Oxford Brookes University Archives

GARNet Research Roundup: September 24th 2019

Categories: Global, James Hutton Institute, John Innes Centre, Lancaster University, Nottingham University, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford University, Rothamsted Research, Uncategorized, University of Bath, University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Dundee, University of Edinburgh, University of Leeds, University of Oxford, University of York, Warwick University

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Published on: September 24, 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

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000407

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

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/08/13/1907971116.long

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

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867419308372

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

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2819%2930843-7

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

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12045-4

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.

https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008327

GARNet Research Roundup: July 5th 2019

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, Glasgow University, Global, James Hutton Institute, John Innes Centre, Nottingham University, Oxford Brookes University, Uncategorized, University of Dundee, University of Leicester, University of Nottingham

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Published on: July 5, 2019

This edition of the GARNet research roundup begins with a study from the University Leicester that investigates the rate of selection of genes expressed in Arabidopsis pollen.

The second and third papers focus on the function of members of the AP2 family of transcription factors. Sarah McKim’s lab in Dundee characterizes the role of APETALA2 during barley stem elongation whilst the other paper investigates the function of the Arabidopsis PUCHI gene and includes co-authors from the University of Nottingham.

The fourth paper is from Lars Ostergaard’s lab at the John Innes Centre and demonstrates the benefit of using models to understand developmental processes in crop plants. The next paper from the University of Glasgow investigates the plant response to low fluence rates of UV-B light.

The penultimate paper features authors from Oxford Brookes University and characterizes a novel LINC-KASH protein in maize whilst the final paper is from the University of Cambridge and investigates the novel function of two members of DUF579 family in methylation of glucuronic acid residues.

Harrison MC, Mallon EB, Twell D, Hammond RL (2019) Deleterious mutation accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana pollen genes: a role for a recent relaxation of selection. Genome Biol Evol. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz127

Open Access

This research from Hammond and Twell lab’s at the University of Leicester uses Arabidopsis to investigate the hypothesis that pollen genes evolve faster than sporophytic genes. This study is challenging to perform in Arabidopsis as for the past million years the plant has been self-compatible, which causes reduction in pollen competition, increased homozygosity and a dilution of masking in diploid expressed, sporophytic genes. This study has two main findings: firstly prior to becoming self-compatible pollen genes evolved faster than sporophytic genes. Secondly, since becoming self-compatible selection has relaxed causing higher polymorphism levels and a higher build-up of deleterious mutations.

https://academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-article/doi/10.1093/gbe/evz127/5519772

Patil V, McDermott HI, McAllister T, Cummins M, Silva JC, Mollison E, Meikle R, Morris J, Hedley PE, Waugh R, Dockter C, Hansson M, McKim SM (2019) APETALA2 control of barley internode elongation. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.170373

Open Access

Vrushali Patil leads his study from the lab of current GARNet committee member Sarah McKim at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. They show that the APETALA2 (AP2) transcription factor is necessary for stem elongation in Barley. In addition they demonstrate that AP2 expression is controlled by the activity of the microRNA mi172 as well as jasmonate signaling.

https://dev.biologists.org/content/146/11/dev170373.long

Trinh DC, Lavenus J, Goh T, Boutté Y, Drogue Q, Vaissayre V, Tellier F, Lucas M, Voß U, Gantet P, Faure JD, Dussert S, Fukaki H, Bennett MJ, Laplaze L, Guyomarc’h S (2019) PUCHI regulates very long chain fatty acid biosynthesis during lateral root and callus formation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1906300116

Julien Lavenus, Ute Voß and Malcolm Bennett from University of Nottingham are co-authors on this French-led study that investigates the mechanism by which the AP2 family transcription factor PUCHI controls lateral root development. By performing a transcriptional analysis of developing lateral root cells they show that genes involved in very long chain fatty acid (VLCFA) biosynthesis enzymes are induced in a PUCHI dependent manner. Concomitantly they show puchi-1 mutant roots have reduced VLCFA content when compared with wildtype roots. They conclude that PUCHI regulates VLCFA biosynthesis as part of a pathway controlling cell proliferation during lateral root formation.

Stephenson P, Stacey N, Brüser M, Pullen N, Ilyas M, O’Neill C, Wells R, Østergaard L (2019) The power of model-to-crop translation illustrated by reducing seed loss from pod shatter in oilseed rape. Plant Reprod. doi: 10.1007/s00497-019-00374-9

Open Access

Pauline Stephenson and Lars Østergaard at the John Innes Centre lead this study in which they demonstrate that lessons learnt from understanding the genes involved in fruit ripening in Arabidopsis lead to an ability to adjust the pod-opening process in oilseed rape. They have combined two mutant alleles, first characterized in Arabidopsis, to develop OSR plants that have significantly increased yield. In addition they present a new software tool for the analysis of pod shatter data in other crops plants.

O’Hara A, Headland LR, Díaz-Ramos LA, Morales LO, Strid Å, Jenkins GI (2019) Regulation of Arabidopsis gene expression by low fluence rate UV-B independently of UVR8 and stress signaling. Photochem Photobiol Sci. doi: 10.1039/c9pp00151d

Open Access

This UK-Swedish collaboration is led by Andrew O’Hara from the Jenkins lab in the University of Glasgow. They continue the lab focus on the UV-B receptor UVR8, in this case performing a transcriptomic analysis of wildtype and uvr8 mutants grown under low UV-B fluence rates. They analyse one differentially expressed gene in more detail, the transcription factor ARABIDOPSIS NAC DOMAIN CONTAINING PROTEIN 13 (ANAC13), which was induced by UV-B but by the activity of any other photoreceptor.

Gumber HK, McKenna JF, Tolmie AF, Jalovec AM, Kartick AC, Graumann K, Bass HW (2019) MLKS2 is an ARM domain and F-actin-associated KASH protein that functions in stomatal complex development and meiotic chromosome segregation Nucleus. doi: 10.1080/19491034.2019.1629795

Open Access

Hardeep Gumber is first author on this US-led study that includes Joe KcKenna, Andrea Tolmie and Katja Graumann from Oxford Brookes as co-authors. They characterise the Maize LINC KASH AtSINE-like2 protein, MLKS2, whose targeting to the nuclear periphery requires its N-terminal armadillo repeats. Mutant mlks2 plants have pleiotropic plant phenotypes and on a nuclear level show defects in chromosome segregation and positioning. These findings support a model in which cytoplasmic actin is linked to chromatin through the LINC-KASH nuclear envelope network.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19491034.2019.1629795

Temple H, Mortimer JC, Tryfona T, Yu X, Lopez-Hernandez F, Sorieul M, Anders N, Dupree P (2019) Two members of the DUF579 family are responsible for arabinogalactan methylation in Arabidopsis. Plant Direct. doi: 10.1002/pld3.117

Open Access

Henry Temple is first author on this work from the University of Cambridge that characterizes two members of the DUF579 family (AGM1 and AGM2). These proteins are required for 4-O-methylation of glucuronic acid within highly glycosylated arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs).

