GARNet Research Roundup: Jan 24th 2020

The first GARNet Research Roundup of 2020 begins with a study from the University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute in which they have adapted nanopore direct sequencing to analyse the Arabidopsis mRNA methylome. The second study is also from Dundee and is an analysis of alternative splicing in C4 sugarcane.

The next two papers look at the control of stomatal development. In the first, researchers from Bristol investigate the integration of temperature and light-induced signals whilst the second paper is from Sheffield and looks at the role, or lack thereof, of the HY5 protein. The fifth paper is also from Sheffield and looks at the role of the MALECTIN DOMAIN KINESIN 2 protein in dividing tissues.

The next two papers investigate the control of lateral root formation. Firstly researchers from Glasgow look at how potassium signaling integrates with both the mechanisms of RNA-directed DNA-methylation and the auxin response. The other paper looks at how auxin signaling integrates with the plasmodesmata development and includes co-authors from the University of Nottingham.

The eighth paper is led from Nottingham and looks at the role of the PROTEOLYSIS (PRT)1 during the plant immune response whilst the next paper, which is from the University of Cambridge, also looks at plant immunity, specifically at how the biosynthesis of phytic acid impacts this response.

The remaining four papers include UK-based co-authors from University of South Wales, Rothamsted and Cardiff, Durham, Oxford and Aberystwyth in international research teams led from Malaysian (the expression of Acyl-CoA-binding proteins in oil palm), China (the effect of silver nanoparticles on plant growth), Japan (convergent evolution of lateral organ formation) and Chile (the factors that influence grain filling in wheat) respectively.


Parker MT, Knop K, Sherwood AV, Schurch NJ, Mackinnon K, Gould PD, Hall AJ, Barton GJ, Simpson GG (2020) Nanopore direct RNA sequencing maps the complexity of Arabidopsis mRNA processing and m(6)A modification. Elife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.49658 Open Access

Matt Parker, Kasia Knop, Anya Sherwood and Nicholas Schurch are co-first authors on this study from the University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute in which they perform direct RNA sequencing using a nanopore sequencer. They used this technical advance to analyse the mRNA (m6A) methylome and reveal a contribution to the control of the circadian clock. Future use of this technique will undoubtedly allow for an improved annotation of the Arabidopsis genome (and others).

https://elifesciences.org/articles/49658

Dantas LLB, Calixto CPG, Dourado MM, Carneiro MS, Brown JWS, Hotta CT (2019) Alternative Splicing of Circadian Clock Genes Correlates With Temperature in Field-Grown Sugarcane. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01614 Open Access

This study is led from Brazil with Luiza Dantas as first author and includes co-authors from the University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute. They investigate the level of alternative splicing (AS) in commercial sugarcane, which is an important C4 crop. Tissue samples were collected in winter and summer and this analysis reveals temperature- and organ-dependent differences in the levels of AS across a set of genes under circadian control.


Kostaki KI, Coupel-Ledru A, Bonnell VC, Gustavsson M, Sun P, Mclaughlin FJ, Fraser DP, McLachlan DH, Hetherington AM, Dodd AN, Franklin KA (2020). Guard cells integrate light and temperature signals to control stomatal aperture. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.01528 Open Access

Kalliopi-Ioanna Kostaki is first author on this study from the University of Bristol that begins to unpick the mechanisms that integrate light and temperature signals in the control of stomatal development. These signals converge on phototropin photoreceptors and multiple members of the 14-3-3 protein family. This work also reveals a currently uncharacterised pathway that controls temperature regulation of guard cell movement.


Zoulias N, Brown J, Rowe J, Casson SA (2020) HY5 is not integral to light mediated stomatal development in Arabidopsis. PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222480 Open Access

Nick Zoulias is first author on this study from the Casson lab at University of Sheffield. ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) is a key regulator of light-mediated development yet in this study the authors show that the HY5-signaling cascade does not play a role in stomatal development. This key finding shows that phytochrome and cryptochrome signaling in guard cells is transmitted via non-HY5 signaling components.


Galindo-Trigo S, Grand TM, Voigt CA, Smith LM (2020) A malectin domain kinesin functions in pollen and seed development in Arabidopsis. J Exp Bot doi: 10.1093/jxb/eraa023
This research from the Smith lab at the University of Sheffield is led by Sergio Galindo-Trigo. They show that MALECTIN DOMAIN KINESIN 2 (MDKIN2) is involved in pollen, embryo and endosperm development. Malectin domains bind polysaccharides and peptides when found extracellularly in receptor-like kinases so this might suggest that in dividing tissues MDKIN2 plays a role during the physical division of cells.


Shahzad Z, Eaglesfield R, Carr C, Amtmann A (2020) Cryptic variation in RNA-directed DNA-methylation controls lateral root development when auxin signalling is perturbed. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13927-3 Open Access

Zaigham Shahzad at the University of Glasgow is the first author in this study that looks at the relationship between potassium deficiency and lateral root formation. This effect is mediated via the impact of CLSY1, a key component of the RNA-directed DNA-methylation machinery, on the transcriptional repression of the AuxIAA protein IAA27. Interestingly this system appears to act as a backup to the auxin-dependent proteolysis pathway that is primarily responsible for the control of IAA27 activity.


Sager R, Wang X, Hill K, Yoo BC, Caplan J, Nedo A, Tran T, Bennett MJ, Lee JY (2020) Auxin-dependent control of a plasmodesmal regulator creates a negative feedback loop modulating lateral root emergence. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-14226-7.

This US study is led by Ross Sager and includes co-authors from the University of Nottingham. This research links the role of auxin in lateral root formation with plasmodesmata development through control of the plasmodesmal regulator PDLP5. They present a model wherein molecules required for lateral root emergence transit through plasmodesmata following an inductive auxin signal.


Till CJ, Vicente J, Zhang H, Oszvald M, Deery MJ, Pastor V, Lilley KS, Ray RV, Theodoulou FL, Holdsworth MJ (2019) The Arabidopsis thaliana N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS1 influences the immune response. Plant Direct. doi: 10.1002/pld3.194 Open Access

Christopher Till, Jorge Vicente and Hongtao Zhangis are co-first authors on this research led from the University of Nottingham and Rothamsted Research that involves use of quantitative proteomics to define the role of the N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS (PRT)1 during the plant immune response.


Poon JSY, Le Fevre RE, Carr JP, Hanke DE, Murphy AM (2019) Inositol hexakisphosphate biosynthesis underpins PAMP-triggered immunity to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato in Arabidopsis thaliana but is dispensable for establishment of systemic acquired resistance. Mol Plant Pathol. doi: 10.1111/mpp.12902
This research from the University of Cambridge is led by Jacquelyne Poon and Alex Murphy and looks at the role of the phytic acid (inositol hexakisphosphate, InsP6) biosynthesis in dividing tissues during the plant immune response. They characterize Arabidopsis plants with mutations in biosynthetic enzymes to show that there are multiple mechanisms of basal resistance that are dependent upon InsP6.


Amiruddin N, Chan PL, Azizi N, Morris PE, Chan KL, Ong PW, Rosli R, Masura SS, Murphy DJ, Sambanthamurthi R, Haslam RP, Chye ML, Harwood JL, Low EL (2019) Characterisation of Oil Palm Acyl-CoA-Binding Proteins and Correlation of their Gene Expression with Oil Synthesis. Plant Cell Physiol. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcz237.
Nadzirah Amiruddin is lead author on this Malaysian-led research that includes collaborators from the University of South Wales, Rothamsted Research and Cardiff University. This paper looks at the expression of Acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs) in oil palm; providing important information about the role of this protein family during oil synthesis in the world’s most important oil crop.


Wang L, Sun J, Lin L, Fu Y, Alenius H, Lindsey K, Chen C (2019) Silver nanoparticles regulate Arabidopsis root growth by concentration-dependent modification of reactive oxygen species accumulation and cell division. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.110072.

This Chinese-study is led by Likai Wang and includes Keith Lindsey from Durham University as a co-author. They look at the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on growth of Arabidopsis. AgNPs are taken up by roots and have opposing effects at either 50 mg L-1 or 100mg mg L-1. This is an important preliminary study to understand how plant growth might be altered if AgNP’s are used as a delivery mechanism.


Naramoto S, Jones VAS, Trozzi N, Sato M, Toyooka K, Shimamura M, Ishida S, Nishitani K, Ishizaki K, Nishihama R, Kohchi T, Dolan L, Kyozuka J (2019) A conserved regulatory mechanism mediates the convergent evolution of plant shoot lateral organs. PLoS Biol. 2019 doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000560 Open Access

This Japanese study is led by Satoshi Naramoto and Junko Kyozuka and includes co-authors from the University of Oxford. They performed a mutant screen in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to identify the LATERAL ORGAN SUPRESSOR 1 (MpLOS1) gene, which regulates meristem maintenance and lateral organ development. Remarkably they showed this gene is also functions in the control of lateral organ development in rice, therefore demonstrating convergent evolution across plant lineages in the control of lateral organs.


