Two-for-one: root microbiota orchestrates both soil pH and plant nutrition.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a crucial limiting factor for crop growth in acid soils. Recently, Liu et al. demonstrated that the root microbiota of rice modulates the responses to Al toxicity and phosphorus limitation, offering intriguing insights into microbiome function and opening new research opportunities.

Memories of heat: autophagy and Golgi recovery.

Fluctuations in temperature severely impact crop yield and trigger various plant response mechanisms. In a recent study, Zhou et al. discovered a non-canonical role of autophagy in mediating Golgi apparatus restoration after short-term heat stress (HS). Their results further suggest a critical, yet previously unknown, mechanism of autophagy-related (ATG)-8 in Golgi reassembly after HS.

Gamma trypsin: purification and physicochemical characterization of a novel bovine trypsin isoform.

A novel bovine trypsin isoform was purified from commercial sample by ion exchange chromatography by Sephadex SP C50®. New isoform contains in addition of loss of N-terminus hexapeptide (as found in parent molecule ß-trypsin) an intra-chain split between Lys-155 and Ser-156. The novel enzyme denominate γ-trypsin showed similar properties with α-trypsin isoform in polypeptide number chain (two chain), molecular masses (23,312 Da), secondary structure, hydrodynamic radius and others. In spite of enzymatic and structural similarities of both isoforms, γ-trypsin preferably has a lower rate formation from ß-trypsin, a lower surface charge, but the γ-trypsin has a higher thermal stability than α-trypsin. Due to obtaining facility of purification of bovine trypsin isoforms from commercial font, and properties described above, this enzyme becomes an interesting alternative for the food industry, detergent and biocatalysis research.