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Photorespiration was considered to be wasteful because it reduces photosynthetic efficiency. However, here a modified photosynthesis model, which incorporates photorespiratory nitrogen assimilation, suggests that photorespiration also has beneficial effects on carbon uptake.
Sequencing of nested branches from a 234-year-old oak tree reveals a low number of somatic mutations accumulating during its lifetime, implying that mechanisms are in place to reduce these potentially deleterious mutations during ageing.
The phloem is the system of ‘blood vessels’ that translocates carbohydrates from the leaves to different plant organs. Here, using new structural imaging and pressure measuring tools, the researchers show interesting phloem structural changes that ensure a passive transport mechanism in tall trees.
Current genetic modification methods require regeneration using tissue culture. This study now reports a type of transformation technology, pollen magnetofection, that allows production of transgenic seeds in multiple species in a fast, culture-free manner.
The herbicide-resistant BAR gene is broadly used in different plants. The current study reports the first crystal structure of the BAR enzyme and further demonstrate structure-guided engineering strategies to reduce the non-specific activities of BAR.
The Deg/HtrA family of ATP-independent serine proteases functions in a wide range of regulatory pathways. Here, the crystal structure of Arabidopsis Deg9 shows a novel oligomeric assembly of this nuclear-localized protease, an interesting octamer.
The wild grass Aegilops tauschii is a wheat progenitor. A high-quality genome sequence, along with methylome and transcriptome data, provides insights on domestication and the effect of transposons, and offers a resource for wheat improvement.
There is a lack of efficient transcriptional activation tools for plant cells. Now, a study describes the development of a new potent dCas9-based transcriptional activation system that allows activation of single or multiple genes in both plant and mammalian cells.
In early Arabidopsis embryos, cell-type-specific labelling of the nuclear envelope, followed by affinity-based isolation of tagged nuclei, is used to build a temporal and spatial transcriptome atlas of the developing embryo.
PEN3 is polarly localized at the outside of the epidermal layer in roots, and is involved in defence against penetrating pathogens. A forward genetic screen identifies a BTB/POZ protein needed for the correct localization and function of PEN3.
It is rarely reported that copy number variants (CNVs) might influence plant phenotypes. A genetic analysis now shows that a CNV silences the expression of the downstream FZP gene in rice and improves the yield by increasing the number of spikelets per panicle.
The molecular basis underlying transgene susceptibility to silencing remains elusive. Now, using multiple examples, a study shows that higher GC content of coding sequences can reduce susceptibility of transgenes to heritable silencing.
RIN has long been considered a major regulator for ripening induction in tomato as rin mutants fail to ripen. Now, a study shows that the rin allele is a gain-of-function, rather than null, mutation. RIN is not required for ripening initiation.
Plant cell wall consists of multiple components and complex structure. Here, ssNMR was used to investigate the physical interactions between two principle cell wall components, cellulose and xylan, and demonstrate the mechanism for their interactions
Gibberellin (GA) is a plant hormone that plays an irreplaceable role in regulating growth and development. Now, the first fluorescent GA biosensor has been developed to visualize GA distributions at cellular resolution in Arabidopsis.
MicroRNAs regulate gene expression as part of the RNA-induced silencing complex. An analysis of miRNA in Chlamydomonas reinhardtiishows that algal miRNAs target sites predominantly within coding regions to destabilize mRNA and repress translation.
The first crystal structures of TPT, a membrane transporter that exports the Calvin cycle intermediates from chloroplasts and plays fundamental roles in nearly all photosynthetic eukaryotes, have now been resolved in complex with different substrates.
It remains unknown how the central metabolite acetyl-CoA affects histone acetylation in plants. Chen et al. now show that cytosolic acetyl-CoA promotes histone acetylation predominantly at H3K27 in Arabidopsis.
A study of botanical gardens around the world and the diversity of the species contained therein, with conclusions addressed to how to improve representation of plant species outside of their native sites.
Recent outbreaks of wheat stem rust pose a threat to global wheat production. A powerful computational modelling approach is now used to trace and predict the spread of these new pathogen stains, and can potentially be applied to other wind-dispersed spores.