Recent Posts

Review: Red macroalgae in the genomic era

I highly recommend this excellent and accessible article by Borg et al. that provides an overview of the red macroalgae, which “may have been the first eukaryotic lineage to have evolved complex multicellularity”. It’s full of fascinating information: although 97% of red algal species are marine,…

Plant Physiology Focus Issue: Plant Cell Polarity

The September issue of Plant Physiology has a focus on plant cell polarity, which plays a pivotal role in the fundamental processes that dictate plant growth, development, and adaptation. By establishing distinct regions within cells, plant cell polarity is crucial for regulating asymmetric cell divisions,…

Focus Issue: Biomolecular Condensates

Although The Plant Cell Focus Issue on Biomolecular Condensates officially comes out in September, due to the idiosyncrasies of publishing many of the articles are already available online, and I’m highlighting them now because this topic is also the focus of a plenary session at the Plant Biology…

Perspective: Multiple mechanism behind plant bending

Bending or folding in plants is influenced by different factors such as environmental conditions (nutrient, water, light, gravity), abiotic or biotic stress, cell wall properties, and cell differential growth. Jonsson et al. explain how bending is achieved by considering molecular mechanisms, mathematical…
Manuel and his grandfather, Antonio Mora who continues to farm and tend his crops every day, except for Sundays which he reserves for family and church. This image was taken during a hike we shared in Santiago Tangamandapio Michoacan during December 2019, where he took Manuel to share the site and tree where his own grandfather passed.

URM Plant Scientist Highlights - Manuel Mora (he/him)

Manuel Mora (he/him) is a doctoral student in the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Developmental Program (MBIDP)  at UCLA. Born in Santa Ana, CA, Manuel was raised between California and the town of Santiago Tangamandapio in Michoacan, Mexico. Growing up he enjoyed playing soccer, but when living…

Mechanical shielding in plant nuclei (Curr. Biol.)

The nucleus is an organelle with tremendous shape flexibility in response to environmental cues; it has been described as the “plastic, elastic, and fantastic” organelle. The change in nuclear geometry based on mechanical stress is well documented from single cell studies in culture, but the question…

Evolution of tetraploid meiosis (PNAS)

Genome duplications are common in plants and thought to be an important contributor to evolutionary innovations, but the increase in ploidy that results from a genome duplication also presents challenges for reproduction. Because there are four sets of homologous chromosomes in the derived tetraploid…

Unlocking interspecies grafting (bioRxiv)

Plant grafting is an agricultural technique that joins plant tissues (e.g., the shoot and root) to confer beneficial traits from one plant to another. Although interfamily grafting is difficult in general, Notaguchi et al. found that Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb) has a strong potential to graft with phylogenetically…

Review. Small RNAs and extracellular vesicles: New mechanisms of cross-species communication and innovative tools for disease control (PLOS Pathogens)

We have only recently begun to appreciate the phenomenon of cross-species or cross-kingdom small RNA transfer, and its applications. Using examples from plants and animals, Cai et al. summarize how some pathogens have evolved the capacity to introduce small RNAs into their host to suppress host defense…

Auxin Function in a Brown Alga


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Auxin controls body plan patterning in land plants and it has been proposed to play a similar role in the development of brown algae (Phaeophyta) despite their distant evolutionary relationship with land plants. In flowering plants and many multicellular brown algae, the establishment of the apical-basal…

A New Nuclear Transporter

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Yamada and Goshisma identify a nuclear transporter that controls the position of the nucleus during cell growth in plants https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00038. Background: Transportation of cellular components to appropriate locations for their activity is a critical aspect of cell function. Microtubule…

Biogenesis of thylakoid assembly in 3D

During seedling greening, chloroplasts are formed from proplastids. Liang and Zhu et al. used a combination of 3D electron tomography of cryo-fixed Arabidopsis cotyledons at various times after illumination to track their development. The fine structure images, accompanied by transcriptomic analysis…

