The Phytophthora RXLR effector AVR3a12 suppresses ER-mediated plant immunity (Mol. Plant)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe pathogenic oomycete Phytophthora capsici secretes RXLR effector proteins into plant cells to subvert host cell machinery and facilitate disease. Several RXLR effector proteins have been characterized to date, however, Phytophthora species encode a vast array of effector molecules that likely target…
Nuclear Positioning Requires a Tug-of-War Between Kinesin Motors
Blog, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In BriefThe microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton is a dynamic network of self-assembling highways that, together with the help of motor proteins, promotes intracellular transport and the formation of magnificent structures such as the preprophase band, mitotic spindle, and phragmoplast (Nebenführ and Dixit, 2018). …
Biogenesis of thylakoid assembly in 3D
Plant Science Research WeeklyDuring 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…
Introducing the Plant Physiology Focus Issue on Cell Dynamics
Blog, Plant Physiology, Plant Physiology: Editorials, ResearchPlant Physiology recently published a Focus Issue on Cell Dynamics. We asked the editors involved to tell us about what is meant by Cell Dynamics and why this topic is interesting and relevant, as well as about the Focus Issue program in general. This 11-minute video features Editor-in-Chief Mike Blatt…
Selective Chloroplast Microautophagy
Plant Physiology, Plant Physiology: On The InsideWhen plants are exposed to excessive light, photoinhibition occurs and chloroplasts become damaged. Photodamaged chloroplasts undergo vacuolar digestion through a poorly understood autophagic process called chlorophagy. In general, cell biologists recognize two types of autophagy: macroautophagy and…
Review: Organization out of disorder – liquid-liquid phase separation in plants (COPB)
Plant Science Research WeeklyWithin cells there are vast numbers of different activities and processes occurring simultaneously. In eukaryotic cells, some of these processes are segregated into distinct membrane-bound compartments. Cuevas-Velazquez and Dinneny review how membraneless compartments also contribute to subcellular organization,…
Review: Entering the next dimension - plant genomes in 3D (Trends Plant Sci)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe three-dimensional arrangement of DNA within the nucleus clearly affects gene expression, but its contribution remains relatively unexplored as compared to other factors. Sotelo-Silveira et al. review new chromosome conformation capture (3C) and derived techniques for assessing genomes in 3D, as well…
Response to persistent ER stress in plants (Plant Cell)
Plant Science Research WeeklyA key question in plant stress physiology is how the plant perceives stress in order to mitigate its effects. Heat (and other) stress can lead to an accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, which initiates the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), leading to a change in…
Plant scientists use big data to map stress responses in corn
Blog, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: NewsIowa State University
AMES, Iowa – Plant scientists at Iowa State University have completed a new study that describes the genetic pathways at work when corn plants respond to stress brought on by heat, a step that could lead to crops better capable of withstanding stress.
The findings, published…