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.ASPB SPOTLIGHT
Announcing the Schedule for the New Plantae Presents Series
Thanks to the generous support of ASPB members, we're able to share another series of scintillating science talks. Join us Wednesdays (usually) at 10am Eastern time (usually) to hear established and up-and-coming scientists talk about their research. Educators, please feel free to invite your students. The talks are open to all, but registration is required.
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.FROM ASPB & PLANTAE
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SciWhite is Percival’s highest performing and most efficient white LED platform to date. Available in standard output or optional high output, this lighting system provides more uniform light distribution throughout the chamber with a well-balanced spectrum for general plant growth.
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Applications Open for ASPB's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award
Applications are now being accepted for ASPB's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award! SURF Awards fund promising undergraduate students so they can conduct research in plant biology during the early part of their college careers. Successful applicants receive a $4,000 summer stipend, membership in ASPB, and $700 (paid to the mentor or institution) for materials and supplies. Each fellowship also provides a stipend to support student travel to Plant Biology 2022, the ASPB annual meeting. Learn more and apply by March 28.
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Plantae Presents: Malcolm Bennett and Edith Pierre-Jerome
Join us February 17 for the next episode of Plantae Presents, featuring talks by Malcolm Bennett, BREAKTHRU: uncovering how roots can sense and penetrate hard soils and Edith Pierre-Jerome, A synthetic approach to parse gene regulatory logic in plant development, moderated by Dorata Kawa.
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Plant Point of View: Cactaceae
Plantae Fellow Laura Mejia continues her illustrated series highlighting interesting plants. Here, she looks at eight members of the Cactaceae family that have edible fruits. Some of these, such as the "dragon fruit" of Hylocereus sp., are widely grown, whereas others are much less familiar outside of Mexico. Many have well-documented nutritional or medicinal properties, and some can be used as a source of food colorants.
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Submissions Open for Plant Physiology Focus Issue on Architecture and Plasticity
Plant Physiology seeks exciting research article submissions by May 7, 2021, for inclusion in a Focus Issue on the topic of Architecture and Plasticity. The Focus Issue will consider topics ranging from plant development to (plasticity of) architecture, in the context of the organism and its interactions with a dynamic and challenging environment. Contributions might include studies on regulation of shoot or root development and/or architecture, and responses of plant development and architecture to, for example, light, water, nutrients, temperature, and (a)biotic stress.
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Submissions Open for Plant Physiology Focus Issue on Gene Editing and Its Applications
Plant Physiology seeks research article submissions by September 30, 2021, for inclusion in a Focus Issue on the topic of Gene Editing and Its Applications. Rapid advancements in gene editing technology have provided unprecedented capability for scientists to modify plant genomes, revolutionizing basic plant biology research and crop breeding. This Focus Issue will cover a wide range of topics related to gene editing, including technical development and innovative applications in solving biological questions and in overcoming difficulties in crop improvement.
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Plant Physiology Article of the Week
The spotlight is on Joel Masanga, Beatrice Njoki Mwangi, Willy Kibet, Philip Sagero, Mark Wamalwa, Richard Oduor, Mathew Ngugi, Amos Alakonya, Patroba Ojola, Emily S. Bellis, and Steven Runo. Their article "Physiological and ecological warnings that dodders pose an exigent threat to farmlands in Eastern Africa" has an Altmetric score of 17 and 29 mentions last week.
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The Plant Cell Article of the Week
The spotlight is on Francesca B. Lopez, Antoine Fort, Luca Tadini, Aline V. Probst, Marcus McHale, James Friel, Peter Ryder, Frédéric Pontvianne, Paolo Pesaresi, Ronan Sulpice, Peter McKeown, Galina Brychkova, and Charles Spillan. Their article "Gene dosage compensation of rRNA transcript levels in Arabidopsis thaliana lines with reduced ribosomal gene copy number" has an Altmetric score of 32 and 50 mentions in the past week.
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Plant Direct Article of the Week
The spotlight is on Sanjay Kumar Singh, Barunava Patra, Priyanka Paul, Yongliang Liu, Sitakanta Pattanaik, and Ling Yuan. Their article " BHLH IRIDOID SYNTHESIS 3 is a member of a bHLH gene cluster regulating terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus " has al Altmetric score of 12 and 7 mentions in the past week.
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.#WeAreASPB
Are you a member of ASPB, active on Plantae, and have something to celebrate in the #WeAreASPB Spotlight? Contact Shoshana Kronfeld (shoshana@aspb.org) and send her the details.
.PLANTAE JOBS
To see more jobs, go to jobs.Plantae.org.
.PLANT SCIENCE EVENTS
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NAPPN Annual Conference 2021
Virtual
Learn more |
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Southern Section ASPB Virtual Meeting 2021
Virtual
Learn more |
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For plant science events, make sure to check out the Global Plant Science Events Calendar. Also, check the calendar for the latest cancellations and postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as webinars and online events you can join.
.FROM THE FIELD
Age Is NOT Just a Number
From Trends in Plant Science via Plantae
In addition to morphological and anatomical changes, aging also drives changes in the biochemistry of leaves, especially redox homeostasis, hormonal levels, and source-sink balance. These changes, together with the changes in multiple signaling pathways, contribute to age-related differences in the ability of plants to cope with abiotic stress conditions.