Del Pozo A, Méndez-Espinoza AM, Romero-Bravo S, Garriga M, Estrada F, Alcaíno M, Camargo-Rodriguez AV, Corke FMK, Doonan JH, Lobos GA (2020) Genotypic variations in leaf and whole-plant water use efficiencies are closely related in bread wheat genotypes under well-watered and water-limited conditions during grain filling. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-57116-0 Open Access

Alejandro del Pozo leads this Chilean study that includes co-authors from Aberystwyth and NIAB. This large-scale glasshouse experiment looked at the effect of water deficit on the growth of 14 bread wheat genotypes. Measurement of multiple parameters revealed that plants face limitations to the assimilation process during grain filling due to natural senesce and water stress.

GARNet Research Roundup: December 23rd 2019

The final GARNet Research Roundup of 2019 begins with three studies from the John Innes Centre. Firstly Steve Penfield’s group conducts a field-experiment that monitors FLC levels in winter oilseed rape. Second is a study from the Zilberman lab looking at the relationship between Histone H1 and DNA methylation.

Third is work from the Yant lab in JIC/Nottingham that investigates adaptive gene flow between Arabidopsis arenosa and Arabidopsis lyrata.

The next two papers are led from the Etchells lab in Durham, the first has developed a vascular-localised transcriptional network and the second is a methods paper for image analysis.

The sixth paper includes co-authors from Southampton and investigates nuclear-chloroplast signaling in Arabidopsis mediated by the GUN1 protein.

The next two papers include members of the current GARNet advisory committee. Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso from the University of Leeds is an author on a paper that models plasmodesma geometry whilst members of the Kaiserli lab in Glasgow are involved in a study that investigates the factors involved in auxin-dependent thermomorphogenesis.

The Dupree lab in Cambridge leads the next research paper that looks at the detailed composition of the cell wall in the softwood Spruce.

The next two papers are from the Sainsbury lab, Norwich. Firstly the Kamoun lab looks at the molecular code of a plant NLR immune receptors whilst in the second paper members of the Zipfel lab are co-authors on a study that looks at defence-related protease activity from a fungal pathogen of strawberry.

The twelfth paper is from Ian Graham’s lab at the University of York and looks at the role of light signaling during seed development.

Sue Armstrong from Birmingham is a co-author on the next paper in which researchers present a genetic map of the field cress Lepidium campestre.

The final two papers include researchers from Royal Holloway University of London and look at the role of different transcription factors during embryo or root meristem development.


O’Neill CM, Lu X, Calderwood A, Tudor EH, Robinson P, Wells R, Morris R, Penfield S (2019) Vernalization and Floral Transition in Autumn Drive Winter Annual Life History in Oilseed Rape. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.051
Open Access

Carmel O’Neill is first author on the research from the Morris and Penfield labs at the John Innes Centre. This paper describes experiments that monitored FLC levels in field-growth winter oilseed rape. Surprisingly they shows that decline of FLC during October in relatively mild-temperatures of 10-15C reduce FLC levels, leading to floral transition prior to the colder winter temperatures. This work shows the importance of field experiments to understand real-world mechanisms that control crop development.


Choi J, Lyons DB, Kim MY, Moore JD, Zilberman D (2019) DNA Methylation and Histone H1 Jointly Repress Transposable Elements and Aberrant Intragenic Transcripts. Mol Cell. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.10.011
This research from the Zilberman lab at the John Innes Centre is led by Jaemyoung Choi and looks at the relationship between histone H1 and the DNA methylation machinery during the maintenance of transcriptional homeostasis.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1097276519307890?via%3Dihub

Marburger S, Monnahan P, Seear PJ, Martin SH, Koch J, Paajanen P, Bohutínská M, Higgins JD, Schmickl R, Yant L (2019) Interspecific introgression mediates adaptation to whole genome duplication. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13159-5
Open Access

Sarah Marburger from Levi Yant’s lab at the John Innes Centre/University of Nottingham leads this research that includes co-authors from Leicester, Edinburgh and the Czech Republic. They look at the effect of whole-genome duplication on gene flow between Arabidopsis arenosa and Arabidopsis lyrata.


Smit M, McGregor S, Sun H, Gough C, Bågman AM, Soyars CL, Kroon JTM, Gaudinier A, Williams CJ, Yang X, Nimchuk ZL, Weijers D, Turner SR, Brady SM, Etchells P (2019) A PXY-Mediated Transcriptional Network Integrates Signaling Mechanisms to Control Vascular Development in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00562
Open Access

This large-scale systems-biology paper is a UK-US-China-Dutch collaboration led by Margot Smit at Wageningen, Shauni McGregor and Peter Etchells at Durham University. They have developed a detailed transcriptional network based on the vascular-localised PHLOEM INTERCALATED WITH XYLEM (PXY) receptor kinase.

http://www.plantcell.org/content/early/2019/12/05/tpc.19.00562.long

Bagdassarian KS, Connor KA, Jermyn IH, Etchells JP (2019) Versatile method for quantifying and analyzing morphological differences in experimentally obtained images. Plant Signal Behav. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2019.1693092
This paper from Peter Etchells lab in Durham is led by Kristine Bagdassarian and introduces a bespoke method for inspecting the differences between the morphologies of several plant mutants at the cellular level.


Shimizu T, Kacprzak SM, Mochizuki N, Nagatani A, Watanabe S, Shimada T, Tanaka K, Hayashi Y, Arai M, Leister D, Okamoto H, Terry MJ, Masuda T (2019) The retrograde signaling protein GUN1 regulates tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1911251116

Open Access

Sylwia M. Kacprzak and Matthew Terry from the University of Southampton are co-authors on this Japanese-led study that looks at the interaction between nuclear and chloroplast genomes as controlled by role that the GUN1 protein plays in control of tetrapyrrole metabolism.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1097276519307890?via%3Dihub

Deinum EE, Mulder BM, Benitez-Alfonso Y (2019) From plasmodesma geometry to effective symplasmic permeability through biophysical modelling. Elife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.49000
Open Access

Eva Deinum is lead author of this study that includes GARNet Committee member Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso as co-author. They have applied biophysical modeling to calculate effective symplasmic permeability for the transport of molecules through plasmodesmata. The resulting open-source model has been refined through experimental observations.

Dr Deinum will be leading a GARNet-supported workshop on this multilevel model during the July 2020 EMBO workshop on ‘Intercellular communication and plasmodesmata in plant development and disease’.


van der Woude LC, Perrella G, Snoek BL, van Hoogdalem M, Novák O, van Verk MC, van Kooten HN, Zorn LE, Tonckens R, Dongus JA, Praat M, Stouten EA, Proveniers MCG, Vellutini E, Patitaki E, Shapulatov U, Kohlen W, Balasubramanian S, Ljung K, van der Krol AR, Smeekens S, Kaiserli E, van Zanten M (2019) HISTONE DEACETYLASE 9 stimulates auxin-dependent thermomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana by mediating H2A.Z depletion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1911694116

This wide collaboration is led by Lennard van der Woude at Utrecht University and includes Giorgio Perrella and Eirini Kaiserli from Glasgow as co-authors. This research looks at the complex relationship between thermomorphogenesis, auxin and light signaling, histone deacylation and the regulation of histone variant H2A.Z.


Terrett OM, Lyczakowski JJ, Yu L, Iuga D, Franks WT, Brown SP, Dupree R, Dupree P (2019) Molecular architecture of softwood revealed by solid-state NMR. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12979-9

Open Access

This research from the Dupree lab in Cambridge is led by Olivier Terrett and uses solid-state NMR to analyse the cell wall composition of the softwood spruce, in part through comparison with Arabidopsis cell walls. This information is an essential requirement to build experimental strategies for the biorefining of particular wood-types.


Adachi H, Contreras M, Harant A, Wu CH, Derevnina L, Sakai T, Duggan C, Moratto E, Bozkurt TO, Maqbool A, Win J, Kamoun S (2019) An N-terminal motif in NLR immune receptors is functionally conserved across distantly related plant species. Elife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.49956

Open Access

Hiroaki Adachi leads this study from lab of Sophien Kamoun at the Sainsbury lab, Norwich. In this research they interrogate the molecular code of a plant NLR immune receptor to identify the minimal functional motifs that are required to induce hypersensitive cell death in response to a plant pathogen.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/49956

Caro MDP, Holton N, Conti G, Venturuzzi AL, Martínez-Zamora MG, Zipfel C, Asurmendi S, Díaz-Ricci JC (2019) The fungal subtilase AsES elicits a PTI-like defence response in Arabidopsis thaliana plants independently of its enzymatic activity. Mol Plant Pathol. doi: 10.1111/mpp.12881
Open Access

Nicolas Holton and Cyril Zipfel from the Sainsbury Lab in Norwich are co-authors on this Argentinian-led study with María del Pilar Caro as both first and corresponding author. They characterize the proteolytic role of the elicitor subtilisin (AsES) from strawberry fungal pathogen Acremonium strictum during an immune response.


Barros-Galvão T, Dave A, Gilday AD, Harvey D, Vaistij FE, Graham IA (2019) ABA INSENSITIVE4 promotes rather than represses PHYA-dependent seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.16363
Open Access

Thiago Barros-Galvão and Ian Graham at the University of Leeds lead this research that investigates the role of phytochrome A (PHYA) and PHYB signaling during seed development in Arabidopsis.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.16363

Desta ZA, Kolano B, Shamim Z, Armstrong SJ, Rewers M, Sliwinska E, Kushwaha SK, Parkin IAP, Ortiz R, de Koning DJ (2019) Field cress genome mapping: Integrating linkage and comparative maps with cytogenetic analysis for rDNA carrying chromosomes. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-53320-0

Open Access

This Swedish led study has Zeratsion Abera Desta as lead author and includes Sue Armstrong from the University of Birmingham as a co-author. They have produced an early genome map of field cress (Lepidium campestre), which is a potential oilseed plant. They show that diploid Lepidium campestre has 16 chromosomes.


