D53: The Missing Link in Strigolactone Signaling

Strigolactone Signaling in Plants

Strigolactones (SLs) are a new group of recently described phytohormones. They were found to be involved in the communication between plant roots and symbiotic bacteria or fungi, but also in the interactions between roots of host plants and germinating seeds of parasitic plants. Over the years, however, it has become clear that SLs play a regulatory role in many aspects of plant growth and deve...

Strigolactone Signaling in Arabidopsis Regulates Shoot Development by Targeting D53-Like SMXL Repressor Proteins for Ubiquitination and Degradation.

Strigolactones (SLs) are carotenoid-derived phytohormones that control many aspects of plant development, including shoot branching, leaf shape, stem secondary thickening, and lateral root growth. In rice (Oryza sativa), SL signaling requires the degradation of DWARF53 (D53), mediated by a complex including D14 and D3, but in Arabidopsis thaliana, the components and mechanism of SL signaling in...

Psychological Therapies: The Missing Link in Improving Treatment Adherence in Patients with β-thalassemia Major

Finding the missing link

The discovery of an ancient protein complex reveals the evolutionary relationships between the proteins that help to form vesicles.

The (formerly) missing link

hen endothelial cells adhere to the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin, they can proliferate in response to growth factors. Adhesion to laminin, however, brings their cell cycles to a dead stop. Why? Given that the response depends on the composition of the extracellular matrix, Filippo Giancotti and his colleagues at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY) proposed in 1...