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The introduction of combinations of enzymes of cyanobacterial, red algal and plant origin into Nicotiana tabacum increases photosynthetic carbon assimilation, biomass accumulation and water-use efficiency, under both glasshouse and field conditions.
When root stem cells are destroyed, the remaining neighbour cells accumulate auxin to prepare for regeneration. Where does this auxin come from? Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, the authors show that auxin is synthesized locally and not transported from elsewhere.
The Arabidopsis SWI/SNF complexes regulate chromatin structure and gene expression, and contain many subunits, including BRAHMA. Two homologous BRAHMA-interacting proteins, namely BRIP1 and BRIP2, are identified as new core subunits of the SWI/SNF complex.
The green alga, Chlorella ohadii, can survive under desert conditions of extreme irradiance. Redox proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and lipidomics uncover how C. ohadii can absorb and use the sudden excesses of reducing power and carbon.
A newly identified RNA-binding protein is dephosphorylated after immunity-induced Pep1 perception in Arabidopsis and maize. This modification induces alternative splicing-mediated production of a truncated CPK28 kinase with reduced activity, which increases PEPR signalling capacity.
SERRATE (SE) is an RNA processing factor that regulates plant growth and development starting from the embryo stage. Here, interacting partners of SE that are also the key components of the ubiquitin-independent 20S proteasome are identified and characterized to play important roles in regulating SE degradation and RNA metabolism in Arabidopsis.
This study shows that the Arabidopsis TREX-2 complex coordinates the transcription, processing and export steps in miRNA biogenesis, and that it acts with the nucleoporin NUP1 in miRNA export.
A study using a reverse genetic screen reveals that the Arabidopsis DREAM complex, including its components TCX5/6, functions as a whole in repressing DNA methylation maintenance genes and, consequently, precluding DNA hypermethylation.
LONG HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) is a central transcription factor that acts downstream of CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) during light signalling. Here, the authors show that three B-box containing proteins (BBX) are cofactors of HY5 and modulate transcriptional responses for a subset of HY5-dependent processes.
Some cyanobacterial species can harness far-red photons by using chlorophyll f pigments in their photosystems. Time-resolved fluorescence shows that this slows down the overall energy trapping but remains beneficial for extending the photosynthetic active spectrum.
In Arabidopsis and tomato, exudation of myo-inositol by roots is epigenetically controlled by DNA demethylases and is involved in the beneficial recruitment of growth-promoting rhizobacteria.
The cucumber TCP transcription factor TEN regulates tendril identity by acting as both an intragenic enhancer-binding protein and a non-canonical histone acetyltransferase that modifies histones, loosens chromatin and thus activates target genes.
High-resolution atomic force microscopy is used to visualize photosynthetic supercomplexes within the thylakoid membranes of a cyanobacterium. The organizational variability of these supercomplexes permits efficient linear and cyclic electron transport as well as bioenergetic regulation.
Short interfering RNA (siRNA) can silence genes in neighbouring and distant plant cells. The authors show that transgenes, endogenous genes and viruses are silenced through the movement of free primary siRNA duplexes, which are progressively diluted and simultaneously selectively depleted during this process.
The nuclear envelope (NE) separates the nucleoplasm from the cytoplasm in all eukaryotic cells. The plant NE displays a similar structure but different protein compositions compared with the animal NE. Here the researchers identify ~200 protein candidates that reside in the NE of Arabidopsis cells. Among the candidates, they characterize a critical protein that is associated with the nuclear pore complex.
This study developed a user-friendly genome editing system that can efficiently conditionally knock out target genes in a temporally inducible and cell-type-specific manner.
A DNA-free in planta approach for gene editing based on RNA virus infection is developed, allowing delivery of the entire CRISPR–Cas9 cassettes into tobacco host to achieve highly efficient single, multiplex mutagenesis and chromosome deletions.
Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy shows that Photosystem I (PSI) in vivo does not consist only of a core complex and four external antennae, but also binds light-harvesting complex II (LHCII). The number of LHCII subunits per PSI is species-dependent, varying between one and three.