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Cultivation of high-tannin sorghum in Africa is associated with herbivore threat from red-billed quelea, but also with reduced sensation of bitterness in humans.
The 26S proteasome is conventionally viewed as a destroyer of proteins. However, it is now shown to help stabilize RNAs and thus fine-tune a plant’s anti-viral defences.
The One Thousand Plant Initiative analysed an unprecedented collection of >1,000 plant vegetative transcriptomes from species spanning the green tree of life, resolved controversial phylogenetic placements and highlighted gene family expansions and whole genome duplications that occurred during different stages of evolution.
Cellular homeostasis requires a defined concentration of free amphiphilic phytosterols in membranes. A novel regulatory component controlling the metabolism of these compounds has been identified.
Heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) chaperones play an essential role in plant defence by assisting the folding of client proteins needed for immunity. A newly identified bacterial effector promotes disease by mimicking a HSP90 client, functioning as a minimal kinase that phosphorylates and inactivates the chaperone.
Radial growth of plants is one of the most prominent processes for generating biomass and the long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide on Earth. Now, the concerted action of a large set of transcription factors on the regulation of the process has been investigated.
The ancient genome of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian emmer wheat sheds light on the domestication and dispersal history of emmer wheat as well as the unique diversity that the historical species contained.
Much of the perception of the Green Revolution focuses on the broad techniques and resulting yields, but the socio-political dimensions of the project reflect a nuanced set of intentions and beneficiaries.
Grape genomes show extensive structural variation. This apparent consequence of decades and centuries of clonal propagation underlies several domestication traits.
Phosphatidic acid (PA) is a simple phospholipid of crucial importance in cell biology. Now, a new ratiometric, PA-specific, optogenetic biosensor has been developed to track PA concentration and dynamics at the plant plasma membrane. Using this tool, scientists have revealed a remarkable stress-specific temporal complexity of PA accumulation.
A quantitative phylogenetic association mapping approach links genic mutational spectra to the evolution of DNA methylation in the Brassicaceae family of flowering plants. The method has wider applications and may usher in a new era in our understanding of species diversity.
Jasmonic acid biosynthesis starts in chloroplasts and is finalized in peroxisomes. The required export of a crucial intermediate out of the chloroplast is now shown to be mediated by a protein from the outer envelope called JASSY.
The stigma has tightly regulated recognition mechanisms at several levels to prevent unwanted pollen from achieving fertilization. Knowledge about barriers controlling interspecific incompatibility is scarce. New evidence reveals a novel gene involved in regulating interspecies incompatibility in self-compatible Arabidopsis thaliana.
Atmospheric nitrogen deposits are overloading the ability of plant species to live and thrive. Bringing the complex and underestimated link between nitrogen and biodiversity to light is necessary to start restoration projects.
Receptor-mediated regulation of SPEECHLESS by a MAP kinase cascade coordinates cell fate specification during stomatal development. SCREAM functions as a scaffold to bring SPEECHLESS in proximity with MPK3/MPK6, thereby allowing its down-regulation to inhibit stomatal cell fate.
A comprehensive analysis of genetic gains in winter wheat, spanning 50 years of breeding and conducted under a wide range of cropping systems, validates the inherent efficiency of breeding for optimal environments.
Root growth depends on the shoot-to-root transport of assimilates through the phloem, which is connected to the meristems by plasmodesmata pores. A PHLOEM UNLOADING MODULATOR is now identified to regulate plasmodesmata internal organisation, leading to pores that appear tighter but are more efficient for transport.
Ion channels and transporters can integrate environmental cues in the cell. In addition to governing calcium homeostasis, a chloroplast envelope-localized calcium channel is now characterized to implicate chloroplast calcium signalling in drought tolerance.
