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GARNet Research Roundup: May 17th

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Published on: May 17, 2018

This weeks GARNet research roundup includes six excellent papers investigating many aspects of Arabidopsis cell biology. Firstly Eirini Kaiserli from Glasgow introduces a novel regulator of blue-light signaling. Second is a paper that analyses the circadian clock with single cell resolution and is led by James Locke (SLCU) and Anthony Hall (Earlham Institute). The next two papers investigate different aspects of hormone signaling, with Keith Lindsey’s group at Durham looking at the relationshop between the HYDRA protein and the auxin response whilst Ottoline Leysers group in Cambridge looks at the link between auxin and cytokinin during shoot growth. The fifth paper from Phillip Mullineaux (University of Essex) provides a genome-wide analysis into the role of HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b protein. The final paper from the lab of Piers Hemsley (James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee) should be of interest to many plant molecular biologists as they assess the functional significance of different epitope tags.

Perrella G, Davidson MLH, O’Donnell L, Nastase AM, Herzyk P, Breton G, Pruneda-Paz JL, Kay SA, Chory J, Kaiserli E (2018) ZINC-FINGER interactions mediate transcriptional regulation of hypocotyl growth in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.. pii: 201718099. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1718099115

Open Access

Eirini Kaiserli (University of Glasgow) leads this study that identifies the ZINC-FINGER HOMEODOMAIN 10 (ZFHD10) as a novel regulator of light signaling. ZFHD10 physically interacts with TANDEM ZINC-FINGER PLUS3 (TZP) and these proteins coassociate at promotors that are blue-light regulated. These results reveal of novel mechanism of action for the key multiple signal integrator TZP in the light regulated growth of Arabidopsis hypocotyls.

Eirini discusses this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel.

Gould PD, Domijan M, Greenwood M, Tokuda IT, Rees H, Kozma-Bognar L, Hall AJ, Locke JC (2018). Coordination of robust single cell rhythms in the Arabidopsis circadian clock via spatial waves of gene expression. Elife. 26;7. pii: e31700. doi: 10.7554/eLife.31700 Open Access

https://elifesciences.org/articles/31700

This paper is led by James Locke (SLCU) and Anthony Hall (Earlham) and investigates the circadian clock at single cell resolution. They use Arabidopsis plants grown in constant environmental conditions to show two desynchronised yet robust single cell oscillations that move both up and down the root. Their results indicate that the clock shows cell-to-cell coupling and they they modeled this relationship to recapitulate the observed waves of activity. Overall their results are suggestive of multiple coordination points for the Arabidopsis clock, which is different from the mammalian system of regulation.

http://dev.biologists.org/content/145/10/dev160572

Short E, Leighton M, Imriz G, Liu D, Cope-Selby N, Hetherington F, Smertenko A, Hussey PJ, Topping JF, Lindsey K (2018) Epidermal expression of a sterol biosynthesis gene regulates root growth by a non-cell autonomous mechanism in Arabidopsis. Development . pii: dev.160572. doi: 10.1242/dev.160572 Open Access

This collaboration between the research groups of Keith Lindsey and Patrick Hussey at the University of Durham investigates the role of the HYDRA1 (HYD1) sterol Δ8-Δ7 isomerase in epidermal patterning. This tissue shows highest HYD1 expression and hyd mutants have major root patterning defects. Tissue-specific expression of HYD1 indicates that it is involved with some type of non-cell autonomous signaling. Analysis of PIN1 and PIN2 protein expression suggests that auxin might be this functional signal

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2018/05/01/pp.17.01691.long

Waldie T, Leyser O (2018) Cytokinin targets auxin transport to promote shoot branching. Plant Physiol. 2018 May 1. pii: pp.01691.2017. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01691.Open Access

This study from the lab of Ottoline Leyser (SLCU) investigates the integration between the plant hormones cytokinin and auxin. They investigate the role of cytokinin in shoot branching through analysis of Arabidopsis Response Regulators (ARRs) mutants. They show arr mutant phenotypes correlate with changes in stem auxin transport mediated by the PIN3, PIN4 and PIN7 efflux carriers, the expression of each respond to cytokinin signaling. Overall this study identifies a novel alternative pathway by which cytokinin impacts bud outgrowth through alterations in auxin transport.

