Model plants

Intrinsically disordered regions are a ubiquitous class of protein domains that lack a fixed 3D structure. Here, an evolutionarily conserved family of disordered CO₂ sensors has been discovered, expanding the growing repertoire of disordered regions that respond to changes in the cellular environment.

New work studying the plant Arabidopsis thaliana shows that patterns of observed sequence variants are primarily influenced by biases in initial mutation occurrences rather than by the subsequent selective pressures.

The conserved chromatin remodeller DECREASED IN DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) has long been an enigma given its powerful but likely indirect effect in maintaining plant DNA methylation. In this issue of Nature Cell Biology, Osakabe et al. show that the direct action of DDM1 is deposition of the H2A.W histone variant to silence transposable elements.

A new model system for C₄ plants has been established based on an indoor-cultivated rapid-cycling foxtail millet mutant xiaomi. This mutant, together with its reference genome and an efficient transformation protocol, paves the way for understanding the unique and interesting biology of C₄ photosynthesis.

Leaf development follows a common principle but is also flexibly tuned in different species in a spatiotemporal manner. A novel regulatory mechanism controlling leaflet formation has been identified in Medicago.