Plant cell biology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transport of the plant hormone gibberellin is required for normal plant growth and development. Here, Tal et al. show that NPF3 is able to transport gibberellin in vitro, and provide evidence that it is required for normal gibberellin distribution and activity in plants.

    • Iris Tal
    • , Yi Zhang
    •  & Eilon Shani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The chloroplast signal recognition particle delivers LHCPs to the thylakoid membrane by interaction of cpSRP43 with the Alb3 insertase. Here the authors decipher the specific recognition of the Alb3 C-terminal tail within the interface of two communicating chromodomains by structural biochemistry.

    • Annemarie Horn
    • , Janosch Hennig
    •  & Irmgard Sinning

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phenylalanine is synthesized in plant chloroplasts and is then exported to the cytosol, where it is a precursor for various secondary metabolites. Here, the authors identify PhpCAT as a plastid phenylalanine transporter required to maintain metabolic flux in petunia.

    • Joshua R. Widhalm
    • , Michael Gutensohn
    •  & Natalia Dudareva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Seed germination is repressed by release of the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) to the embryo from the surrounding endosperm tissue. Here Kang et al. characterize four different ABA transporters and propose that they act in concert to control ABA release and regulate germination.

    • Joohyun Kang
    • , Sojeong Yim
    •  & Youngsook Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    GABA is an important neurotransmitter in animals, and while it accumulates in plants under stress, its potential role in plant signalling was poorly understood. Here, Rameshet al. show that GABA rapidly alters the activity of plant ALMT anion channels modifying root growth and stress tolerance.

    • Sunita A. Ramesh
    • , Stephen D. Tyerman
    •  & Matthew Gilliham

  • Article |

    Thylakoid membranes are critical components of chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. Here, Hennig et al. demonstrate that IM30, a conserved chloroplast and cyanobacterial protein, binds to thylakoid membranes and can trigger membrane destabilization and fusion in a Mg2+dependent manner.

    • Raoul Hennig
    • , Jennifer Heidrich
    •  & Dirk Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In plants, ascorbate is synthesized in the mitochondria yet plays essential roles as an antioxidant in the chloroplast. Here, Miyaji et al.show that AtPHT4;4 is a chloroplast envelope ascorbate transporter and suggest it is required for dissipation of excess energy under light stress.

    • Takaaki Miyaji
    • , Takashi Kuromori
    •  & Yoshinori Moriyama

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cotton fibre is the most important renewable material for textiles, with a huge economic output. Here the authors show that a homeodomain-leucine zipper transcription factor, GhHOX3, transduces a gibberellin signal that in turn promotes fibre cell elongation.

    • Chun-Min Shan
    • , Xiao-Xia Shangguan
    •  & Xiao-Ya Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian rhythms allow plants to respond to diurnal fluctuations in the environment. Here Caldeira et al. find that circadian control of hydraulic conductance, aquaporin expression and leaf growth are entrained by oscillations of plant water status and promote water uptake in drought-stressed plants.

    • Cecilio F. Caldeira
    • , Linda Jeanguenin
    •  & François Tardieu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The absence of a defined centromere in organisms with holocentric chromosomes presents particular problems for the control of chromosome segregation during meiosis. Cabral et al.present evidence that two plant species overcome this challenge by inverting the conventional sequence of meiotic divisions.

    • Gabriela Cabral
    • , André Marques
    •  & Peter Schlögelhofer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventionally, meiosis depends on a two-step loss of chromosome cohesion that requires distinction between chromosome arms and sister centromeres. Heckmann et al.show that a plant that lacks a single defined centromere overcomes this problem by inverting the sequence of meiotic segregation events.

    • Stefan Heckmann
    • , Maja Jankowska
    •  & Andreas Houben

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light and temperature interact to control hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis. Here, Johansson et al.use experimental data and mathematical modelling to describe a photothermal molecular switch where temperature governs whether light represses or activates elongation.

    • Henrik Johansson
    • , Harriet J. Jones
    •  & Karen J. Halliday

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae produces large and small spores, and the role played by the small spores (microconidia) in plant infection is unknown. Here, Zhang et al.show that the microconidia can cause disease by infecting plants through wounds or flowering heads.

    • Huili Zhang
    • , Zhongshou Wu
    •  & Jin-Rong Xu

  • Article |

    Phloem is responsible for long-distance transport of molecules in plants and conducting phloem cells are joined by sieve areas that facilitate cell-to-cell transport. Here the authors identify mutations in the gene encoding CHOLINE TRANSPORTER-LIKE1 that cause abnormalities in sieve areas and impaired phloem conduction.

    • Jan Dettmer
    • , Robertas Ursache
    •  & Ykä Helariutta

  • Article |

    Compared with yeast and animal cells, the detailed dynamics of autophagosome extension in plants remain particularly unclear. Here the authors show that the autophagy-related protein, ATG5, forms a torus-shaped domain on the early phagophore in Arabidopsis, and involve the ER in a model for plant autophagosome formation.

    • Romain Le Bars
    • , Jessica Marion
    •  & Michele Wolfe Bianchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The plant hormone auxin is essential for plant development and growth and is transported across cellular membranes via specialized transporter proteins. In this study, Ranocha et al. identify the first vacuolar auxin transporter, WAT1, suggesting an involvement of the vacuole in auxin signalling.

    • Philippe Ranocha
    • , Oana Dima
    •  & Deborah Goffner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant cell division is driven by the expansion of the phragmoplast, a characteristic structure that forms in the middle of the plant cell during cytokinesis. Murata et al. use genetic and cell imaging approaches to clarify the microtubule behaviour that leads to phragmoplast expansion.

    • Takashi Murata
    • , Toshio Sano
    •  & Mitsuyasu Hasebe

  • Article |

    Spatial positioning of the division plane in plant cells is determined premitotically by the preprophase band of microtubules. Spinner et al. show that its formation in Arabidopsisrequires a PP2A complex containing FASS and TON1 which is recruited to cortical microtubules by the TRM protein family.

    • Lara Spinner
    • , Astrid Gadeyne
    •  & Martine Pastuglia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    MONOCULM1 is a transcriptional regulator that controls rice tillering and therefore grain yield. In this study the authors demonstrate that MONOCULM1 interacts with TAD1, forming a complex which activates APC and targets MONOCULM1 for degradation.

    • Cao Xu
    • , Yonghong Wang
    •  & Jiayang Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How microtubules are organized correctly in plant cells is not well understood. Ambroseet al. use 4D imaging and computer modelling to show that sharp cell edges induce microtubule depolymerization and that the microtubule-associated protein CLASP mitigates this process to modulate array organization.

    • Chris Ambrose
    • , Jun F. Allard
    •  & Geoffrey O. Wasteneys

  • Article |

    Hydro-responsive plant movements have provided inspiration for the design of adaptive materials. Harringtonet al. investigate the hydration-dependent unfolding of ice plant seed capsules and find an origami-like folding pattern, which could aid the development of biomimetic folding structures.

    • Matthew J. Harrington
    • , Khashayar Razghandi
    •  & Ingo Burgert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Increasing the nutritional content of plant crops and the identification of iron transporters in rice would facilitate the improvement of rice varieties. In this study, the authors identify a mitochondrial iron transporter in rice — MIT — and suggest that this gene is important for rice growth and development.

    • Khurram Bashir
    • , Yasuhiro Ishimaru
    •  & Naoko K. Nishizawa

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