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GARNet Research Roundup: June 12th 2019

by Geraint

Categories: Brassica, Cardiff University, Durham University, Edinburgh University, Global, John Innes Centre, Nottingham University, Oxford Brookes University, RHUL, Uncategorized, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, Warwick University

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Published on: June 12, 2019

In another big edition of the GARNet Research Roundup we cover many different areas of research that utilise a varied group of experimental organisms!

The first paper from the Feng lab at the John Innes Centre performs an assessment of the factors influencing heterochromatin activity in sperm companion cells. Second is work from the JIC and Cardiff University that looks at the role of an auxin minima during fruit valve margin differentiation.

The next two papers have authors from Edinburgh. Firstly the McCormick lab has developed a stereo-based 3D imaging system for plants while Steven Spoel is a co-author on a study that looks at the pathogen responsive gene NPR1.

Coming from across the M8 is a paper from the Christie lab in Glasgow that looks into using phototropin genes as potential targets for crop improvement.

The next paper is from Oxford Brookes University where they visualise the movement of protein nanodomain clusters within the plasma membrane. Elsewhere in Oxford is a paper from the van der Hoorn group that characterises the effect of a novel triazine herbicide.

Two papers from the University of Durham also identify and characterise the role of novel herbicides, in this case on the activity of inositol phosphorylceramide synthases.

The final five papers feature research that each use different experimental organisms. Firstly a paper from the Earlham Institute uses delayed fluorescence to investigate the circadian clock in wheat and OSR. Second is a paper from Warwick that assesses the role of nodulation during nitrogen uptake in Medicago. The next paper features the Yant lab at University of Nottingham looks at growth of two species of Arabidopsis in challenging environments.

The penultimate paper includes authors from the University of Oxford and provides a detailed analysis of the factors controlling leaf shape in Cardamine and Arabidopsis thaliana. The final paper uses the imaging facility at the Hounsfield facility in Nottingham to image the roots of date palms.

He S, Vickers M, Zhang J, Feng X (2019) Natural depletion of H1 in sex cells causes DNA demethylation, heterochromatin decondensation and transposon activation. Elife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.42530

Open Access

Lead author on his paper is Shengbo He from Xiaoqi Feng’s lab at the John Innes Centre. This work looks at activation of Transposable elements (TEs) in the sperm companion cell of Arabidopsis. This is catalyzed by the DEMETER-catalyzed DNA demethylation in regions depleted of histone H1, demonstrating a key role for H1 in determining heterochromatin activity.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/42530

Li XR, Vroomans RMA, Fox S, Grieneisen VA, Østergaard L, Marée AFM (2019) Systems Biology Approach Pinpoints Minimum Requirements for Auxin Distribution during Fruit Opening. Mol Plant. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.05.003

Open Access

Xin-Ran Li and Renske Vroomans are co-lead authors on this work from the Ostergaard, Grieneisen and Maree labs from the John Innes Centre and (now) Cardiff University.They look at the role of an auxin minima in the control of valve margin differentiation in Arabidopsis fruit. They used a cycle of experimental-modeling to develop a model that predicts the maturation of the auxin minimum to ensure timely fruit opening and seed dispersal.

https://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(19)30168-6?

Bernotas G, Scorza LCT, Hansen MF, Hales IJ, Halliday KJ, Smith LN, Smith ML, McCormick AJ (2019) A photometric stereo-based 3D imaging system using computer vision and deep learning for tracking plant growth. Gigascience. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giz056

Open Access

Gytis Bernotas from UWE and Livia Scorza from the McCormick lab at the University of Edinburgh lead this work that is the result of a 2+ year collaboration with the Melvyn Smith and others at the Computer Machine Vision (CMV) facility at UWE. The authors have developed hardware and software (including a deep neural network) to automate the 3D imaging and segmentation of rosettes and individual leaves using a photometric stereo approach.

https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/8/5/giz056/5498634

Chen J, Mohan R, Zhang Y, Li M, Chen H, Palmer IA, Chang M, Qi G, Spoel SH, Mengiste T, Wang D, Liu F, Fu ZQ (2019) NPR1 promotes its own and target gene expression in plant defense by recruiting CDK8. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00124

GARNet chairman Steven Spoel is a co-author on this US-led study with Jian Chen as lead author. The paper investigates the interacting partners of NPR1 (NONEXPRESSER OF PR GENES 1), which is a master regulator of salicyclic signaling and therefore an important regulation of plant defense response.

Hart JE, Sullivan S, Hermanowicz P, Petersen J, Diaz-Ramos LA, Hoey DJ, Łabuz J, Christie JM (2019) Engineering the phototropin photocycle improves photoreceptor performance and plant biomass production. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1902915116

Open Access

Jaynee Hart is first author on this research from Christie lab at the University of Glasgow in which they target the phototropin blue light receptor as a candidate for crop improvement. They showed plants that engineered to have a slow-photocycling version of PHOT1 or PHOT2 had increased biomass under low light conditions, due to their increased sensitivity to low light.

McKenna JF, Rolfe DJ, Webb SED, Tolmie AF, Botchway SW, Martin-Fernandez ML, Hawes C, Runions J (2019) The cell wall regulates dynamics and size of plasma-membrane nanodomains in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1819077116

Open Access

Joe McKenna from Oxford Brookes University leads this work that takes advantage of their superb imaging facilities to assess the dynamic regulation of specific protein clusters in the Arabidopsis plasma membrane. They show that the cytoskeleton (both actin and microtubule) and the cell wall play roles in the control of intra-PM moment of the pathogen receptor FLS2 and the auxin transporter PIN3.

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/06/07/1819077116

Morimoto K, Cole KS, Kourelis J, Witt CH, Brown D, Krahn D, Stegmann M, Kaschani F, Kaiser M, Burton J, Mohammed S, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Weerapana E, van der Hoorn RAL (2019) Triazine probes targeting ascorbate peroxidases in plants. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00481

Open Access

Kyoko Morimoto is first author on this UK-German-Japanese collaboration led from the lab of GARNet committee member Renier van der Hoorn. They characterise the herbicidal effect of the small 1,3,5-triazine KSC-3 on ascorbate peroxidases (APXs) across a range of plant species.

Pinneh EC, Stoppel R, Knight H, Knight MR, Steel PG, Denny PW (2019) Expression levels of inositol phosphorylceramide synthase modulate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217087

Open Access

Pinneh EC, Mina JG, Stark MJR, Lindell SD, Luemmen P, Knight MR, Steel PG, Denny PW (2019) The identification of small molecule inhibitors of the plant inositol phosphorylceramide synthase which demonstrate herbicidal activity. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-44544-1

Open Access

Elizabeth Pinneh leads these two papers from the Denny lab in Durham. In the first paper they use RNAseq data and analysis of overexpression transgenic lines to define the role of inositol phosphorylceramide synthase (IPCS) during abiotic and biotic stress responses.

Secondly they screened a panel of 11000 compounds for their activity against the AtIPCS2 in a yeast two-hybrid assay. Successful hits from the screen were confirmed with in vitro enzyme assays and in planta against Arabidopsis.

