Latest Research

The key protein complex PRC2 was discovered decades ago to silence genes, but new findings by Frederic Berger and his group at the Gregor Mendel Institute show that PRC2 represses transposons in a range of eukaryotes and only gradually evolved to silence genes. The study was published on…

Long non-coding RNAs, an enigmatic class of genes that do not encode proteins, exhibit greater variability and are subject to more silencing mechanisms than previously known, a new study in Arabidopsis shows. Some lncRNAs even resemble transposons and are controlled by transposon silencing…

How do individual cells give rise to the range of cellular lineages in multicellular organisms? Now, researchers from Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid’s lab at GMI present a CRISPR-Cas9-based technique for lineage tracing within living plants, which can help answer this question. The technique’s…

Conserved signaling molecules, called RHO GTPases, define where growth occurs on the surface of eukaryotic cells. Researchers from the Dolan group at GMI discovered how “RHO GTPase of plants” – called ROP proteins for short – coordinate cell growth and division during tissue development and…

The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana shows a striking natural variation in a key epigenetic marker. Researchers from the Nordborg group at the Gregor Mendel Institute (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences sought to uncover what causes this variation. In a new study, the researchers…

Seed germination depends on light in many plants. But not always: Aethionema arabicum, a plant adapted to challenging environmental conditions, does it its own way. Here, the phytochromes, the receptors for red and far-red light, play an unexpected role in seed germination and time this…

Autophagy, or “self-eating”, is an essential cellular quality control mechanism that clears the cell of protein aggregates and damaged organelles. This mechanism is inactive under normal conditions and only triggered upon persistent cellular stress. Researchers from the Gregor Mendel…

Non-vascular bryophytes live in colonies that cover the ground and resemble tiny forests. In a real forest, plants compete for light in different layers of the canopy. If a plant does not receive enough sunlight, it stops lateral branching and instead grows vertically to reach the sunlight.…

A “hub and spoke” system enables plant cells to efficiently coordinate cellular trafficking, particularly for cellular recycling, the so-called autophagy process. Specialized vesicles, the autophagosomes, engulf harmful molecules and carry them to the vacuole, where they are degraded. During…