Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A chromatin-based, RNAi-independent mechanism is uncovered that reestablishes DNA methylation on heterochromatin transposable elements and is impacted by multiple factors, including CG methylation, H3K9 demethylation and replacement of H2A variants.
The insertion of magnesium into protoporphyrin starts the biosynthesis of chlorophyll. X-ray crystallography, computational modelling, mutagenesis and enzymology combined probe the magnesium chelatase complex’s structure and catalytic function.
The structural basis of the interactions between Rubisco and its intrinsically disordered linker protein provides insight into phase separation within the algal pyrenoid, an organelle responsible for around a third of global CO2 fixation.
In most C4 lineages, photosynthesis is compartmented between mesophyll and bundle sheath cells. Using the C3 model Arabidopsis, this study identifies cis-elements and transcription factors driving gene expression restricted to bundle sheath strands.
A secreted protein effector from the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae has bactericidal properties. It allows the pathogen to modify the root microbiome in tomato and cotton, specifically eliminating plant-protective bacteria, to increase its own virulence.
The zygote’s genome is a combination of both the maternal and paternal genomes. Researchers previously found that the maternal and paternal genomes contribute equally to the transcriptome of early plant embryos. However, now Zhao et al. show a strong single parental effect on the development of the basal cell lineage of early proembryos in Arabidopsis.
In maize, a comprehensive set of approaches enabled the authors to analyse the biosynthetic pathway of the zealexin group of terpenoids and characterize the role of these antibiotic compounds in disease resistance.
Climate-resilient crops are essential for farmers to adapt to climate change. This scoping review identifies extension services and outreach as the most important factors for their adoption by small-scale producers in low- and middle-income countries.
Livestock support the livelihoods of a billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and improved feeding could increase productivity. However, this scoping review highlights serious gaps in evidence around the adoption of new feeding practices.
Cell polarity that requires asymmetrical distribution of cellular components is important for plant growth and development. Here the authors identify a group of ARMADILLO domain proteins that collectively act in the polarized cell expansion of tip-growing cells by recruiting Rho of plant 1 (ROP1) enhancer GTPase-activating proteins and therefore ROP signalling to distinct plasma membrane sites.
The structure of a complex of native plant photosystem I, its electron donor plastocyanin and acceptor ferredoxin, has been solved using a new cryo-EM technique, revealing the contact sites and modes of interaction between the interacting electron carriers.
The primary miR858a transcript encodes a micro-peptide (miPEP) that regulates its own expression. This mechanism regulates the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. It is the second miPEP functionally characterized in plants.
In plants, Rubisco is composed of 16 subunits and requires multiple chaperones to assemble. Features of individual tobacco Rubisco subunits that affect kinetic properties are investigated by coexpression with chaperones in Escherichia coli.
Ammonium and nitrate are the two major forms of inorganic nitrogen in soils. Ammonium shapes root architecture of plants by triggering lateral root branching. Here the researchers investigated the mechanism involving pH-dependent import of protonated auxin into the cortical and epidermal cells overlaying lateral root primordia.
Fluorescent in situ hybridization is used to identify the subcellular location of mRNAs encoding core photosystem subunits in cyanobacteria. They are clustered at thylakoid surfaces, near the central cytoplasm and nucleoid, by mRNA-binding proteins.
This analytical optimization model maximizes the long-term rate of leaf carbon gain, given carbon costs in building and maintaining stomata, leaf hydraulics and osmotic pressure. It unites adaption of leaf photosynthesis and water relations.
Analyses of the topologically associated domains (TADs) in Marchantia polymorpha revealed a type of TCP1-rich TAD that regulates the activities of TCP1 transcription factors in modulating target gene expression.
Metagenomic analysis has uncovered a previously uncharacterized clade of Rubisco related to form I Rubisco found in plants and cyanobacteria. Structural and kinetic data show how this proto-form I Rubisco assembles and functions without small subunits.
One important direction to reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizer is to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crops. Now an interesting strategy that engineers the transporter responsible for source-to-sink nitrate remobilization is employed to generate transgenic Arabidopsis, tobacco and rice lines with enhanced NUE and plant yield.
This study developed xiaomi, a mini foxtail millet mutant, as a C4 model plant that has a short life cycle and small stature. To further enhance its model plant function, xiaomi’s genome was sequenced and an efficient transformation system was established.