Communications Biology (Mar 2021)

Grain filling in barley relies on developmentally controlled programmed cell death

  • Volodymyr Radchuk,
  • Van Tran,
  • Alexander Hilo,
  • Aleksandra Muszynska,
  • Andre Gündel,
  • Steffen Wagner,
  • Joerg Fuchs,
  • Goetz Hensel,
  • Stefan Ortleb,
  • Eberhard Munz,
  • Hardy Rolletschek,
  • Ljudmilla Borisjuk

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01953-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Radchuk et al. report on the role of vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) in mediating programmed cell death (PCD) in the maternal tissues of a barley grain and influencing the delivery of assimilate to the endosperm. This study presents a means of increasing the efficiency of the grain filling process in the major cereal crop species by manipulating the timing of PCD.