This message was sent to ##Email## To advertise in this publication please click here September 16, 2021 .ASPB SPOTLIGHT Check Out the Plant Synthetic Biology 2021 Conference Program! The Plant Synthetic Biology 2021 conference will be held virtually September 26 and 27, 2021, when we will have the opportunity to hear from luminaries in this exciting field of research. We already announced keynote speakers Alison Smith (Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK) and Ron Weiss (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA). Now the remainder of the program has come together. Check it out at plantsyntheticbiology.org! Are you a graduate student? We have student rates! And if you'd like a group rate, just send an email to Jean Rosenberg, ASPB's Director of Meetings and Marketing, at jean@aspb.org, and she will get you a discounted registration rate for groups of 10 or more. .FROM ASPB & PLANTAE The Plant Cell Is Accepting Applications for Assistant Features Editors We are accepting applications through Monday, September 27, for new Plant Cell AFEs for 2022. Details on the AFE program and how and where to apply are available here. Applicants should prepare to submit a cover letter, CV, contact details of two referees, and two writing samples: a first-author paper and a sample In Brief article highlighting a research article in The Plant Cell selected from the list provided in the call for applications. 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.  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by PhytoTech Labs Media Optimization - Optimize your formulation with our Media Optimization Kit. Click here to get started! Bulk Savings – Complete the form to tell us more and save on your bulk components Antibiotics – Save big on high quality antibiotic powders and sterile filtered solutions Plant Growth Regulators – We have the largest selection of cytokinins, auxins, gibberellins and much more Plant Physiology Is Recruiting Assistant Features Editors for 2022 Plant Physiology is recruiting Assistant Features Editors to join the Editorial Board in January 2022. If would like to be considered for this program, please submit your application materials by October 11, 2021. Your application should include a cover letter, CV, first-authored publication, contact information for two referees, and a sample News and Views highlighting a paper from a list provided. Plant Physiology Article of the Week: Two plastid POLLUX ion channel-like proteins are required for stress-triggered stromal Ca2+ release The spotlight is on Carsten Völkner, Lorenz Josef Holzner, Philip M. Day, Amra Dhabalia Ashok, Jan de Vries, Bettina Bölter, and Hans-Henning Kunz. Their recent article has an Altmetric score of 19 and over 35 mentions in the past week. They demonstrate that Arabidopsis POLLUX-like homologs PEC1 and PEC2 represent plastid inner envelope membrane ion channels with K+ conductivity that are required for the stress-triggered Ca2+ release into the stroma.  PRODUCT SHOWCASE PlantScreen™ Phenotyping Systems Fully automated plant phenotyping Robotized plant maintenance and delivery High resolution digital scoring Multi-sensoric imaging modules Real-time data analysis LEARN MORE The Plant Cell Article of the Week: Cycling in a crowd: coordination of plant cell division, growth and cell fate The spotlight is on Robert Sablowski and Crisanto Gutierrez. Their recent article shows that plant cell cycle and division are linked to specific cell fates and respond to growth-related cues, such as metabolic state, cell size, cell shape, and mechanical stress. Plant Direct Article of the Week: Multiplex genome editing in Arabidopsis thaliana using Mb3Cas12a The spotlight is on University of Georgia, Athens researchers William T. Jordan, Seth Currie, and Robert J. Schmitz. Their article has an Altmetric score of 10 and over 17 mentions in the past week.  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by Agrisera Save 15% off- On PSI and PSII antibodies Free posters! Photosynthesis, Respiration, Rubisco, PSII Save 25% off - On epitope tag antibodies: FLAG, GFP 3xHis, 6xHis Find the antibody- for your model species Arabidopsis thaliana, diatoms, Oryza sativa, Zea mays and many more Western blot and antibody tips you did not know about Browse High Impact Research from The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology We'd like to introduce you to a new way to browse The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology on what we call the High Impact Resarch pages. Here, you can find links to a curated collection of articles from recent years that showcase high-impact research — including most cited, most read, and most discussed (based on Altmetric score). The U.S. Department of Energy Announces Early Career Research Program for FY 2022 Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is accepting proposals for the 2022 DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. The program will support over 60 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions and DOE National Laboratories. Learn more and submit a pre-application by October 21, 2021. .CHANGING CULTURES AND CLIMATES The mission of Changing Cultures and Climates is to provide information that supports and promotes diversity, inclusivity, and equity in the international plant science community so that it grows to more accurately reflect that of our larger, global society. Help Us to Curate an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Calendar As part of our ongoing equity, diversity and inclusion efforts, we are curating an "equity, diversity, and inclusion calendar." The purpose of an equity calendar is to raise awareness of and acknowledge our diverse communities, as well as to help when planning important events. We're highlighting dates such as religious observances, days of special interest to scientists, and days/weeks/months that raise awareness of the many identities we bring to our work. Did we miss anything? Let us know! .#WeAreASPB Katie Murphy, ASPB Member, Turns to TikTok to Show Kids Science in Action From The Washington Post Katie Murphy is a plant biologist, researching corn and tobacco plants at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. She's also the host of Real Time Science, a series of videos that she uploads to TikTok and Instagram. She shows kids examples of her experiments in the field and the lab, along with other tidbits about her life as a scientist — such as how to make a hair tie out of a disposable glove when you forget your hair tie at home. The Washington Post interviewed Murphy about her work, what she loves about science, and other fun things she likes to do. Share Your Moment in the Spotlight with ASPB Members! ASPB would like to highlight news coverage about plant science. If you or your research is being highlighted in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, online, or other sources, please let us know! Just send a quick note, URL, and other relevant information to ASPB News production manager, Diane McCauley, at diane@aspb.org. PRODUCT SHOWCASE SciBrite LEDs less energy, more uniformity SciBrite® LED lighting, one of Percival Scientific’s latest innovations, gives you significantly more features and benefits for your research. Our proprietary LED system provides more flexibility than lighting systems offered by other growth chamber manufacturers. Using our IntellusUltra Controller, you can control the intensities for each color to produce specific light wavelength ratios for your experiments.   LEARN MORE   Plant Hormone Analysis Lifeasible provides a list of methods that can be applied to the detection of a wide range of hormones in various types of plant tissues. Hormone Family Bucket Gibberellin Family Brassinosteroid Family Melatonin   LEARN MORE   .PLANTAE JOBS The Plantae Job Center offers job seekers and employers a great resource for finding the right match of people to careers. Job seekers get free access to a searchable list of jobs specific to science careers, as well as access to the Mentoring Center and to a list of available internships. Employers who post a job get access to over 500 searchable profiles of job seekers. With over 140,000 unique page views in 2020, the Plantae Job Center is your resource for finding your next opportunity or your next hire. Below are just a few of the jobs currently listed on the site. Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Plant Biology   University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN Learn more Research Scientist   D'Arrigo Bros. Co. of California Salinas, CA Learn more Associate in Research   Benfey Lab at Duke University Durham, NC Learn more Postdoc in Plant Growth and Development   University of Massachusetts - Amherst Amherst, MA Learn more Postdoctoral Fellow Position in anti-fungal RNAi technologies   Postdoctoral Fellow Position in anti-fungal RNAi technologies Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Learn more Microbiologist   M&B Search Group Northern Illinois, IL Learn more Research (Plant) Geneticist (Postdoctoral Research Associate)   USDA-ARS Salinas, CA Learn more .PLANT SCIENCE EVENTS September 26-27, 2021   Plant Synthetic Biology 2021 Registration Now Open Virtual Learn more October 20, 2021   AG2PI Industry Event Open Call Learn more November 8-11, 2021   XIX National Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Congress, XII Joint Symposium Mexico-USA, and the 2nd ASPB Mexican Section Meeting Virtual Learn more 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 This Week is Graduate Student Recruit Week in STEM From Undergrad in the Lab This week-long event hosted by the UndergradInTheLab.com group aims to connect undergrads and PIs, demystify the grad school application process, and create a forum for undergrads to learn others' perspectives of the STEM