Sadaf Shadan
Senior Editor @Nature handling manuscripts in general cell biology and plant biology. Views expressed here are my own.
- Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) maintain the specific lipid compositions of cellular membranes. @nature, a systematic characterization of complexes between human LTPs and their lipid cargo provides a resource for a better understanding of these proteins. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The journal Nature is looking for a Metabolism and Cardiovascular biology editor -- deadline coming soon. springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...
- Disruption of protein import into mitochondria affects cellular balance and can cause disease. Work @nature shows that cells sense this defect through inter-organelle communication and a signalling role of mitochondrial targeting sequence. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- One environmental factor that affects crop yield is soil stress. Work @nature shows how soil compaction stress affects plant root growth through hormonal signals and cell-wall remodelling. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- On plant cells, receptor-like kinases mediate both immune and symbiotic signalling. Work @nature provides amino-acid-level molecular insights into how signalling specificity is achieved downstream of such similar receptors. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The >1000 lipid species found in eukaryotic cells have vital functions. Using a combination of microscopy, spectroscopy and modelling, authors report @nature the first quantitative map of retrograde flux of individual lipids in cells.
- Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- An @nature paper presents a single-cell multi-omics atlas of eight rice organs. Insights emerging from this resource include new cell states during rice development and correlations between cell type and agronomic traits. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- In today’s issue of @nature, read a Review article on the latest and upcoming technologies that could aid research and development in crop science, contributing to sustainable global food security. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Plant NLR receptors mediate pathogen resistance, and so their engineering could lead to crops with broader pathogen specificity and so broader disease resistance. @nature, authors report one such attempt achieving resistance to several potyviruses. www.nature.com/articles/s41... & shorturl.at/932j7
- How the plant defence hormone salicylic acid (SA) is formed in some bacteria and in Arabidopsis is well-established. Three @nature papers now describe a different pathway of SA biosynthesis in non-Brassicaceae plants. rb.gy/9tgn8g shorturl.at/fYAYo shorturl.at/UCvo0 & NV tinyurl.com/bdz2p6dx
- Very much looking forward to hearing and seeing exciting research and to interacting with reseachers at #2025ISMPMI. Happy also to answer any questions about publishing in Nature and sister journals.
- How do plants notice loss of structural barriers (e.g. the periderm, which prevents water loss and pathogen infection) to regenerate them? Work @nature shows that plants sense damage to barrier integrity from diffusion of gases such as ethylene and oxygen. shorturl.at/FIhJ8 & N&V shorturl.at/u7PYs
- A bottleneck for studying the biological function of biomolecular condensates is unavailability of tools to selectively probe them within living cells. @nature, researchers report one such tool, showcasing its use in various contexts including disease. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The diverse cellular roles of early endosomes involve coordinated activity of several hundred integral membrane proteins and transiently associated regulatory complexes. A study @nature presents a systematic structural interactome of human endosomes . www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Want a taster of working as an editor? Nature has a locum position open for someone with interest in stem cell biology, developmental biology, and/or specific aspects of general cell biology. springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...
- Legume can form symbiotic relationship with some bacteria, while recognising others as pathogens. Work @nature identifies a plant kinase that mediates this nuanced balance of tolerance towards symbionts without compromised plant immunity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The E3 ubiquitin ligase complex SIFI has a role in terminating stress response signalling, to restore cellular homeostasis. Researchers @nature present the cryo-EM structure of this ~1.3 MDa complex providing insights into its mechanism of action. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Plant roots adapt to their environment including to soil conditions. Using single-cell transcriptomics, @nature authors report on the rice root responses and adaptations to soil-related stresses at individual cell level. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- At membrane contact sites, bridge-like transport proteins, e.g. LPD-3, mediate bulk lipid transfer between cellular organelles. @nature see cryo-EM structure of native LDP-3, and gain insights into its functioning and interaction with other proteins and lipids. shorturl.at/lycuz & shorturl.at/ARpUK
- The technique of haploid induction creates homozygous plants, enabling faster breeding cycles. A paper @nature discovers a way of generating haploid sunflower, and optimises the approach for efficiency compatible with breeding programs for this important oilseed crop. rb.gy/vrqana & N&V rb.gy/e7uyep
- Proteins and nucleic acids move in and out of the nucleus through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). Using 3D MINFLUX, @nature authors study single import and export events, gaining detailed insights into transport across NPCs within cells and at nanometer and millisecond scales. shorturl.at/2ClQp
- Vector-borne viral pathogens are threats to crops, and so trigger plant immune responses. Studying rice, authors @nature provide molecular-level insights into the first steps of plant antiviral response. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- While work @nature recently showed that the TIR1/AFB receptors of the plant hormone auxin have adenylate cyclase activity, further work now shows the broad physiological significance of this activity during plant development, via transcriptional reprogramming. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- @nature, an extensive study, involving 18 KO and mutant mouse models, reveals why Parkin KO mice grow normally. It finds that the Parkin-mediated mitochondrial quality control works alongside another such pathway, involving Oma1. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- In plant immunity, activated sensor NLRs generate second messengers, which in turn activate helper NLRs such as NRG1. Two studies @nature use cryo-EM to provide mechanistic insights into NRG1 activation and inhibition. www.nature.com/articles/s41... & www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Initiation of symbiosis between legumes and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms involves Ca2+ oscillations in root cells. Work @nature provides insights into molecular fine-tuning of the Ca2+ oscillations, and show the transfer of this beneficial trait to wheat. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- How do cells recognise disease- and stress-affected proteins for clearance by ubiquitination? Work @nature shows that such proteins are marked with C-terminal amides, allowing their targeting by SCF/FBXO31 ubiquitin ligase for degradation. shorturl.at/B3rmR & NV shorturl.at/fImjA
- Crops face a variety of challenging conditions, including alkaline soil and global warming. @nature, scientists gain molecular insights and apply them to not only make rice both alkali- and temperature-tolerant, but also to further increase its yield. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Increased soil salinity causes crop losses, due to cellular Na+ toxicity. @nature scientists use CryoNanoSIMS for high-res imaging of the subcellular distribution of Na+ and K+ in root cells of Arabidopsis and rice, gaining insights into consequences of salt stress. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- @nature, researchers report on their cryo-ET analysis of human TRiC/CCT -- the ATP-driven chaperonin the dysfunction of which is linked to disease. The work provides mechanistic insights into the functioning of this protein-folding machine within cells. shorturl.at/H69Ye
