Tag: Biotic Interactions

Plant nutrient use efficiency (NUE) has become a major concern in recent years as farmers and scientists strive to make agriculture more sustainable. To this end, the manipulation of plant-microbe interactions holds great potential. In this short review, Griffin et al. highlight recent findings, focusing…

Host plants recognize diverse bacterial epitopes, known as microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), and respond with an immune reaction to control bacterial growth. However, most studies have focused on single bacterial epitopes, limiting our understanding of plant-bacteria interaction outcomes…

Phytoplasmas are bacterial pathogens that induce significant morphological changes in a host plant including prominent leaf yellowing. They are known to be transmitted by piercing-sucking insects or phloem-feeding arthropods. Phytoplasmas alter plant developmental process through specific effectors.…

Many animals such as corals and sea slugs host photosynthetic symbionts. Several studies have investigated how the host and symbiont coordinate their activities. This new study by Sarfati et al. explores how symbiotic green algae and their animal host, the flattened-worm Convolutriloba longifissura,…

In recent years, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) techniques have revolutionized plant biology by enabling the identification of novel cell types, modeling developmental trajectories, and analyzing transcriptional activity at the cellular level. However,…

A review of the past 50 years of plant immunity by Jones, Staskawicz, and Dangl? Yes please! I particularly enjoy historical perspectives of a discipline, as they frame conceptual breakthroughs with the benefit of hindsight. As the article lays out, understanding the plant immune system benefitted greatly…

Plants possess a fascinating ability to communicate with each other through a complex system of chemical signals. Aboveground, they use airborne volatile signals to attract predatory insects, prime defenses in neighbors, facilitate nutrient transfer, and promote plant interactions. However, less is known…

Coale et al. provide an exciting peek into the evolution of a nitrogen-fixing organelle (called a nitroplast) in their studies of a tiny marine alga, Braarudosphaera bigelowii and its endosymbiont cyanobacterium, Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa (UCYN-A). Plant biologists are familiar with…