Recently added articles from Plant Cell:

Epistasis and Genetic Regulation of Variation in the Arabidopsis Metabolome

May 01, 2008; Eckardt, Nancy A ... Many factors contribute to genetic and phenotypic variation within an interbreeding population. Phenotypic variation within a species or population is highly complex; it is often polygenic and quantitative and influenced by environmental and genetic factors. In addition to considerations of ...

Newly Isolated Circadian Clock Components Conserved Across Eukaryotes

May 01, 2008; Mach, Jennifer ... Organisms maintain circadian rhythms that coordinate biological processes with daily environmental changes. The circadian clock molecular mechanism is self-sustaining, yet is also capable of entrainment to variable environmental conditions (reviewed in McClung, 2006). At its simplest, the ...

An Exocyst Vesicle Tethering Complex in Plants

May 01, 2008; Eckardt, Nancy A ... Tethering factors are a large group of proteins that function in secretory membrane trafficking (reviewed in Sztul and Lupashin, 2006; Cai et al., 2007). Animal cells contain two types of tethering factors: proteins with extensive coiled-coil domains and large multisubunit complexes. Both types ...

Biochemical Networks and Epistasis Shape the Arabidopsis thaliana Metabolome(W)

May 01, 2008; Rowe, Heather C; Hansen, Bjarne Gram; Halkier, Barbara Ann; Kliebenstein, Daniel J ... Genomic approaches have accelerated the study of the quantitative genetics that underlie phenotypic variation. These approaches associate genome-scale analyses such as transcript profiling with targeted phenotypes such as measurements of specific metabolites. Additionally, these approaches can ...

The Scientific Roots of Modern Plant Biotechnology

May 01, 2008; Sussex, Ian M ... One of the stellar achievements of twentieth century plant biologywas the genetic transformation of somatic cells enabling the regeneration of whole plants that were stably transformed and capable of transmitting the inserted genetic material to subsequent generations. This achievement grew out ...

Signals Derived from YABBY Gene Activities in Organ Primordia Regulate Growth and Partitioning of Arabidopsis Shoot Apical Meristems(W)

May 01, 2008; Goldshmidt, Alexander; Alvarez, John Paul; Bowman, John L; Eshed, Yuval ... Shoot apical meristems (SAMs) are self-sustaining groups of cells responsible for the ordered initiation of all aerial plant tissues, including stems and lateral organs. The precise coordination of these processes argues for crosstalk between the different SAM domains. The products of YABBY ...

Dual Effects of miR156-Targeted SPL Genes and CYP78A5/KLUH on Plastochron Length and Organ Size in Arabidopsis thaliana(W)(OA)

May 01, 2008; Wang, Jia-Wei; Schwab, Rebecca; Czech, Benjamin; Mica, Erica; Weigel, Detlef ... Leaves of flowering plants are produced from the shoot apical meristem at regular intervals, with the time that elapses between the formation of two successive leaf primordia defining the plastochron. We have identified two genetic axes affecting plastochron length in Arabidopsis thaliana. One ...

XAP5 CIRCADIAN TIMEKEEPER Coordinates Light Signals for Proper Timing of Photomorphogenesis and the Circadian Clock in Arabidopsis(W)

May 01, 2008; Martin-Tryon, Ellen L; Harmer, Stacey L ... Numerous, varied, and widespread taxa have an internal circadian clock that allows anticipation of rhythmic changes in the environment. We have identified XAP5 CIRCADIAN TIMEKEEPER (XCT), an Arabidopsis thaliana gene important for light regulation of the circadian clock and photomorphogenesis ....

MTA Is an Arabidopsis Messenger RNA Adenosine Methylase and Interacts with a Homolog of a Sex-Specific Splicing Factor(W)(OA)

May 01, 2008; Zhong, Silin; Li, Hongying; Bodi, Zsuzsanna; Button, James; Vespa, Laurent; Herzog, Michel; Fray, Rupert G ... N^sup 6^-Methyladenosine is a ubiquitous modification identified in the mRNA of numerous eukaryotes, where it is present within both coding and noncoding regions. However, this base modification does not alter the coding capacity, and its biological significance remains unclear. We show that ...

Identification of a Xylogalacturonan Xylosyltransferase Involved in Pectin Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis(W)(OA)

May 01, 2008; Jensen, Jacob Krüger; Sørensen, Susanne Oxenbøll; Harholt, Jesper; Geshi, Naomi; Sakuragi, Yumiko; Møller, Isabel; Zandleven, Joris; Bernal, Adriana J; Jensen, Niels Bjerg; Sørensen, Charlotte; Pauly, Markus; Beldman, Gerrit; Willats, William G T; Scheller, Henrik Vibe ... Xylogalacturonan (XGA) is a class of pectic polysaccharide found in plant cell walls. The Arabidopsis thaliana locus At5g33290 encodes a predicted Type II membrane protein, and insertion mutants of the At5g33290 locus had decreased cell wall xylose. Immunological studies, enzymatic extraction of ...

