EDITORIAL: The Plant Cell Begins Opt-in Publishing of Peer Review Reports

As of January 2017, The Plant Cell will offer authors the option of associating a Peer Review Report with each research article. Reviewer anonymity will be strictly maintained. The reports will include the major comments from reviewers and the editors’ decision letters along with the authors’ response to reviewers for each submission of the manuscript … Read more

Congratulations to Yoshinori Ohsumi

Warmest congratulations to Yoshinori Ohsumi, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, “for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy”.  Autophagy (self-eating) is a process through which cells selectively degrade and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi’s research has primarily focused on yeast, but he has also studied autophagy in plants. In fact, for the past twenty years  … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, September 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the September issue of The Plant Cell. Inmaculada Couso, featured first author of Synergism between inositol polyphosphates and TOR kinase signaling in nutrient sensing, growth control and lipid metabolism in Chlamydomonas Current … Read more

Winning entries of the August 2016 “Teaching Tools Proposal” competition

We had many excellent proposals submitted for the fourth round of the “Teaching Tools in Plant Biology” competition, from which we selected five for further development. We’ve added another opportunity for you to submit your ideas for consideration as a Teaching Tools, deadline March 31, 2017 (see this for more information). Feel free to contact … Read more

In Brief. Field of genes: Uncovering Environmental Gene Regulatory Influence Networks in Rice that Function During High-temperature and Drought Stress

This Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief by Science Editor Jennifer Lockhart in The Plant Cell, which summarizes a new article by Wilkins et al. This study explores stress response networks in rice using by combining chromatin accessibility analysis with co-expression data and network inference algorithms. Heat and drought stress greatly restrict … Read more

In Brief. Swept Away: Protein Mobility in the Phloem

This Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief by Science Editor Jennifer Mach in The Plant Cell, which summarizes a new article by Paultre et al. This study explores how proteins move through the phloem. Transport of macromolecules through the phloem has received increasing interest since the discovery that FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) … Read more

In Brief: A Breakthrough in Monocot Transformation Methods

This week’s Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief by Science Editor Nancy Hofmann in The Plant Cell, which summarizes a new article by  Lowe et al. This study uncovers a new way to transform and regenerate plants in culture, greatly increasing the efficiency. The method involves expressing genes that promote developmental transitions, … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, August 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the August issue of The Plant Cell. Aman Y. Husbands and Vasudha Aggarwal, featured first authors of In Planta Single-Molecule Pull-down (SiMPull) Reveals Tetrameric Stoichiometry of HD-ZIPIII:LITTLE ZIPPER Complexes. Aman Y. Husbands … Read more

Keeping up with the literature: Your suggestions

Last month we asked “How do you keep up with the literature?” (cross-posted on the ASPB blog and Plantae). Several of you shared your tips, thanks! Here we’ve compiled the replies we received from you. Follow specific journals One tip is to follow the Twitter or Facebook pages of your favorite journals (in case you … Read more

Newest Teaching Tool: Carbon-Fixing Reactions of Photosynthesis

We’re delighted to announce that the latest Teaching Tool in Plant Biology article “Carbon-Fixing Reactions of Photosynthesis” is published. This article picks up where the “Light-Dependent Reactions of Photosynthesis” left off. The Teaching Tool covers the core biochemistry of the carbon-fixing reactions of photosynthesis, as well as its variations, C4 and CAM.  Finally, it addresses … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, July 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the July issue of The Plant Cell. Fangwei Gu, featured first author of Arabidopsis CSLD5 functions in cell plate formation in a cell cycle-dependent manner Current Position: Communication Specialist at WuXi AppTec. … Read more

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, June 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the June issue of The Plant Cell. Yuki Kondo, featured first author of Vascular Cell Induction Culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves (VISUAL) Reveals the Sequential Differentiation of Sieve Element-like Cells Current Position: … Read more

Advancing crop transformation in the era of genome editing

You are probably familiar with the process of making a transgenic plant; gene identification, gene introduction into a plant cell via bombardment or Agrobacterium tumefaciens, selection of transformed tissue, and plant regeneration (as shown in the diagram from Teaching Tools in Plant Biology). Many of you have probably carried out the process, at least in … Read more

Teaching Tools in Plant Biology articles and resources available on Plantae

Did you know that you can now access the Teaching Tools in Plant Biology articles on Plantae? Teaching Tools in Plant Biology is a popular feature of The Plant Cell, but it’s also a little different than the usual Plant Cell content. Because of the way it is hosted on the journal website, it sometimes … 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

Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors, May 2016

Recently, we’ve been profiling first authors of Plant Cell papers that are selected for In Brief summaries. Here are the first-author profiles from the May issue of The Plant Cell. Xunliang Liu, featured first author of The role of LORELEI in pollen tube reception at the interface of the synergid cell and pollen tube requires … Read more

In Brief: Xanthine Dehydrogenase in ROS Metabolism

This week’s Research in Focus is reprinted from an In Brief published by Science Editor Nancy Hofmann in The Plant Cell, which summarizes an article newly published by  Ma et al. This study explores the dual and opposing roles of the enzyme xanthine dehydrogenase in modulation of ROS metabolism during defense responses in Arabidopsis.  Xanthine … Read more

Newest Teaching Tool: Rhythms of Life: The Plant Circadian Clock, by Katharine Hubbard and Antony Dodd

The first of the Teaching Tools Competition winning entries has been published. The latest in this series, “Rhythms of Life: The Plant Circadian Clock” was written by Katharine Hubbard (Lecturer in Biological Science, University of Hull) and Antony Dodd (Royal Society University Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol). This teaching tool explores circadian … Read more