Almost two billion years of evolution have generated a vast and amazing variety of eukaryotic
life with approximately 8.7 million extant species. Growth and reproduction of all of these …

Background Cytosine methylation is crucial for gene regulation and silencing of transposable
elements in mammals and plants. While this epigenetic mark is extensively reprogrammed …

Endoreplication, also called endoreduplication, is a cell cycle variant of multicellular eukaryotes
in which mitosis is skipped and cells repeatedly replicate their DNA, resulting in cellular …

Based on their evolutionary origin, MADS box transcription factor genes have been divided
into two classes, namely, type I and II. The plant-specific type II MIKC MADS box genes have …

Post‐translational modification of histones and DNA methylation are important components
of chromatin‐level control of genome activity in eukaryotes. However, principles governing …

Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) is a key regulator of epigenetic states catalyzing
histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3), a repressive chromatin mark. PRC2 …

Double fertilization of the egg cell and the central cell by one sperm cell each produces the
diploid embryo and the typically triploid endosperm and is one of the defining characteristics …

Leaf hairs (trichomes) of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) have been extensively used as
a model to address general questions in cell and developmental biology. Here, we lay the …

Trichomes in Arabidopsis are single-celled hairs that exhibit a regular spacing pattern. Here,
the role of TRIPTYCHON (TRY) in the generation of this spacing pattern is studied. By using …

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are at the heart of eukaryotic cell-cycle control. The yeast
Cdc2/CDC28 PSTAIRE kinase and its orthologs such as the mammalian Cdk1 have been …