Plant stem cells have the remarkable ability to give rise to distinct tissues and organs throughout development. Two concentric cylinders of active...

The majority of land plant species recruit fungi of the phylum Glomeromycotina to form one of the most widespread plant symbioses called arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) for mutual nutritional benefit [1–3]. Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) take up mineral nutrients from the soil through an extended hyphal network that forms outside the root and transports the nutrients directly into the root cortex, where they are released to the plant from highly-branched fungal structures, the arbuscules [4]. In turn, the fungi obtain photosynthetically fixed organic carbon from their host plants in the form of sugars and lipids [5,6]. AM is often described as a strategy for plants to obtain inorganic phosphate, but it also improves uptake of other inorganic nutrients, such as nitrogen, potassium, and sulfur [7–9].

Root nodules are the only sites for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) in leguminous plants. The development and functioning of these nodules are governed by a cascade of gene expressions categorized as early and late nodulins. While early nodulins are rapidly induced by Nod factors and involved in infection and cortical cell division, late nodulins support mature nodule function. The regulation of these gene expressions involves several extra- and intracellular factors along withnon-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Despite extensive studies on ncRNAsinSNF, the role of long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) in it remains largely unexplored excepting the well-characterized early nodulin lncRNA ENOD40 and its natural antisense transcript DONE40. Here, we report the identification and characterization of a novel lncRNA, Lotus japonicus PLP-IV Long non-coding RNA (LjPLR), discovered through in-silico transcriptome analysis followed by in-vivo validation. LjPLR is an antisense transcript complementary to the LjPLP-IV gene, which encodes a phosphatidylinositol transfer protein-like protein implicated in membrane biogenesis. We have identifiedLjPLP-IV as the only putative target of LjPLR. The negatively correlated temporal gene expression patterns of LjPLP-IV and LjPLR during nodule biogenesis providea new insight into the regulatory landscape of SNF in Lotus japonicus.

Microtubule severing is essential for proper eukaryotic cell elongation and division. Here we show that the microtubule severing protein, KATANIN, is encoded by two genes in Zea mays (maize) called Di...

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The Pivot2Plants Fellows Program is a 1-year training program for people interested in pivoting to a career in plant science or data science but have limited research experience.

Liberal commentator Jessica Tarlov nailed it this morning when she wrote: “He’s doing everything EXCEPT releasing the Epstein files.” Her comment was in reference to President Donald Trump’s social me...

The Biology of Plants Coloring Textbook was created by Dr. Rachel S. Jabaily (Colorado College Dept. Organismal Biology & Ecology) and M.G.B. Hurst (Colorado College class of 2025) with a grant from t...