Articles in 2015

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are one of the most important groups of plant symbionts. The factors that regulate the exchange of resources in this symbiosis are explored in this Review.

The model and geographic location(s) of Asian rice domestication has been a controversial topic. Now a reanalysis of a previously published large genomic dataset, supports three geographically separate domestications of Asian rice.

Circadian clocks regulate many biological processes. The authors show the existence of two decentralized tissue-specific clocks: one in the vasculature for photoperiodic control of flowering, one in the epidermis for temperature-dependant elongation.

The viral hypersensitivity of Nicotiana benthamiana results from an insertion in the RNA polymerase, Rdr1. Population analyses showed that the Rdr1 insertion originated from a population that trades viral defence for vigour in an extreme Australian habitat.

Morphogenesis needs cellular polarity. In root hair cells initiation, ROPs, DRPs and PIP5K3 are recruited in bulging sterol-enriched membrane domains. A lipid-binding AGC kinase called D6PK modulates this establishment of planar cell polarity.

Wood is the main terrestrial biotic reservoir for long-term carbon sequestration. High-resolution cellular-based measurements of wood formation dynamics in coniferous forests in northeastern France suggest that woody biomass production lags stem-girth expansion by over a month

Plant survival is greatly impaired when oxygen levels are limiting, such as during flooding events. A series of laboratory experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana suggests that the universal stress protein HRU1 coordinates oxygen sensing with ROS signalling under anoxic conditions.

The length of root hairs, a critical determinant of a plant's absorption capacity, is dictated by a translational pulse of the transcription factor RSL4. The intensity and duration of this pulse depends on the integration of endogenous and environmental information that tunes the phenotypic readout to the environment.

Most plant pattern recognition receptors induce immune responses by detecting molecular patterns typical to one group of microbes. A newly identified complex, on the other hand, monitors effector proteins widely distributed among bacteria, fungi and oomycetes, casting a new light on the evolution of pattern recognition in plants.

Scientific and technological advances can only be achieved through careful experimentation, but what has been discovered often overshadows how the discovery was made. However, there are a variety of mechanisms, old and new, for the sharing of practical expertise.

CRISPR–Cas technology has been extensively applied to editing endogenous genes in plants for gene functional studies. New application of this technology to combating viral infection by destroying invading virus DNA has now become possible in plants.

Large trees deliver many benefits to forest ecosystems, including the provision of habitats for other species and the storage of carbon. A synthesis of tree growth and mortality data from around the globe now suggests that under drought large trees are dying in higher numbers than smaller trees.

Mimicry, deception and sensory exploitation of animals by plants is controversial, especially for seed dispersal. A field experiment in a South African nature reserve suggests that the large brown, round, strongly scented seeds of Ceratocaryum argenteum that emit many volatiles found to be present in herbivore dung, attract dung beetles that roll and bury them.