Rees H, Duncan S, Gould P, Wells R, Greenwood M, Brabbs T, Hall A (2019) A high-throughput delayed fluorescence method reveals underlying differences in the control of circadian rhythms in Triticum aestivum and Brassica napus. Plant Methods. doi: 10.1186/s13007-019-0436-6

Open Access

Hannah Rees from Anthony Hall’s lab at the Earlham Institute leads this methods paper that introduces the use of delayed fluorescence to investigate the circadian rhythms in wheat and oil seed rape.

https://plantmethods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13007-019-0436-6

Lagunas B, Achom M, Bonyadi-Pour R, Pardal AJ, Richmond BL, Sergaki C, Vázquez S, Schäfer P, Ott S, Hammond J, Gifford ML (2019) Regulation of Resource Partitioning Coordinates Nitrogen and Rhizobia Responses and Autoregulation of Nodulation in Medicago truncatula. Mol Plant. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.03.014

Open Access

Beatriz Lagunas is lead author on this paper from the University of Warwick that investigates the role of nodulation in actual nitrogen uptake by the roots of Medicago truncatula. They use integrated molecular and phenotypic analysis to determine that the respond to nitrogen flux are processed on a whole plant level through multiple developmental processes.

https://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(19)30127-3?

Preite V, Sailer C, Syllwasschy L, Bray S, Ahmadi H, Krämer U, Yant L (2019) Convergent evolution in Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis arenosa on calamine metalliferous soils Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0243

Open Access

Veronica Preite is first author on this UK-German collaboration led by Ute Kraemer and Levi Yant in Nottingham. They performed whole genome resequenced of 64 individuals of two Arabidopsis species that grow on calamine metalliferous sites (which have toxic levels of the zinc and cadmium). They revealed a modest amount of gene and network convergence in plants that have colonised these challenging environments.

Kierzkowski D, Runions A, Vuolo F, Strauss S, Lymbouridou R, Routier-Kierzkowska AL, Wilson-Sánchez D, Jenke H, Galinha C, Mosca G, Zhang Z, Canales C, Dello Ioio R, Huijser P, Smith RS, Tsiantis M (2019) A Growth-Based Framework for Leaf Shape Development and Diversity. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.05.011

Open Access

Claudia Canales and Carla Galinha from Oxford are co-authors on this German-led study from Miltos Tsiantis’ lab that performs a detailed dissection of the growth parameters that control differences in leaf-shape in Cardamine and Arabidopsis. They show critical roles for the SHOOTMERISTEMLESS and REDUCED COMPLEXITY homeobox proteins to define differences in shape determination.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30509-4?

Xiao T, Raygoza AA, Pérez JC, Kirschner G, Deng Y, Atkinson B, Sturrock C, Lube V, Wang JY, Lubineau G, Al-Babili S, Ramírez LAC, Bennett MJ, Blilou I (2019) Emergent Protective Organogenesis in Date Palms: A Morpho-devo-dynamic Adaptive Strategy During Early Development. Plant Cell. doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00008

Open Access

Members of the Hounsfield CT Imaging Facility  at the University of Nottingham are co-authors on this paper that is led by Tingting Xiao from KAUST in Saudi Arabia. The paper takes a detailed look at root morphology in Date Palm.

GARNet Research Roundup: July 16th

by Geraint

Categories: Aberystwyth University, Durham University, Exeter University, Global, John Innes Centre, New Phytologist, Nottingham University, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford University, Uncategorized, University of Oxford, University of Southampton

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Published on: July 16, 2018

This week’s GARNet research roundup begins with a set of papers looking at aspects of the plant defence response with a focus on the cell wall. Firstly work from Mike Deeks’ lab in Exeter assesses the role of FORMIN4 during pre-invasion cell wall apposition. Secondly Sara Pose and Paul Knox (Leeds) are involved with a study looking at how altered cell wall lignin composition alters the defense response. Finally Joe McKenna and Cyril Zipfel are co-authors on a Norwegian-led study that looks at the influence of plant cell wall integrity maintenance in immune signalling.

Relatedly is a study from the Devoto lab at RHUL looks at the role of the defence hormone methyl jasmonate in Arabidopsis cell culture.

Next are two papers that research different aspects of the plant ER. Verena Kriechbaumer (Oxford Brookes) looks at plant ER-localised Lunapark proteins whilst a study from the University of Warwick provides a preliminary structural analysis of the RTNLB13 reticulon protein.

The seventh and eight papers are involved with the plant response to different growth conditions. Research from University of Nottingham looks at the response of the cortical cell layer of the root meristem to low phosphate conditions whilst work from University of Southampton investigates the relationship between nitrate and copper signaling.

The next paper is from Emily Flashman’s lab at the University of Oxford and looks at the role of plant cysteine oxidases as oxygen sensors whilst the tenth paper features John Doonan (Aberystwyth University) as a co-author and investigates how a histone acetyltransferase affects trichome development.

Finally is a paper from Pierre Baudal and Kirsten Bomblies (John Innes Centre) that uses Arabidopsis arenosa as a model to investigate the emergence of novel flowering time alleles in populations that have colonised along railway corridors.

Sassmann S, Rodrigues C, Milne SW, Nenninger A, Allwood E, Littlejohn GR, Talbot NJ, Soeller C, Davies B, Hussey PJ, Deeks MJ (2018) An Immune-Responsive Cytoskeletal-Plasma Membrane Feedback Loop in Plants. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.014

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221830616X?via%3Dihub

Open Access

Stefan Sassmann is the lead author of this paper from Mike Deeks’s lab in Exeter. They investigate the role of the membrane-integrated FORMIN4 protein in the process of cell wall apposition, which occurs as part of the plant immune response and is dependent on actin dynamics. FORMIN4 is stably localised apart from the active traffic of the endomembrane system and removing its function compromises the defense response, presumably by altering actin distribution at sites of cell wall apposition. This work demonstrates that FORMIN4 acts as a key component of the pre-invasion defense response.

Gallego-Giraldo L, Posé S, Pattathil S, Peralta AG, Hahn MG, Ayre BG, Sunuwar J, Hernandez J, Patel M, Shah J, Rao X, Knox JP, Dixon RA (2018) Elicitors and defense gene induction in plants with altered lignin compositions. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.15258

Open Access

Sara Pose and Paul Knox (University of Leeds) are co-authors on this US-led study that investigates how lignin composition can influence the defence response. Plants with the same lignin content but changed lignin compositions show altered expression in genes involved with different arms of the defense response. This indicates that cell wall lignin composition plays a significant role in the plants ability to response to different sources of pathogen attack.

Engelsdorf T, Gigli-Bisceglia N, Veerabagu M, McKenna JF, Vaahtera L, Augstein F, Van der Does D, Zipfel C, Hamann T (2018) The plant cell wall integrity maintenance and immune signaling systems cooperate to control stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Sci Signal. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.aao3070

Joe McKenna (Imperial College, now Oxford Brookes University) and Cyril Zipfel (The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich) are co-authors on this Norwegian-led study that looks at the plant cell wall integrity maintenance mechanism and how it responses to the challenges of growth, development and environmental stresses. They identified a set of receptor-like kinases that are key for the responses elicted by cell wall damage (CWD). Conversely they showed that the components of the pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) signaling pathway repress responses to CWD. This study provides insights into how cell wall responses interact with downstream gene expression changes following pathogen challenge.

