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Arabidopsis lateral root radial emergence is spatially constrained by the dual xylem poles in the main root. However, the asymmetric presence of water can modify the orientation of lateral roots at a very early stage.
Mepiquat chloride is a growth retardant used in cotton farming to optimize growth by inhibiting gibberellin metabolism, but it is not effective in other crops. Now, its molecular target is found, enabling selective agrochemical inhibition of growth in cereals.
Immune receptor FLS2 perceives flagellin epitopes from many bacterial pathogens, but not from well-known Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The authors find a natural FLS2 in a wild grape species that can perceive this modified flagellin.
Three genomes must cooperate in plants — those in the nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts. Biparental inheritance of the nucleus and maternal inheritance of the organelles has made studying these interactions difficult. A new method allows the nucleus to be inherited paternally so the ‘black box’ of interactions can be studied.
Two genomes of the closest algal sisters to land plants were sequenced, providing potential evidence that bacterial genes were key in adapting to terrestrial stresses.
The assembly of eight high-quality rapeseed genomes allows identification of presence and absence variations (PAVs) and small variations. PAV-based genome-wide association analysis uncovered causal variations for agronomic traits and ecotype differentiation.
Plants store the vast majority of their DNA in the nucleus, like all other eukaryotes, but also possess two sets of organellar genomes in mitochondria and plastids. Now, researchers have employed haploid inducers to generate reciprocal cybrids to disentangle the specific contributions of organellar variations to plant performance.
Faster onset of photoprotection could potentially increase biomass accumulation. However, Arabidopsis lines overexpressing three photoprotective proteins had impaired growth rate under fluctuating light, despite rapidly triggering photoprotection.
