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Mixing maternal and paternal genomes is the base of plant sexual reproduction, but some so-called ‘haploid inducer lines’ lead to the formation of seeds bearing well-developed embryos with solely the maternal genome. A recent study adds a new piece to the puzzle of this enigmatic in planta haploid embryo induction process.
The establishment of cell polarity is essential for plant growth and development. The process involves biochemical cues and mechanical changes. Here the authors review the establishment of polarity in plant cells, with a particular focus on the molecular players connecting mechanical information and cell morphogenesis.
By sieving through the plant genomic literature for the last 20 years, a study uncovered a disconnection between the research locales and plants’ native ranges. Colonialism, both past and present, might be behind this disparity.
Auxin is a master hormone that affects most aspects of plant development. Its inactivation is a key process in regulating auxin levels, but it is only now that we are starting to properly understand the steps involved.
Hormone-induced plant regeneration involves acquisition of pluripotency based on auxin–cytokinin crosstalk. A recent study demonstrates the spatial and functional organization of callus cells and the role of pluripotent middle-layer cells in de novo tissue regeneration.
The levels of plant hormones are broadly determined by their relative rates of biosynthesis and degradation, but a degradation pathway for strigolactones has been missing. Now an enzyme has been discovered that can break down strigolactones and thereby influence plant development.
Light-induced ‘speckles’, or photobodies, have been long known in plants, but the mechanistic basis of their formation along with their cellular function have remained a mystery. Answers to both questions have now been provided.
MicroRNAs are key mobile players in many developmental and stress response pathways within plants. The role of miRNAs has now been expanded to include functioning as exogenously applied effectors and also plant-to-plant communicators of gene regulatory programs.
Biological membrane bilayers typically have distinct phospholipid compositions in the two leaflets, which require lipid translocation mediated by transporters called lipid flippases. These proteins are crucial for cell survival and various physiological activities in eukaryotic cells. This Review discusses the current knowledge of lipid flippases in plants.
By adding high-resolution climatic factors to an innovative genotype-by-environment model, a study using high-quality data of global wheat trials demonstrates that climate change affects wheat breeding and that region-specific breeding efforts that target heat-tolerance traits achieve better yield stability in a warming climate.
This Review summarizes the current status of base editors and prime editors in plants, reporting both technological developments and biological applications of these precise genome editors.
The genome of a magnoliid, Aristolochia fimbriata, shows no evidence of whole-genome duplication, a feature uniquely shared with Amborella trichopoda, the sister species to all other angiosperms. This ancestral structure of the Aristolochia genome offers great opportunities for comparative genomics.