Leviczky T, Molnár E, Papdi C, Őszi E, Horváth GV, Vizler C, Nagy V, Pauk J, Bögre L, Magyar Z (2019) E2FA and E2FB transcription factors coordinate cell proliferation with seed maturation. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.179333
Open Access

Tünde Leviczky is first author on this Hungarian-led study that includes co-authors from Royal Hollaway University of London. This work characterises the role of the E2F transcription factors and the RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED repressor protein during Arabidopsis embryo development.

https://dev.biologists.org/content/146/22/dev179333.long

Lokdarshi A, Papdi C, Pettko-Szandtner A, Dorokhov S, Scheres B, Magyar Z, von Arnim AG, Bogre L, Horváth B (2019) ErbB-3 BINDING PROTEIN 1 Regulates Translation and Counteracts RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED to Maintain the Root Meristem. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.0080
This UK-US-Hungary collaboration includes Ansul Lokdarshi and Csaba Papdi as co-first authors and Laszlo Bogre and Beatrix Horvath from Royal Hollaway University of London as corresponding authors. They assessed the role of the ErbB-3 BINDING PROTEIN 1 transcription factor during Arabidopsis root meristem development

GARNet Research Roundup: November 22nd 2019

This bumper edition of the GARNet Research Roundup begins with three papers that have a focus on the circadian clock. First is from Cambridge and looks at a novel role for TTG1 in control of the clock. The second paper also includes co-authors from Cambridge and looks at the clock Evening Complex. The final clock paper includes co-authors from York and looks at the new roles for EARLY FLOWERING 3 and GIGANTEA.

The next four papers include researchers from the John Innes Centre. Yiling Ding’s lab lead an exciting study into the role of RNA G-quadruplex to define liquid-liquid phase separations. Next David Seung and Alison Baker look at production of amylose starch across Arabidopsis accessions. The third JIC paper is from the Charpentier lab and looks at nuclear calcium signaling in the root. Finally Lars Ostergaard is a co-author on a paper that identifies a novel biostimulant that controls podshatter in Brassica.

The eighth paper is from Glasgow and describes the bioengineering of plants to express a novel antibiotic bacteriocin.

Next are three papers introduce exciting new research tools. 1. Weibei Yang in the Meyerowitz lab introduces a method for co-labeling of RNAs and protein 2. Researchers in Nottingham introduce RootNav2.0 for the automated measurement of root archtiectures 3. The Haydon Lab has developed a GAL4-GFP luciferase system for tissue-specific gene expression analysis.

Two Photosynthesis-based papers come next with firstly an analysis on the link between metabolism and the light response curve (from Manchester) and secondly a look at the role of aquaporins in control of CO2 conductance (Cambridge and Lancaster).

The fourteenth paper is from Durham and characterises an important protein regulator of the autophagy-dependent degradation pathway whilst the fifteenth is from Cambridge and uses cryo-SEM to analyse cell wall structures.

The penultimate paper is from Birmingham and looks at the role of redox signaling in aphid fecundity and the final paper includes co-authors from RHUL and looks at the interaction between the E2FB and RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED proteins.


Airoldi CA, Hearn TJ, Brockington SF, Webb AAR, Glover BJ (2019) TTG1 proteins regulate circadian activity as well as epidermal cell fate and pigmentation. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-019-0544-3

This study from the University of Cambridge is led by Chiara Airoldi and introduces a new role for the TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 (TTG1) WD-repeat (WDR) subfamily in the regulation of the circadian clock. TTG1 regulates epidermal cell differentiation and pigment production, while LIGHT-REGULATED WD1 and LIGHT-REGULATED WD2A are known to regulate the clock. The triple lwd1 lwd2 ttg1 mutant has no detectable circadian rhythym. This suggests that members of this protein family have undergone subfunctionalization to diverge from their core functions. This paper is of interest to those who research evolution of protein function as well as the to those interested in the control of the circadian clock.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-019-0544-3

Tong M, Lee K, Ezer D, Cortijo S, Jung J, Charoensawan V, Box MS, Jaeger K, Takahashi N, Mas P, Wigge PA, Seo PJ (2019) The Evening Complex establishes repressive chromatin domains via H2A.Z deposition. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00881

This collaboration between the UK and South Korea is led by Meixuezi Tong and investigates how the Evening Complex (EC) component of the circadian clock interacts with chromatin to control gene expression at dusk. This occurs through direct interaction with the SWI2/SNF2-RELATED complex and together they bind to the core clock genes PRR7 and PRR9, causing the deposition of H2A.Z at these loci subsequent to causing their repression at dusk.


Anwer MU, Davis A, Davis SJ, Quint M (2019) Photoperiod sensing of the circadian clock is controlled by EARLY FLOWERING 3 and GIGANTEA. Plant J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14604

Amanda Davies and Seth Davies from the University of York are co-authors on this German-led study with Muhammad Anwer as both first and corresponding author. They look at the role of important circadian regulators ELF3 and GIGANTEA through generation of previously unanalysed elf3gi double mutants. In these plants the circadian oscillator fails to synchronize to light-dark cycles even under diurnal conditions, demonstrating that these genes act together to convey photoperiod sensing to the central oscillator.


Zhang Y, Yang M, Duncan S, Yang X, Abdelhamid MAS, Huang L, Zhang H, Benfey PN, Waller ZAE, Ding Y (2019) G-quadruplex structures trigger RNA phase separation. Nucleic Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz978
Open Access

Yueying Zhang is the first author of this study conducted in the lab of Yiliang Ding at the John Innes Centre, in collaboration with the Benfey lab in the USA. They reveal an exciting mode of regulating RNA activity through the formation of RNA G-quadruplex (GQ) complexes. They use the SHORTROOT mRNA as the model for this study, showing that GQ-mediated complex formation can bring liquid-liquid phase separation. This study is of fundamental importance as it provides the first evidence that RNA can adopt structural motifs to trigger and/or maintain the specificity of RNA-driven phase separation.

https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkz978/5624975?guestAccessKey=d3913912-fdbb-4f35-aa71-625442722842

Seung D, Echevarría-Poza A, Steuernagel B, Smith AM (2019) Natural polymorphisms in Arabidopsis result in wide variation or loss of the amylose component of starch. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.01062
Open Access

David Seung at the John Innes Centre the first and corresponding author of this study that used data from the Arabidopsis 1135 Genome project to investigate the prevelance of amylose production. Plants with amylose-free starch have no detrimental phenotypes so the function of this glucose-polymer, that accounts for up to 30% of all natural starch, is unknown. They looked at the polymorphisms within the GRANULE-BOUND STARCH SYNTHASE (GBSS) enzyme, identifying natural accessions that have no GBSS activity yet are viable within their natural environments. This study is a prelude to future research that will discover the adaptive significance of amylose.


Leitão N, Dangeville P, Carter R, Charpentier M (2019) Nuclear calcium signatures are associated with root development. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12845-8
Open Access

Nuno Leitao is first author on this research from the Charpentier lab at the John Innes Centre. They looked at the role of nuclear Ca2+ signalling on primary root meristem development and auxin homeostasis through activity of the nuclear membrane localised ion channel DOES NOT MAKE INFECTIONS 1 (DMI1). This study discovers a previously unappreciated role for intracellular Ca2+ signalling during plant development.


Łangowski Ł, Goñi O, Quille P, Stephenson P, Carmody N, Feeney E, Barton D, Østergaard L, O’Connell S (2019 A plant biostimulant from the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum (Sealicit) reduces podshatter and yield loss in oilseed rape through modulation of IND expression. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52958-0
Open Access

Lars Ostergaard is a co-author on this Irish-study led by Lukasz Łangowski that investigates the factors that control pod shatter in oil seed rape. They show that the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum-based biostimulant (Sealicit) is able to reduce podshatter by effecting the expression of the major regulator of pod shattering, INDEHISCENT. This has implications for the use of this compound by farmers wanting to reduce the amount of seed loss due to premature pod shatter.


Rooney WM, Grinter RW, Correia A, Parkhill J, Walker DC, Milner JJ (2019) Engineering bacteriocin-mediated resistance against the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Plant Biotechnol J. doi: 10.1111/pbi.13294
Open Access

William Rooney at the University of Glasgow is lead author on this study that attempts to combat Pseudomonas syringae infections through expression of a novel protein antibiotic bacteriocin, putidacin. They show that transgenic expression of this bacterial protein provides effective protection against Pseudomonas. This proof of concept opens the possibility for more widespread use of bacteriocins as an effective plant protection strategy.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pbi.13294

Yang W, Schuster C, Prunet N, Dong Q, Landrein B, Wightman R, Meyerowitz EM (2019) Visualization of Protein Coding, Long Non-coding and Nuclear RNAs by FISH in Sections of Shoot Apical Meristems and Developing Flowers. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00980
This extended methods paper is led by Weibing Yang at the Sainsbury lab in Cambridge. They have adapted RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (rnaFISH) to explore RNA localization in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis. They are able to label mRNA as well as long ncRNAs and have developed double labeling to assay two separate RNAs in the same cell and to assess nucleo-cytoplasmic separation of RNA species. Finally they link rnaFISH with fluorescence immunocytochemistry for the simultaneous localization of a single genes mRNA and protein.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01398/full

Yasrab R, Atkinson JA, Wells DM, French AP, Pridmore TP, Pound MP (2019) RootNav 2.0: Deep learning for automatic navigation of complex plant root architectures. Gigascience. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giz123
Open Access

Robail Yasrab is lead author on this work from the University of Nottingham that introduces the RootNav2.0 software tool. This was developed by modern deep-learning approaches and allows the fully automated measurement of vertically growth root systems. RootNav2.0 was favourably compared with its semi-automated predecessor RootNav1.0 and can be used for measurement of root architectures from a range of different plant species.


