Selaginella moellendorffii expression atlas provides insight into the origin and evolution of plant vasculature (bioRxiv)
Plant Science Research WeeklyLand plants (embryophytes) evolved from freshwater algal predecessors over 450 million years ago and have since separated into the morphologically diverse lineages observed today. A key feature in the expansion of plant life on land was the development of the plant vasculature and complex rooting systems.…
Divergent gene expression networks underlie morphological diversity of abscission zones in grasses ($)
Plant Science Research WeeklyGrasses scatter their seeds through the process of cell abscission. Losing this trait, in a process known as loss of shattering, was an early step in the domestication of cereals. Interestingly, the abscission zone (AZ) is positionally and morphologically different in different cereals. In order to understand…
MapMan4: A refined protein classification and annotation framework applicable to multi-omics data analysis (Mol Plant)
Plant Science Research WeeklyRevolutions in omics technologies have rapidly increased the number of plant genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes available. However, protein sequences need to be assigned a biological function to provide useful insights for comparative genomics and transcriptomics. Here, Schwacke et al present MapMan4,…
Gene networks underlying cannabinoid and terpenoid accumulation in cannabis (Plant Physiol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyRecent changes in the legal status of cannabis and cannabis-products have allowed renewed scientific interest in the genetic and metabolic basis of cannabis’ effects as well as the regulatory issues related to quality control of the products. Many varieties of Cannabis spp. have poorly documented pedigrees,…
Drop-Seq for plants: High-throughput, single cell transcriptomics (Cell Reports)
Plant Science Research WeeklyDrop-Seq is an exciting high-throughput technology for single cell transcriptomics. Using microfluidics, single cells are encapsulated in drops with beads carrying “bar-coded” primers. The RNA from each individual cell is labeled with a unique primer code, then sequenced. Now, Shulse et al. have…
Reflections on Classics: Plant Cell‘s 30th anniversary
Plant Science Research Weekly“The 1980s were an exciting and revolutionary time for biology, and plant molecular biology in particular,” begins an editorial by Bob Goldberg, Brian Larkins, and Ralph Quatrano, the three Founding Editors of The Plant Cell. They describe why the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP; later,…
Wheat exome sequencing and wheat ancestry (Nature Genetics)
Plant Science Research WeeklyWheat is of course a hugely important food for humans, and has been selectively bred across the globe for millennia. Modern bread wheats are hexaploid and contain three distinct subgenomes (AABBDD). As with other crops, there is a need to understand wheat’s ancestry and explore the greater genetic…
Identification of transcription factors regulating senescence in wheat through gene regulatory network modelling (Plant Physiol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyLike other seed crops, wheat yields depend in part on the efficiency with which nutrients stored in leaves are mobilized into the developing seeds. This depends on the several processes from macromolecule breakdown to transport, as well as the timing of leaf senescence. Borrill et al. used RNA analysis…
Origin of angiosperms and the puzzle of the Jurassic gap (Nature Plants)
Plant Science Research WeeklyUnderstanding the origin and evolution of flowering plants is key to explaining the development of major terrestrial ecosystems. The rapid diversification of angiosperms into over 360,000 extant species was famously termed ‘an abominable mystery’ by Charles Darwin. Here, Li et al reconstruct the…