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Transcriptional gene silencing is a pivotal mechanism for regulating gene expression and genome stability. In Arabidopsis, combined analyses of small RNAs (sRNAs) and DNA methylation reveals that mobile 24-nt sRNAs are involved in reinforcing genome-wide silencing of transposons through DNA methylation.
Flavodiiron proteins help to protect cyanobacteria from excess light through the dissipation of excess electrons. Introducing moss flavodiiron proteins into Arabidopsis raises its resilience to fluctuating light, illustrating the potential for augmenting higher plants with photosynthetic components from lower plants, algae and cyanobacteria.
Buried seedlings must grow both strongly, to push through soil to the surface, and fast, to reach the light as quickly as possible. A recent study finds that a pair of sequentially acting E3 ubiquitin ligases balances these conflicting imperatives.
A broad-scale analysis of genic DNA methylation across the phylogeny of land plants reveals unexpected variation and provides insights into the evolutionary forces shaping it.
Major life cycle transitions happen after changes in stem cells trigger new developmental programs. In moss, expression of the homeobox transcription factor BELL1 is sufficient to induce sporophyte stem cells from the gametophyte phase, without having to go through fertilization.
Angiosperm evolution involves a major transition from spiral to whorled arrangements of floral organs. Examination of the genetic programs specifying floral organ identity in Nigella damascene, a species of Ranunculaceae with spiral flowers, illuminates the molecular basis of how spiral flowers can have flexible numbers of floral organs.