Recent Posts

Unraveling the role of tRNA thiolation in translation control for plant immunity

Thiolation of tRNA adds a sulfur-containing nucleotide modification at the tRNA wobble position, which is necessary for efficient translation. Zheng et al. investigated the role of tRNA thiolation in plant immunity, revealing its necessity for robust defense responses in Arabidopsis. They identified…

The Plant Cell Focus Issue: Biomolecular Condensates

The September issue of The Plant Cell includes a focus on biomolecular condensates. Although the term “biomolecular condensates” is relatively new, it actually reflects a convergence and synthesis of several distinct threads of research. Biomolecular condensates span from “classic” membraneless…

18S rRNA processing factors in maize

Wang et al. find an RNA 3’-terminal phosphate cyclase-like protein that participates in processing the 18S ribosomal RNA in maize. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac052 by Tao Wang and Jun Yang The National Engineering Laboratory of Crop Resistance Breeding, School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural…

Upstream ORFs check undesired leaky protein translation and buffer noise (Nature Plants)

During my research journey, I have come across a handful of genes that are hard to express. Sometimes, even with a strong promoter and high transcript level, the protein level is negligible. We generally considered these proteins might be degrading very fast. But maybe not. A recent article by Wu et…

LARP6C reveals its double face during plant fertilization

Billey et al. uncover the roles of LARP6C as a translational repressor in dormant pollen and an activator when the pollen “awakens”. The Plant Cell (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab131  By Elodie Billey1,2,3, Said Hafidh4, Cécile Bousquet-Antonelli1,2 1 CNRS LGDP-UMR5096, 58 Av.…