Turnover of Tonoplast Proteins

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By Rumen Ivanov and David G. Robinson Our knowledge of vacuole biogenesis and the transport of proteins to the vacuole has advanced consistently over the last 30 years. In meristematic cells, the tonoplast appears to develop directly out of the endoplasmic reticulum (Viotti et al., 2013). Once it is…

Maize Tassel Architecture

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Zhang et al. show that GIF1 regulates the determinacy of meristems and controls tassel architecture in maize. The Plant Cell (2018). https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00791 Background: Plant architecture results from a balance of indeterminate and determinate cell fates. Cells with indeterminate fates…

Meiotic Crossover Formation

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Kurzbauer et al. discover a role for the Fanconi anemia D2 plant homogue in promoting meiotic crossover formation. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00745 by Marie-Therese Kurzbauer and Peter Schlögelhofer Background: Meiosis is a specialized cell division and generates the basis for genetic diversity…

Letters: Auxin and vesicle traffic (Plant Physiol)

Three letters to Plant Physiology address the role of vesicles in auxin transport, discussing the evidence and conclusions from a recently published paper from three perspectives. Does auxin accumulate in endocytic vesicles? If so, how, and why? The Letters address both the methods used and the intrepetation…

Why and how plants make puzzle cells (eLIFE)

In proliferating tissues, plant cells start small and then expand to up to 100 times their original size. Sapala, Runions and collaborators studied the relationship between mechanical stress and shape to see if mechanical stress could affect the shape of epidermal cells. Simulations were run to see the…

HOW TO BUILD A SEAWEED

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Godfroy et al investigate basal cell fate determination in the brown alga Ectocarpus https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00440 BACKGROUND: Brown algae are multicellular photosynthetic marine organisms living on rocky shores across the globe and representing one of the most developmentally complex groups…

Keeping Walls on Track

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Schneider et al. explore how secondary cell walls are made. The Plant Cell 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00309 Background: Plant cells are surrounded by robust cell walls that function as dynamic extracellular skeletons and protect plants against their environment. The cell walls make up…

The ARM domain of ARMADILLO-REPEAT KINESIS 1 is not required for microtubule catastrophe but can negatively regulate NIMA-RELATED KINASE 6 in Arabidopsis thaliana

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ARMADILLO-REPEAT KINESIN 1 (ARK1) promotes microtubule disassembly and NIMA-RELATED KINASE 6 (NEK6) organizes microtubule arrays. Previous studies showed that NEK6 interacts with ARK1 through Armadillo-repeat (ARM) cargo domain. Eng et al. looked at two constructs: one which lacks ARM (ARK1▲ARM-GFP)…

Aquaporins facilitate hydrogen peroxide entry into guard cells to mediate ABA- and pathogen-triggered stomatal closure ($)

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Guard cells are crucial gatekeepers that control entry and exit of gases, water vapor, and pathogens. Rapid stomatal pore closure in response to pathogen perception or the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is supported by activation of the aquaporin (water channel) PIP2;1. Rodrigues et al. investigated the…

Rhamnose-containing cell wall polymers suppress helical plant growth independently of microtubule orientation

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Saffer et al. identified an Arabidpsis mutant with swirled petals and with petal epidermal cells that show a left-handed (but never right-handed) twist. They mapped the mutation to the RHAMNOSE BIOSYNTHESIS1 (RHM1) gene, which is most highly expressed in petal epidermal cells and encodes an enzyme that…

LAZY1 family contributes to gravity signaling within statocytes and branch angle control of roots and shoots

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It’s easy to demonstrate that plants sense gravity, and we also know that statocytes are involved in the perception of gravity. Statocytes are gravity-sensing cells that contain dense starch-containing amyloplasts that move within the cell in the direction of gravity. Differential growth to accommodate…

Division of labor during apical hook formation

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Soon after dicots germinate, the hypocotyl arches into a hook-like structure that protects the shoot apical meristem as the seedling grows through the soil. Once the seedling emerges from the ground and senses light, the hypocotyl straightens. The asymmetric growth that results in apical hook formation…