Albihlal WS, Irabonosi O, Blein T, Persad R, Chernukhin I, Crespi M, Bechtold U, Mullineaux PM (2018) Arabidopsis Heat Shock Transcription FactorA1b regulates multiple developmental genes under benign and stress conditions. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/ery142 Open Access

Phillip Mullineaux (University of Essex) leads this collaboration with French colleagues in a study that investigates the genome-wide targets of the HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b (HSFA1b) protein. Under non-stress ad heat-stress conditions they showed that 1000s of genes are differentially expressed with a smaller proportion of genes showing different levels of direct interaction. The indirect targets of HSFA1b are regulated through a network of 27 transcription factors and they also provide evidence for the role of hundreds of natural antisense non-coding RNA in the regulation of HSFA1b targets. Overall they show that HSFA1b is a key regulator of environmental cues to regulate both developmental genes and those involved in stress tolerance.

Hurst CH, Turnbull D, Myles SM, Leslie K, Keinath NF, Hemsley PA (2018) Variable effects of C-terminal tags on FLS2 function – not all epitope tags are created equal. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01700 Open Access

This study from the Hemsley lab (James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee) is a cautionary tale on the use and interpretation of results obtained from experiments with commonly-used epitope tags. They assessed the activity of plants containing transgenic FLS2 proteins, which is a receptor-like kinase (RLKs) involved in the defence response. They show that various FLS2 C-terminal epitope fusions reveal highly variable and unpredictable outputs, indicating that the presence of different tags significantly alters protein function. This finding might require a reassessment of many experiments that rely on interpreting the function of epitope-tagged proteins and has significant for many if not all plant molecular biologists.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: Nov 24th

by Geraint

Categories: Essex University, Glasgow University, Global, John Innes Centre, Nottingham University, SLCU, University of Bristol, University of Essex, University of Sheffield, University of Southampton

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Published on: November 24, 2017

The week’s UK Arabidopsis research roundup includes seven papers from groups who work on a range of topics.

Firstly Antony Dodd (Bristol) investigates the role of sugar signaling during hypocotyl elongation and provides an audio description of this groups work. Secondly Mike Holdsworth (Nottingham) leads a paper that demonstrates the importance of the N-rule pathway in the response to abiotic stresses. Thirdly are a set of papers that have developed models on three different topics. Mike Blatt’s group at Glasgow University has a cross-scale model that is applied to stomatal opening whilst Stan Maree and Veronica Griensien (JIC) use modeling to predict how the topology of pavement cells is determined. Finally Arabidopsis is used as an example that fits a model that investigates how critical mutation rate (CMR) changes with population size. In the sixth paper Lorraine Williams and colleagues (University of Southampton) investigate the function of a rice transport protein involved in manganese tolerance by expressing it in Arabidopsis. The final paper from Jerzy Paszkowski (SLCU) outlines a novel screening strategy for retrotransposons and the identification of an ecotype specific element.

Simon NM, Kusakina J, Fernández-López Á, Chembath A, Belbin FE, Dodd AN (2017) The energy-signalling hub SnRK1 is important for sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01395

Open Access

This UK-wide collaboration is led by Anthony Dodd at the University of Bristol and has looked at the factors that control hypocotyl elongation in response to sugar signalling. This response is integrated through the sugar-signalling hub, SnRK1 and is regulated by trehalose-6-phosphate (Tre6P). They also integrate hormone signalling and the influence of diurnal rhythms into the control of this process, importantly showing that the ubiquitous sugar regulator hexokinase is not involved in this process.

Antony kindly provides an audio description of this research that can be found on YouTube or on the GARNet iTunes channel. Please subscribe!

Vicente J, Mendiondo GM, Movahedi M, Peirats-Llobet M, Juan YT, Shen YY, Dambire C, Smart K, Rodriguez PL, Charng YY, Gray JE, Holdsworth MJ (2017) The Cys-Arg/N-End Rule Pathway Is a General Sensor of Abiotic Stress in Flowering Plants. Current Biology doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.006

Open Access

Mike Holdsworth (University of Nottingham) is the corresponding author of this collaboration with colleagues from Sheffield, Spain and Taiwan that investigates how the N-rule degradation pathway acts a sensor of general abiotic stress in both Arabidopsis and Barley. These responses are integrated through degradation of the group VII Ethylene Response Factor transcription factors (ERFVIIs) family via direct and indirect pathways. In addition they link ERFVII activity with chromatin-remodeling ATPase BRAHMA providing evidence for a single mechanism that links the responses to a number of environmental signals.

