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Using the preserved remains of a short-winged flower beetle in mid-Cretaceous amber, this Article provides some of earliest clues as to the origins of angiosperm pollination.
HIGH CROSSOVER RATE1 (HCR1) represses meiotic crossovers and encodes PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE X1, which therefore has a major role opposing the function of pro-recombination kinases to restrict crossovers in Arabidopsis.
Many genome-wide datasets from various sources are combined to generate an integrative gene regulatory network in Arabidopsis. This network is used to predict and validate new transcriptional regulators of ROS signalling.
The link between rhizosphere microbial community, root architecture and performance in nitrogen-poor soils is comprehensively investigated in maize, and the role of exuded flavone to promote specific beneficial bacterial taxa is characterized.
Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester cyclase catalyses the formation of the isocyclic ring in the synthesis of chlorophyll. Kinetic analyses and mass spectrometry identified intermediates in the reaction.
The wheat Pm4 gene conferring race-specific powdery mildew resistance is identified to encode a chimeric kinase-MCTP protein. Its two alternative splice variants interact to form an ER-associated complex and are both essential for resistance function.
Bitterness is one of the fruit traits that are most disliked by consumers. In this study, the authors identified and characterized a tonoplast membrane transporter in tomato fruit, which is responsible for the translocation of bitter α-tomatine and other derivatives from the vacuole to the cytoplasm for non-bitter conversion.
Suberin is a complex hydrophobic biopolymer in the cell wall of various plant cell types, including the young root endodermis. Here, the authors identified two sets of auxin-regulated enzymes that mediate suberin biosynthesis and remodelling in the differentiated root endodermis in Arabidopsis.
Cuticular conductance to water is a key factor in determining plant survival in drought but is difficult to measure. Using an electrical resistance analogy for leaf gas exchange results in a more accurate calculation of gas exchange parameters.
Plants use extracellular vesicles to deliver small RNAs that could silence fungal virulence genes to their fungal pathogens. In this study, the authors profile the components of these extracellular vesicles and investigate regulators contributing to the specific RNA loading and stabilization.
The implementation of RNA viral transfection technology in multiple plant species allows transient expression or silencing of specific regulatory genes in various regulatory circuits to rapidly fine-tune multiple traits without modifying the genome.
The authors apply state-of-the-art genomic approaches to characterize a novel late blight resistance gene in a wild Solanaceae. This gene, when expressed in cultivated potato, confers a broad and robust resistance to many Phytophthora infestans isolates.
The kinase WEE1 regulates replication stress responses by directly phosphorylating cell cycle driver CDKs. Now, WEE1 is found to regulate CDKs via an indirect pathway involving the E3 ligase FBL17 and CDK inhibitors, a mechanism probably shared between plants and humans.
Comparative analysis of genetic variations of bread wheat accessions created in the last 150 years and 45 related species revealed a major contribution of introgressions and chromosomal rearrangements to cultivated wheat diversity.
Sphingolipid desaturases can modify membrane lipids and change cold tolerance. Two of these enzymes have the same function in Arabidopsis and moss, but their evolutionary origins are different.
The source of pre-Inca agriculture in the Atacama Desert of Chile has been the subject of multiple theories, but this Article uses preserved maize remains to deduce that coastal guano deposits were utilized in an impressive display of social and ecological sophistication.
In Arabidopsis, the UV receptor UVR8 is functionally connected to DNA methylase DRM2. Through this interaction, UV light prevents DRM2 association with chromatin, suppressing DNA methylation and the associated transcriptional changes.
Soybean accessions display a variable number of nodules when colonized by rhizobia. The authors identify one locus controlling this trait, a typical TIR–NBS–LRR disease resistance gene called NNL1, and the corresponding bacterial effector called NopP.
A study using soybean–common bean grafting systems reveals that mobile sRNAs are predominantly produced in shoots and accumulate in roots by long-distance transport, while mobile mRNAs are produced in both shoots and roots, with a small proportion moved.
The size of thylakoid stacks in chloroplasts changes depending on the light conditions. Studying mutants defective in biochemical adaptations showed that these dynamics work synergistically with state transitions to regulate photosynthesis in variable light.