Title: “Molecular mechanisms of histone demethylases in genome-wide targeting in Arabidopsis” Host: Xuemei Chen & Natasha Raikhel

Title: “Getting to the root of plant disease resistance in tomato” Host: Jamie Van Norman Abstract: Plant roots constantly defend themselves against soilborne pathogens, and root diseases are a severe limiting factor in crop production throughout the world. Although roots are often critical to whole plant resistance, root defense responses are not well understood. Our [...]

Title: “Plant growth regulation by integration of nutritional, hormonal, and environmental signals” Host: David Nelson & Dawn Nagel

Title: “Long-distance Regulatory Elements in Plant Genomes” Host: Susan Wessler Abstract: A handful of long-distance transcriptional regulatory regions have been described in plants (e.g. the enhancers located ~60kb upstream of the maize tb1 gene). However, the prevalence, characteristics and functional importance of long-distance regulatory regions in plant genomes remain poorly understood. By profiling and comparing genome-wide patterns [...]

Title: “The endodermis - walking the thin line between protection and exchange” Host: Jaimie Van Norman Abstract: Roots must manage the opposing aims of providing for uptake of nutrients and water from the soil on the one hand and providing protection from potentially harmful microorganism and toxic elements on the other. The endodermis, the main [...]

Title: “Regulatory variation in developmental networks: modulating plant architecture in cereal crops” Host: Julia Bailey-Serres

Title: “Reprogramming roots cells for arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis” Host: David Nelson & Dawn Nagel Abstract: In natural ecosystems, most vascular flowering plants live in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These mutually beneficial associations develop in the roots, where the fungus colonizes the cortex to obtain carbon from the plant while providing mineral nutrients to [...]

Title: “Uncovering a role for phyB-photobody formation in light, temperature, and circadian signaling” Host: Dawn Nagel Abstract: Cellular contents are organized to enable spatial control over signaling pathways, both through the formation of membrane-associated organelles and self-organized biomolecular domains. In plants, the red-light photoreceptors known as phytochromes (phys) form subnuclear, micron-sized foci called photobodies (PB) [...]

Title: “Stretching the Imagination: Mechanosensitive Channels in Plants” Host: Dawn Nagel & David Nelson Abstract: A long-standing question is how biological systems sense and perceive mechanical signals such as osmotic pressure, gravity, and touch. One well-established molecular mechanism for force sensing is the activation of mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels. The Mechanosensitive channel of Small conductance [...]