Volume 1 Issue 9, September 2015

In October 1865, Julius Sachs published a monograph entitled Experimental Physiology of Plants, and so initiated a new, quantitative branch of basic and applied botany. In our current post-genomic era the legacy of Sachs is re-emerging as a key discipline of the botanical sciences.

The maintenance of closed canopy conditions can delay the onset of warming-induced changes in plant community composition, according to an experimental manipulation of temperature, light and nutrient levels in a temperate forest understorey.

The function and mechanism of the kinesin-14 protein family in plants remain largely obscure. Now, two studies suggest a role in long-distance transport, akin to dynein in animals. One shows that clustering of a moss kinesin-14 is required for cargo transport, the other that in rice a kinesin-14 translocates actin filaments along microtubules.

The involvement of Ca²⁺ signalling in Brassica self-incompatibility has been a contentious topic. New evidence suggests that stigmas use Ca²⁺ to signal to incompatible pollen to prevent pollen hydration and self-seed set. Moreover, this may involve a glutamate receptor.

Photosynthesis underpins life on earth and is often limited by the activity of the CO₂-fixing enzyme Rubisco. New structural and functional insights into one of Rubisco's assembly chaperones offer opportunities to advance technologies tailored to improve Rubisco performance.

Competition for light has profound effects on plant performance in virtually all terrestrial ecosystems. An experimental study in a temperate forest understorey suggests that low light levels limit warming-induced changes in the composition of the forest floor plant community.

Agricultural rice production germinates seeds and establishes seedlings underwater. Now a trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) phosphatase, OsTPP7, is shown to enhance anaerobic germination tolerance by increasing T6P turnover and thus starch mobilization.

Magnesium chelatase catalyses Mg insertion into the centre of protoporphyrin IX during chlorophyll synthesis. The crystal structure of magnesium chelatase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis shows an active site deeply buried within protein lined with evolutionary conserved residues.

There is a lack of knowledge on how defence gene priming is repressed under standard conditions. Now, mutant analyses show that the histone chaperone CAF-1 acts under normal conditions to prevent spurious activation of defence responses.

The signalling pathway underlying the self-incompatibility response in Brassicaceae remains elusive. Genetic and physiological experiments now show that Ca²⁺-influx, probably mediated by glutamate receptor-like channels, leads to self-pollen rejection.