Recent Posts

Bridging the Gap Between Pathogen Detection and Defense Activation

Bi et al. provide a link between immune receptors and MAPK cascades. Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00981.   By G. Bi and J.-M. Zhou Background: Plants use numerous immune receptors localized at the cell surface to detect invading pathogens. These receptors send a warning signal…

Sorbitol Modulates Apple Resistance to Alternaria

Meng et al. show that sorbitol acts as a signal regulating resistance to the fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata in apple.Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00231 By Dong Meng, B. Gillian Turgeon and Lailiang Cheng Background: Sugars produced by photosynthesis fuel plant growth and development,…

Evolution of Gene Regulation During Domestication

Liu, et al. examine how wound response and its control mechanism differs between domesticated and wild tomato. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00194. By Ming-Jung Liu and Shin-­Han Shiu Background: Two related species accumulate differences between each other over time. If one of the…

Nitrogen-fixing corn slime? A Mexican maize landrace supports nitrogen-fixing microbiota in aerial root mucilage

Plants engage in intimate interactions with symbiotic microbes for the mutually beneficial exchange of nutrients. In a keystone study published in PLoS Biology, Van Deyze et al. (2018) describe the presence of nitrogen-fixing microbiota contained within an extensively carbohydrate rich mucilage found…

Autophagy During Viral Infection: Viruses Fight Back!

Yang et al. investigate the role of autophagy in the ongoing arms race of plant defense and viral counterdefense. The Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00122 By Meng Yang and Dawei Li Background: Most plants have defense mechanisms that enable resistance to pathogens. One of theses is…

Defense or Disease: It’s a Matter of Timing

Mine et al. use RNA-seq to study RPS2-mediated bacterial resistance https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00970 By Akira Mine, Carolin Seyfferth and Kenichi Tsuda Background: To fight against pathogens, plants can detect enemies and transduce the signal to reprogram gene expression in the cell as a defense…

Long-Days Enhance Jasmonic Acid-Related Plant Defense 


Depending on the species, daylength profoundly affects the timing of key developmental transitions in plants, including, floral initiation, tuberization, and bud set and growth cessation in trees. To explore additional effects of daylength on plant function, Cagnola et al. (10.1104/pp.18.00443) investigated…

NO2 Enhances Pathogen Resistance

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) forms in plants under stress conditions, but little is known about its 
physiological functions. Using a variety of techniques, Mayer et al. (10.1104/pp.18.00704) have examined the effects of fumigating Arabidopsis with 10 ppm NO2 for 1 h, a treatment that does not cause 
visible…

The fate of scent in insect- vs. wind-pollinated flowers ($) (Ann. Bot)

Flower traits (mainly flower colour, position, shape, size, reward and scent) in present-day plants are the result of past selection pressures. Among these traits, scent is a crucial component mediating pollinator attraction, and is often greatly reduced in abiotic-pollinated plants. Wang et al. characterize…