Román Á, Golz JF, Webb AA, Graham IA, Haydon MJ (2019) Combining GAL4 GFP enhancer trap with split luciferase to measure spatiotemporal promoter activity in Arabidopsis. Plant J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14603

This technical advance is led by Angela Roman, was in the Haydon lab during its time at the University of York. They have used the GAL4-GFP enhancer trap system, to develop a tissue-specific split luciferase assay for non-invasive detection of spatiotemporal gene expression in Arabidopsis. In this example they use the study to measure dynamics of circadian gene expression but is clearly applicable to answer many other experimental questions.


Herrmann HA, Schwartz JM, Johnson GN (2019) From empirical to theoretical models of light response curves – linking photosynthetic and metabolic acclimation. Photosynth Res. doi: 10.1007/s11120-019-00681-2
Open Access

Helena Herrmann is lead author on this work fro the University of Manchester. In this study they developed and then empirically tested a series of simple kinetic models that explains the metabolic changes that are required to alter light response curves (LRCs) across a range of temperatures. This allowed them to show how changes in NADPH and CO2 utilization respond to environmental changes. This provides useful information as to how a plant adapts its metabolic response to light depending on the growth temperature.

Helena explaining her research

Kromdijk J, Głowacka K, Long SP (2019) Photosynthetic efficiency and mesophyll conductance are unaffected in Arabidopsis thaliana aquaporin knock-out lines. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz442

Open Access
Wanne Kromdijk leads this US-led research that includes contributions from the Universities of Cambridge and Lancaster. They looked at the potential role of membrane-bound aquaporins in the control of diffusion conductance for CO2 transfer from substomatal cavity to chloroplast stroma (gm). They tested three aquaporin mutants across a range of light and CO2 concentrations and surprisingly found that they appear to play no significant contribution to the control of gm. The reporting of this type of ‘negative’ result will prevent unnecessary replication of experiments and help to streamline the research process.


Wang P, Pleskot R, Zang J, Winkler J, Wang J, Yperman K, Zhang T, Wang K, Gong J, Guan Y, Richardson C, Duckney P, Vandorpe M, Mylle E, Fiserova J, Van Damme D, Hussey PJ (2019) Plant AtEH/Pan1 proteins drive autophagosome formation at ER-PM contact sites with actin and endocytic machinery. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12782-6
Open Access

Pengwei Wang is first author in this research led from Durham University that incudes Chinese and Belgian collaborators. They show that the AtEH/Pan1 protein is involved with actin cytoskeleton regulated autophagy and recruits multiple other components to autophagosomes during this process. In addition they show vesicle bound-AtEH/Pan1 interact with VAP27-1 at the ER-PM. This demonstrates that AtEH/Pan1 is a key component of the autophagy-dependent degradation pathway.


Lyczakowski JJ, Bourdon M, Terrett OM, Helariutta Y, Wightman R, Dupree P (2019) Structural Imaging of Native Cryo-Preserved Secondary Cell Walls Reveals the Presence of Macrofibrils and Their Formation Requires Normal Cellulose, Lignin and Xylan Biosynthesis. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01398
Open Access

Jan Lyczakowski from the Dupree lab at the University of Cambridge is first author on this study that has adapted low temperature scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) to visualize the cell walls of both angiosperm and gymnosperms. They have used Arabidopsis mutants to reveal that cell wall macrofibrils at composed of cellulose, xylan, and lignin. They demonstrate that cryo-SEM is a useful tool for native nanoscale cell wall architectures.


Rasool B, Karpinska B, Pascual J, Kangasjärvi S, Foyer CH (2019) Catalase, glutathione and protein phosphatase 2A-dependent organellar redox signalling regulate aphid fecundity under moderate and high irradiance. Plant Cell Environ. doi: 10.1111/pce.13669
Brwa Rasool is first author on this collaboration between the Universities of Birmingham and Helsinki that looks at how aphids respond to redox changes in Arabidopsis thaliana grown under different light conditions. They also identified defence-related transcription factors differentially upregulated by aphid predation in different light conditions. Overall they show aphid fecundity is in part determined by the plants cellular redox signaling.


Őszi E, Papdi C, Mohammed B, Pettkó-Szandtner A, Vaskó-Leviczky T, Molnár E, Ampudia CG, Khan S, Lopez-Juez E, Horváth B, Bögre L, Magyar Z (2019) E2FB interacts with RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED and regulates cell proliferation during leaf development. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00212
Erika Oszi is first author of this Hungarian-led research that includes co-authors from Royal Holloway University of London. This research looks at the interaction between the transcription factors E2FB and RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED (RBR) and how this contributes to cell proliferation during organ development in Arabidopsis leaves. The relationship between these proteins changes throughout the stages of leaf development and is critical to determine final leaf cell number.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2019/11/06/pp.19.00212.long

GARNet Research Roundup: November 1st 2019

This edition of the GARNet Research Roundup begins with a pan-UK study that has identified a gene involved in starch granule formation in polyploid wheat. Second is a study from Canterbury that identifies Arabidopsis QTLs involved in alternative splicing. Third is research from Cambridge that investigates the role of the nuclear circadian oscillator on sub-cellular calcium fluctuations. The fourth paper describes the development of a computer-vision tool designed for automated measurements of wheat spikes in the field. The fifth paper is a Korean-led study that has identified a transcription factor involved in pollen development and includes co-authors from Leicester. Last is a study from the University of Warwick that has looked into light-regulated gene expression during bulb initiation in onion.


Chia T, Chirico M, King R, Ramirez-Gonzalez R, Saccomanno B, Seung D, Simmonds J, Trick M, Uauy C, Verhoeven T, Trafford K (2019) A carbohydrate-binding protein, B-GRANULE CONTENT 1, influences starch granule size distribution in a dose-dependent manner in polyploid wheat. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz405
Open Access

Tansy Chia is lead author on this study that brings together three of the UKs major plant breeding research centres; NIAB, Rothamsted and the JIC. They take advantage of the new genomic tools and mutant populations available in wheat to characterize the complex role of the BGC1 (B-GRANULE CONTENT 1) gene during formation of B-type starch granules.


Khokhar W, Hassan MA, Reddy ASN, Chaudhary S, Jabre I, Byrne LJ, Syed NH (2019) Genome-Wide Identification of Splicing Quantitative Trait Loci (sQTLs) in Diverse Ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01160
Open Access

This work from Canterbury Christ Church University is led by Waqas Khokhar and Naeem Syed. They analysed 666 diverse Arabidopsis ecotypes to look for splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs)] that alter rates of alternative splicing. They identified a number of trans-sQTLs hotspots that align with known functional SNPs. This study provides the first sQTL resource across diverse ecotypes that can be used to compliment other available genome and transcriptome datasets.


Martí Ruiz MC, Jung HJ, Webb AAR (2019) Circadian gating of dark-induced increases in chloroplast- and cytosolic-free calcium in Arabidopsis. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.16280

María Carmen Martí Ruiz is lead author on this research undertaken in Alex Webb’s lab in Cambridge. They have looked at the role of the circadian clock in the control of calcium fluctuations in both cytoplasm and chloroplast stroma. They show the extent these changes are dependent on a nuclear-encoded circadian oscillator, adding a new role in sub-cellular Ca2+ signaling to the circadian machinery.


Sadeghi-Tehran P, Virlet N, Ampe EM, Reyns P, Hawkesford MJ (2019) DeepCount: In-Field Automatic Quantification of Wheat Spikes Using Simple Linear Iterative Clustering and Deep Convolutional Neural Networks. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01176
Open Access

Pouria Sadeghi-Tehran leads this theorectical study from Rothamsted Research that has developed an automated ‘DeepCount’ system for quantifying wheat spikes in the field. They use a deep convolutional neural network to test their program on field images and compare this method to other automated systems based on edge detection techniques and morphological analysis. Overall they show that this method has potential toward development of a portable and smartphone-assisted wheat-ear counting systems, that will have the associated benefits of counting accuracy and reduced labour.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01176/full

Oh SA, Hoai TNT, Park HJ, Zhao M, Twell D, Honys D, Park SK (2019) MYB81, a microspore-specific GAMYB transcription factor, promotes pollen mitosis I and cell lineage formation in Arabidopsis. Plant J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14564

Mingmin Zhao and David Twell are co-authors on this project led by Sung‐Aeong Oh and Korean colleagues. After screening pollen cell patterning mutants they have identified a role for the GAMYB transcription factor MYB81 during a narrow window prior to pollen mitosis I. They demonstrate that this protein is essential for establishing the male cell lineage in Arabidopsis pollen.


