Recent Posts

Dual role of the histone variant H2A.Z in regulation of stress-response genes

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Histones are protein complexes around which genomic DNA is wrapped; post-translational modifications to histone proteins and alterations of histone protein composition affect transcription. H2A.Z is a widely conserved variant form of histone H2A that has been implicated in various forms of transcriptional…

Method: Microphenotron, a miniaturized robotic phenotyping platform

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High-throughput screening greatly extends the number of individuals that can be screened, so is particularly crucial for genetic or chemical genetic approaches.  Burrell et al. report on a miniaturized robotic phenotyping platform, “Microphenotron” designed for chemical genetic screening. Seeds…

Review: Methods of cell-specific hormone analysis ($)

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Plant hormones are active at very small quantities and often act differently in different cell types. Various methods, primarily involving mass spectrometry and sensors, have been developed to identify and quantify hormones with cellular-level precision. Novák et al. review these methods and discuss…

ARGONAUTE10 promotes degradation of miR165/6 through SDN1 and SDN2 exonucleases

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ARGONAUTE10 (AGO10) was first identified through genetic studies in the 90s; loss-of-function mutants (zwille, pinhead) show premature differentiation of the shoot apical meristem. Although the mechanism has remained uncertain, AGO10 has been shown to suppress accumulation of miR165/6, which are key…

Welwitschia mirabilis sheds light on ancestral mechanisms prefiguring floral development ($)

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In order to look at the origins of flowers, Moyroud et al. looked at reproductive controls in the gymnosperm Welwitschia mirabilis, which, as the authors say, is a good model because, “Although the plant body is famously bizarre, the reproductive structures are generalized.” Furthermore, its male…

Structure of SHR–SCR heterodimer bound to BIRD/IDD transcriptional factor JKD

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Structural biology provides a key link between genotype and phenotype. Hirano et al. probe the structure of a heterodimer of plant-specific GRAS family transcriptional regulators [SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and SCARECROW (SCR)] as bound to the transcription factor JACKDAW (JKD). The GRAS family proteins (encoded…

Dissecting transposon silencing through introduction of exogenous TEs

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Fultz and Slotkin explore the question of how transposable element (TE) silencing is initiated. As they describe, there are two recognized mechanisms, one based on TE identity (meaning that it can be silenced through siRNAs initiated from a related TE, and in which de novo silencing can occur in the…

Two clustered NLR genes with opposing functions in rice blast resistance and yield ($)

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The indigenous Chinese rice variety Gumei 4 (GM4) shows durable and specific resistance to the rice blast fungal pathogen Manaporthe oryzae. Deng et al. mapped and sequenced the resistance locus Pigm, and found that it contains a cluster of 13 NLR (nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat) genes, three…

ROS accumulation and antiviral defence control by microRNA528 in rice

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Several studies have implicated microRNAs in plant defenses against pathogens. Wu et al. previously showed that virus resistance is facilitated by the interaction of viral-inducible AGO18 (which is cleavage-inactive) and rice miR528. In this work, they identified the role of miR528 in viral resistance.…