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SIGMA FACTOR5 protects freezing plants

Low temperatures quickly and reversibly inhibit photosynthesis, which is assumed to shield the photosynthetic system from a drop in metabolic activity brought about by cold. In a recent study, Cano-Ramirez et al. found that in Arabidopsis, a nuclear-encoded sigma factor (SIG5) controls chloroplast transcription…

Review: Temperature sensing in plants

Like all organisms, plants respond to changes in temperature by activating pathways that enable them to stay alive in spite of rising or lowering temperatures. Interestingly though, there is no universal temperature sensing mechanism across the domains of life. Changes in membrane fluidity (think of…