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Various clades of legume plants irreversibly modify the development of their symbiotic nitrogen-fixing microorganisms. Key transcription factors controlling this process have been identified. They are conserved and functional even in plant species that do not induce such a terminal differentiation.
During evolution, the acquisition of special types of cells and tissues requires new regulatory genes that control cell division and cell differentiation. Here, we found that stomatal basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors are co-opted for the development of seta in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, which lacks true stomata.
In Arabidopsis, the final size of the seed is determined early on during its development by the growth of a single multinucleate cell, the coenocytic endosperm. The endosperm arises from a second fertilization event, alongside the embryo, and dominates the onset of seed development while later nourishing and supporting embryo growth.
Plant cells possess a bewildering number of different intracellular transport routes. A comprehensive interactome-based analysis on a set of core players unravels novel common components and surprising connections.
The maternal inheritance of organelles (such as chloroplasts and mitochondria) is the rule in most eukaryotes. In tobacco, chilling stress during pollen development and deactivation of an exonuclease that degrades organellar DNA facilitate paternal plastid transmission, thereby revealing that both genetic and environmental factors determine organelle inheritance.
Mutations in two single genes (AtPS1 and AtJAS) in Arabidopsis thaliana are individually sufficient to restore haploid male fertility with no effect on haploid female fertility. Genes restoring haploid male fertility can bypass laborious and resource-intensive chemical methods, thereby markedly increasing the efficiency of doubled haploid (DH) technology to accelerate crop breeding.
In plant mitochondria, NADH dehydrogenase (complex I) and the cytochrome bc1 complex (complex III) form a I + III2 supercomplex, which is thought to stabilize the structure of the component complexes. Protein–protein interactions at three sites on the membrane arm of complex I partly resemble those in mammals, but also have plant-specific features.
Analysis of cambial development in the tree Populus trichocarpa reveals how a zinc-finger transcription factor, Populus trichocarpa VASCULAR CAMBIUM-SPECIFIC 2 (PtrVCS2), controls the rate of cell proliferation by changing the dynamics of histone acetylation at the Populus trichocarpa WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4a (PtrWOX4a) promoter.