Wang Y, Hills A, Vialet-Chabrand SR, Papanatsiou M, Griffiths H, Rogers S, Lawson T, Lew V, Blatt MR (2017) Unexpected Connections between Humidity and Ion Transport Discovered using a Model to Bridge Guard Cell-to-Leaf Scales. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.17.00694

Open Access

Mike Blatt (University of Glasgow) leads this collaboration with researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex. They have developed the OnGuard2 quantitative systems platform that integrates numerous parameters that control guard cell dynamics across many scales including at molecular, cellular, tissue and canopy levels. They experimentally demonstrate that OnGuard2 faithfully reproduces the kinetics of real stomatal movement and therefore that this modeling is able to bridge the micro-macro divide.

Carter R, Sánchez-Corrales YE, Hartley M, Grieneisen VA, Marée AFM (2017) Pavement cells and the topology puzzle. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.157073

Stan Maree and Veronica Griensien (John Innes Centre) lead this study that has looked at the patterning of 50000 Arabidopsis pavement cells to understand the topological signatures that exist in this population. They have developed a heuristic cellular division rule to produce a model that can reproduce their observations by predicting how these cells divide. They confirmed their model by tracking 800 mitotic events, allowing them to conclude that distinct topology is not a direct consequence of the jigsaw-like shape of the cells, but rather owes itself to life-history-driven process, with limited impact from cell surface mechanics.

Aston E, Channon A, Belavkin RV, Gifford DR, Krašovec R, Knight CG (2017) Critical Mutation Rate has an Exponential Dependence on Population Size for Eukaryotic-length Genomes with Crossover. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14628-x

Open Access

In this study a team of computational biologists from Keele, Middlesex and Manchester have used Arabidopsis as an exemplar to understand how critical mutation rate (CMR) provides insights into the shift between survival-of-the-fittest and survival of individuals with greater mutational robustness. They have produced a simulation for these parameters that predicts outcomes for a range of biological organisms, showing that CMR decreases with reduced population size. They suggest that the model can be used to understand the conservation strategies exhibited in populations that are approaching extinction.

Farthing EC, Menguer PK, Fett JP, Williams LE (2017) OsMTP11 is localised at the Golgi and contributes to Mn tolerance. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-15324-6
Lorraine Williams (University of Southampton) and her colleagues have identified a transporter protein from rice, OsMTP11 that is involved in mangenase tolerance. They show that heterologous expression of this protein is able to rescue the manganese sensitive phenotype of Arabidopsis mtp11-3 knockouts. They show that OsMTP11 localises to the Golgi and have also conducted site directed mutagenesis to identify key residues that are important for the function of this protein.

Griffiths J, Catoni M, Iwasaki M, Paszkowski J (2017) Sequence-independent identification of active LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis. Mol Plant. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2017.10.012

Open Access

Jerzy Paszkowski (SLCU) leads this single-figure short manuscript that has characterised the population of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis. They develop a novel cost-effective screening strategy that allows them to identify sequences found on extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA), which includes a retroelement found in Lansberg erecta but not in the reference genome ecotype Col-0.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: August 1st

by Geraint

Categories: Global, James Hutton Institute, John Innes Centre, Sainsbury Lab, University of Essex

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Published on: August 1, 2017

This weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup has a tools-focus as it includes three papers that highlight new tools that are available to the plant science community. Silke Robatzek (TSL) leads research that has developed software for analysis of subcellular fluorescent markers whilst in a broadly similar area Mark Fricker (University of Oxford) is part of an international collaboration that characterises a tool that allows for analysis of intracellular ATP concentrations. Thirdly Phillip White (JHI) leads a consortium that has developed computer-assisted software to aid automated phenotyping. In the fourth paper Silke Robatzek again features as co-corresponding author with Richard Morris (JIC) in a study that mixes plant biology and computational analysis to model stomatal dynamics. Finally Christine Raines (University of Essex) leads research that has overexpressed a member of the photosynthetic apparatus that surprisingly results in plants with larger biomass and seed yield.

