Late-Nov papers

Some interested papers.

Flowering-time genes modulate meristem determinacy and growth form in Arabidopsis thaliana, Siegbert Melzer, Frederic Lens, Jerôme Gennen, Steffen Vanneste, Antje Rohde and Tom Beeckman, Nature Genetics 40(12):1489 - 1492 (December 2008).
Siegbert Melzer and colleagues report that in Arabidopsis the absence of MADS box proteins SOC1 and FUL leads to phenotypes of perennial woody plants, with indeterminate meristems, secondary growth with wood formation, and recurrent growth cycles.

Metagenomic analysis indicates that stressors induce production of herpes-like viruses in the coral Porites compressa, Rebecca L. Vega Thurber, Katie L. Barott, Dana Hall, Hong Liu, Beltran Rodriguez-Mueller, Christelle Desnues, Robert A. Edwards, Matthew Haynes, Florent E. Angly, Linda Wegley, and Forest L. Rohwer, PNAS 105(47):18413-18418 (November 25, 2008).

Plant Biology: Gibberellins close the lid, Nature 456(7221):455, Peter Hedden.
Gibberellins regulate many aspects of plant growth and development. Crystal structures of their receptors provide a view in unprecedented detail of how these hormones operate at the molecular level.

Gibberellin-induced DELLA recognition by the gibberellin receptor GID1, Nature 456(7221):459, Kohji Murase, Yoshinori Hirano, Tai-ping Sun and Toshio Hakoshima.

Structural basis for gibberellin recognition by its receptor GID1, Nature 456(7221):520, Asako Shimada, Miyako Ueguchi-Tanaka, Toru Nakatsu, Masatoshi Nakajima, Youichi Naoe, Hiroko Ohmiya, Hiroaki Kato & Makoto Matsuoka.

A Genetic Framework for the Control of Cell Division and Differentiation in the Root Meristem, R. D. Ioio et al., Science 322(5906):380 - 1384 (28 November 2008).
The number of stem cells in plant roots is controlled by an auxin-cytokine feedback loop in which a particular gene integrates signals from both hormones.