Bömer M, O’Brien JA, Pérez-Salamó I, Krasauskas J, Finch P, Briones A, Daudi A, Souda P, Tsui TL, Whitelegge JP, Paul Bolwell G, Devoto A (2018) COI1-dependent jasmonate signalling affects growth, metabolite production and cell wall protein composition in Arabidopsis. Ann Bot. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcy109

Open Access

Moritz Bömer works with Alessandra Devoto at Royal Holloway University of London and leads this research that looks at the effect of MeJA treatment on growth and gene expression in Arabidopsis cell culture. They demonstrate that both MeJA treatment or COI1 overexpression causes changes in the abundance of proteins involved in cell wall loosening as well as altered levels of primary metabolites alanine, serine and succinic acid. This work demonstrates a close link between hormone signaling, the defence response and the metabolic profile of Arabidopsis cells.

Dr Devoto and her academic colleagues at RHUL are profiled in the latest GARNish newsletter available for download from the GARNet website.

Kriechbaumer V, Breeze E, Pain C, Tolmie F, Frigerio L, Hawes C (2018) Arabidopsis Lunapark proteins are involved in ER cisternae formation. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.15228

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.15228

Open Access

Verena Kriechbaumer from Oxford Brookes University leads this research that investigates the in planta function of novel ER network-shaping proteins called Lunaparks (LNP). They show that these proteins localise to the entire ER network in Arabidopsis. They use confocal microscopy to show that altering the level of LNP gene expression changes ER morphology, possibly by regulating the formation of ER cisternae.

Chow M, Sklepari M, Frigerio L, Dixon AM (2018) Bacterial expression, purification and biophysical characterization of the smallest plant reticulon isoform, RTNLB13 Protein Expr Purif. doi: 10.1016/j.pep.2018.06.015

Open Access

Michael Chow worked with Lorenzo Frigerio and Ann Dixon at the University of Warwick to provide a preliminary structure and topology analysis of the plant RTNLB13 reticulon protein. This ER-associated integral membrane protein was expressed in bacteria and then a variety of analysis techniques were used to suggest that RTNLB13 has a high level of self-association and protein-membrane interactions.

Janes G, von Wangenheim D, Cowling S, Kerr I, Band L, French AP, Bishopp A (2018) Cellular Patterning of Arabidopsis Roots Under Low Phosphate Conditions Front Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00735

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00735/full

Open Access

George Janes works with Anthony Bishopp at the University of Nottingham and leads this study that looks at root meristem development under low phosphate conditions. They show that in phosphate-limiting conditions the cortex layer of the root meristem contains almost double the number of cells, which results in a greater number of root hair-forming epidermal cells. As this change can occur within 24hrs the rapidity of the response represents a significant adaptation to a changing root environment.

Hippler FWR, Mattos-Jr D, Boaretto RM, Williams LE (2018) Copper excess reduces nitrate uptake by Arabidopsis roots with specific effects on gene expression J Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1016/j.jplph.2018.06.005

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176161718302888

Open Access

Franz Hippler (University of Southampton) leads this UK-Brazil collaboration showing that growth of Arabidopsis plants in excess copper conditions causes a downregulation in nitrate uptake. This is due to both direct and indirect changes on the gene expression of nitrate transporters as well as a reduction in transcript level of the plasma membrane proton pump, AHA2. This effect was altered when copper levels were reduced demonstrating that copper toxicity acts at the level of nitrate transport and homeostasis.

White MD, Kamps JJAG, East S, Taylor Kearney LJ, Flashman E (2018) The Plant Cysteine Oxidases from Arabidopsis thaliana are kinetically tailored to act as oxygen sensors J Biol Chem.

doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.003496

Open Access

Mark White is the lead author on this work from the lab of Emily Flashman at the University of Oxford in which they look at the role of plant cysteine oxidases (PCOs) as oxygen sensors. They assessed the kinetics of each of AtPCO1 to AtPCO5 proteins and show that the most catalytically competent isoform is AtPCO4, in terms of both responding to O2, and oxidizing hypoxic responsive proteins. This work validates an O2-sensing role for the PCOs and provides evidence for functional differences between members of this enzyme family.

Kotak J, Saisana M, Gegas V, Pechlivani N, Kaldis A, Papoutsoglou P, Makris A, Burns J, Kendig AL, Sheikh M, Kuschner CE, Whitney G, Caiola H, Doonan JH, Vlachonasios KE, McCain ER, Hark AT (2018) The histone acetyltransferase GCN5 and the transcriptional coactivator ADA2b affect leaf development and trichome morphogenesis in Arabidopsis. Planta. doi: 10.1007/s00425-018-2923-9 Open Access

John Doonan (Aberystwyth University) is a co-author on this manuscript led by Jenna Kotak and Amy Herd in the USA. They investigate plants that have mutations in the histone acetyltransferase GCN5 and associated transcriptional coactivator ADA2b. These genes have been previously demonstrated as being involved in endoreduplication and trichome branching. They show that these mutants have alterations in the number and patterning of trichome-branches and that ADA2b and GCN5 are required to couple nuclear content with cell growth and morphogenesis.

Baduel P, Hunter B, Yeola S, Bomblies K. Genetic basis and evolution of rapid cycling in railway populations of tetraploid Arabidopsis arenosa (2018) PLoS Genet.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007510 Open Access

Pierre Baduel and Kirsten Bomblies (John Innes Centre) lead this work that was conducted prior to Kirsten’s move to Norwich. In this study they follow the colonization of populations of Arabidopsis arenosa along mountain railway corridors. They demonstrate that selective pressure has occurred on novel alleles of flowering time genes and discuss the implications for ruderal communities linked to railways as allele conduits linked to local adaptations.

GARNet Research Roundup: April 11th 2018

by Geraint

Categories: Bristol University, Cambridge University, Edinburgh University, Global, New Phytologist, Oxford Brookes University, University of Bristol, University of Leeds, University of Oxford, University of York

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Published on: April 11, 2018

This weeks GARNet research roundup begins with a microscopy-based study led by Lorenzo Frigerio from the University of Warwick that investigates the origin of Protein Storage Vacuoles. The second paper from John Doonan at Aberystwyth University looks at how differential splicing of cyclin-dependent Kinase G1 effects the thermosensory response. Reiner van de Hoorn from Oxford leads the next paper that characterises the use of activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) to identify novel α-glycosidases in model and non-model plants. Simon McQueen-Mason from York is corresponding author of the next paper that identified a new QTL from Brachypodium that is involved in cell wall formation. The fifth paper is led by Anthony Dodd from Bristol and characterises the role of the SnRK1 complex in hypocotyl elongation whilst the penultimate manuscript from Julia Davies’s lab in Cambridge performs patch clamp analysis of dorn1 mutant plants. The final paper from Brendan Davies at the University of Leeds characterises the SMG kinase, a gene that is lacking from the Arabidopsis genome, in Physcomitrella patens.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2018/03/19/pp.18.00010.long

