Featured
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Article |
Genome editing of a rice CDP-DAG synthase confers multipathogen resistance
Editing of a rice gene that has a role in phospholipid synthesis has endowed rice plants with broad-spectrum resistance to disease, including protection from common bacterial and fungal pathogens, without decreasing the yield.
- Gan Sha
- , Peng Sun
- & Guotian Li
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Article |
A pan-grass transcriptome reveals patterns of cellular divergence in crops
Complementary single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomic analyses of Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor and Setaria viridis root cells provide insights into the evolution of cell types and gene modules that control key traits in these important crop species.
- Bruno Guillotin
- , Ramin Rahni
- & Kenneth D. Birnbaum
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Article |
Export of defensive glucosinolates is key for their accumulation in seeds
Arabidopsis thaliana UMAMIT uniporters facilitate glucosinolate efflux from biosynthetic cells along the electrochemical gradient into the apoplast, in which the high-affinity H+-coupled glucosinolate importers GLUCOSINOLATE TRANSPORTERS (GTRs) load them into the phloem for translocation to the seeds.
- Deyang Xu
- , Niels Christian Holm Sanden
- & Barbara Ann Halkier
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Article |
A receptor–channel trio conducts Ca2+ signalling for pollen tube reception
The molecular mechanism by which FERONIA, LORELEI and NORTIA work together to facilitate calcium-mediated synergid–pollen tube communication in flowering plants is presented.
- Qifei Gao
- , Chao Wang
- & Sheng Luan
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Article |
A phase-separated nuclear GBPL circuit controls immunity in plants
A family of plant guanylate-binding protein-like GTPases controls phase separation and assembly of condensates, thereby forming a circuit that regulates transcriptional responses to biotic stress.
- Shuai Huang
- , Shiwei Zhu
- & John D. MacMicking
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Article |
FERONIA controls pectin- and nitric oxide-mediated male–female interaction
FERONIA prevents polyspermy in Arabidopsis by enabling pectin-stimulated nitric oxide accumulation at the filiform apparatus after the first pollen tube arrives, which disengages LURE1 chemoattraction to prevent late-arriving pollen tubes from entering the ovule.
- Qiaohong Duan
- , Ming-Che James Liu
- & Alice Y. Cheung
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Article |
Plant cell-surface GIPC sphingolipids sense salt to trigger Ca2+ influx
The sphingolipid GIPC in the plant cell plasma membrane binds to sodium and triggers calcium influx, thereby triggering responses to excess salt such as efflux of sodium ions from cells.
- Zhonghao Jiang
- , Xiaoping Zhou
- & Zhen-Ming Pei
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Letter |
TIC236 links the outer and inner membrane translocons of the chloroplast
TIC236 is an inner-membrane protein that binds to the outer-membrane channel TOC75 to create a long, stable bridge that enables the transport of proteins into chloroplasts.
- Yih-Lin Chen
- , Lih-Jen Chen
- & Hsou-min Li
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Letter |
Nectar secretion requires sucrose phosphate synthases and the sugar transporter SWEET9
Although nectar is known to be important, for example in plant–insect interactions, little has been known about the mechanism of its secretion; sucrose phosphate synthases are now reported to be essential for the synthesis of the sucrose component of nectar and the transporter protein SWEET9 is shown to mediate sucrose export into the extracellular space of the nectary.
- I Winnie Lin
- , Davide Sosso
- & Wolf B. Frommer
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Letter |
Disruption of Mediator rescues the stunted growth of a lignin-deficient Arabidopsis mutant
Disruption of lignin biosynthesis has been proposed as a way to improve forage and bioenergy crops, but it can result in stunted growth and developmental abnormalities; here, the undesirable features of one such manipulation are shown to depend on the transcriptional co-regulatory complex Mediator.
- Nicholas D. Bonawitz
- , Jeong Im Kim
- & Clint Chapple
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Article |
Crystal structure of the plant dual-affinity nitrate transporter NRT1.1
A description of the crystal structure of unphosphorylated NRT1.1 provides insights into how phosphorylation switches the nitrate transporter between the low-affinity and high-affinity states.
