May the alleles be ever in your favor

I could already sense the festivity in the air when I arrived at the Maker’s Faire in downtown Shreveport early on a Saturday morning. I scanned the rows of vendors and food trucks as I looked for my target – the booth for Sciport: Louisiana’s Discovery Center. With help from the center and my mentor, … Read more

An innate immunity pathway in moss

Arabidopsis thaliana has been an excellent model for the dissection of molecular plant-microbe interactions, including responses to pathogens. Studies in Arabidopsis have identified core components of signaling pathways involved in sensing and responding to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which including chitin (a structural carbohydrate of fungal cell walls) and flagellin (an abundant bacterial protein). … Read more

Competition and pre-proposal solicitation – Teaching Tools in Plant Biology

Have you got a passion for plant science that you are eager to share? Do you have a favorite paper, experiment, topic, or method that you like to share with undergraduates? Have you found a clever way to engage students and stimulate their curiosity? We want to hear your ideas for new content for The … Read more

Getting the most out of RNA-seq data with expVIP (Expression Visualization and Integration Platform)

Transcriptomic data reveal how an organism or tissue expresses its genes (through transcription into mRNA) at any moment in time, and these data are extremely valuable when trying to describe plant growth, development and environmental response. For example, roots can be starved for the nutrient phosphate and the time course and pattern of gene expression … Read more

Fascination of Plants Day 2016 — Seeds grown on Earth and in space!

Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD) is celebrated around the world on May 18th.  Although this worldwide event runs every other year and the next one is planned for 2017, smaller and local events were encouraged per individual and local interest on 2016. What a better way to celebrate FoPD than learning about the awesomeness of … Read more