Maddalena Salvalaio, first author of “Root electrotropism in Arabidopsis does not depend on auxin distribution but requires cytokinin biosynthesis” Current Position: Research Technician Education: Bsc in Biology and Msc in Evolutionary Biology , University of Padova, Italy Non-scientific Interests: Spending time with family (including my dog Molly) and friends, going to fitness... Read more

Mengting Zhang, co-first author of “Salicylic acid carboxyl glucosyltransferase UGT87E7 regulates disease resistance in Camellia sinensis“ Current Position: Master Student, Anhui Agricultural University Education: B.S.from Southwest University of Science and Technology (2018) Non-scientific Interests: Handcrafting and playing badminton Brief bio: I graduated from Southwest University of Science and Technology in... Read more

Yunqing Hu, first co-first author of “Salicylic acid carboxyl glucosyltransferase UGT87E7 regulates disease resistance in Camellia sinensis“ Current Position: Master Student, Graduated from Anhui Agricultural University Education: B.S.from Hunan Agricultural University (2018), M.S. from State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization of Anhui Agricultural University (2021). Non-scientific Interests:... Read more

Zhao et al. demonstrate the dynamic evolutionary processes of self-incompatibility in angiosperms.  By Hong Zhao and Yongbiao Xue, State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, and the Innovation Academy of Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China  Background: Self-incompatibility (SI) is... Read more

On January 14th, 2022, Editor-in-Chief and Plant Physiology editors from China met more than three hundred Chinese researchers and students through a webinar. Yunde first briefly introduced the history and current status of Plant Physiology. He then presented his vision for the journal in the next five years and how... Read more

The Plant Cell Atlas Focusing New Technologies on the Kingdom that Nourishes the Planet When: Thursday, February 10, 2022 8 AM PST (UTC – 8) | 11 AM EST  (UTC – 5)| 4 PM GMT | Note – the webinar will be recorded and posted to YouTube for later viewing... Read more

Mohammed Abu-Dieyeh, first author of “Biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plant roots and rhizosphere soil from different arid land environment of Qatar” Current Position: Acting Department Head, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Qatar University. Education: B.Sc. and M.Sc., University of Jordan, Amman-Jordan. PhD, McGill University, Canada. Brief bio:... Read more

Shan Jiang, first author of “The UBP14-CDKB1; 1-CDKG2 cascade controls endoreduplication and cell growth in Arabidopsis” Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China). Education: Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (Wuhan University of Technology); Master’s and PhD’s degrees in Genetics (Institute of... Read more

Mou Zhang, first author of “Aquaporin OsPIP2;2 Links the H2O2 Signal and a Membrane-anchored Transcription Factor to Promote Plant Defense” Current Position: Postdoc, Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming, China Education: Ph.D., Nanjing Agricultural University, China. M.S., Yunnan Agricultural University, China. B.S., Guangdong Ocean University, China. Non-scientific Interests: Cooking, Watching movies,... Read more

Ostermeier et al. introduce AncM, a new factor for structuring the photosynthetic membrane system in cyanobacteria. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab253 By Matthias Ostermeier, Steffen Heinz and Jörg Nickelsen at Molecular Plant Science at LMU Munich Background: Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria and a sister group to chloroplasts, which are the site of... Read more

Global warming severely affects agricultural harvests, risking food security. To deal with heat stress, plants show different strategies. Indeed, heat increases intracellular Ca2+ levels to activate a heat shock response. In addition, GTP-binding proteins, which transduce extracellular signals to intracellular effectors, regulate Ca2+ currents when plants face abiotic stresses through... Read more

Mutations, defined as changes in DNA sequence, have long been considered to be random. However, growing evidence suggests that maybe mutations are not random, but instead some loci in the genome are hot spots for mutations, while other loci rarely mutate. This effect is considered mutation bias. A recent study... Read more

A new paper looking at transposable elements in maize uses the framework that genomes are similar to ecosystems, in that it is essential to study them comprehensively, from the level of each element to the global structure. Transposable elements (TEs) are dynamic and persistent within plant genomes. Understanding their behavior... Read more

Albino plants lack chlorophyll, which means that they cannot photosynthesize. These kinds of plant are unique and can offer information as to the molecular mechanism of chlorophyll degradation and photosynthesis in plants. Here, Arisha et al. explored the differences in gene expression patterns of seedling leaf tissues from albino mutant... Read more

In plants with sexual reproduction, the male contribution (two sperm cells) is necessary to fertilize two female cells, the egg cell that gives rise to the embryo and the central cell that gives rise to the endosperm. In contrast, apomictic plants (0.1% of flowering plants spread over 120 genera) don´t... Read more

ASPB is pleased to sign a letter urging U.S. House and Senate Democratic leadership to prioritize and protect the vital investments in agricultural climate research, agricultural innovation, and agricultural research infrastructure within the Build Back Better human and climate infrastructure package.  These proposed investments are a generational down payment to... Read more

ASPB is pleased to sign a letter urging U.S. House and Senate Democratic leadership to prioritize and protect the vital investments in agricultural climate research, agricultural innovation, and agricultural research infrastructure within the Build Back Better human and climate infrastructure package.  These proposed investments are a generational down payment to... Read more

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is accepting proposals for the 2022 DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. The program will support over 60 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions... Read more

Thank you for taking the time to read ASPB President Maureen McCann’s letter regarding the ASPB Board of Director’s recent decision to reaffirm a commitment to holding Plant Biology 2023 in Savannah, GA. Now that you’ve done so, we’d welcome your thoughts on the approaches that ASPB should take toward... Read more

NSF has released a Dear Colleague Letter highlighting an RFP for PIs on active awards. Learn more about this new program in this letter from NSF Communications Specialist Jared Dashoff. The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) recognizes the importance of early-career research experiences, especially for individuals... Read more