The shoot meristem becomes domed in shape during floral transition and this is controlled by flowering pathways and the phytohormone gibberellin causing increases in cell size and number.
HEC transcription factors control the timing of cell fate transitions in a dynamic stem cell system, allowing plants to adapt their developmental program to diverse environments.
Physical and chemical interactions with bacteria influence the life and death of Emiliania huxleyi, a bloom-forming micro-alga important in global biogeochemical cycles.
The system that controls gene expression by the plant signaling molecule auxin has deep evolutionary roots, and stepwise increases in system complexity shaped the highly diverse auxin response in land plants.
Fluorescent sensors for the hormone abscisic acid have been developed using a high-throughput platform, and used to monitor hormone dynamics in plant roots and leaves.
A fungal bioluminescence pathway can be reconstituted in planta to create luminescence in many plant species without external substrate addition, and be used to design customizable reporters of gene-expression.
Plants and humans use a shared mechanism, the eukaryotic metabolic sensor TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN protein kinase and its substrate, an RNA-binding protein called LARP1, to coordinate post-transcriptional gene expression.
Auxin binding to the ETTIN transcription factor disrupts the interaction between ETT and a TPL/TPR co-repressor and subsequently affects chromatin dynamics to ensure proper gynoecium development.