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ARS Research Boosts Strawberry Production
From the U.S. Department of Agriculture
If you're one of the millions of people who will receive the delicious gift of strawberries on Valentine's Day, you can thank scientists at USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) as well as your sweetheart. Strawberries have been a valuable crop for many years, but not without escaping disaster along the journey. In the 1950s, America's strawberry production was being ravaged by a root-rotting fungus known as red steele. ARS came to the rescue, saving the industry by breeding dozens of strawberry cultivars that could stand up to red steele and many other challenges growers face, such as insects, diseases, short growing seasons, and the rigors of harvest and transport. ARS's work in strawberry research goes well beyond the '50s, though.
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Genetic 'Cut and Paste' to Achieve More Nutritious and Resistant Plants
From Asociacion RUVID via Phys.org
A team of researchers from the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), mixed center of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, (UPV) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has taken another step to facilitate the genomic editing of plants. Their breakthrough will enable the use of CRISPR systems, which opens the door to obtain new, more productive and nutritive varieties that are more resistant to plagues, pathogens, and other environmental threats such as drought or extreme temperatures.
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In Symbiosis: Plants Control the Genetics of Microbes
From the University of Ottawa via Science Daily
Researchers from the University of Ottawa have discovered that plants may be able to control the genetics of their intimate root symbionts — the organism with which they live in symbiosis — thereby providing a better understanding of their growth. In addition to having a significant impact on all terrestrial ecosystems, their discovery may lead to improved eco-friendly agricultural applications.
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Repeated Evolution of a Reproductive Polyphenism in Plants Is Strongly Associated with Bilateral Flower Symmetry
From Current Biology
Cleistogamy is not a rare evolutionary phenomenon. It has evolved independently at least 41 times. But what favors the evolution of cleistogamy is still largely unknown. Here, Joly et al. combined the largest datasets on floral symmetry and cleistogamy and used phylogenetic approaches to show that cleistogamy is indeed disproportionately associated with zygomorphic flowers and that zygomorphic species are more likely to evolve cleistogamy than actinomorphic species.
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University Researchers Developing Aphid-Resistant Soybeans
From The Minnesota Daily
Since 2016, University of Minnesota researchers have been looking to develop an aphid-resistant soybean crop that will not only cut down insecticide use in the state, but assist organic farmers who cannot combat the bugs using traditional insecticides. Soybeans make up 30% of Minnesota's total agricultural exports and remain the state's top export commodity. In 2016, soybeans accounted for $2.1 billion in exports from Minnesota, and the state ranked third in the nation for soybean production as of 2019. This is one of the reasons why University researcher and the principal investigator on the project Dr. Bob Koch said their work is so important.
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Citizen Scientists Are Filling Research Gaps Created by the Pandemic
From The Conversation
Theresa Crimmins, Erin Posthumus, and Kathleen Prudic write, "Participation in many community science programs has skyrocketed during COVID-19 lockdowns, with some programs reporting record numbers of contributors. We believe these efforts can help to offset data losses from the shutdown of formal monitoring activities."
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The Flower That's Really a Fungus in Disguise
From Scientific American
On a collection trip to Guyana in 2006, botanist Kenneth Wurdack was strolling along an airstrip at Kaieteur National Park when he noticed something unusual about the flowers on two species of yellow-eyed grasses. Unlike the species' typical blooms, they were a more orange shade of yellow, tightly clustered and spongy in texture. On subsequent trips, he observed more examples of the strange phenomenon. Digging through relevant botanical literature, Wurdack learned what was actually going on: The orange oddities were not really flowers at all. And the yellow-eyed grasses — which belong to a genus called Xyris — had not made them.
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Invasive Insects and Diseases Are Killing Our Forests
From The New York Times
Much as we were unprepared for the virus that has killed more than 450,000 people in the United States and 2.2 million worldwide, we're not ready for the next tree pandemic either. Tree plagues differ from human ones in a few important ways. On the plus side (from a tree's perspective), insects and diseases are often specific to a genus, so no plague can hit every tree at once. On the minus side, as Gary Lovett of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies points out, people can stay indoors and get immunized, but trees "have to stand there and take it." In many ways, however, tree plagues are surprisingly similar to human ones — and these similarities can help us manage both types of threats.
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7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
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Due to the persistence of racism in science, scientists who identify as Black, Indigenous and Latine continue to be underrepresented, underserved, and undervalued. The Front & Center initiative within the Changing Cultures and Climates hub on Plantae has been developed to highlight and address the unmet needs of plant scientists who encounter racism in their pursuit of knowledge and discovery.
As part of ASPB's partnership with Oxford University Press (OUP), The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology will now be published by OUP. Stay up to date with new content in both journals by signing up to receive a variety of free e-alerts from OUP.
To promote participation in the PUI workshop and attendance at Plant Biology 2021, the PUI section has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will allow us to provide awards to PUI faculty to help defray some costs of meeting attendance, including meeting registration fees. Deadline to apply is February 22, 2021.
We love our first authors! If your manuscript has been recently accepted for publication in 
