Volume 7 Issue 4, April 2021

Upon first exposure to light, plants initiate the synchronized biogenesis of chlorophyll and thylakoid membranes. Two new studies have revealed a molecular view of the light-dependent step of chlorophyll synthesis within the membranes of developing angiosperm chloroplasts.

Plant defence is based on a two-tiered immune system comprising pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Effective defence against host-adapted microbial pathogens relies on mutual potentiation of immunity by both PTI and ETI components.

Increases in tree mortality affect the ability of forests to absorb and store atmospheric carbon, but how the largest trees die is still relatively understudied. This Perspective posits and examines several biotic and abiotic drivers affecting these trees and their disproportionate impacts.

This work reviews our understanding of plant sex-determining systems and the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolutionary shifts to dioecy. The homomorphy of plant sex chromosomes and their small sex-determining regions are attributed to limited sexual conflict.

This Review covers the recent advancements in our understanding of reactive oxygen species production, regulation and perception in plants. It is primarily focused on stress responses and the role of NADPH oxidases.

Coffea stenophylla is a recently rediscovered, narrow-leaved wild coffee from Upper West Africa. Rigorous sensory evaluation (tasting) rates its flavour profile as analogous to high-quality Arabica coffee, but it can grow at much higher temperatures.

Engineering over 60 promoter alleles in two tomato fruit size genes showed the complex interactions among cis-regulatory variants in shaping quantitative trait variation. Dissection of this complexity can guide predictable engineering of crop traits.

ABCG56, a cytokinin transporter, plays a role in the establishment of nodulation and nitrogen-fixing symbiosis in the model legume Medicago truncatula.

The light-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (LPOR) is involved in chlorophyll synthesis and insertion into the thylakoid membrane. Here, a high-resolution structure of membrane-bound LPOR advances the mechanistic understanding of chlorophyll synthesis and thylakoid biogenesis.

Using the preserved remains of a short-winged flower beetle in mid-Cretaceous amber, this Article provides some of earliest clues as to the origins of angiosperm pollination.

HIGH CROSSOVER RATE1 (HCR1) represses meiotic crossovers and encodes PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE X1, which therefore has a major role opposing the function of pro-recombination kinases to restrict crossovers in Arabidopsis.

Bitterness is one of the fruit traits that are most disliked by consumers. In this study, the authors identified and characterized a tonoplast membrane transporter in tomato fruit, which is responsible for the translocation of bitter α-tomatine and other derivatives from the vacuole to the cytoplasm for non-bitter conversion.

The link between rhizosphere microbial community, root architecture and performance in nitrogen-poor soils is comprehensively investigated in maize, and the role of exuded flavone to promote specific beneficial bacterial taxa is characterized.

Many genome-wide datasets from various sources are combined to generate an integrative gene regulatory network in Arabidopsis. This network is used to predict and validate new transcriptional regulators of ROS signalling.

Etioplasts are photosynthetically inactive plastids that are converted to chloroplasts under light exposure. To study thylakoid membrane biogenesis, cryo-electron tomography is used to image membranes isolated from etioplasts and reconstruct the architecture of proteins associated with the membrane.

Photosystems need auxiliary proteins to assist their assembly. Cryo-electron microscopy of a cyanobacterial photosystem II assembly intermediate at 2.94 Å reveals mechanisms protecting against photodamage during vulnerable stages of biogenesis.