A new study uses computational modelling to determine how and why cotton quality develops.
Continue reading Unraveling the mechanisms of producing high quality cotton
Wang and colleagues review the relationships between key phytohormone classes and cellulose deposition in plant systems.
Continue reading Understanding the connections between plant hormones and cellulose synthesis in plants: still a great unknown!
When getting cellulose to the cell wall, plant cells don’t rely on just one set of directions.
Continue reading Plants have two ways of giving directions to cell wall builders
How do grasses make cellulose for cell walls? Brabham and colleagues have been examining the genes.
Continue reading Biochemical and physiological flexibility accompanies reduced cellulose biosynthesis in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon
The protein complex ARP2/3 is responsible for nucleating actin, and its loss results in multiple defects in young seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana. Sahi et al. show that plants lacking the ARP2/3 complex have defects associated with cell wall synthesis. Mature tissues of inflorescence stems contain less cellulose and more homogalacturonan, cell walls are thinner, and lignification is altered. Stems of mutant plants have reduced basipetal auxin transport and a changed auxin influx carrier (AUX1) expression pattern. Since cell wall composition and auxin transport are functionally connected, morphogenetic defects may be explained by ARP2/3 control of cell wall synthesis and/or auxin...
Continue reading ARP2/3 complex links cell wall assembly and auxin distribution
Pollen tubes are rapidly growing, photosynthetically inactive cells that need high rates of energy to support growth. Energy can derive from internal and external storage sources. The lack of carbon sources can cause various problems during pollen tube growth, which in turn could affect the reproduction of plants. Parotta and colleagues analysed the effects of energy deficiency on the development of Nicotiana tabacum (Solanaceae) pollen tubes by replacing sucrose with glycerol in the growth medium. They focused on cell growth and related processes, such as metabolite composition and cell wall synthesis. The team found that the lack of sucrose affects...
Continue reading Effects of sucrose depletion on pollen tube growth
What is it that makes a plant get up and stay up? A new review looks at the creation of secondary cell walls. These microscopic features are the key to understanding the architecture of the plants we see around us.
Continue reading The cell biology of secondary cell wall biosynthesis
Marcos Buckeridge explains how death and destruction in sugarcane roots can lead to the development of gas spaces, which improve root function.
Continue reading Creative Destruction: How Death Leads to Function
Botanists aren’t always genetic engineers. This week Nigel Chaffey finds some have branched out into civil engineering.
Continue reading Dragons, coconuts and skyscrapers…
Arguably, one of the best known ‘structure-function’ relationships in plant biology is the role played by cellulose microfibrils within the walls of the guard cells in stomatal opening. Stomata* are the controllable orifices found primarily within the epidermis of the above-ground organs of higher plants. When open they permit ready exchange of gases (e.g. CO2, O2) between the interior of the plant and the environment thereby facilitating photosynthesis, and aerobic respiration. However, when open, H2O – in the gaseous form of water vapour – can also leave the plant in the process known as transpiration. Where water in the soil...
Continue reading A fresh look at guard cell walls
A new study shows the effects that plant cellulose has on the weather!
Continue reading Cellulose research reaches new heights
Carbohydrates and plants means more than just sucrose, starch and cellulose.
Continue reading Time for some carbs, now
Much of plant biomass is in roots but we know much less about root properties that affect decomposition rates than we do about above-ground tissues. Aulen and Shipley measure decomposition rates of 17 species of trees and herbs using intact soil cores in the field and relate the differences to root chemical and morphological properties. They find that initial root traits account for 75 % of variation in interspecific decomposition rates, and may thus provide a relatively simple way of assessing root turnover.
Continue reading Functional approach to predicting root decompositionBotany One is a blog run by the Annals of Botany Company, a non-profit educational charity.
In addition to Botany One, the company currently publishes three journals, the Annals of Botany, AoB PLANTS, and in silico Plants.
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