Journal Club

Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs

Category Archives: Plant Biology

Venus flytrap mechanism could shed light on how plants sense touch

Posted on April 3, 2021 by David Adam

Labelled by Charles Darwin as a “most wonderful” plant, the Venus flytrap is more than a carnivorous curiosity. The rapid closing of its leaves when brushed by prey offers researchers a way to investigate how plants sense their environment through … Continue reading →

Plants sense temperature with help of elegant protein

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Amy McDermott

How plants sense temperature is a longstanding and little-understood question. Researchers have discovered some of the mechanisms involved. A recent study in Nature adds a new mechanism—among the first in which the biophysical behavior of a single protein regulates the … Continue reading →

Categories: Journal Club | Plant Biology | Tagged amino acids, Arabidopsis, ELF3, flowering, meristem, NTL8, protein, temperature, thermosensing | Leave a comment

Genome of “mile-a-minute weed” hints at the secrets to its invasive success

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Amber Dance

The weedy vine Mikania micrantha, originally from Central and South America, has become a worldwide menace. Thus far, it’s spread to tropical climes in China and Southeast Asia, Australia, and islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as … Continue reading →

Unlocking a mystery of seed development promises fatter, oilier oilseeds

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Amy McDermott

The canola cooking oil lining supermarket shelves comes from the seeds of Brassica napus, a weedy-looking plant in the mustard family. Farmers of this crop understandably want varieties that yield big, oily seeds. A recent study in The Plant Cell … Continue reading →

Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Plant Biology | Tagged Arabidopsis, Brassica napus, canola, LEC2, oilseed rape, rapeseed, UPL3 | Leave a comment

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria talk to soybean roots via tiny RNAs, suggesting new avenue to improve yields

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Amber Dance

In order for soybean plants to get their necessary dose of nitrogen, they partner with bacteria called rhizobia, which can convert atmospheric nitrogen into organic forms the plant can use. But scientists don’t have the full picture of what facilitates … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Understanding how a plant makes a hook could someday improve crops

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Amber Dance

This spring, as the first shoots of new plants emerge from the soil, many are bent over in a hook. This simple act protects the fragile stem tip and leaves as the sprout pokes up through the dirt. But how … Continue reading →

Journal club: A simple model to help identify which species might become invasive

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Natasha Gilbert

Invasive species are a major driver of global biodiversity loss. Now researchers have developed a simple model that can quickly predict which species are likely to become established outside their native environment. The team recently reported in the Proceedings of … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Plants load extracellular vesicles with a new class of RNAs

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Jyoti Madhusoodanan

A recent study in The Plant Cell found that plants release extracellular vesicles carrying a new class of RNA molecules, named “tiny RNAs.” The findings are among the first to reveal the contents of these vesicles, and may hint at … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Single gene mutation may boost recombination and help produce better crops

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Jessica P. Johnson

As climate change and population growth threaten to destabilize global food security, plant breeders are ramping up efforts to create better, more productive crops. But in order to introduce new traits, breeding techniques typically rely on rare genetic recombination events … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Wheat’s molecular response to full sun exposure could suggest ways to increase yield

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Carrie Arnold

A recent study points to novel ways of improving crop yields and food production by elucidating how long it takes for wheat to return to full photosynthesis when making the transition from shade to sun exposure. The Green Revolution in … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Insights from 3-D images defy assumptions about how plant cells communicate

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

When plant cells communicate, plasmodesmata serve as crucial conduits. These channels cross cell walls, linking one cell to its neighbor. If a plant needs to grow larger or fight off a pathogen, molecular signals pass through plasmodesmata to keep cells … Continue reading →

Categories: Cell Biology | Journal Club | Plant Biology | Tagged Arabidopsis, cell communication, electron microscopy, plant cell, plasmodesmata | Leave a comment