SCR106 splicing factor modulates abiotic stress responses by maintaining RNA splicing in rice.

Plants employ sophisticated molecular machinery to fine-tune their responses to growth, developmental, and stress cues. Gene expression influences plant cellular responses through regulatory processes such as transcription and splicing. Pre-mRNA is alternatively spliced to increase the genome coding potential and further regulate expression.

Disruption of the rice unravels specific functions of canonical strigolactones.

Strigolactones (SLs) regulate many developmental processes, including shoot-branching/tillering, and mediate rhizospheric interactions. SLs originate from carlactone (CL) and are structurally diverse, divided into a canonical and a noncanonical subfamily. Rice contains two canonical SLs, 4-deoxyorobanchol (4DO) and orobanchol (Oro), which are common in different plant species.

A roadmap of haustorium morphogenesis in parasitic plants.

Parasitic plants invade their host through their invasive organ, the haustorium. This organ connects to the vasculature of the host roots and hijacks water and nutrients. Although parasitism has evolved independently in plants, haustoria formation follows a similar mechanism throughout different plant species, highlighting the developmental plasticity of plant tissues.