- Ji Sun
- , John R. Bankston
- & Ning Zheng
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Article |
Molecular basis of nitrate uptake by the plant nitrate transporter NRT1.1
In Arabidopsis thaliana the phosphorylation state of the ‘dual affinity’ transporter, NRT1.1, allows the uptake of nitrate over a wide concentration range; the crystal structure and molecular basis for this is described in this study.
- Joanne L. Parker
- & Simon Newstead
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Letter |
CLASP-mediated cortical microtubule organization guides PIN polarization axis
The microtubule orientation regulators CLASP and MAP65 are shown to control the distribution of the polarity regulator PINOID kinase by controlling its retention at the plasma membrane, providing a mechanism for how polarity is established in plants.
- Klementina Kakar
- , Hongtao Zhang
- & Pankaj Dhonukshe
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Research Highlights |
Plants split cells to put down roots
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Letter |
NRT/PTR transporters are essential for translocation of glucosinolate defence compounds to seeds
Two high-affinity proton-dependent transporters of glucosinolates have been identified in Arabidopsis and termed GTR1 and GTR2; these transporters are essential for transporting glucosinolates to seeds, offering a means to control the allocation of defence compounds in a tissue-specific manner, which may have agricultural biotechnology implications.
- Hussam Hassan Nour-Eldin
- , Tonni Grube Andersen
- & Barbara Ann Halkier
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Letter |
A novel putative auxin carrier family regulates intracellular auxin homeostasis in plants
The identification of PILS proteins, putative auxin transport facilitators, suggests that intracellular auxin transport might be evolutionarily older than directional, cell-to-cell PIN-dependent auxin transport, and highlights the developmental importance of intracellular auxin transport.
- Elke Barbez
- , Martin Kubeš
- & Jürgen Kleine-Vehn
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Letter |
Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T
- Cristina Navarro
- , José A. Abelenda
- & Salomé Prat
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Letter |
A plastidial sodium-dependent pyruvate transporter
- Tsuyoshi Furumoto
- , Teppei Yamaguchi
- & Katsura Izui
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Research Highlights |
Pollination drives floral clock
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Letter |
The ELF4–ELF3–LUX complex links the circadian clock to diurnal control of hypocotyl growth
- Dmitri A. Nusinow
- , Anne Helfer
- & Steve A. Kay
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News & Views |
Unveiling the Casparian strip
The Casparian strip in plant roots is a diffusion barrier that directs water and solutes from the soil to the water-conducting tissues. Proteins involved in making the strip have at long last been identified. See Letter p.380
- Markus Grebe
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Letter |
Timing of plant immune responses by a central circadian regulator
Circadian rhythms regulate a wide variety of developmental and metabolic processes resulting in enhanced fitness. In this study, a link is made between plant immune responses and the circadian clock. Plant defence against a fungal pathogen which causes downy mildew disease in Arabidopsis is studied, and it is shown that a novel set of defence genes are regulated by the circadian regulator CIRCADIAN CLOCK-ASSOCIATED 1 (CCA1). The mechanism allows plants to 'anticipate' infection at dawn when the pathogen normally disperses its spores. Such a cross-talk mechanism reveals an important strategy for plants to time immune responses against pathogens.
- Wei Wang
- , Jinyoung Yang Barnaby
- & Xinnian Dong
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Research Highlights |
Cell biology: Toxin tackle
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Letter |
Haploid plants produced by centromere-mediated genome elimination
Making haploid plants — which inherit chromosomes from only one parent — is useful for genetic research and also, crucially, for plant breeding. A new method for generating haploid Arabidopsis plants is now described, involving the manipulation of a single centromeric protein, CENH3. When cenh3 null plants are crossed with wild-type plants, the mutant chromosomes are eliminated, producing haploid progeny.
- Maruthachalam Ravi
- & Simon W. L. Chan
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Letter |
Control of Arabidopsis apical–basal embryo polarity by antagonistic transcription factors
During development in Arabidopsis plants, populations of shoot stem cells and root stem cells are established at the embryo's apical and basal poles, respectively. PLETHORA genes are master regulators of root fate, but the regulators of shoot fate were unknown. Here, CLASS III HOMEODOMAIN-LEUCINE ZIPPER genes are identified as master regulators of apical/shoot fate, and are shown to be sufficient to convert the embryonic root pole into a second shoot pole.
- Zachery R. Smith
- & Jeff A. Long