Rashid MHA, Cheng W, Thomas B (2019) Temporal and Spatial Expression of Arabidopsis Gene Homologs Control Daylength Adaptation and Bulb Formation in Onion (Allium cepa L.). Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51262-1 Open Access

This collaboration between the University of Warwick and Bangladesh Agricultural University is led by Harun Ar Rashid. They look at genetic regulation of light-dependent onion bulb initiation by growing plants under short and long days and testing the expression of known regulators of flowering time; AcFT, Ac LFY and AcGA3ox1. They also performed tissue-specific analysis to demonstrate differences in expression patterns that begin to suggest how these genes are involved in bulb initiation.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51262-1

GARNet Research Roundup: October 17th 2019

This edition of the GARNet Research Roundup includes a superb selection of papers by scientists from across the UK. First is work from the Spoel lab in Edinburgh that characterizes the fine-tuning of NPR1 activity during the plant immune response. Second is work from SLCU and the University of Helsinki that is an extensive investigation into the molecular basis of cambial development. Next is research from Nottingham that looks at the importance of soil macro-structures during the growth of wheat roots.

Fourth are three papers that highlight the breadth of research occurring at the John Innes Centre. The first paper is from Enrico Coen’s lab that applies their expertise in computational modeling to leaf development in the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba. Second is work from Saskia Hogenhout’s lab that looks at immunity to infection by Phytoplasma pathogens. Last is work from Lars Ostergaard’s lab that characterises the role of Auxin Binding promoter elements in floral development.

The seventh paper from Bristol and Glasgow looks at shade avoidance signaling via PIF5, COP1 and UVR8 whilst the eighth paper, which is from Rothamsted, demonstrates how metabolic engineering in Arabidopsis seeds can result in a high proportion of human milk fat substitute. The next paper is from the University of Durham and investigates how the composition of the Arabidopsis cell wall impacts freezing tolerance. The first author of this paper, Dr Paige Panter discusses the paper on the GARNet community podcast.

The tenth paper is from Julia Davies’s lab at the University of Cambridge and introduces an uncharacterised response to extracellular ATP signals in Arabidopsis roots. The next paper is from Mike Blatt’s group at University of Glasgow and characterises a new interaction between vesicular transport and ion channels. The penultimate entry includes co-authors from the JIC on a Chinese-led study that demonstrates improved seed vigour in wheat through overexpression of a NAC transcription factor. Finally are two methods papers taken from a special journal issue on ‘Plant Meiosis’.


Skelly MJ, Furniss JJ, Grey HL, Wong KW, Spoel SH (2019) Dynamic ubiquitination determines transcriptional activity of the plant immune coactivator NPR1. Elife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.47005
Open Access

Michael Skelly is lead author on this paper from the lab of current GARNet chair Steven Spoel. In it they investigate the mechanisms that fine-tune the function of NPR1, a key player in the plant immune response. Progressive ubiquitination of NPR1 by an E3 ligase causes both its interaction with target genes and its subsequent degradation by an E4 ligase. This latter occurrence is opposed by the deubiquitinase activity of UBP6/7, setting up a complex regulatory environment that allows the plant to rapidly response to pathogen attack.


Zhang J, Eswaran G, Alonso-Serra J, Kucukoglu M, Xiang J, Yang W, Elo A, Nieminen K, Damén T, Joung JG, Yun JY, Lee JH, Ragni L, Barbier de Reuille P, Ahnert SE, Lee JY, Mähönen AP, Helariutta Y (2019) Transcriptional regulatory framework for vascular cambium development in Arabidopsis roots. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-019-0522-9

This pan-European-Korean collaboration has Jing Zhang from the University of Helsinki and the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge as first author. They use cambium cell-specific transcript profiling and follow-on network analysis to discover 62 new transcription factors involved in cambial development in Arabidopsis. This information was used to engineer plants with increased radial growth through ectopic cambial activity as well as to generate plants with no cambial activity. This understanding provides a platform for possible future improvements in production of woody biomass.


Atkinson JA, Hawkesford MJ, Whalley WR, Zhou H, Mooney SJ (2019) Soil strength influences wheat root interactions with soil macropores. Plant Cell Environ. doi: 10.1111/pce.13659
This work is led from the University of Nottingham by John Atkinson and Sacha Mooney. They use X-ray Computed Tomography to investigate a trait called trematotropism, which applies to the ability of deep rooting plants to search out macropores and avoid densely packed soil. They show root colonisation of macropores is an important adaptive trait and that strategies should be put in place to increase these structures within the natural soil environment.


Lee KJI, Bushell C, Koide Y, Fozard JA, Piao C, Yu M, Newman J, Whitewoods C, Avondo J, Kennaway R, Marée AFM, Cui M, Coen E (2019) Shaping of a three-dimensional carnivorous trap through modulation of a planar growth mechanism. PLoS Biol. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000427
Open Access

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000427

Karen Lee, Claire Bushell and Yohei Koide are co-first authors on this work led by Enrico Coen at the John Innes Centre and Minlong Cui at the Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University in China. This study uses 3D imaging, cellular and clonal analysis, combined with computational modelling to analyse the development of cup-shaped traps of the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba. They identify growth ansiotrophies that result in the final leave shape that develops from an initial near-spherical form. These processes have some similarities to the polar growth seen in Arabidopsis leaves. Overall they show that ‘simple modulations of a common growth framework underlie the shaping of a diverse range of morphologies’.


Pecher P, Moro G, Canale MC, Capdevielle S, Singh A, MacLean A, Sugio A, Kuo CH, Lopes JRS, Hogenhout SA (2019) Phytoplasma SAP11 effector destabilization of TCP transcription factors differentially impact development and defence of Arabidopsis versus maize. PLoS Pathog. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008035
Open Access

This work from Saskia Hogenhout’s lab at the John Innes Centre is led by Pascal Pecher and Gabriele Moro. They look at the effect of SAP11 effectors from Phytoplasma species that infect either Arabidopsis or maize. They demonstrate that although both related versions of SAP11 destabilise plant TCP transcription factors, their modes of action have significant differences. Please look out for Saskia discussing this paper on the GARNet Community podcast next week.


Kuhn A, Runciman B, Tasker-Brown W, Østergaard L 92019) Two Auxin Response Elements Fine-Tune PINOID Expression During Gynoecium Development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Biomolecules. doi: 10.3390/biom9100526
Open Access

Andre Kuhn is first author of this research from Lars Østergaard’s lab at the John Innes Centre. They functional characterise two Auxin-responsive Elements (AuxRE) within the promotor of the PINOID gene, which are bound by the ETITIN/ARF3 Auxin Response Factor. Alteration of this AuxRE causes phenotypic changes during flower development demonstrating that even with a complex regulatory environment, small changes to cis-elements can have significant developmental consequences.


Sharma A, Sharma B, Hayes S, Kerner K, Hoecker U, Jenkins GI, Franklin KA (2019) UVR8 disrupts stabilisation of PIF5 by COP1 to inhibit plant stem elongation in sunlight. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12369-1
Open Access

Ashutosh Sharma is first author of this UK-Spanish-Germany collaboration led by Keara Franklin at University of Bristol. They have characterised the interaction between three significant molecular players that function during the shade avoidance response in Arabidopsis; PIF5, UVR8 and COP1. In shaded conditions, UVR8 indirectly promotes rapid degradation of PIF5 through their interactions with the E3 ubiquitin ligase COP1.


van Erp H, Bryant FM, Martin-Moreno J, Michaelson LV, Bhutada G, Eastmond PJ (2019) Engineering the stereoisomeric structure of seed oil to mimic human milk fat. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1907915116

Open Access

Harrie Van Arp and Peter Eastmond at Rothamsted Research lead this extremely translational study in which they have modified the metabolic pathway for triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis. By modifying the location of one biosynthesis enzyme and removing the activity of another, the fats produced in these Arabidopsis seeds are enriched to contain TAGs that are similar to those found in human milk. They propose that this technology could be used to develop a source of plant-derived human milk fat substitute.


Panter PE, Kent O, Dale M, Smith SJ, Skipsey M, Thorlby G, Cummins I, Ramsay N, Begum RA, Sanhueza D, Fry SC, Knight MR, Knight H (2019) MUR1-mediated cell-wall fucosylation is required for freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.16209

Paige Panter led this work as part of her PhD at the University of Durham in the lab of Heather Knight. They characterise the role of the MUR1 protein in the control of cell wall fucosylation and how this contributes to plant freezing tolerance. Paige discusses this paper and the long history of MUR1 on the GARNet Community podcast. Please check it out!


Wang L, Stacey G, Leblanc-Fournier N, Legué V, Moulia B, Davies JM (2019) Early Extracellular ATP Signaling in Arabidopsis Root Epidermis: A Multi-Conductance Process. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01064.

Open Access

The UK-French collaboration is led by Limin Wang from Julia Davies’s lab in Cambridge. They use patch clamp electrophysiology to identify previously uncharacterized channel conductances that respond to extracellular ATP across the root elongation zone epidermal plasma membrane.