SOMNUS, a CCCH-Type Zinc Finger Protein in Arabidopsis, Negatively Regulates Light-Dependent Seed Germination Downstream of PIL5(W)

May 01, 2008; Kim, Dong Hwan; Yamaguchi, Shinjiro; Lim, Soohwan; Oh, Eunkyoo; Park, Jeongmu; Hanada, Atsushi; Kamiya, Yuji; Choi, Giltsu ... Light absorbed by seed phytochromes of Arabidopsis thaliana modulates abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellic acid (GA) signaling pathways at least partly via PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR3-LIKE5 (PIL5), a phytochrome-interacting basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor. Here, we report a new ...

A Transporter Regulating Silicon Distribution in Rice Shoots(W)

May 01, 2008; Yamaji, Naoki; Mitatni, Namiki; Ma, Jian Feng ... Rice (Oryza sativa) accumulates very high concentrations of silicon (Si) in the shoots, and the deposition of Si as amorphous silica helps plants to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we describe a transporter, Lsi6, which is involved in the distribution of Si in the shoots. Lsi6 ...

Mutation of a Rice Gene Encoding a Phenylalanine Biosynthetic Enzyme Results in Accumulation of Phenylalanine and Tryptophan(W)

May 01, 2008; Yamada, Tetsuya; Matsuda, Fumio; Kasai, Koji; Fukuoka, Shuichi; Kitamura, Keisuke; Tozawa, Yuzuru; Miyagawa, Hisashi; Wakasa, Kyo ... Two distinct biosynthetic pathways for Phe in plants have been proposed: conversion of prephenate to Phe via phenylpyruvate or arogenate. The reactions catalyzed by prephenate dehydratase (PDT) and arogenate dehydratase (ADT) contribute to these respective pathways. The Mtr1 mutant of rice ...

A Mutant Impaired in the Production of Plastome-Encoded Proteins Uncovers a Mechanism for the Homeostasis of Isoprenoid Biosynthetic Enzymes in Arabidopsis Plastids(W)

May 01, 2008; Flores-Pérez, Úrsula; Sauret-Güeto, Susanna; Gas, Elisabet; Jarvis, Paul; Rodríguez-Concepción, Manuel ... The plastid-localized methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway synthesizes the isoprenoid precursors for the production of essential photosynthesis-related compounds and hormones. We have identified an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, rif1, in which posttranscriptional upregulation of MEP pathway ...

An Exocyst Complex Functions in Plant Cell Growth in Arabidopsis and Tobacco(W)

May 01, 2008; Hála, Michal; Cole, Rex; Synek, Lukás; Drdová, Edita; Pecenková, Tamara; Nordheim, Alfred; Lamkemeyer, Tobias; Madlung, Johannes; Hochholdinger, Frank; Fowler, John E; Zársky, Viktor ... The exocyst, an octameric tethering complex and effector of Rho and Rab GTPases, facilitates polarized secretion in yeast and animals. Recent evidence implicates three plant homologs of exocyst subunits (SEC3, SEC8, and EXO70A1) in plant cell morphogenesis. Here, we provide genetic, cell ...

Dual Fatty Acyl Modification Determines the Localization and Plasma Membrane Targeting of CBL/CIPK Ca^sup 2+^ Signaling Complexes in Arabidopsis(W)

May 01, 2008; Batistic, Oliver; Sorek, Nadav; Schültke, Stefanie; Yalovsky, Shaul; Kudla, Jörg ... Arabidopsis thaliana calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) interact specifically with a group of CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs). CBL/CIPK complexes phosphorylate target proteins at the plasma membrane. Here, we report that dual lipid modification is required for CBL1 function and for ...

Dynamics of Arabidopsis Dynamin-Related Protein 1C and a Clathrin Light Chain at the Plasma Membrane(W)(OA)

May 01, 2008; Konopka, Catherine A; Backues, Steven K; Bednarek, Sebastian Y ... Plant morphogenesis depends on polarized exocytic and endocytic membrane trafficking. Members of the Arabidopsis thaliana dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) subfamily are required for polarized cell expansion and cytokinesis. Using a combination of live-ell imaging techniques, we show that a ...

Prepenetration Apparatus Assembly Precedes and Predicts the Colonization Patterns of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi within the Root Cortex of Both Medicago truncatula and Daucus carota(W)

May 01, 2008; Genre, Andrea; Chabaud, Mireille; Faccio, Antonella; Barker, David G; Bonfante, Paola ... Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) are widespread, ancient endosymbiotic associations that contribute significantly to soil nutrient uptake in plants. We have previously shown that initial fungal penetration of the host root is mediated via a specialized cytoplasmic assembly called the prepenetration ...

MAPK Signaling Regulates Nitric Oxide and NADPH Oxidase-Dependent Oxidative Bursts in Nicotiana benthamiana(W)(OA)

May 01, 2008; Asai, Shuta; Ohta, Kohji; Yoshioka, Hirofumi ... Nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) act as signals in innate immunity in plants. The radical burst is induced by INF1 elicitin, produced by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans. NO ASSOCIATED1 (NOA1) and NADPH oxidase participate in the radical burst. Here, we show that ...