Valeria Gagliardini

TL;DR: Z-VAD.FMK protected against alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate-induced or to a lesser extent N- methyl-D-aspartate- induced excitotoxic brain damage and provided therapeutic targets for stroke and neurodegenerative brain damage.

TL;DR: The findings show that the female control of pollen tube reception is based on a FER-dependent signaling pathway, which may play a role in reproductive isolation barriers, and the FER protein accumulates asymmetrically in the synergid membrane at the filiform apparatus.

TL;DR: The maternally expressed Arabidopsis thaliana Polycomb group protein MEDEA (MEA) controls expression of the MADS-box gene PHE1, and it is shown that this maternal repression ofPHE1 breaks down in seeds lacking maternal MEA activity.

TL;DR: It is found that Arabidopsis RalF4 and RALF19 redundantly regulate pollen tube integrity and growth, and that their function depends on pollen-expressed proteins of the LEUCINE-RICH REPEAT EXTENSIN (LRX) family, which play a role in cell wall development but whose mode of action is not understood.

TL;DR: It is shown that the imprinted plant gene MEDEA (MEA), which is essential for seed development, originated during a whole-genome duplication 35 to 85 million years ago and underwent positive darwinian selection consistent with neo-functionalization and the parental conflict theory.