Waghmare S, Lefoulon C, Zhang B, Lileikyte E, Donald NA, Blatt MR (2019) K+ channel-SEC11 binding exchange regulates SNARE assembly for secretory traffic. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00919

Open Access

This work from Mike Blatt’s lab in Glasgow is led by Sakharam Waghmare. They look at the interaction between SNARE proteins, which are involved in vesicular fusion and K+ channels, which help control turgor pressure during cell expansion. Through combining analysis of protein-protein interactions and electrophysiological measurement they have found that this interaction requires the activity of the regulatory protein SEC11.


Li W, He X, Chen Y, Jing Y, Shen C, Yang J, Teng W, Zhao X, Hu W, Hu M, Li H, Miller AJ, Tong Y (2019) A wheat transcription factor positively sets seed vigour by regulating the grain nitrate signal. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.16234
Wenjing Li is first author of this Chinese study that includes Yi Chen and Anthony Miller from the John Innes Centre as co-authors. This research shows that seed vigour and nitrate accumulation in wheat is regulated by the TaNAC2 transcriptions factor through its control of the TaNRT2.5 nitrate transporter. The authors suggest that both genes could be used as potential future targets to increase grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency.


The Special Issue of Methods in Molecular Biology on Plant Meiosis includes papers from the University of Cambridge, led by Christophe Lambing and the James Hutton Institute, led by Benoit Darrier.

Lambing C, Choi K, Blackwell AR, Henderson IR (2019) Chromatin Immunoprecipitation of Meiotically Expressed Proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana Flowers. Methods Mol Biol. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9818-0_16
Darrier B, Arrieta M, Mittmann SU, Sourdille P, Ramsay L, Waugh R, Colas I (2019) Following the Formation of Synaptonemal Complex Formation in Wheat and Barley by High-Resolution Microscopy. Methods Mol Biol. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9818-0_15

GARNet Research Roundup: September 24th 2019

Due to a significant delay this GARNet Research Roundup is a bumper overview of recent(ish) publications across discovery-led plant science, which have at least one contributor from a UK institution.

These can be (very) loosely separated into the following categories:

Circadian Clock: Greenwood et al, PloS Biology. Belbin et al, Nature Communications.

Environmental responses: Rodríguez-Celma et al, PNAS. Walker and Bennett, Nature Plants. Conn et al, PLoS Comput Biology. de Jong et al,PLoS Genetics. Molina-Contreras et al,The Plant Cell.

Defence signaling: Van de Weyer et al, Cell.Hurst et al, Scientific Reports. Xiao et al, Nature. Wong et al, PNAS.

Cell Biology: Miller et al, The Plant Cell. Coudert et al, Current Biology. Burgess et al,The Plant Cell. Harrington et al, BMC Plant Biology.

Metabolism: Jia et al, J Biol Chem. Perdomo et al, Biochem J. Gurrieri et al, Frontiers in Plant Science. Mucha et al, The Plant Cell. Atkinson et al, JXBot.

Cell Wall Composition: Wightman et al, Micron. Milhinhos et al, PNAS.

Signaling: Hartman et al, Nature Communications. Dittrich et al, Nature Plants. Villaécija-Aguilar et al, PLoS Genetics


Greenwood M, Domijan M, Gould PD, Hall AJW, Locke JCW (2019) Coordinated circadian timing through the integration of local inputs in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS Biol. 17(8):e3000407. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.300040 Open Access

Lead author is Mark Greenwood. UK contribution from The Sainsbury lab University of Cambridge, University of Liverpool and Earlham Institute. Using a mixture of experimental and modeling this paper shows that individual organs have circadian clocks that runs at different speeds.


Belbin FE, Hall GJ, Jackson AB, Schanschieff FE, Archibald G, Formstone C, Dodd AN (2019) Plant circadian rhythms regulate the effectiveness of a glyphosate-based herbicide. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 16;10(1):3704. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11709-5 Open Access

Lead author is Fiona Belbin. UK contribution from University of Bristol and Syngenta Jealott’s Hill. Activity of the circadian clock determines that the plant response to the herbicide glyphosate is lessened at dusk, promoting the idea of agricultural chronotherapy. Fiona discusses this paper on the GARNet Community Podcast.


Rodríguez-Celma J, Connorton JM, Kruse I, Green RT, Franceschetti M, Chen YT, Cui Y, Ling HQ, Yeh KC, Balk J (2019) Arabidopsis BRUTUS-LIKE E3 ligases negatively regulate iron uptake by targeting transcription factor FIT for recycling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1907971116 Open Access

Lead author is Jorge Rodríguez-Celma. UK contribution from John Innes Centre, University of East Anglia.The Arabidopsis E3 ubiquitin ligases, BRUTUS-LIKE1 (BTSL1) and BTSL2 target the FIT transcription factor for degradation, altering the plant response to harmful level of iron.


Walker CH, Bennett T (2019) A distributive ‘50% rule’ determines floral initiation rates in the Brassicaceae. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-019-0503-z
Lead author Catriona Walker. UK contribution from the University of Leeds. The authors introduce the 50%-rule that defines the relationshop between the total number of flowers the number of secondary inflorescences


Conn A, Chandrasekhar A, Rongen MV, Leyser O, Chory J, Navlakha S (2019) Network trade-offs and homeostasis in Arabidopsis shoot architectures. PLoS Comput Biol. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.100732 Open Access

Lead author is Adam Conn. UK contribution from Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge. This study performed 3D scanning of 152 Arabidopsis shoot architectures to investigate how plants make trade-offs between competing objectives.


de Jong M, Tavares H, Pasam RK, Butler R, Ward S, George G, Melnyk CW, Challis R, Kover PX, Leyser O (2019) Natural variation in Arabidopsis shoot branching plasticity in response to nitrate supply affects fitness. PLoS Genet. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008366 Open Access

Lead author is Maaike de Jong. UK contribution from the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, the University of York and the University of Bath. This study looks at phenotypic plasticity of shoot branching in Arabidopsis diversity panels grown until different nitrate concentrations.


Molina-Contreras MJ, Paulišić S, Then C, Moreno-Romero J, Pastor-Andreu P, Morelli L, Roig-Villanova I, Jenkins H, Hallab A, Gan X, Gómez-Cadenas A, Tsiantis M, Rodriguez-Concepcion M, Martinez-Garcia JF (2019) Photoreceptor Activity Contributes to Contrasting Responses to Shade in Cardamine and Arabidopsis Seedlings. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00275 Open Access

Lead author is Maria Jose Molina-Contreras. UK contribution from the University of Oxford. The authors looks at the response to different light conditions and how they contribute to phenotypic determination in Cardamine and Arabidopsis seedlings.


Van de Weyer AL, Monteiro F, Furzer OJ, Nishimura MT, Cevik V, Witek K, Jones JDG, Dangl JL, Weigel D, Bemm F (2019) A Species-Wide Inventory of NLR Genes and Alleles in Arabidopsis thaliana. Cell. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.038 Open Access

Lead author is Anna-Lena Van de Weyer. UK contribution from The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich. Using sequence enrichment and long-read sequencing the authors present the pan-NLRome constructed from 40 Arabidopsis accessions.


Hurst CH, Wright KM, Turnbull D, Leslie K, Jones S, Hemsley PA (2019) Juxta-membrane S-acylation of plant receptor-like kinases is likely fortuitous and does not necessarily impact upon function. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49302-x Open Access

Lead author is Charlotte Hurst. UK contribution from the James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee. They look at the functional role of post-translational modification S-acylation with a focus on the plant pathogen perceiving receptor-like kinase FLS2.


Xiao Y, Stegmann M, Han Z, DeFalco TA, Parys K, Xu L, Belkhadir Y, Zipfel C, Chai J (2019) Mechanisms of RALF peptide perception by a heterotypic receptor complex. Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1409-7
Lead author is Yu Xiao. UK contribution from The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich. This study investigates how RAPID ALKALINIZATION FACTOR (RALF) peptides induce receptor complex formation to regulate immune signaling.


Wong JEMM, Nadzieja M, Madsen LH, Bücherl CA, Dam S, Sandal NN, Couto D, Derbyshire P, Uldum-Berentsen M, Schroeder S, Schwämmle V, Nogueira FCS, Asmussen MH, Thirup S, Radutoiu S, Blaise M, Andersen KR, Menke FLH, Zipfel C, Stougaard J (2019). A Lotus japonicus cytoplasmic kinase connects Nod factor perception by the NFR5 LysM receptor to nodulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815425116
Open Access

Lead author is Jaslyn Wong. UK contribution from The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of East Anglia. This work was conducted in the legume Lotus and after a proteomic screen, the authors identified NFR5-interacting cytoplasmic kinase 4 that is involved in control of Nod factor perception.


Miller C, Wells R, McKenzie N, Trick M, Ball J, Fatihi A, Dubreucq B, Chardot T, Lepiniec L, Bevan MW (2019) Variation in expression of the HECT E3 ligase UPL3 modulates LEC2 levels, seed size and crop yield in Brassica napus. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.18.00577
Open Access

Lead author in Charlotte Miller. UK contribution from the John Innes Centre. Activity of the Brassica napus HECT E3 ligase gene BnaUPL3 controls seed weight per pod through degradation of LEC2, a master transcriptional regulator of seed maturation and reveals a potential target for crop improvement


Coudert Y, Novák O, Harrison CJ (2019) A KNOX-Cytokinin Regulatory Module Predates the Origin of Indeterminate Vascular Plants. Curr Biol. 2019 Aug 19;29(16):2743-2750.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.083

Lead author is Yoan Coudert. UK contribution from the University of Cambridge and University of Bristol. Class I KNOX gene activity is shown to be necessary for axis extension from an intercalary region of determinate moss shoots, in part through promotion of cytokinin biosynthesis.


