Articles in 2019

Structure of the photosystem I–light-harvesting complex I in green alga at 3.49 Å resolution shows 13 core subunits and 10 antennas in a double semi-ring. This provides a basis for unravelling the mechanisms of algal light-energy harvesting.

Functional interaction between an aquaporin and a membrane-tethered growth suppressor MYB transcription factor leads to activation of the latter, establishing a link between hydraulics and transcriptional control.

The Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T gene regulates floral transition in response to long days. It has become a model for understanding transcriptional enhancers. Here, DNA methylation mediated by inverted repeats is used to identify a novel regulatory region.

Plastid genome engineering has been challenging in crops and model plants. Now, a method enables efficient plastid transformation by taking advantage of root-derived microcalli as source tissue and the knockout of a nuclear gene for efficient screening.

Vacuolar iron transporter 1 (VIT1) is important for iron homeostasis in plants. VIT1 forms a dimeric structure with five membrane-spanning domains, and an ion-translocating pathway of methionine and carboxylate residues at the dimer interface.

Electron microscopy and tomography show two periarbuscular, membrane-bound compartments during arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. One may facilitate movement of molecules between symbiotic partners, and the other provide nutrient assimilation capacity.

Rising CO₂ levels have been thought to potentially increase plant growth due to improved fertilization, but such a general effect is spatially and temporally affected by precipitation. Grassland experiments show constraints and increases in the fertilization effect due to seasonal-based precipitation, inferring that any potential plant growth could be mitigated by natural rainfall changes.

Eukaryotic mRNAs often contain upstream open reading frames for small peptides. However, this study reports a truly bicistronic transcript in Arabidopsis, which encodes both CELL DIVISION CYCLE 26, a cell cycle regulator, and TRIPHOSPHATE TUNNEL METALLOENZYME 3, an inorganic polyphosphatase.

The symbiosis of mycorrhizal fungi and roots involves invasion of plant cells, followed by collapse of the intracellular fungal arbuscules. Ultra-structural details of this interaction show continuous formation of extracellular vesicles at the peri-arbuscular space.

This study reports a near-complete genome of Antirrhinum majus L., provides insights into gene and genome duplication events, and reveals the genetic basis underlying complex traits of snapdragon, such as flower asymmetry and self-incompatibility.

A study introduces curcumin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis by expressing the turmeric genes DIKETIDE-CoA SYNTHASE and CURCUMIN SYNTHASE 2, and the monomers curcumin and phenylpentanoids were successfully incorporated into the lignin cell wall to enhance biomass processing.

Autophagy controls protein homeostasis. AUTOPHAGY-RELATED PROTEIN 8 and ABNORMAL SHOOT3 interact to promote endosome trafficking, as well as to regulate protein degradation during senescence independently from the canonical autophagy machinery.

Phosphorus is one of the essential nutrients for all living organisms. Plants and fungi store phosphate in their vacuoles. Multiple plant influx transporters have been reported to import phosphate to the vacuoles. Now, two new phosphate efflux transporters are shown to be important for phosphate export from the vacuole in rice and probably other land plants.

This study characterized the unique protein subunit composition and structure of Arabidopsis mitochondrial ribosomes using biochemical assays and cryo-electron microscopy. Ten subunits are pentatricopeptide (PPR) proteins, among which rPPR1 functions as a translation factor.

A high-quality reference genome of the stout camphor tree reveals its genome evolution and supports that magnoliid and eudicot lineages share more common ancestry relative to monocots.

A study examined transcriptome dynamics of Arabidopsis halleri weekly for two years and bihourly for the four equinoxes/solstices, revealing that the change of temperature rather than day length dominantly defines the seasonal transcriptome oscillations.