Recent Posts

Translational coincidence in Arabidopsis (Mol Syst Biol)

Changes in photoperiod affect metabolism and development, as well as flowering time, hypocotyl elongation, freezing tolerance, stomatal opening, C-allocation and growth. Seaton and collaborators measured the Arabidopsis proteome under four photoperiods: 6h, 8h, 12h and 18 hours. At longer photoperiods,…

Crosstalk between PTGS and TGS pathways in natural antiviral immunity and disease recovery (Nature Plants)

Viruses are significant pathogens of plants, and we know that plants defend themselves in part through the production of small RNAs (sRNAs) that suppress the virus. The viral pathogens in turn can produce viral supressors of RNA silencing (VSR). Kørner et al. investigated the role of gene silencing…

MAC3 Proteins Regulate MicroRNA Biogenesis

Li 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

Ercoli 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

Zhang 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…

Gene Expression Study Reveals Distinct Virulence Modules of Corn Smut Fungus

Lanver et al. investigate fungal gene expression during corn infection by Ustilago maydis. The Plant Cell (2018) https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00764 By Daniel Lanver and Regine Kahmann Background: The corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis is a model organism for studying how fungi can colonize living…

A Unified Maize Endosperm Regulatory Network

Feng 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…

Systemic RNA Silencing in Tobacco

gene RNA silencing is a cellular gene regulatory mechanism that is conserved across fungal, plant, and animal kingdoms. Through sequence-specific targeting, RNA silencing can degrade mRNA for posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) or modify related DNA for transcriptional gene silencing. RNA silencing…

Transcriptomics of deepwater rice (Plant Physiol)

For most plants, becoming submerged under water can be lethal due to a restriction in gas exchange. One strategy for submergence tolerance is called an escape strategy, such as that employed by deepwater rice; the plant elongates rapidly to raise its leaves above the water level. Minami et al. used transcriptomics…