Recent Posts

Strategy for enhancement of iron and zinc in biofortified rice

Polished white rice is a major food source for much of the world but is not a good source of the essential micronutrients iron and zinc. Like microbes, plants enhance their uptake of iron from the environment by synthesizing small “iron carrying” molecules called respectively siderophores or phytosiderophores…

Phosphate transfer from maternal tissue to embryo

Many nutrients move through the plant body via the phloem. The developing embryo, which depends on the maternal plant for its nutrients, is not directly (symplastically) connected to maternal tissues, so nutrients must be exported across membranes to reach the embryo. PHO1 was identified previously as…

An Ion Channel Active in Plant Drought Response

Eisenach et al. discover A new ion channel of the plant vacuole helps plants react to drought https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00452 By Cornelia Eisenach Background: Stomata are small pores on plant surfaces that facilitate diffusion of CO2, O2 and water vapor between plant and atmosphere.  During…

A Plant Protein That Foils Aphid Feeding

Kloth et al. probe aphid feeding behavior. The Plant Cell 2017  doi: 10.1105/tpc.16.00424 By Karen Kloth Background: Aphids are phloem-feeding insects. They penetrate plants with a piercing-sucking mouth. Once they reach a tube where the plant transports its sugar-rich phloem sap, they can take…

Insights into plasmodesmata composition of fully developed Arabidopsis thaliana leaves

Plasmodesmata (PD) are complex, regulated channels between plant cells that facilitate the movement of signals, metabolites and pathogens, but their small size makes them difficult to study. Previously, Kraner et al. identified an Arabidopsis mutant that produced fewer, simpler plasmodesmata. In their…

Ectopic expression of WINDING 1 leads to asymmetrical distribution of auxin and a spiral phenotype in rice

Through insertional mutagenesis of rice, Cheng et al. identified a BTBN (Brac/Tramtrack/Broad complex and NPH3 domain)-encoding gene which they named WINDING 1 (WIN1), because the mutant phenotype (caused by ectopic expression in the shoot) causes the shoot to grow in a spiral. Ectopic expression of…

Suc Signals Induce Etiolated Stem Branching

Plant shoot branching is determined by apical dominance, a process in which the apical bud (shoot tip) inhibits the outgrowth of axillary buds further down the stem to control the number of growing branches. In response to this inhibition, plants have evolved rapid long-distance signaling mechanisms…

Review: The structure-to-function missing link of plasmodesmata: ($)

Plasmodesmata are tiny channels between cells that allow intercellular movement of messages and metabolites as well as pathogens. They are structurally complex and usually have a central strand of endoplasmic-reticulum (the desmotubule) that passes between adjacent cells, connected by spoke-like elements…

Cation/H+ exchangers affect pollen wall formation, male fertility, and embryo development

Cells have developed different mechanisms including control of ion and pH homeostasis to adapt to their constantly changing environment. Such adaption is accomplished by different ion transporters at the membranes. AtCHX17, AtCHX18 and AtCHX20 are members of the cation-H+ exchanger (CHX) family, which…