Burgess SJ, Reyna-Llorens I, Stevenson SR, Singh P, Jaeger K, Hibberd JM (2019) Genome-wide transcription factor binding in leaves from C3 and C4 grasses Plant Cell.  doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00078 Open Access

Lead author is Steven Burgess. UK contribution from University of Cambridge, The Sainsbury lab University of Cambridge, University of Leeds The authors use DNaseI-SEQ to assess the similarities and differences in transcription factor binding sites in the leaves across a set of four C3 and C4 grasses.


Harrington SA, Overend LE, Cobo N, Borrill P, Uauy C (2019) Conserved residues in the wheat (Triticum aestivum) NAM-A1 NAC domain are required for protein binding and when mutated lead to delayed peduncle and flag leaf senescence. BMC Plant Biol. doi: 10.1186/s12870-019-2022-
Lead author is Sophie Harrington. UK contributions from the John Innes Centre and University of Birmingham. The authors used a wheat TILLING resource to investigate mutrant allele with the NAC domain of the NAM-A1 transcription factor and their contribution to phenotypes in lab and field.


Jia Y, Burbidge CA, Sweetman C, Schutz E, Soole K, Jenkins C, Hancock RD, Bruning JB, Ford CM (2019) An aldo-keto reductase with 2-keto- L-gulonate reductase activity functions in L-tartaric acid biosynthesis from vitamin C in Vitis vinifera. J Biol Chem. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.010196 Open Access

Lead author Yong Jia. UK contribution from the James Hutton Institute. This work conducted in grape reveals the mechanism by which an aldo-keto reductase functions in tartaric acid biosynthesis.


Perdomo JA, Degen GE, Worrall D, Carmo-Silva E (2019) Rubisco activation by wheat Rubisco activase isoform 2β is insensitive to inhibition by ADP. Biochem J. doi: 10.1042/BCJ2019011 Open Access

Lead author is Juan Alejandro Perdomo. UK contribution from Lancaster University. They show through analysis of site-directed mutations across three isoforms of wheat Rubisco activase that these isoforms have different sensitivities to ADP.


Gurrieri L, Distefano L, Pirone C, Horrer D, Seung D, Zaffagnini M, Rouhier N, Trost P, Santelia D, Sparla F (2019) The Thioredoxin-Regulated α-Amylase 3 of Arabidopsis thaliana Is a Target of S-Glutathionylation. Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00993 Open Access

Lead author is Libero Gurrieri. UK contribution from John Innes Centre. The chloroplastic α-Amylases, AtAMY3 is post-translationally modified by S-glutathionylation in response to oxidative stress.


Mucha S, Heinzlmeir S, Kriechbaumer V, Strickland B, Kirchhelle C, Choudhary M, Kowalski N, Eichmann R, Hueckelhoven R, Grill E, Kuster B, Glawischnig E (2019) The formation of a camalexin-biosynthetic metabolon. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00403 Open Access

Lead author is Stefanie Mucha. UK contribution from Oxford Brookes University and University of Warwick. The authors performed two independent untargeted co-immunoprecipitations to identify components involved in biosynthesis of the antifungal phytoalexin camalexin.


Atkinson N, Velanis CN, Wunder T, Clarke DJ, Mueller-Cajar O, McCormick AJ (2019) The pyrenoidal linker protein EPYC1 phase separates with hybrid Arabidopsis-Chlamydomonas Rubisco through interactions with the algal Rubisco small subunit. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz275
Open Access

Lead author is Nicky Atkinson. UK contribution from the University of Edinburgh. This study uses Arabidopsis-Chlamydomonas to investigate the protein-protein interaction between Rubisco and essential pyrenoid component 1 (EPYC1).


Wightman R, Busse-Wicher M, Dupree P (2019) Correlative FLIM-confocal-Raman mapping applied to plant lignin composition and autofluorescence. Micron. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2019.102733
Lead author Raymond Wightman. UK contribution from the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge and the University of Cambridge. This study uses applies a novelmethod of correlative FLIM-confocal-Raman imaging to analyse lignin composition in Arabidopsis stems.


Milhinhos A, Vera-Sirera F, Blanco-Touriñán N, Mari-Carmona C, Carrió-Seguí À, Forment J, Champion C, Thamm A, Urbez C, Prescott H, Agustí J (2019) SOBIR1/EVR prevents precocious initiation of fiber differentiation during wood development through a mechanism involving BP and ERECTA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1807863116
Lead author is Ana Milhinho. UK contribution from the University of Oxford. The authors used GWAS in Arabidopsis to identify the SOBIR1/EVR as an important regulator of the control of secondary growth in xylem fibers.


Hartman S, Liu Z, van Veen H, Vicente J, Reinen E, Martopawiro S, Zhang H, van Dongen N, Bosman F, Bassel GW, Visser EJW, Bailey-Serres J, Theodoulou FL, Hebelstrup KH, Gibbs DJ, Holdsworth MJ, Sasidharan R, Voesenek LACJ (2019) Ethylene-mediated nitric oxide depletion pre-adapts plants to hypoxia stress. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12045-4 Open Access

Lead author is Sjon Hartman. UK contribution from the University of Nottingham, Rothamsted Research and the University of Birmingham. This multinational collaboration looks into the relationship of how ethylene mediated nitric-oxide signaling responds to environmental signals.


Dittrich M, Mueller HM, Bauer H, Peirats-Llobet M, Rodriguez PL, Geilfus CM, Carpentier SC, Al Rasheid KAS, Kollist H, Merilo E, Herrmann J, Müller T, Ache P, Hetherington AM, Hedrich R (2019) The role of Arabidopsis ABA receptors from the PYR/PYL/RCAR family in stomatal acclimation and closure signal integration. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-019-0490-0
Lead author Marcus Dittrich. UK contribution from the University of Bristol. This work looks at the role of ABA signaling in stomatal responses and that the multiple ABA receptors can be modulated differentially in a stimulus-specific manner.


Villaécija-Aguilar JA, Hamon-Josse M, Carbonnel S, Kretschmar A, Schmid C, Dawid C, Bennett T, Gutjahr C (2019). SMAX1/SMXL2 regulate root and root hair development downstream of KAI2-mediated signalling in Arabidopsis. PLoS Genet. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008327 Open Access

Lead author Jose Antonio Villaécija-Aguilar. UK contribution from the University of Leeds and The Sainsbury lab, University of Cambridge. This demonstrates that KAI2 signalling through SMAX1/SMXL2 , is an important new regulator of root hair and root development in Arabidopsis.

Relaunch of the GARNet Community Podcast!

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Published on: September 3, 2019

Welcome to the relaunch of the GARNet Community podcast!

We aim to send out a short weekly podcast in which we chat to a researcher about a latest publication. These will be audio-only podcast without any associated YouTube video. Over the coming weeks we will discuss new papers with Charlotte Kirchelle at the University of Oxford, Mike Skelly at University of Edinburgh and Dana MacGregor at Rothamsted Research.

This first podcast introduces GARNet activities. Please spread the word 🙂

GARNet Research Roundup: August 16th 2019

This holiday-time edition of the GARNet research roundup begins with two papers that include the late Ian Moore from the University of Oxford as a co-author. The first looks at the role of RAB-A5c in the control of cellular growth anisotropy whilst the second characterises the Transport Protein Particle II (TRAPPII) complex.

The third paper is a UK-wide collaboration that assesses the role of UVA signaling on stomatal development. Next is a paper from Cambridge and the JIC that has identified the TAF4b protein as a novel regulator of meiotic crossovers.

The fifth paper is from the University of York and characterizes a role for cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) during seed germination.

The next three papers feature scientists from the University of Leeds in research that investigates 1, a peroxisomal ABC transporter; 2, the role of LRR-RLKs in plasmodesmata development and 3, the cell wall characteristics of banana and mango fruit.

The ninth paper is from the University of Edinburgh and investigates the role of S-nitrosylation in the control of SUMO conjugation.

The next two papers include Steve Penfield at the JIC as a corresponding author; the first looks at the role of endosperm-expressed transcriptional factors during seed dormancy and the second, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Warwick, identifies novel QTLs involved in seed dormancy.

The penultimate study is from Lancaster and presents a surprising outcome resulting from the overexpression of the wheat CA1Pase gene. The final paper includes Alison Tidy and Zoe Wilson from University of Nottingham as co-authors on a study that looks at male fertility in Arabidopsis.


Kirchhelle C, Garcia-Gonzalez D, Irani NG, Jérusalem A, Moore I (2019) Two mechanisms regulate directional cell growth in Arabidopsis lateral roots. Elife. pii: e47988. doi: 10.7554/eLife.47988

Open Access

Charlotte Kirchhelle leads this work that was conducted in the lab of the late Ian Moore at the University of Oxford. She investigates the role of the plant-specific small GTPase RAB-A5c during growth anisotropy in lateral roots, which involves coordinated orientations of cellulose microfibrils (CMFs) and by cortical microtubules (CMTs). They identify RAB-A5c dependent and independent mechanisms to control cellular growth anisotropy in this growing tissue.

