Review: Jasmonate signalling in carnivorous plants: Copycat of plant defence mechanisms (J Exp Bot)
Plant Science Research WeeklyCarnivorous plants are one of the easiest ways to demonstrate to children that “plants are cool too”. In their new review, Pavlovič and Mithöfer show that carnivorous plants can also be a gateway to introduce the subject of how plants defend themselves against herbivory, by drawing links between…
Review: Exchanges at the plant-oomycete interface that influence disease (Plant Physiol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThis is a great review by Judelson and Ah-Fong on the diverse signals that occur between plants and their oomycete pathogens. The authors start by describing the life- and infectivity-cycles of disease-causing oomycetes, including the familiar plant pathogens, "aggressive" Pythium and "stealthy" Phytophthora.…
Pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield (Nature Comms)
Plant Science Research WeeklyInsects provide a valuable service to the agricultural industry through pollination, which increases both the quality and harvest volume for many important food crops, however little is known regarding the role of insect functional trait differences in promoting crop pollination. Woodcock et al. tested…
Pollinators and herbivores boost the evolution of floral traits ($) Science
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe characteristics of flowers, including morphology, color, nectar and fragrance, are closely related to their pollination methods. To attract pollinators, plants often produce large, colorful, or fragrant flowers. Increasing evidence has indicated that herbivorous feeding activity also affects flower…
Review: The plant immune system in heterogeneous environments (Curr Opin Plant Bio)
Plant Science Research WeeklyNobori and Tsuda review how the plant immune system is able to function in heterogeneous environments through its properties of resilience, tunability and balance. They define a resilient system as one where “output remains stable even when part of the system is disabled.” Abiotic factors such as…
Detection and stealth at the wall: glycosidases and glycans in flagellin peptide recognition ($) (Science)
Plant Science Research WeeklyBacterial flagellin is a well-known microbial pattern that triggers plant immune responses. Flagellin is a glycosylated protein polymer. The immunogenic domain is buried within the protein structure as well as beneath a glycan layer. Buscaill et al. set out to identify how this immunogenic elicitor is…
Plant Physiology Focus issue on biotic stress
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe April 2019 issue of Plant Physiology includes a set of papers addressing biotic interactions between plant and pathogens or pests. As the editors indicate, progress on this topic has been rapid and significant. Key topics explored in reviews and research articles include: the roles of plant hormones,…
Antagonistic responses to ‘symbiotic’ AM fungi in the non-host Arabidopsis thaliana ($) (New Phytol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyA strikingly vast array of phylogenetically distant plants are able to form intimate interactions with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi for the mutually beneficial exchange of nutrients. Several years of intensive research have revealed the complex regulatory networks and genetic ‘toolkits’…
Retargeting of a plant defense protease by a cyst nematode effector ($) (Plant J)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe nematode infection process in plants involves secreted effector proteins that suppress the host defense mechanisms. However, the molecular interactions in which this is done is yet unclear. Here, Pogorelko et al. characterize the function of 4E02, an effector from the cyst nematode H. schachtii,…