Faulkner C, Zhou J, Evrard A, Bourdais G, MacLean D, Häweker H, Eckes P, Robatzek S (2017) An automated quantitative image analysis tool for the identification of microtubule patterns in plants. Traffic. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tra.12505 Open Access

This research from The Sainsbury lab, Norwich and John Innes Centre includes Silke Robatzek as corresponding author as well as new faculty member Christine Faulkner as lead author. This paper documents the development of CellArchitect, which is an image analysis tool to track the movement of subcellular microtubule markers obtained using con-focal microscopy. They validated CellArchifect by treating with a variety of chemicals that alter microtubule dynamics. In addition they show that this software can be used to track actin or ER markers and as such should have broad utility for cell biology researchers particularly those that are undertaking often laborious chemical biology screens.

De Col V,, Fuchs P, Nietzel T, Elsässer M, Voon CP, Candeo A, Seeliger I, Fricker MD, Grefen C, Møller IM, Bassi A, Lim BL,, Zancani M, Meyer AJ,, Costa A, Wagner S, Schwarzländer M (2017) ATP sensing in living plant cells reveals tissue gradients and stress dynamics of energy physiology. Elife. http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26770 Open Access

Mark Fricker (University of Oxford) is part of this international collaboration that have used a novel technique for visualizing ATP levels using a fluorescent biosensor in vitro, within isolated mitochondria and within intact seedlings. They demonstrate differing ATP concentrations within tissues, highlighting root hair cells. Induced hypoxia shows that there is significant plasticity in the cellular ATP concentrations and that these can be successful monitored using the biosensor tool.

Dupuy LX, Wright G, Thompson JA, Taylor A, Dekeyser S, White CP, Thomas WTB, Nightingale M, Hammond JP, Graham NS, Thomas CL, Broadley MR, White PJ (2017) Accelerating root system phenotyping of seedlings through a computer-assisted processing pipeline. Plant Methods.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0207-1 Open Access

Phillip White (James Hutton Institute) and collaborators at the University of Nottingham have developed this computer-assisted pipeline designed to facilitate the phenotyping of plant roots. This can be scaled up for plants of different sizes and thus has broad utility. This software rapidly extracts root traits from image data, a process that can be a bottleneck in the screening process. This software complements parallel attempts that have developed automated platforms for sample preparation and handling.

Woolfenden HC, Bourdais G, Kopischke M, Miedes E, Molina A, Robatzek S, Morris RJ (2017) A computational approach for inferring the cell wall properties that govern guard cell dynamics. Plant J. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13640 Open Access

Richard Morris (John Innes Centre) and Silke Robatzek (The Sainsbury lab, Norwich) are the corresponding authors on this study in which they collaborate with Spanish colleagues. They investigate how different attributes of guard cell walls are responsible for the opening and closing of stomata. By considering the cell wall as a composite of a pectin rich matrix embedded within cellulose microfibrils they predict the movements that are responsible for stomatal dynamics. They validate their predictions using Arabidopsis mutants and they to show that stomatal opening/closing is brought about by a mix of hoop reinforcement and strain-stiffening resulting in anisotrophic growth.

Simkin AJ, McAusland L, Lawson T, Raines CA (2017) Over-expression of the RieskeFeS protein increases electron transport rates and biomass yield. Plant Physiol.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.17.00622 Open Access

GARNet committee member Christine Raines (University of Essex) leads this study in which they have generated plants that overexpress the Rieske FeS protein (PetC), which is a component of the cytochrome b6f (cyt b6f) complex. These plants show equivalent increases in both proteins within the cytochrome b6f complex and more surprisingly within members of PSI and PSII. The mechanisms that explain these changes are currently unknown but these plants offer an exciting tool in order to study multiple aspects of photosynthetic biology. Perhaps more importantly these plants show increased biomass and seed yield indicating that manipulation of these proteins in crop plants might be important for developing higher yielding varieties.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: February 27th

by Geraint

Categories: Global, University of Essex, University of York

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Published on: February 28, 2017

This weeks research roundup includes just three papers and includes a study from the University of Essex that looks at the growth response of Arabidopsis plants to ‘real-life’ fluctuations in light levels. Secondly is a very different type of study from the University of York that uses Arabidopsis as a model for the development of plants that are able to accumulate catalytically active and commercially viable levels of palladium. Finally is a Chinese-led study that includes Alan Marchant (University of Southampton) as a co-author and looks at the role of the ERF74-RbohD-ROS signaling module on the response to abiotics stress.