Feeney M, Kittelmann M, Menassa R, Hawes C, Frigerio L. Protein storage vacuoles originate from remodelled pre-existing vacuoles in Arabidopsis thaliana (2018) Plant Physiol. 2018 Mar 19. pii: pp.00010.2018. doi: 10.1104/pp.18.00010 Open Access

This collaboration between the Universities of Warwick and Oxford Brookes is led by Lorenzo Frigerio and Chris Hawes. They have investigated the origin of seed Protein Storage Vacuoles (PSV) using a two-pronged approach using confocal and immunoelectron microscopy. They looked at embryo development as well as in leaf cells that have been reprogrammed for embryonic cell fate by overexpression of the LEAFY COTYLEDON2 TF. These studies indicate that PSVs are formed following the reprogramming of pre-existing embryonic vacuole (EV) rather than from de novo assembly.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tpj.13914

Cavallari N, Nibau C, Fuchs A, Dadarou D, Barta A, Doonan JH. The Cyclin Dependent Kinase G group defines a thermo-sensitive alternative splicing circuit modulating the expression of Arabidopsis ATU2AF65A (2018) Plant J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13914 Open Access

John Doonan (Aberystwyth University) is the corresponding author on this UK-Austrian collaboration that presents the role of the cyclin-dependent Kinase G1 (CDKG1) in thermosensing in Arabidopsis. Ambient temperature change causes altered gene expression of the spliceosome component, ATU2AF65A. Interestingly the CDKG1 gene is differentially spliced and to produces two protein isoforms that are both needed to complement the expression of ATU2AF65A across a temperature range. This alternative splicing is dependent on CDKG2 and CYCLIN L1 and is a novel control mechanism in the temperature control response.

Husaini AM, Morimoto K, Chandrasekar B, Kelly S, Kaschani F, Palmero D, Jiang J, Kaiser M, Ahrazem O, Overkleeft HS, van der Hoorn RAL (2018) Multiplex fluorescent, activity-based protein profiling identifies active α-glycosidases and other hydrolases in plants. Plant Physiol. pii: pp.00250.2018. doi: 10.1104/pp.18.00250 Open Access

Renier Van de Hoorn (University of Oxford) leads this pan-european study that uses novel cyclophellitol aziridine probes that label α-glycosidase enzymes. They identified two novel α-glycosidases in Arabidopsis as well as using the technique in non-model saffron crocus. Finally they showed that this multiplex fluorescent labelling in combination with probes for serine hydrolases and cysteine proteases can be used to identify changes in hydrolase activity in response to pathogen infection.

Whitehead C, Ostos Garrido FJ, Reymond M, Simister R, Distelfeld A, Atienza SG, Piston F, Gomez LD, McQueen-Mason SJ (2018) A glycosyl transferase family 43 protein involved in xylan biosynthesis is associated with straw digestibility in Brachypodium distachyon. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.15089 Open Access

Simon McQueen-Mason (University of York) leads this study that use QTL mapping to identify a gene in Bracypodium that is involved in cell wall architecture, which might then be a target to develop plants with improved cellulose digestibility. This glycosyl transferase family (GT) 43 protein is an orthologue of Arabidopsis IRX14, which is involved in xylan biosynthesis. When RNAi was used to reduce expression of this gene the resulting plants showed increased digestibility, indicating that this BdGT43A will be a good target for future breeding plans.

Wang L, Wilkins KA, Davies JM (2018) Arabidopsis DORN1 extracellular ATP receptor; activation of plasma membrane K(+) -and Ca(2+) -permeable conductances New Phytol. 2018 Mar 25. doi: 10.1111/nph.15111. Open Access

This letter to New Phytologist from the lab of Julia Davis (University of Cambridge) outlines some experiments to determine whether the DORN1 plasma membrane receptor is responsible for transmitting a signal from extracellular ATP (eATP). They performed patch clamp analysis on isolated protoplasts and showed that DORN1 is involved in the activation of Ca+ and K+ pumps by eATP as, in contrast to wildtype, dorn1 mutant protoplast showed no voltage changes after incubation with eATP.

Simon NML, Sawkins E, Dodd AN. Involvement of the SnRK1 subunit KIN10 in sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation (2018) Plant Signal Behav. 27:1-9. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2018.1457913.

Anthony Dodd (University of Bristol) is the corresponding author of this follow-on study from one that previously featured on the GARNet YouTube channel. This study measures sucrose-induced hypocotyl elongation in two T-DNA mutants of the SnRK1 subunit KIN10 gene. These mutants had altered responses to sucrose leading to the hypothesis that the SnRK1 complex suppresses hypocotyl elongation in the presence of external sugar.

Lloyd JPB, Lang D, Zimmer AD, Causier B, Reski R, Davies B (2018) The loss of SMG1 causes defects in quality control pathways in Physcomitrella patens. Nucleic Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky225 Open Access

Brendan Davis (University of Leeds) is the corresponding author on research that investigates the role of the SMG1 kinase during nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in the moss Physcomitrella patens. This kinase plays a critical role in animals but as it is not present in Arabidopsis, its function is not well studied in plants. However moss smg mutants show expression changes in genes involved in a variety of processes indicating that NMD is a common control mechanism in moss. In addition these plants have increased susceptibility to DNA damage, which suggests that the SMG1 kinase is a key player in quality control mechanisms in plants.

https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gky225/4955258

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: February 22nd 2018

by Geraint

Categories: Brassica, Edinburgh University, Global, John Innes Centre, Oxford Brookes University, SLCU, University of Sheffield

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Published on: February 22, 2018

This edition of the Arabidopsis Research roundup beings with a study from SLCU that provides a molecular context to the changes that occur at graft junctions. Second is a study from Edinburgh that reports on the findings of a citizen science plant phenotyping project. Third are two studies from the John Innes Centre that follow-on from previous studies. These characterise the molecular response to seasonal transitions and the factors that control floral development.

The fifth paper is led by Chris Hawes at Oxford Brookes and characterises a novel sub-group of ER localized reticulon proteins. The next paper from the University of Sheffield looks at the whole plant response to changing global carbon dioxide concentrations. The seventh paper from Bristol and York also broadly looks at CO2 but this time at the molecular factors that control stomatal closure in response to both ABA and CO2 signals. Christine Foyer (Leeds) is a co-author on the penultimate paper that characterises the role of ascorbic acid in hormone signaling whilst the final paper from Julian Hibberd at the University of Cambridge analyses a regulatory element that contributes to the evolutionary transition to C4 photosynthesis.

Melnyk CW, Gabel A, Hardcastle TJ, Robinson S, Miyashima S, Grosse I, Meyerowitz EM (2018) Transcriptome dynamics at Arabidopsis graft junctions reveal an intertissue recognition mechanism that activates vascular regeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1718263115 Open Access
This research was led by Charles Melynk during this time working with Elliot Meyerowitz at SLCU. Grafting is an important classic and contemporary technique in plant biology and this study investigates the gene expression changes that occur on either side of a graft junction. They show asymmetry changes in gene expression on either side of a graft that include an increase in vascular initiation but only in grafted tissues and not in those that are cut and then separated. This study provides an exciting insight into the molecular changes that occur during tissue grafting.

Giuffrida MV, Chen F, Scharr H, Tsaftaris SA (2018) Citizen crowds and experts: observer variability in image-based plant phenotyping. Plant Methods. doi: 10.1186/s13007-018-0278-7 Open Access

This UK, German and Italian study is led by Sotirios Tsaftaris at the University of Edinburgh and reports on a fascinating citizen science study that evaluated the ability of experts and non-experts to use plant phenotyping software. They demonstrate that non-experts can be effectively involved in plant phenotyping annotation tasks given enough statistical power and if the study is suitably designed.

Hepworth J, Antoniou-Kourounioti RL, Bloomer RH, Selga C, Berggren K, Cox D, Collier Harris BR, Irwin JA, Holm S, Säll T,Howard M, Dean C (2018) Absence of warmth permits epigenetic memory of winter in Arabidopsis. Nat Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03065-7 Open Access

Caroline Dean and Martin Howard (John Innes Centre) lead this study that further characterise the relationship between the VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE3 (VIN3) an FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) genes in two separate thermosensory processes that monitor long term temperature changes. They suggest that the regulatory strategies currently employed by plants might become less effective as the climate becomes more variable and will have a knock-on effect on plant growth and productivity.

Simonini S, Stephenson P, Østergaard L (2018) A molecular framework controlling style morphology in Brassicaceae. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.158105 Open Access
Lars Ostergaard (John Innes Centre) leads this study that characterises how the activity of five transcription factors (TF) integrate with auxin signaling in the control of gynoecium development. The auxin response factor ETTIN is a central controller of this relationship across members of the Brassicaceae and that variation in an ETTIN sub-domain effects TF affinities, interaction strength and gynoecium morphology

Kriechbaumer V, Maneta-Peyret L, Fouillen L, Botchway SW, Upson J, Hughes L, Richardson J, Kittelmann M, Moreau P, Hawes C

The odd one out: Arabidopsis reticulon 20 does not bend ER membranes but has a role in lipid regulation. Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20840-0

This study is led by Chris Hawes (Oxford Brookes) and continues his labs work on the plant ER. They are working on a subgroup of reticulons, which are ER membrane proteins, that have an extended N-terminal domain. Three members of this subgroup show different localisation patterns that indicates that along their sequences are similar they might play different cellular roles.

Williams A, Pétriacq P, Schwarzenbacher RE, Beerling DJ, Ton J (2018) Mechanisms of glacial-to-future atmospheric CO2 effects on plant immunity. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.15018 Open Access
This article from the University of Sheffield uses Arabidopsis to investigate the impact that changing climatic CO2 concentrations might have on plant immunity. The authors performed a global analysis on the response to sub-ambient and elevated CO2 and found that both changes causes alterations to salicyclic acid or jasmonic acid response pathways. However these responses are not always opposite, revealing new insights in the response to changing CO2 concentrations.

Isner JC, Begum A, Nuehse T, Hetherington AM, Maathuis FJM (2018) KIN7 Kinase Regulates the Vacuolar TPK1 K+ Channel during Stomatal Closure. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.046.

This is collaborative work between the Universities of York and Bristol and analyses factors that control stomatal closure. They show the TPK1 vacuolar K+ channel is important for ABA and CO2 mediated closure and that the function of this protein is regulated by the KIN7 receptor-like kinase. These activities result in potassium release from the vacuole leading to osmotic changes that contribute to stomatal closure.

Caviglia M, Mazorra Morales LM, Concellón A, Gergoff Grozeff GE, Wilson M, Foyer CH, Bartoli CG (2018) Ethylene signaling triggered by low concentrations of ascorbic acid regulates biomass accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Free Radic Biol Med. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.01.032

Christine Foyer (University of Leeds) is a co-author on this research showing that a defect in ascorbic acid production leads to elevated levels of the hormone ethylene as well as having a wider impact on the control of growth-mediating hormone signalling. This result indicates that the cellular redox buffer AA is a significant contributor to hormone signalling pathways.

Reyna-Llorens I, Burgess SJ, Reeves G, Singh P, Stevenson SR, Williams BP, Stanley S, Hibberd JM (2018) Ancient duons may underpin spatial patterning of gene expression in C4 leaves.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1720576115

Julian Hibberd (University of Cambridge) is the corresponding author on this study that is part of his labs overarching aim of discovering what is necessary to transfer C4 photosynthesis into C3 plants. As part of this work they are searching for master regulator sequences that have allowed for the multiple independent evolution of C4 photosynthesis. They have identified a regulatory duon that is a pair of cis-elements located in coding sequences of genes preferentially expressed in bundle sheath cells of C4 leaves and are also present in C3 plants and algae. Therefore they discuss how C4 plants have co-opted these regulatory elements and how it might be exploited in future molecular engineering projects.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: October 23rd

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, CPIB, Exeter University, Global, Nottingham University, Oxford Brookes University, SLCU, Uncategorized, University of Sheffield

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Published on: October 23, 2017

Different aspects of plant cell wall biology dominant the first few papers of this weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup. Firstly Andrew Fleming (University of Sheffield) and colleagues identify that a specific type of cell wall stiffening is important in control of stomatal opening. Secondly are two papers from the lab of Paul Dupree (University of Cambridge) that investigate the role that xylan modifications play in the formation of the cell wall. Finally in this broad area John Runions (Oxford Brookes) and colleagues show that attachment to the cell wall is critical for correct function of the dynamic actin filament network. Elsewhere Jerry Roberts (CPIB) leads a study that looks at proteins that control floral development. Next the group of Alexander Jones at SLCU has developed an exciting new tool that allows for in vivo visualization of the plant hormone GA. Finally the lab of Phil Wigge (also at SLCU) further expands their work that dissects the signaling pathways that controlling the response to temperature.

Carter R, Woolfenden H, Baillie A, Amsbury S, Carroll S, Healicon E, Sovatzoglou S, Braybrook S, Gray JE, Hobbs J, Morris RJ, Fleming AJ (2017) Stomatal Opening Involves Polar, Not Radial, Stiffening Of Guard Cells. Curr Biol. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.006 Open Access

This broad UK collaboration is led by Andrew Fleming at the University of Sheffield and looks into the factors that control stiffening of cell walls in stomatal guard cells. They use Atomic Force Microscopy to show that stiffening of the polar regions of guard cell walls pins down these ends of cells during stomatal opening. This study provides exciting new insights into the importance of cell wall dynamics on stomatal opening and likely has significant agronomic importance.

Grantham NJ, Wurman-Rodrich J, Terrett OM, Lyczakowski JJ, Stott K, Iuga D, Simmons TJ, Durand-Tardif M, Brown SP, Dupree R, Busse-Wicher M, Dupree P (2017) An even pattern of xylan substitution is critical for interaction with cellulose in plant cell walls. Nat Plants doi: 10.1038/s41477-017-0030-8

Lyczakowski JJ,,, Wicher KB,, Terrett OM, Faria-Blanc N, Yu X, Brown D,, Krogh KBRM, Dupree P,,, Busse-Wicher M (2017) Removal of glucuronic acid from xylan is a strategy to improve the conversion of plant biomass to sugars for bioenergy. Biotechnol Biofuels. doi: 10.1186/s13068-017-0902-1

Open Access

Paul Dupree (University of Cambridge) is involved in two papers that investigate the chemical decorations that adorn components of the plant cell wall. In the first paper they demonstrate that the incorrect addition of acetyl esters onto xylan prevents the formation of the secondary cell wall due to a reduced interaction between xylan and cellulose microfibrils. They undertake a genetic study to show that the ESKIMO1/XOAT1/TBL29, a xylan-specific O-acetyltransferase is responsive for correct attachment of acetyl esters to xylan.

In the second paper they show that a reduction in the attachment of the acetyl ester glucuronic acid to xylan allows increased isolation of ethanol following saccharification. This has enormous potential significance in ongoing attempts to generate lignocellulose biomass that is more amenable to conversion into potential biofuels.

Tolmie F, Poulet A, McKenna J, Sassmann S, Graumann K, Deeks M, Runions J (2017) The cell wall of Arabidopsis thaliana influences actin network dynamics. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erx269.
This collaboration between Oxford Brookes and Exeter Universities looks in details at the Arabidopsis actin filament network using a set of novel imaging tools. In addition they show that the network is distributed when the link to the cell wall is disrupted. As might be expected this also effects the function of the network as evidenced by changes in Golgi body motility.

González-Carranza ZH, Zhang X, Peters JL, Boltz V, Szecsi J, Bendahmane M, Roberts JA (2017) HAWAIIAN SKIRT controls size and floral organ number by modulating CUC1 and CUC2 expression. PLoS One.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185106 Open Access

Jerry Roberts (CPIB, Nottingham) leads a collaboration with Dutch and French colleagues to investigate the role of the F-box gene HAWAIIAN SKIRT in control of flower development. This protein acts by interacting with the CUC-SHAPED COTYLEDON 1 (CUC1) and CUC2 transcription factors to restrict petal size by altering cell proliferation and mitotic growth.

Rizza A, Walia A, Lanquar V, Frommer WB, Jones AM (2017) In vivo gibberellin gradients visualized in rapidly elongating tissues. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-017-0021-9

Free with the link: rdcu.be/wnOh

Alexander Jones (SLCU) collaborates with Wolf Frommers’ lab in Stanford to develop a novel tool to analyse the plant hormone gibberellin in planta. This optogenetic biosensor protein allowed them to show that GA levels correlate with cell length in hypocotyl and root tissues. GA levels are dependent on PIF signalling in a relationship that controls rapid tissue elongation in reponse to favourable environmental conditions. We’re pleased to announce that Alexander will be speaking at next September’s GARNet2018: A Plant Science Showcase at the University of York.

Cortijo S, Charoensawan V, Brestovitsky A, Buning R, Ravarani C, Rhodes D, van Noort J, Jaeger KE, Wigge PA (2017) Transcriptional regulation of the ambient temperature response by H2A.Z-nucleosomes and HSF1 transcription factors in Arabidopsis. Molecular Plant doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2017.08.014

Open Access

Phil Wigge (SLCU) leads this work that investigates how the temperature responsive histone variant H2A.Z interacts with heat shock transcription factors (HSFs). They find that the activity of HSFs is able to evict H2A.Z histones yet at non-inducible temperatures these heat responsive genes show an over-representation of H2A.Z-nucleosomes. They demonstrate that this relationship allows plants to be primed to rapidly response to temperature change whilst preventing leaky transcription in times of low temperature.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: September 6th

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, Cardiff University, Glasgow University, Global, John Innes Centre, Open Access, Oxford Brookes University, Rothamsted Research, Sainsbury Lab, Uncategorized, University of York

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Published on: September 5, 2017

This largest ever Arabidopsis Research Roundup (ARR) includes 6 papers from Norwich Research Park (NRP), including three featuring Cyril Zipfel (TSL) as a co-author on papers that investigate different aspects of plant immune signaling. Elsewhere on the NRP site Veronica Grieneisen (JIC) is a co-author on a study that defines the root auxin maximum whilst Dale Sanders and Saskia Hogenhout lead a paper that defines a method for the analysis of calcium signaling. Finally Robert Sablowski’s group at the JIC investigates the role of the DELLA proteins during meristem development.

Elsewhere investigators from Kew Gardens and Bangor University have used nanopore sequencing for the facile characterisation of field populations of Arabidopsis. Similarly Seth Davies (University of York) is part of a collaboration that looks how alterations in the circadian clock might affect plant fitness.

Verena Kriechbaumer (Oxford Brookes) leads a phylogenetic study into the conservation of auxin biosynthesis genes whilst Hilary Rodgers (Cardiff University) is a co-author on a Chinese-led study that looks into role of cadmium on the Arabidopsis cell cycle.

This ARR is full of examples of UK researchers involved in global collaborations. This includes Cambridge researchers involved in a proteomic analysis of microsomes, Justin Goodrich from the University of Edinburgh as part of a US-led study that defines the regulation of the PRC2 complex and Katherine Denby (University of York) as a member of a consortium that has performed a network analysis of jasmonic acid signaling.

Finally are two studies in which the research takes place within a single institution. Malcolm Hawksford (Rothamsted Research) looks at the effect of wheat transcription factors in the response to the heavy metal zinc whilst Emily Larson and Mike Blatt (University of Glasgow) investigate the role of clathrin on plant vesicular transport.

D’Ambrosio JM, Couto D, Fabro G, Scuffi D, Lamattina L, Munnik T, Andersson MX, Alvarez ME, Zipfel C, Laxalt AM (2017) PLC2 Regulates MAMP-Triggered Immunity by Modulating ROS Production in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 10.1104/pp.17.00173

This Argentinian-led study includes Cyril Zipfel (TSL) as a co-author on this work that uses miRNA-mediated gene silencing to assess the role of the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) in plant immune signaling.

Imkampe J, Halter T, Huang S, Schulze S, Mazzotta S, Schmidt N, Manstretta R, Postel S, Wierzba M, Yang Y, vanDongen WM, Stahl M, Zipfel C, Goshe MB, Clouse S, de Vries SC, Tax F, Wang X, Kemmerling B (2017) The Arabidopsis Leucine-rich Repeat Receptor Kinase BIR3 Negatively Regulates BAK1 Receptor Complex Formation and Stabilizes BAK1. Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.17.00376

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a co-author on this global collaboration that further defines the role of the BAK1 receptor in hormone and immune signaling through its interaction with two LRR-RK proteins (BIR2 and BIR3).

Singh V, Perraki A, Kim SY, Shrivastava S, Lee JH, Zhao Y, Schwessinger B, Oh MH, Marshall-Colon A, Zipfel C, Huber SC (2017) Tyrosine-610 in the Receptor Kinase BAK1 Does Not Play a Major Role in Brassinosteroid Signaling or Innate Immunity. Front Plant Sci. 10.3389/fpls.2017.01273

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a co-author on this US-led manuscript that again looks into the role of the BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 (BAK1) on plant immune signaling. Importantly they show that the phosphorylation of tyrosine-610 is actually not necessary for this proteins role in brassinosteroid or immune signaling

Di Mambro R, De Ruvo M,,, Pacifici E, Salvi E, Sozzani R, Benfey PN,, Busch W, Novak O, Ljung K, Di Paola L, Marée AFM, Costantino P, Grieneisen VA, Sabatini S (2017) Auxin minimum triggers the developmental switch from cell division to cell differentiation in the Arabidopsis root. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 10.1073/pnas.1705833114

Veronica Grieneisen (JIC) is a co-corresponding author on this work with Sabrina Sabatini from the University of Rome. They define the auxin minimum, a newly characterised determinat of root patterning that delineates the separation of root division and the differentiation zones. This is defined by the interaction between cytokinin and auxin signaling cascades.

Veronica discusses this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYdL6eddOcA

Vincent TR, Canham J, Toyota M, Avramova M, Mugford ST, Gilroy S, Miller AJ, Hogenhout S, Sanders D (2017) Real-time In Vivo Recording of Arabidopsis Calcium Signals During Insect Feeding Using a Fluorescent Biosensor. J Vis Exp. 10.3791/56142

Dale Sanders and GARNet committee member Saskia Hogenhout (JIC) lead this study that describes an imaging technique that allows for the real time assessment of calcium dynamics using a fluorescently tagged sensor.

Serrano-Mislata A, Bencivenga S, Bush M, Schiessl K, Boden S, Sablowski R (2017) DELLA genes restrict inflorescence meristem function independently of plant height. Nature Plants. 10.1038/s41477-017-0003-y

Robert Sablowski (JIC) leads this paper that investigates the role of DELLA proteins in the control of cell cycle regulators and how this impacts meristem size in both barley and Arabidopsis. Read more about it on the John Innes Centre website.

Parker J, Helmstetter AJ, Devey D, Wilkinson T, Papadopulos AST (2017) Field-based species identification of closely-related plants using real-time nanopore sequencing. Sci Rep. 10.1038/s41598-017-08461-5 Open Access

This investigation led by researchers at Kew Gardens and at the Bangor University use Real Time Nanopore Sequencing (RTnS) that allows for rapid species identification in the field and that combining RTnS and laboratory-based high-throughput sequencing leads to a significant improvement in genome assembly.

Rubin MJ, Brock MT, Davis AM, German ZM, Knapp M, Welch SM, Harmer SL, Maloof JN7, Davis SJ, Weinig C (2017) Circadian rhythms vary over the growing season and correlate with fitness components. Mol Ecol. 10.1111/mec.14287 Open Access

Seth Davies (University of York) is a co-author on this US-led work that conducts a study of field-growth Arabidopsis to evaluate the contribution of the circadian clock toward survival and fecundity. They show that variation in clock function correlates with growth performance in a natural environment.

Poulet A, Kriechbaumer V (2017) Bioinformatics Analysis of Phylogeny and Transcription of TAA/YUC Auxin Biosynthetic Genes. Int J Mol Sci. 10.3390/ijms18081791 Open Access

The paper from Oxford Brookes University provides a phylogenetic analysis of TAA/TAR (tryptophan aminotransferase related) and YUCCA proteins that are involved in auxin biosynthesis. In addition they provide tissue and cell-specific information about the function of these proteins and that their function is conserved in lower plant species.

Cui W, Wang H, Song J, Cao X, Rogers HJ, Francis D, Jia C, Sun L, Hou M, Yang Y, Tai P, Liu W (2017) Cell cycle arrest mediated by Cd-induced DNA damage in Arabidopsis root tips. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.07.074 Open Access

Hilary Rodgers (Cardiff University) is a co-author on this Chinese-led study that looks into the effect of cadmium treatment on the regulation of the cell cycle and DNA damage repair. They show that different cadmium concentrations effect different phases of the cell cycle.

Alqurashi M, Thomas L, Gehring C, Marondedze C (2017) A Microsomal Proteomics View of H₂O₂- and ABA-Dependent Responses. Proteomes. 10.3390/proteomes5030022 Open Access

This international collaboration includes members of the Cambridge Centre for Proteomics and conducts a quantitative analysis of the Arabidopsis microsomal proteome following treatment with hydrogen peroxide or ABA. Perhaps unsurprisingly a high number of proteins characterized as ‘responsing to stress’ were found upregulated following treatment with H2O2 or ABA.

Xiao J, Jin R, Yu X, Shen M, Wagner JD, Pai A, Song C, Zhuang M, Klasfeld S, He C, Santos AM, Helliwell C, Pruneda-Paz JL, Kay SA, Lin X, Cui S, Garcia MF, Clarenz O, Goodrich J, Zhang X, Austin RS,, Bonasio R, Wagner D (2017) Cis and trans determinants of epigenetic silencing by Polycomb repressive complex 2 in Arabidopsis. Nature Genet 10.1038/ng.3937

Justin Goodrich (University of Edinburgh) is a co-author on this US-led study that looks into the role of Polycomb response element (PREs) in directing the placement of the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) via their interaction with a newly identified transcription factors. Justin has recently discussed a paper on a similar topic on the G ARNet YouTube channel.

Hickman R, van Verk MC, Van Dijken AJH, Pereira Mendes M, Vroegop-Vos IA, Caarls L, Steenbergen M, Van Der Nagel I, Wesselink GJ, Jironkin A, Talbot A, Rhodes J, de Vries M, Schuurink RC, Denby K, Pieterse CMJ, Van Wees SCM (2017) Architecture and Dynamics of the Jasmonic Acid Gene Regulatory Network. The Plant Cell 10.1105/tpc.16.00958 Open Access

GARNet committee member Katherine Denby (University of York) is a member of this large consortium of researchers who have performed a network analysis on the dynamics of jasmonic acid signaling

Evens NP, Buchner P, Williams LE, Hawkesford MJ (2017) The role of ZIP transporters and group F bZIP transcription factors in the Zn-deficiency response of wheat (Triticum aestivum) Plant J. 10.1111/tpj.13655 Open Access

Malcolm Hawkesford (Rothamsted Research) leads this study that investigate a set of wheat bZIP transcription factors and ZIP transporters that are involved in the uptake and transport of zinc. As part of this work they use Arabidopsis to test the conserved function of these wheat proteins.

Larson ER, Van Zelm E, Roux C, Marion-Poll A, Blatt MR (2017) Clathrin Heavy Chain subunits coordinate endo- and exocytic traffic and affect stomatal movement. Plant Physiol. 10.1104/pp.17.00970 Open Access

Mike Blatt and Emily Larson (University of Glasgow) are the co-corresponding authors on this study that looks into the role of clathrin heavy chain on vesicular transport in Arabidopsis. They looked at clathrin mutants to show that the protein plays an unsurprisingly important role in both endo- and exocytosis.

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