NAC (NAM/ATAF/CUC) transcription factors comprise a large plant-specific gene family that contains more than 149 members in rice. Extensive studies have revealed that NAC transcription factors not only play important roles in plant growth and development, but also have functions in regulation of responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, biological functions for most of the members in the NAC family remain unknown.

In many invertebrates, development depends on obligate bacterial symbionts that are confined to specialized host cells and are transmitted directly from mother to progeny. A primary model for this kind of symbiosis is the Buchnera/pea aphid association, which has been maintained for more than 100 million years through strict maternal transmission. The intimacy of this symbiosis has thwarted experiments aimed at dissecting how symbiont and host genotypes contribute to overall phenotype and ecological tolerances.

The root of eukaryote phylogeny formally represents the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), but its position has remained controversial. Using new genome sequences, we revised and expanded two datasets of eukaryotic proteins of bacterial origin, which previously yielded conflicting views on the eukaryotic root. Analyses using state-of-the-art phylogenomic methodology revealed that both expanded datasets now support the same root position.

Major quantitative trait loci have been mapped to Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) chromosomes 11 and 14 that govern the highly resistant phenotype in response to infection by root-knot nematode (RKN; Meloidogyne incognita); however, nearly nothing is known regarding the underlying molecular determinants of this RKN-resistant phenotype.

Within plants, controlled gradients of the hormone auxin are essential for development. These gradients are achieved through intracellular polar positioning of auxin transporter proteins, such as PIN-FORMED proteins (PINs), at the plasma membrane, thus guiding the direction of auxin transport. The establishment and maintenance of PIN polarity is controlled within each cell by complicated trafficking pathways of the endomembrane system.

The advance of biotechnology opens up greater possibilities of bioterror and bioerror. Here, we propose multiplexed safeguard switches rooted in the development of foundational genomic, regulatory, and metabolic technologies. Safeguard switches can be regulated by submicromolar small molecule(s) and combined in a modular fashion. The resulting safeguard strains show high fitness and low reversion rates.

Trichoderma virens and some Trichoderma species are considered as biocontrol fungi since they can stimulate defense responses by interacting with the host plant. Previous studies have shown that cerato-platanin proteins, Sm1 from T. virens as well as Epl1 from Trichoderma atroviride, are vital in inducing plant defenses. However, the other members of this protein family have not yet been investigated.

Accumulating evidence has underscored the role of cytosolic p53 in promoting cell death. Different reports have revealed that p53 participates in apoptosis induction by acting directly at mitochondria. However, because p53 can mediate apoptosis without its DNA-binding domain (the domain proposed to be fundamental for the targeting of p53 to mitochondria), the mitochondrial localization of p53 is likely not the only transcription-independent mechanism by which p53 promotes apoptosis.

Imagine a friend telling you how she recently bought a goat. Why would your friend possibly buy a goat, you wonder—or had she actually said she bought a coat? Usually, listeners spend little time deciding whether someone had talked about a goat or a coat, or a pet or a bet; instead, we instantly assign the phonemes that we are hearing to one or the other category, even though the main distinguishing feature between the phonemes /ba/ and /pa/, or /ga/ and /ka/, shows a continuous, albeit bimodal distribution.

Macroautophagy (hereafter as autophagy) involves the delivery of cytosolic materials via autophagosome upon its fusion with the endosome and lysosome/vacuole. The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery is responsible for the formation of intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) in multivesicular bodies (MVBs) and the sorting of ubiquitinated membrane cargos into MVB ILVs for degradation.