Volume 3 Issue 5, May 2017

A genetic screen in the model panicoid grass Setaria viridis reveals the importance of the auxin transporter AUX1 for inflorescence branching in maize, highlighting how model plants can accelerate gene discovery in complex crops.

“Neither you nor I nor anyone know, how oats, peas, beans, and barley grow.” Like all fine nursery rhymes, this couplet rings true, but a new study brings us a step closer to being able to retort: “Do so!”

Circular RNAs can regulate the alternative splicing profile of their parental genes by physically interacting with the DNA to form RNA:DNA hybrids.

The role of nodule cysteine-rich (NCR) peptides during the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is complex. They are more than just antimicrobial compounds used by the host to control bacterial growth, as previously thought.

Plants protect their photosynthetic apparatus from excess light energy through non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). This study shows that NPQ is catalysed by two independent mechanisms, only one of which is dependent on lutein.

How the two types of key trans-acting factors, PLS-type pentatricopeptide repeat protein and the multiple organellar RNA editing factor, cooperate in plant RNA editing remains unknown. A study now uses crystal structures to characterize the mechanism.

GW5 is a major rice quantitative trait locus for grain size. Through genetics experiments, and unlike previous reports, the causal gene is now linked to a calmodulin-binding protein that affects brassinosteroid signalling.

While circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been identified in all eukaryotic kingdoms of life, their functions have remained elusive. Now, a study shows that circRNAs can promote alternative splicing of their cognate mRNA, thus driving homeotic phenotypes.

Setaria viridis is a panicoid grass that can serve as a simpler genetic model for crops, such as maize, and accelerate gene discovery. Here, an auxin influx transporter is identified in both plants as an inflorescence architecture regulator.

Lichens are symbioses of fungi and green algae or cyanobacteria. Here, the finding of 152 fossil lichens from Palaeogene amber greatly increases the number of known fossil lichens. Their morphologies show that the European Palaeogene amber forests were temperate and humid.

A new screen for Arabidopsis defective in Casparian strip formation identifies EXO70A1 as a central player. This subunit of the exocyst complex is needed for correct ring-like CASP1 localization, but its role is uncoupled from secretion.

Plant cell growth requires cell wall extension. Here, the nanoscale movement of cellulose microfibrils in onion primary cell wall is imaged by atomic force microscopy and compared under mechanical extension versus enzymatic loosening.