All articles tagged with #arabidopsis
Scientists have engineered Arabidopsis plants with a new dual-cycle CO2 fixation system called the McG cycle, which doubles carbon assimilation rates, leading to larger plants with significantly increased seed and lipid production, potentially benefiting crop yields and climate change mitigation, though long-term effects remain uncertain.
Research shows that during drought recovery, Arabidopsis plants prioritize activating immune responses over growth, a process called Drought Recovery-Induced Immunity (DRII), which is also observed in tomatoes, suggesting a conserved mechanism that could inform crop resilience strategies.
This study presents a comprehensive single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic atlas of the Arabidopsis plant life cycle, revealing diverse molecular identities, cell types, and states across various organs and developmental stages, and demonstrating the power of combined technologies to uncover cellular complexity and function in plant biology.
Scientists from Nagoya University have used a specialized microscopic technique to observe the internal reproduction process of the Arabidopsis plant, revealing how female flowers selectively attract and repel male counterparts. Their findings, published in EMBO Reports, show that a signal from maternal tissue guides pollen tubes to ovules, while a repulsion signal prevents multiple fertilizations. This research could enhance seed production and agricultural breeding practices.
Researchers have discovered that plants, specifically the weed Arabidopsis, use air channels between their cells to scatter light and create a gradient, allowing them to sense the direction of light and grow towards it. This mechanism, based on the phenomenon of refraction, enables plants to "see" with their whole bodies, bypassing the need for discrete organs like eyes. The discovery sheds light on a long-standing mystery in plant biology and could have implications beyond understanding how plants sense light direction.
Researchers have discovered a mechanism of translational regulation involving RNA hairpins that can lead to higher translation of upstream start codons (uAUGs). The study, conducted in Arabidopsis and humans, found that the presence of a hairpin loop between two start codons slows down the scanning process of ribosomal subunits, allowing for more time for recognition of the upstream start codon and resulting in a higher translation rate from that starting point. This mechanism, functioning like a logic gate, has implications for understanding start-codon selection in translation initiation across different organisms and potential therapeutic targeting.
A study conducted by researchers at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan has identified and characterized a key negative regulator, the WOX13 gene, in the process of shoot regeneration in plants. The study found that WOX13 inhibits shoot regeneration by promoting the acquisition of alternative fates for pluripotent callus cells, rather than preventing the shift from callus to shoot apical meristem (SAM). The findings suggest that knocking out WOX13 could enhance shoot regeneration efficiency and have implications for agriculture and horticulture.