Vialet-Chabrand SR, Matthews JS, Simkin A, Raines CA, Lawson T (2017) Importance of fluctuations in light on plant photosynthetic acclimation Plant Physiol.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.16.01767

Open Access

Tracy Lawson and GARNet committee member Christine Raines from the University of Essex Photosynthesis Group lead this study that aims to understand how plants respond to variation in light levels that occur over an ‘average’ day. This contrasts with the conditions used in a ‘standard’ growth chamber and they show that plant growth is significantly altered when the light levels fluctuate, even though the total amount of light that the plant receives is the same. The ultimate conclusion of the study is that the growth of plants under ‘square wave growth conditions’ does not accurately reflect what might be observed in the field. This is significant given the importance of moving research from model organisms, usually grown under controlled conditions into crop species grown in the field.

Tracy Lawson kindly takes less than ten minutes to discuss the paper with GARNet on our YouTube channel.

Harumain ZA, Parker HL, Muñoz García A, Austin MJ, McElroy CR, Hunt AJ, Clark JH, Meech JA, Anderson CW, Ciacci L, Graedel TE, Bruce NC, Rylott EL (2017) Towards financially viable phytoextraction and production of plant-based palladium catalysts. Environ Sci Technol. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1021/acs.est.6b04821

Open Access

Elizabeth Rylott and Neil Bruce at the University of York lead this study that includes collaborators from the USA, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand. They look into the options for phytoextraction of palladium, which forms nanoparticles in Arabidopsis roots. The metal taken from these roots had normal catalytic activity and could be obtained at up to 18g/kg dried tissue weight. These experiments were moved into mustard, miscanthus and sixteen willow species and although palladium can be taken up into the plant tissues, it could not be extracted at a level that would make it commercially viable. However the authors are confident that this is am important step toward attempts to develop field-suitable plants that can reduce the environmental impacts of palladium mining.

Yao Y,, He RJ, Xie QL,, Zhao XH,, Deng XM,, He JB,, Song L, He J, Marchant A, Chen XY,, Wu AM (2016) ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 74 (ERF74) plays an essential role in controlling a respiratory burst oxidase homolog D (RbohD)-dependent mechanism in response to different stresses in Arabidopsis. New Phytol. 213(4):1667-1681. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14278

Alan Marchant (University of Southampton) is a co-author on this Chinese-led study that focuses on the role of the ERF74 transcription factor from the ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR VII (ERF-VII) family in the response to abiotic stresses. The authors test the responses of plants with changed levels of ERF74, showing that they have altered responses to a range of stresses such as drought, light, heat and aluminum. erf74 mutants lack a typical reactive oxidative stress (ROS) burst due to low expression of the RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG D (RbohD) protein. ERF74 directly interacts with the RbohD promotor and the paper shows that the whole ERF74-RbohD-ROS signaling module is activated in order for the plant to correctly response to a range of stresses, which each require maintenance of hydrogen peroxide homeostasis.

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Arabidopsis Research Roundup: December 29th

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, Global, John Innes Centre, Rothamsted Research, SLCU, University of Essex

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Published on: December 28, 2016

The final Research Roundup of 2016 includes two papers that take different strategies toward the ultimate aim of crop improvement and use Arabidopsis as a tool for their initial discoveries. Firstly Christine Raines (University of Essex) uses a transgenic approach to upregulate enzymes of the calvin cycle while researchers from Rothamstead and Oxford use a chemical intervention strategy. Both of these strategies are successful in increasing yield.

Second are a set of back-to-back papers featuring Xiaoqi Feng (JIC) that investigate DNA methylation patterns in both male and female gametes.

Finally Henrik Jonsson (SLCU) leads a paper that precisely defines the parameters that are important in determining the relationship between cell size, location and cytokinesis.

