physiol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyDo you know the difference between a wine made from Pinot noir grapes and one made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes? Most people can taste a difference, but to really understand the wines you might want to go a bit deeper through metabolomic and transcriptomic approaches, as done by Fasoli et al. (in a…
Special issue: Orchestrating the proteome with post-translational modifications (J. Exp. Bot.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyI guess we're well past the stage of thinking "one gene - one protein", but even a single polypeptide isn't really one protein, due to the huge number of different types of post-translational modification (PTM) it can be subjected to. These are summarized in the illustration that accompanies the editorial…
Carboxysome encapsulation of the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco in tobacco chloroplasts (Nature Comms.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyOne of the fundamental challenges facing terrestrial plants occurs when CO2 levels are depleted at Rubisco, causing its inefficient oxygenase activity to dominate. Some plants minimize this problem by adding a carbon-fixing step upstream of Rubisco, and various algae and cyanobacteria sequester Rubisco…
Agrobacterium tumefaciens enhances biosynthesis of two distinct auxins in crown galls ($) (Plant Cell Physiol.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyKiyoshi et al. investigated auxin biosynthesis during the formation of crown galls by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Agrobacterium introduces into the plant T-DNA containing two auxin biosynthesis genes iaaM (TRYPTOPHAN-2-MONOOXYGENASE) and iaaH (INDOLE-3-ACETAMIDE HYDROLASE). The authors used LC-MS/MS to…
A rationally designed JAZ subtype-selective agonist of jasmonate perception (Nature Comms.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyMany plant hormones have pleiotropic effects, switching on and off multiple, seemingly unrelated processes. As an example, jasmonates both turn on herbivore defense responses and suppress growth. Takaoka et al. have elegantly separated these, by developing a jasmonate mimic that only activates defences.…
Metabolic Fate of Modified Nucleotides after RNA Turnover, an Overlooked Issue in RNA Modification
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellChen et al. reveal a multilayer molecular protection system functioning in Arabidopsis and human cells https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00236
By Mingjia Chen and Claus-Peter Witte
Background: RNA possesses over 100 distinct posttranscriptional modifications in eukaryotic species. N6-methyladenosine…
Old Gene, New Function
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellXie et al. discover an EPSP synthase gene involved in the transcriptional regulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway in Populus trichocarpa The Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00168.
By Meng Xie, Wellington Mechuro, Jin-Gui Chen, and Gerald A. Tuskan
Background: 5-enolpyruvylshikimate…
Newly Discovered Abscisic Acid Transporter in Rice
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellYao et al. found that OsPM1 can move the plant hormone abscisic acid into rice cells. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00770.
By Lingya Yao and Xiaochun Ge
Background: Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important plant hormone that regulates plant seed dormancy and stress responses, especially drought responses.…
Understanding ER Stress in Maize
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellBackground: Maize is one of the world’s leading crops that is used for food, feed, and fuel. Maize is vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions that lead to production losses. Such conditions can upset delicate cellular processes in maize cells such as protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum…