A subset of highly responsive transcription factors upon tomato infection by pepino mosaic virus.

Plants have evolved well-tuned surveillance systems, including complex defence mechanisms, to constrain pathogens. TFs are master regulators of host molecular responses against plant pathogens. While PepMV constitutes a major threat to the global tomato production, there is still a lack of information on the key TFs that regulate host responses to this virus.

Potassium transporter TRH1/KUP4 contributes to distinct auxin-mediated root system architecture responses.

In plants, auxin transport and development are tightly coupled, just as hormone and growth responses are intimately linked in multicellular systems. Here we provide insights into uncoupling this tight control by specifically targeting the expression of TINY ROOT HAIR 1 (TRH1), a member of plant high-affinity potassium (K+)/K+ uptake/K+ transporter (HAK/KUP/KT) transporters that facilitate K+ uptake by co-transporting protons, in Arabidopsis root cell files. Use of this system pinpointed specific root developmental responses to acropetal versus basipetal auxin transport.

Downregulates Photosynthesis and Modifies Monolignols Metabolism Revealing a Crosstalk with Tomato Immune Responses.

The gram-positive pathogenic bacterium subsp. () causes bacterial canker disease in tomato, affecting crop yield and fruit quality. To understand how tomato plants respond, the dynamic expression profile of host genes was analyzed upon infection.

Updating Insights into the Catalytic Domain Properties of Plant () and () Proteins.

The wall is the last frontier of a plant cell involved in modulating growth, development and defense against biotic stresses. Cellulose and additional polysaccharides of plant cell walls are the most abundant biopolymers on earth, having increased in economic value and thereby attracted significant interest in biotechnology. Cellulose biosynthesis constitutes a highly complicated process relying on the formation of cellulose synthase complexes.

LEFKOTHEA Regulates Nuclear and Chloroplast mRNA Splicing in Plants.

Eukaryotic organisms accomplish the removal of introns to produce mature mRNAs through splicing. Nuclear and organelle splicing mechanisms are distinctively executed by spliceosome and group II intron complex, respectively. Here, we show that LEFKOTHEA, a nuclear encoded RNA-binding protein, participates in chloroplast group II intron and nuclear pre-mRNA splicing.