How Calcium Signals Early Warning
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a Nutshell0 Comments
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Liu et al. uncover a direct link between calcium signaling and a plant immune receptor http://www.plantcell.org/content/29/4/746.abstract
Plants have evolved a sophisticated system to defend against pathogen attack that involves recognition of an invading pathogen and activation of the immune system.…
A Surprising Function for Gene Introns
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellGallegos and Rose investigate how introns affect transcript initiation http://www.plantcell.org/content/29/4/843.abstract.
For the information stored in the DNA of genes to be converted into functional protein products, first a molecular copy of the information called messenger RNA is made, using…
Intricacies of Transcription Elongation
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellAntosz et al. provide insight into the complex process of transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II http://www.plantcell.org/content/29/4/854.abstract
The genetic blueprint for the production of proteins is stored in the DNA of a plant cell. In a first step, the enzyme RNA polymerase II generates…
How Plants Sense Cold and Activate Cold Tolerance
Research, The Plant Cell, The Plant Cell: In a NutshellKidokoro et al. investigate how plants sense cold and activate cold tolerance http://www.plantcell.org/content/29/4/760.abstract.
Cold stress can be just as lethal as heat stress. When a cell freezes, the water inside it expands as it turns to ice. This can cause the cell membrane to rupture and lead…
Dehydration stress extends mRNA 3′ UTRs with noncoding RNA functions ($)
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchSun et al. observed that under dehydration stress, many genes showed a 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) extension of roughly 200 – 800 nucleotides. The outcome of these extensions appears to be the regulation of other genes. For example, through their extension, many (more than 600) of the extended…
Target RNA secondary structure is a major determinant of miR159 efficacy
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchThe interactions with microRNAs (miRNAs) and their targets in plants is assumed to be dependent largely on complementarity between the two RNAs. Zheng et al. investigated the interactions between miR159 and its putative targets, mRNA of several MYB genes, each with similar complementarity to the miRNA.…
Arabidopsis proteins with a transposon-related domain act in gene silencing
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchWhile screening for mutants in gene silencing, Ikeda et al. identified mail1, which shows elevated expression of transposable elements (TEs) and protein-coding genes, indicating that MAIL1 (MAINTENANCE OF MERISTEM-LIKE1) is required for epigenetic silencing of some genes. However, mail1 does not differ…
When pollinators are also herbivores ($)
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchThe interaction between wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) and the moth Manduca sexta, which is both a pollinator and a herbivore, is a model for plant/ arthropod interactions and has revealed insights into chemical signals and defenses. Zhou et al. show that a single compound, the sesquiterpene (E)-α-bergamotene,…
Discovery of nitrate–CPK–NLP signalling in central nutrient–growth networks ($)
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchNitrate acts as a potent signal as well as a source of nutritional nitrogen, but key players in the nitrate response have been missing from our understanding. Liu et al. identified a unique calcium signal stimulated by nitrate in mesophyll cells. They then found that in vitro kinase activity of Ca2+-sensor…