Volume 191, Issue 4, April 2023

Alternative oxidase has fascinated biologists for many years, and unique opportunities for research are described and highlighted for the research community to explore in the future.

Nonphotosynthetic plant metabolic processes are powered by respiratory energy, a limited resource that metabolic engineers—like plants themselves—must manage prudently.

Respiration efficiently coordinates redox and energy balance in photosynthetic cells through the change of the function of a mitochondrion from the powerhouse to the thermodynamic buffering organelle.

While most respiration-related studies accessing natural variation focus on respiratory metabolites, novel high-throughput techniques to capture respiration rates will enable novel discoveries.

Plant oxidation of respiratory substrates is regulated by mitochondrial transport and metabolic processes; modifications may enable oxidation of alternative substrates and improve efficiency.

Nocturnal decrease in leaf respiratory CO₂-release measured at constant temperature within a plant species is correlated with the level of respiratory activity at onset of the dark period.

An atypical mitochondrial ferredoxin that does not bind an iron-sulfur cluster plays a role in the correct conformation of the membrane arm of respiratory complex I.

Combined gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence measurements show a reduction in leaf day respiration to elevated atmospheric CO₂, greatly impacting plant carbon budgets.

WUSCHEL-related Homeobox 11 regulates protein translation via lysine acetylation of ribosome protein mediated by ROS in rice root meristem.

Synechococcus low- and high-light D1 mutations confer cyanobacterial photosystem II photochemical phenotypes to tobacco plants, with low-light tobacco plants accumulating more biomass under low light.

Plant tissue culture supplemented with the inhibitor of reverse transcriptase Tenofovir prevents mobilization of retrotransposons and increases the genetic stability of regenerated plants.

Disruption of a single mitochondria-encoded gene causes widespread change in mitochondria and even nuclear gene expression, partially through increasing mitochondrial genome copy number.

Melatonin-priming improves plant structure, stomatal traits, growth, and drought tolerance in maize seedlings through regulating the antioxidant deference system.

HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 90.6 is involved in nutrient metabolism via 26S proteasome and GF14-4 protein in maize kernels.

Shade represses photosynthetic genes by increasing the expression of a small protein that disrupts the DNA binding of a key transcription factor.

CRISPR-induced knockout mutants suggest additive roles in red light responses for phytochrome F with phytochromes A, B1, and B2 in tomato.

Growth-regulating factor 15 in poplar acts as a multifunctional transcription factor involved in growth, development, and salt stress tolerance through a multi-level regulation network.

Quantitative metabolome dynamics reveal that a high accumulation of glycolytic intermediates in darkness enables smooth initiation of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria.

Zeaxanthin is required for eyespot formation and phototaxis in Euglena gracilis, highlighting the evolutionary diversity of the photosensing mechanism between euglenophytes and chlorophytes.

The Glycine max CONSTANS-like 1a transcription factor positively regulates tolerance to salt and drought stresses by promoting the accumulation of Δ¹-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase.

Both sucrose and its nonmetabolizable analog turanose restore root nodule symbiosis in a Medicago truncatula cytokinin perception mutant through induction of an auxin conjugate hydrolase.

A canonical flowering regulatory gene, encoding an RNA binding protein, is important for pathogen defense likely through affecting alternative splicing of target genes.

A calcium module suppresses ethylene biosynthesis during apple fruit storage via regulating the phosphorylation status and degradation of transcription factor and ethylene synthase.

BASIC PENTACYSTEINE2 fine-tunes corm dormancy release in Gladiolus by recruiting Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 and the chromatin remodeling factor EARLY BOLTING IN SHORT DAYS.

Blue light photoreceptors, cryptochromes, suppress the progression of leaf senescence in response to blue light through the regulation of HY5 and PIF4/5 transcriptional factors.

Arabidopsis U-box attenuates abscisic acid responses by degrading ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3) and ABI5 during early seedling growth.

Basal cytosol Ca²⁺ levels maintained by calmodulin-regulated Ca²⁺ pumps have an important role in biotic and abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis.

Alternative 3′-untranslated regions enable post-transcriptional gene expression regulation of high-salt-tolerant genes in Spartina alterniflora.