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Theory predicts duplicate genes will evolve new functions or be lost from genomes rather than maintain redundant functions. Kwon et al. show that redundant plant genes can be maintained if they actively compensate for perturbation of their partners at the shoot tip, but that this might not be an evolutionarily stable strategy to stave off degenerative mutations.
Development of flowers typically employs conserved molecular pathways and recurrent sets of homologous genes. A new study shows that a homologue of RADIALIS, a gene well known to control flower symmetry, is recruited to serve a different function.
A recent study suggests that the optimal temperature for symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates exceeds the plant’s preferred growth temperature in laboratory conditions. A few degrees of warming could thereby increase or decrease nitrogen fixation rates, depending on the optimal rate among species.
Growth defects associated with disruption of the mildew susceptibility gene MLO are rescued in bread wheat and Arabidopsis by transcriptional activation of a proximal monosaccharide transporter
The difference in phloem pressure is the driving force that moves photosynthetic products and other solutes from the source to the sink. Measurements with emerging technologies reveal that sugar loading is not essential for maintaining phloem pressure and phloem bulk flow in the maize sugar-loading-defective mutant sut1.
Dual recognition specificity of an MLA immune receptor in barley demonstrates that the deployment of mildew-resistant cultivars by plant breeders has unintentionally affected nonhost resistance to wheat stripe rust.