graduate school experience. Two Branches of Plant Immune Response Closely Linked From Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Like animals, plants need to be on a constant lookout to recognize and respond to invasion by microbes. Plant immunity consists of two branches — the initial defense begins with the detection of invaders by receptors at the cell surface, while a second alarm pathway is triggered by receptors within the cell. Recently, evidence has been mounting that these branches of the plant immune system, previously thought to be separate, may be connected. Now an international research team headed by Professor Thorsten Nürnberger of the Center for Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Tübingen and by Professor Jane Parker of the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne has found evidence for the link. Recognizing Pioneering Black Plant Scientists in Our Schools and Society From Trends in Plant Science Eckelbarger et al. highlight the achievements of four pioneering Black plant scientists to raise awareness of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in science. Their stories come alive at Historically Black Colleges and Universities through exhibits of science and art and classroom activities. Mechanical Buckling of Petals Produces Iridescent Patterns Visible to Bees From the University of Cambridge via Phys.org In civil engineering, "buckling" is a dirty word with the buckling of beams and columns leading to mechanical failure — and is something that engineers want to avoid. But for some plants, buckling is being employed to advantage. Flowers use several different strategies to lure pollinators. Chemical color from pigments is just one of these strategies and recent research is finding that iridescence could be just as important for attracting pollinators like bees. This optical effect is produced by an intricate pattern of nano-scale ridges on the surface of petals that diffract light to cause iridescence, like that seen on the surface of CDs or soap bubbles, but how the plant develops these ridges was not known. Team Sequences Shea Tree Genome to Support Breeding and Conservation Efforts From the University of New Hampshire The shea tree is a vital social and economic crop that is best known for the popular product shea butter — a multimillion-dollar ingredient used in cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals and chocolate. For hundreds of thousands of African families living in the "shea belt," it is also a crucial source of nutrition and income. Despite its increasing demand, the slow-growing shea tree is being threatened by other cash crops and its preservation most likely lies in its genetic improvement. To enable such work, an international team of researchers led by the University of New Hampshire has sequenced the shea tree's genome, providing a valuable resource for the strategic development of the species. The Adaptive Challenge of Extreme Conditions Shapes Evolutionary Diversity of Plant Assemblages at Continental Scales From PNAS Neves at al. explore an extended view of the tropical conservatism hypothesis to account for two often-neglected components of climatic stress: drought and the combined effect of seasonal cold and drought—the latter being a common feature of extratropical dry environments. They show that evolutionary diversity of angiosperm assemblages in extratropical dry biomes is even lower than in biomes subject to only one type of climatic stress. Drought, More than Temperature, Governs Diversity of Life on Earth From The University of Arizona Scientists have long believed that temperature — especially freezing cold — limits diversity of plant species as they proliferate out from the tropics and adapt to colder regions nearer the poles. The idea that temperature alone is behind the pattern of decreasing diversity is dubbed the tropical conservatism hypothesis. A new University of Arizona-led study published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences uses big data to reveal further nuance in the pattern of plant diversity and explain why some regions are more species rich than others. The research team — led by Brian Enquist, a professor in the UArizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology — found that drought and seasonal fluctuations in rainfall are larger drivers of evolutionary diversity than warm temperatures.   The Signal Connect with ASPB American Society of Plant Biologists 15501 Monona Drive  |  Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA  301-251-0560  |  Click here to access our Terms and Privacy Statement  |  www.aspb.org The Signal is produced in affiliation with Multiview, Inc. Disclaimer: The media articles and/or advertisements featured in The Signal do not express or reflect the opinions of the American Society of Plant Biologists or any employee thereof. 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