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Keeping Walls on Track

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…

To Grow or to Defend: That is the Question for Plant Central Metabolism

Fusari et al. perform GWAS to explore primary plant metabolism https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00232 By Corina M. Fusari and Rik Kooke Background: Primary metabolites such as sugars, organic acids, and amino acids are essential chemical compounds that drive plant growth and development by providing…

Space-Time Continuum of Gene Expression in Lateral Root Development

Walker et al. explore how the environment shapes root architecture. The Plant Cell 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.16.00961 By Liam Walker Background: To acquire nutrients and anchor themselves, plant roots spread both vertically and horizontally in soil. Plants typically have a primary root…

Genomic and epigenomic events occurring during germination

Seeds integrate environmental information and trigger molecular pathways that help with the decision making process of whether to germinate or not. Several studies in numerous species have shown details of global transcriptomic changes during germination. However, Narsai et al. dig a little deeper. By…

Protoplast Swelling Requires AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN1

Convincing molecular and biochemical evidence exists that members of the TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE1/AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX PROTEIN (TIR1/AFB) receptor family are auxin receptors that trigger auxin-induced gene expression and hypocotyl growth through enhanced expression of SMALL AUXIN UP RNA genes.…

Cell Fate Specification in Arabidopsis Roots

Pattern formation in multicellular organisms is the result of coordinated cell division and cell fate determination. In animals, cell fate is determined mainly by a cell lineage-dependent mechanism, whereas positional information is thought to be the primary determinant of cell fate in plants. Currently,…

Review: Secondary growth as a determinant of plant shape and form

Secondary growth from the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem, increases the plant’s girth. It also produces wood (secondary xylem) and important fibers like flax, jute and hemp (secondary phloem). Ragni and Greb review secondary growth in plants. They start with a review of the evolutionary history…

Wounding triggers callus formation via dynamic hormonal and transcriptional changes

Plants are known for their ability to regenerate tissues following wounding. Wound repair requires the induction of cell proliferation, leading to the formation of undifferentiated callus at the wound site, followed by cell differentiation. Ikeuchi et al. explored transcriptional changes following wounding…

Special Issue: Plant evolutionary developmental biology (Plant Evo-Devo) ($)

This issue is rooted in the 37th New Phytologist Symposium on ‘Plant developmental evolution’, 2016, that gathered researchers working on the developing field of plant evo-devo. The issue is a wonderful compendium of work presented during the symposium and the contribution of other researchers working…