From https://elifesciences.org/articles/47988

Kalde M, Elliott L, Ravikumar R, Rybak K, Altmann M, Klaeger S, Wiese C, Abele M, Al B, Kalbfuß N, Qi X, Steiner A, Meng C, Zheng H, Kuster B, Falter-Braun P, Ludwig C, Moore I, Assaad FF (2019) Interactions between Transport Protein Particle (TRAPP) complexes and Rab GTPases in Arabidopsis. Plant J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14442

This German-led study includes Monika Kalde from the University of Oxford as first author as well Ian Moore as co-author. They characterize the components and function of the Transport Protein Particle II (TRAPPII) complex. TRAPPII plays multiple roles in intra-cellular transport and this study identified 13 subunits, including several that were previously uncharacterised.


Isner JC, Olteanu VA, Hetherington AJ, Coupel-Ledru A, Sun P, Pridgeon AJ, Jones GS, Oates M, Williams TA, Maathuis FJM, Kift R, Webb AR, Gough J, Franklin KA, Hetherington AM (2019). Short- and Long-Term Effects of UVA on Arabidopsis Are Mediated by a Novel cGMP Phosphodiesterase. Curr Biol.29(15):2580-2585.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.071

Open Access

Jean-Charles Isner is the first author on this collaboration between labs in Bristol, York, Oxford and Cambridge. They show that UVA radiation (which represents 95% of the UV radiation reaching earth) inhibits stomatal opening through a process that involves a reduction in the cytosolic level of cGMP. The AtCN-PDE1 gene (a cGMP-activated phosphodiesterase) is needed to decrease cGMP levels in Arabidopsis. This response is present across the tree of life except in metazoans. They show AtCN-PDE1 is needed for the UVA response and that prolonged UVA exposure causes increased growth yet reduced water use efficiency.


Lawrence EJ, Gao H, Tock AJ, Lambing C, Blackwell AR, Feng X, Henderson IR (2019) Natural Variation in TBP-ASSOCIATED FACTOR 4b Controls Meiotic Crossover and Germline Transcription in Arabidopsis. Curr Biol. pii: S0960-9822(19)30844-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.084

Open Access

This work from Ian Henderson’s lab in Cambridge and Xiaoqi Feng’s lab at the JIC is led by Emma Lawrence and isolates a novel modifier of meiotic crossover frequency, TBP-ASSOCIATED FACTOR 4b (TAF4b), which encodes a subunit of the RNA polymerase II general transcription factor TFIID. They show TAF4b expression is enriched in meiocytes, compared to the more general expression of its paralog TAF4. Ultimately they reveal TAF4b drives a novel mode of meiotic recombination control through its activity as a general transcription factor.


Barros-Galvão T, Dave A, Cole A, Harvey D, Langer S, Larson TR, Vaistij FE, Graham IA (2019) cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid represses Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination in shade light conditions. J Exp Bot. pii: erz337. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz337

Open Access

Thiago Barros-Galvão is first author on this study from Ian Graham’s lab at the University of York. They investigate how the jasmonic acid pre-cursor cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) contributes to control of seed germination, particularly under shade conditions. OPDA acts through the activity of the transcription factor MOTHER-OF-FT-AND-TFL1 (MFT).

From https://academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jxb/erz337/5536641

Carrier DJ, van Roermund CWT, Schaedler TA, Rong HL, IJlst L, Wanders RJA, Baldwin SA, Waterham HR, Theodoulou FL, Baker A (2019) Mutagenesis separates ATPase and thioesterase activities of the peroxisomal ABC transporter, Comatose. Sci Rep. 9(1):10502. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46685-9

Open Access

Alison Baker at the University of Leeds is the corresponding author of this UK, Dutch collaboration that includes David Carrier as first author. They characterise the peroxisomal ABC transporter, Comatose (CTS) through mutagenesis of key residues responsible for the proteins intrinsic acyl-CoA thioesterase (ACOT) activity. Ultimately they show that ACOT activity depends of endogenous ATPase activity but that these activities could be functional separated by mutagenesis of key residues.


Grison M, Kirk P, Brault M, Wu XN, Schulze WX, Benitez-Alfonso Y, Immel F, Bayer EMF (2019). Plasma membrane-associated receptor like kinases relocalize to plasmodesmata in response to osmotic stress. Plant Physiol. pii: pp.00473.2019. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00473

Open Access

GARNet advisory committee member Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso and members of her research group are co-authors on the next two studies. This work is led by Magali Grison in Emmanuelle Bayer’s lab in Bordeaux. They show that the PM-localised Leucine-Rich-Repeat Receptor-Like-Kinases (LRR-RLKs), QSK1 and IMK2 relocate and cluster to the plasmodesmata under osmotic stress conditions. Through a variety of assays that focuses on QSK1 the authors show that reorganisation of RLKs can be important for the regulation of callose deposition at plasmodesmata and under osmotic stress this can have a functional effect on lateral root development.


Rongkaumpan G, Amsbury S, Andablo-Reyes E, Linford H, Connell S, Knox JP, Sarkar A, Benitez-Alfonso Y, Orfila C (2019) Cell Wall Polymer Composition and Spatial Distribution in Ripe Banana and Mango Fruit: Implications for Cell Adhesion and Texture Perception. Front Plant Sci. 10:858. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00858

Open Access

Ganittha Rongkaumpan is first author on this interdisciplinary collaborative research from multiple departments at the University of Leeds. They characterise the composition of the cell wall in two fruits, banana and mango, which soften during ripening. The authors compared structural information, obtained using Atomic Force Microscopy and biochemical analysis, with data from rheology and tribology assays to understand why these fruits feel different in the mouth during ingestion.


Skelly MJ, Malik SI, Le Bihan T, Bo Y, Jiang J, Spoel SH, Loake GJ (2019) A role for S-nitrosylation of the SUMO-conjugating enzyme SCE1 in plant immunity Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. pii: 201900052. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1900052116

Michael Skelly from the University of Edinburgh is the lead author of this study from the labs of Gary Loake and GARNet chairman Steven Spoel. They investigate the mechanism through which nitric oxide signaling after pathogen recognition stimulates inhibitory S-nitrosylation of the Arabidopsis SUMO E2 enzyme, SCE1. S-nitrosylation occurs on the evolutionary conserved Cys139 of SCE1 and they investigate the wider significant of this residue in the control of immune responses across eukaryotes.


MacGregor DR, Zhang N, Iwasaki M, Chen M, Dave A, Lopez-Molina L, Penfield S (2019) ICE1 and ZOU determine the depth of primary seed dormancy in Arabidopsis independently of their role in endosperm development. Plant J. 98(2):277-290. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14211

Open Access

Dana MacGregor (now at Rothamsted Research) leads this work from the lab of Steve Penfield at the JIC that investigates the extent of control on depth of primary dormancy that is mediated by the endosperm-expressed transcription factors ZHOUPI (ZOU) and INDUCER OF CBF EXPRESSION1 (ICE1). These effects are additive and independent of their role in endosperm development since the dormancy defect in ice1 and zou mutants can be ameliorated without altering seed morphology. They show that ICE1 acts primarily through control of ABA INSENSITIVE 3 (ABI3).


Footitt S, Walley PG, Lynn JR, Hambidge AJ, Penfield S, Finch-Savage WE (2019) Trait analysis reveals DOG1 determines initial depth of seed dormancy, but not changes during dormancy cycling that result in seedling emergence timing. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.16081

This research is a collaboration between the John Innes Centre and the Universities Liverpool and Warwick, from which Steven Footitt is first author. They used two Arabidopsis ecotypes that have differences in the timing of seedling emergence to identify new QTLs involved in depth of seed dormancy and Seedling Emergence Timing (SET). They revealed that DOG1 is important for determining depth of dormancy. In addition they identified three new SET QTLs, which are each physically close to DOG1, that play a role in the control of SET in the field.


Lobo AKM, Orr D, Gutierrez MO, Andralojc J, Sparks C, Parry MAJ, Carmo-Silva E (2019) Overexpression of ca1pase decreases Rubisco abundance and grain yield in wheat. Plant Physiol. pii: pp.00693.2019. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00693

Open Access

This research from Lancaster Environmental Centre and their Brazilian collaborators is led by Ana Karla Lobo and demonstrates that overexpression of 2-carboxy-D-arabinitol-1-phosphate phosphatase (CA1Pase) in wheat causes a reduction in above ground biomass and compromises wheat grain yields. As CA1Pase is involved in removing inhibitors of Rubisco activity this result is contrary to the anticipated outcome. This suggests that Rubisco inhibitors might actually protect enzyme activity, thus maintaining the number of active sites that the enzyme is able to support.


Zhao SQ, Li WC, Zhang Y, Tidy AC, Wilson ZA (2019) Knockdown of Arabidopsis ROOT UVB SENSITIVE4 Disrupts Anther Dehiscence by Suppressing Secondary Thickening in the Endothecium. Plant Cell Physiol. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcz127

Shu-Qing Zhao is the lead author on this China-UK collaboration that includes Alison Tidy and Zoe Wilson from the University of Nottingham. They show that using an artificial microRNA to reduce levels of the RUS4 gene in Arabidopsis causes a decline in male fertility. They perform a detailed analysis of the RUS4 expression module and how it impacts fertility.

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