The DER1 (deformed root hairs1) locus encodes a major vegetative actin (ACTIN2) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mutations in DER1 lead to impaired root hair development. However, the role of this gene in overall plant...
Sexual dimorphism in morphology, physiology or life history traits is common in dioecious plants at reproductive maturity, but it is typically inconspicuous or absent in juveniles. Although plants of different sexes...
Constitutive defence activation in plants leads to resistance to a broad-spectrum of pathogens, but also frequently to stunted growth and reduced seed sets; how do plants decide whether to defend against infection or to...
Of the plethora of aspects of plant growth and development that the hormone (OK, plant growth regulator…) auxin is implicated in/involved with (e.g. embryo development, leaf formation, phototropism, gravitropism, fruit...
Mob1 proteins are kinase regulators that are conserved among eukaryotes and which play a significant role in restraining tumor development. Pinosa et al. study the role of Mob1-like genes in development of Arabidopsis...
At the subterranean interface between ‘plant’ and ‘non-plant’ few structures play a more important role than root hairs – tiny, closed-ended tubular projections from single cells in the root’s epidermis. Not only do...
This year’s transit of Venus reminds me – albeit belatedly – to applaud the hard-working botanists of the Universities of Nottingham (UK), Ghent (Belgium), Leeds (UK) and Lyon (France) who have been exploring a more...
Modelling axis organogenesis in grapevine (PMA Special Issue) Pallas et al. construct three plant growth models to improve the modelling of grapevine development and axis organogenesis in fluctuating environments; one...