Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase NILR1 is required for induction of innate immunity to parasitic nematodes
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Plant parasitic nematodes, including root-knot nematodes and cyst nematodes, cause extensive damage and loss to many crops. Nematodes elicit a pathogen-triggered immunity (PTI) defense response, but the molecular basis for this response has not been previously characterized. Mendy et al. identified a…
Mutation in sorghum LOW GERMINATION STIMULANT 1 alters strigolactones and causes Striga resistance
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchStrigolactones are both hormones that control shoot architecture and signals that promote interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and promote germination of detrimental parasitic weeds such as Striga asiatica and Striga hermonthica. Gobena et al. mapped and cloned a sorghum gene, LOW GERMINATION…
Exploiting maize genetic diversity: Metabolomic, enzyme activity profiling, and metabolic modelling to link leaf physiology to kernel yield ($)
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchThe path from genome to phenome is difficult to predict. Cañas et al. tried to identify biochemical markers that are correlated with kernel yield that could be selected for in breeding. Specifically, they collected data from metabolomics, enzyme activity assays and metabolic modeling, taken during the…
Signatures of adaptation in the weedy rice genome
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchCrop domestication has been accompanied by the evolution of aggressive weedy crop relatives that compete for resources and make weed management a challenge. By using whole-genome sequencing of the two most commonly found weedy rice strains in the US (SH and BHA), and comparing them with the genomes of…
Transcription factor interplay between LEAFY and APETALA1/ CAULIFLOWER during floral initiation
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchSeveral transcription-factor encoding genes involved in the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth have been identified. One of these, LEAFY (LFY), is expressed at the flanks of the inflorescence meristem at the site of newly forming floral meristems; loss-of-function lfy mutants produce leaves…
Phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate–binding protein AtPH1 controls the localization of the metal transporter NRAMP1
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchNRAMPs are transporters of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn). The nramp3nramp4 double mutant arrests shortly after germination, due to its inability to remobilize Fe from seed vacuolar stores. Agorio et al. used a genetic approach to identify nns1, a partial suppressor of the growth-arrest phenotype. They…
Saddle Up, Soybean Seed Pigments: Argonaute5 in Spatially Regulated Silencing of Chalcone Synthase Genes
Research, The Plant Cell: In BriefMost soybean seeds you see, whether in bins at the store, or in train cars as a commodity crop, have a yellow seed coat that may have only a tiny fleck of dark pigment at the hilum, where the seed attaches to the pod. The predominant yellow color results from silencing of chalcone synthase (CHS) genes…
A chloroplast envelope glycolate transporter and its involvement in photorespiratory metabolism
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchIn C3 plants at ambient CO2 levels, Rubisco’s oxygenation reaction occurs about once for every three carboxylation reactions. One of the oxygenation products, 2-phosphoglycolate, is rapidly dephosphorylated to glycolate which is toxic and inhibitory to photosynthesis. Glycolate has to be removed from…
Mutations in Argonaute5 illuminate epistatic interactions of the K1 and I loci ($)
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchClassic studies revealed an interesting genetic relationship between two loci that control pigmentation in soybeans seeds. Dominant alleles of the I locus suppress pigmentation through the production of small interfering RNAs that target chalcone synthase RNA (an enzyme involved in pigment production).…