Articles in 2017

There is a lack of efficient transcriptional activation tools for plant cells. Now, a study describes the development of a new potent dCas9-based transcriptional activation system that allows activation of single or multiple genes in both plant and mammalian cells.

Gene editing reveals that the tomato ripening-inhibitor (rin) mutation encodes an active repressor of ripening, refines our understanding of RIN function and highlights strategies for engineering shelf life control.

The sciences and arts are often described as two separate cultures, but fruitful collaborations across this divide highlight the artificiality of such distinctions.

Enzymes are a great example of the tight link between sequence, structure and function. A recent study of two dehydrogenases shows exactly how small changes in sequence can have great impacts on function.

Investigations of plant metabolism reveal how an enzyme variant with reduced feedback sensitivity may allow plants to switch their pigment palettes.

In early Arabidopsis embryos, cell-type-specific labelling of the nuclear envelope, followed by affinity-based isolation of tagged nuclei, is used to build a temporal and spatial transcriptome atlas of the developing embryo.

Plant growth and development depend on the integration of environmental cues with endogenous signals. Two recent manuscripts provide molecular insights into the mechanism of signal transduction for light and temperature, finding that both impinge on the stability of the PIF3 transcription factor.

Solid genetic and genomic data now reveal that high guanine–cytosine content can prevent transgenes from RNA silencing, and enhance expression and transgenerational stability.

PEN3 is polarly localized at the outside of the epidermal layer in roots, and is involved in defence against penetrating pathogens. A forward genetic screen identifies a BTB/POZ protein needed for the correct localization and function of PEN3.

It is rarely reported that copy number variants (CNVs) might influence plant phenotypes. A genetic analysis now shows that a CNV silences the expression of the downstream FZP gene in rice and improves the yield by increasing the number of spikelets per panicle.

The molecular basis underlying transgene susceptibility to silencing remains elusive. Now, using multiple examples, a study shows that higher GC content of coding sequences can reduce susceptibility of transgenes to heritable silencing.