Recent Posts

Microtubule-based perception of mechanical conflicts controls plant organ morphogenesis (Sci. Adv.)

Morphogenesis is a critical process in plants and animals that allows a cell, tissue, or organism to reach its final shape. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the formation of lateral root primordia (LRP) is an excellent example of organ morphogenesis that involves cell remodeling throughout differential growth…

Membrane pointillism: Lipid nano-patterning controls distinct molecular pathways at the plasma membrane of pollen tubes

Fratini et al. explore lipid patterns in the plasma membrane of the pollen tube. http://bit.ly/3uwYqsM Ingo Heilmann and Marta Fratini Department of Plant Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany Background:…

Review: The mechanical feedback theory of leaf lamina formation ($) (Trends Plant Sci.)

The contribution of microtubule orientation to the direction of cell expansion is familiar to most; when microtubules wrap around the middle of a cell like a belt, the cell expands in the perpendicular direction to become longer. Recent studies have extended this idea and proposed that the mechanical…

Barley RIPb opens the gates for epidermal fungal penetration

Elisa Dell’Aglio Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon Lyon, France elisa.dell-aglio@insa-lyon.fr  The ascomycete Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh) is a powdery mildew causal agent, specifically adapted to barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum aestivum, Triticum turgidum)…

Opposing, polarity-driven nuclear migrations underpin asymmetric divisions in stomatal patterning (Curr. Biol.)

Asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) are often used by organisms to generate different cell sizes, each adopting a different cell fate. In plants, stomatal development provides an example of an ACD-derived patterning mechanism. Several proteins are known to be implicated in ACDs, like BREAKING OF ASYMMETRY…

Follow that Protein: SNAP-tagging Permits High-resolution Protein Localization

Protein analysis relies heavily on the production of ‘tagged’ proteins, i.e. recombinant proteins that contain both a functional peptide sequence and a peptide or chemical label (the ‘tag’). Common tags include fluorescent proteins (FPs), which make tagged proteins easier to detect, as well as…

Roles for this ROP GTPase in subcellular and tissue-level patterning (Plant Cell)

Rho-of-plants (ROP) proteins are master regulators of cell polarity within plants and influence cell wall deposition, tissue development, and several signaling processes. However, they are quite difficult to study: attempts to form a fluorescent ROP fusion protein have proven elusive, and there are multiple…

Chemical labeling of proteins in live plant cells

Iwatate et al. demonstrate that SNAP-tag technology can be used to label plant cell proteins. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.20.00439 By Ryu J. Iwatatea,b, Akira Yoshinaria, Noriyoshi Yagia, Wolf B. Frommera,c, and Masayoshi Nakamuraa a Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM),…