
Runaway transcription makes plants sensitive to heat stress
Kim et al. investigate the role of a heat shock protein in thermotolerance.
https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac351
By Minsoo Kim and Elizabeth Vierling at UMass Amherst
Background: Plants can survive heat stress by producing heat shock proteins (HSPs) that protect and rescue other proteins.…

Review: Temperature sensing in plants
Like all organisms, plants respond to changes in temperature by activating pathways that enable them to stay alive in spite of rising or lowering temperatures. Interestingly though, there is no universal temperature sensing mechanism across the domains of life. Changes in membrane fluidity (think of…

Mechanism behind ripened green bananas under high temperature
Heat stress is a common consequence of global warming for terrestrial plants, and it can have devastating effects on growth and yield. In terms of fruit ripening, high temperature is one of the most significant abiotic stresses inhibiting quality formation. During fruit ripening, chlorophyll breaks down…

A spliceophilin helps Arabidopsis adapt to heat stress
Jo et al. uncover the role of a spliceosome component in removing retained introns in Arabidopsis in response to heat stress https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac084
Background: Alternative splicing plays a key role in abiotic stress responses in plants, especially responses to heat stress. The spliceosome…

Increasing the resilience of plant immunity to a warming climate (Nature)
Plants demonstrate increased susceptibility to pathogens upon exposure to heat stress, apparently due to suppressed salicylic acid (SA) accumulation and subsequently decreased effector-triggered immunity. How exactly does heat stress cause this suppression, and how can we take advantage of genetics to…

Stressing the translatome: It is about time
Bonnot and Nagel explore how heat stress affects the circadian-regulated translatome at different times of day.
Titouan Bonnot1 and Dawn H. Nagel1
1Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, USA
Background: The plant circadian clock synchronizes…

Comparative analyses of extreme dry seed thermotolerance in five Cactaceae species (Environ. Exp. Bot.)
Desert plants must produce seeds that can withstand incredibly high temperatures. Nevertheless, different species of cacti –one of the most emblematic plant groups of these ecosystems– exhibit variable responses to extreme temperatures. In this fascinating paper, Visscher and colleagues conduct a…

Review: Hot topic: Thermosensing in plants (Plant Cell Environ.)
Climate change has increased global temperatures and affected agriculture in recent years. Heat stress can negatively impact plant growth, development, metabolism, fertility, and immunity. To generate resilient plants that will endure warmer weather conditions, it is imperative to understand how…

The Role of Ethylene and Ethylene Response Factors in the Heat Stress Response
Summary: Huang et al. elucidate a link between ethylene signaling and heat stress responses. Plant Cell https://bit.ly/3pTjNBK
By Jianyan Huang, Xiaobo Zhao, Marco Bürger, Yurong Wang, Joanne Chory
Background: Temperature is an environmental factor that has one of the most dramatic effects on…