Evolution of cytosolic and organellar invertases empowered the colonization and thriving of land plants
Plant Science Research WeeklyInvertases catalyse the conversion of sucrose into glucose and fructose. In plants, invertases fall into two clades – the mitochondrially/plastid localized α clade and the cytoplasmically localized β clade. However, we do not fully understand how these clades evolved. Here Wan et al. identified 665…
Adaptive evolution of the enigmatic Takakia moss now facing climate change in Tibet
Plant Science Research WeeklyIn this fantastic, engaging paper, Hu et al. carries the reader from the origins of life on land through the dramatic uplift of the Tibetan plateau and into the modern age of climate change, all through the lens of the “enigmatic” Takakia moss. It’s enigmatic because it has features that are more…
Ligands and regulatory properties of the HD-ZIPIII START domain
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellHusbands et al. identify ligands and regulatory properties of the HD-ZIPIII START domain.
By By Aman Y. Husbands (University of Pennsylvania) and Marja C.P. Timmermans (University of Tuebingen).
Background: Development has been compared to a ball rolling down a hill. Cells initially have broad…
The functional evolution of geranyl diphosphate synthases with different architectures
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellSong, Jin, Chen, He, Li, Tang, et al. establish that independent evolutionary processes in ancestral land plants led to homo- and heteromeric geranyl diphosphate synthases.
Shuyan Song and Shan Lu
School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Background: Terpenoids are a…
Going against the botanical grain: Non-Fibonacci spirals in early land plants
Plant Science Research WeeklyThis study by Turner et al. looks at the patterns of leaf and sporangia arrangement in early leafy plant species, questioning the widely held idea that these structures follow the Fibonacci sequence. The researchers investigated fossilized remains from the Early Devonian period. To evaluate the spatial…
How did the daisy get its spots? Gene co-option and fly mimicry
Plant Science Research WeeklyThis is one of those “straight into the textbook” stories. Kellenberger et al. investigated the unusual petal pigmentation pattern of a South African daisy Gorteria diffusa, which has petals with odd lumpy irregular spots that mimic female flies and enhance pollination through sexual deception. The…
Plants cultivated for ecosystem restoration can evolve towards a domestication syndrome
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe pressing need to restore degraded areas has led to an unprecedented demand for native seeds. However, seeds are not always available in sufficient quantity and quality in nature, so some restoration practitioners might opt to source their seeds from wild plants grown on farms, just like any crop.…
Pigment-regulating small siRNAs from YUP locus are responsible for speciation of monkeyflowers
Plant Science Research WeeklyIt has always been of interest to the plant community to understand the mechanisms behind the evolution of diverse floral carotenoid pigmentation within a genus. In this paper, Liang et al. investigated the mechanism behind monkeyflowers (Mimulus spp.) speciation driven by the flower color locus, YELLOW…
UFO helps LEAFY find new promoter elements
Plant Science Research WeeklyFloral development has been the object of decades of plant research, yet many fundamental questions remain. One of these is the mechanism by which LEAFY (LFY), the master transcription factor of floral development, works with UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO), an F-box protein, to regulate petal and stamen…