Simkin AJ, Lopez-Calcagno PE, Davey PA, Headland LR, Lawson T, Timm S, Bauwe H, Raines CA (2016) Simultaneous stimulation of the SBPase, FBP aldolase and the photorespiratory GDC-H protein increases CO2 assimilation, vegetative biomass and seed yield in Arabidopsis. Plant Biotechnol J http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12676

Open Access

GARNet Committee Member Christine Raines leads this UK-German study that alters the amounts of three calvin cycle enzymes and assesses the subsequent change in photosynthetic rate in Arabidopsis plants. These enzymes sedoheptulose 1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase), fructose 1,6-bisphophate aldolase (FBPA) and the glycine decarboxylase H-protein (GDC-H) were overexpressed either individually or together and each plant shows an increase in the quantum efficiency of photosystem II. This results in improved CO2 fixation and a concomitant increase in leaf area and biomass. Overall the authors have shown that this transgenic gene stacking approach can have potential for improving plant productivity.

Griffiths CA, Sagar R, Geng Y, Primavesi LF, Patel MK, Passarelli MK, Gilmore IS, Steven RT, Bunch J,, Paul MJ, Davis BG (2016) Chemical intervention in plant sugar signalling increases yield and resilience. Nature

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature20591

This study is a collaboration between Rothamstead Research and the University of Oxford and has been featured in a recent Nature podcast. This paper outlines a chemical intervention strategy to improve crop productivity and includes some fundamental work performed in Arabidopsis. They used a ”signaling-precursor concept” to design and synthesise a plant permeable version of Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), which could readily be uptaken and activated by sunlight in planta. Addition of T6P to wheat increases grain yield whilst when applied to leaf tissue it improves recovery from drought stress. This is an exciting test case to show the potential of chemical intervention yet the authors are rightly cautious when considering the general use of the compound given the variability of field conditions.

Hsieh PH, He S,, Buttress T, Gao H, Couchman M, Fischer RL, Zilberman D, Feng X (2016) Arabidopsis male sexual lineage exhibits more robust maintenance of CG methylation than somatic tissues. PNAS http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619074114

Xiaoqi Feng (John Innes Centre) is the corresponding author on this study that investigates the transgenerational maintenance of methylation through the male germline. They undertook the challenging purification of Arabidopsis pollen sperm and vegetative cells from both wildtype plants and plants that contains mutations within different DNA methytransferases. They show that background methylation is equivalent in sperm, vegetative and somatic cells but that specific CG methylation is higher in pollen sperm and vegetative cells than in somatic cells. The authors suggest that this allows more accurate inheritance of methylation patterns across successive generations.

Park K, Kim MY, Vickers M, Park JS, Hyun Y, Okamoto T, Zilberman D, Fischer RL, Feng X, Choi Y, Scholten S (2016) DNA demethylation is initiated in the central cells of Arabidopsis and rice. PNAS http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619047114

In this second of back-to-back papers, Xiaoqi Feng is a co-author on an international study that looks into the role of the DEMETER DNA demethylase on the control of gene expression in the endosperm. This tissue results from the fusion of a male pollen sperm cell and the female central cell and is associated with significant demethylation. This study documents the first genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in the female central cell in Arabidopsis. They show that DNA demethylation requires DEMETER function but that it is likely not associated with the downregulation of the MET1 methytransferase. Therefore the authors suggest that characteristic endospermal DNA demethylation occurs through locus-specific activity.

Willis L,, Refahi Y, Wightman R, Landrein B, Teles J, Huang KC,, Meyerowitz EM,,, Jönsson H (2016) Cell size and growth regulation in the Arabidopsis thaliana apical stem cell niche. PNAS http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616768113

Henrik Jonsson (Sainsbury Lab Cambridge) is the corresponding author on this UK-US collaboration that uses a 4D imaging pipeline to track the growth of epidermal cells in the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem (SAM). They suggest that neither cell size or cell age are determinants for progression to cytokinesis, which is also independent of cell contact topologies and the cell position within the SAM. However they find that a more complex mix of parameters determine the constraints on determination of cell size. Following cell division they also show that a smaller daughter cell will grow at a faster rather than its larger sister, a finding that the authors suggest challenges present models of growth regulation.

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