Review: The molecular control of tendril development in angiosperms (New Phytol.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyThere are obvious advantages to being a climbing plant; for example, climbing is a low-cost way to avoid being shaded by your neighbors. Tendrils, which evolved independently several times, are one climbing strategy (others include twining stems and sticky adventitious roots). Sousa-Baena et al. review…
MAC3 Proteins Regulate MicroRNA Biogenesis
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellLi et al. uncovered the roles of MAC3 in miRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell (2018).
By Shengjun Li and Bin Yu
Background: microRNAs (miRNAs) are tiny RNA molecules that regulate gene expression. Plants use miRNAs to control development and physiology. Consequently, understanding of the…
Underground Functions of GIF Genes
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellErcoli et al. investigate how GIF genes control root development https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00856
By María Florencia Ercoli and Javier Palatnik
Background: Plants, unlike animals, have the ability to generate new organs throughout their life cycle. This capacity relies on meristems, which…
Maize Tassel Architecture
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellZhang 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
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellKurzbauer 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…
A Unified Maize Endosperm Regulatory Network
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellFeng et al. show that the transcription factor O11 is a master regulatory protein in endosperm development. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00616.
By Fan Feng and Rentao Song
Background: Maize is one of the most important crops both for food and industry. The main nutrients of maize…
A computational framework for cortical microtubule dynamics in realistically shaped plant cells (PLOS Comp Biol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyPlant growth and development consist of highly organized cellular patterns and depend on the directional growth and orientation of cells. Understanding microtubule dynamics is key to deciphering the formation of cellular shape and growth direction. In this research, Chakrabortty et al. employed analytical…
Regulation of postembryonic root organogenesis from Arabidopsis leaf tissue (Plant Physiol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyOrganogenesis is an essential process in embryonic development. Additionally, plants can generate new organs, such as roots, from postembryonic tissues utilizing postembryonic pathways. Bustillo-Avendaño and colleagues investigated de novo root formation from Arabidopsis thaliana leaf tissue. They…
BES1 and BZR1 redundantly promote phloem and xylem differentiation ($) (Plant Cell Physiol.)
Plant Science Research WeeklyIn vascular development, procambial or cambial cells differentiate into xylem and phloem. In this research article, by using VISUAL (Vascular cell Induction culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves) system, Saito et al. identified BES1 (BRI1 EMS SUPPRESSOR 1) as one of the components required for xylem…