NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
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Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell.
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Transcriptome reveals phosphate responses
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Microarrays are increasingly being used for global expression studies and over the last few years this has been used to build up substantial information about the plant transcriptome. Using internet-based data ressources from previous analysis on Arabidopsis thaliana, Danish researchers have dissected the complex regulatory network involved in responses to phosphate deprivation. Tom Hamborg Nielsen and co-workers from University of Copenhagen and Aalborg University evaluated the functional relationship between several transcription factors, microRNAs (miRNAs) and feedback loops that contribute to keep P-homeostasis. The authors propose a model for the complex coordinated responses to phosphate starvation, which affect all parts of the plant and include Pi-signalling miRNAs that are transported via the phloem. However, the model still lacks any sensor of P-status, since the precise role of several recent candidates for this crucial function still needs to be verified.
Read full article free: Nilsson et al (June 2010) Physiologia Plantarum 139: 129-143
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
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Weed pollute the air
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Source: Hickman et al (1 June 2010) PNAS 107: 10115-10119
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Chromatin Profiling of Individual Cell Types
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Source: Deal & Henikoff (15 June 2010) Developmental Cell 18: 1030-1040
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SPPS Education Committee - call for volunteers
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Education is essential for promoting plant biology as a science. From www.mhhe.com
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SPPS council has decided to establish an Education Committee. Education, at all levels, has a key role in promoting plant biology as a science. Teachers in plant biology at universities need an increased opportunity to develop teaching didactics and course content. Plant biology needs to be better promoted in the whole educational system, among both teachers and pupils. SPPS provides an excellent platform to join forces at the Nordic level in such an endeavour.
The SPPS Education Committee will promote and improve the interest in and teaching of plant biology at all levels of education, from pre-school education and up to and including university education. The Committee will also promote the public awareness of plant biology as a science with high relevance for society.
For the Education Committee we need two volunteers from each Scandinavian country: a senior scientist and a PhD student. The kick-off meeting of the committee will be held in connection to the 6th SPPS PhD Student Conference in Espoo, September 2010. The formal establishment of the Education Committee will then take place in the next SPPS General Assembly in Norway in 2011. If you are interested in being a member of the committee, please contact the SPPS secretariat (spps@helsinki.fi).
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