Jorge El-Azaz
The microRNA miR172 is involved in various developmental processes in plants. Tang et al. (on pp. 2549–2563) characterized the function of miR172 in leaf morphology, flowering induction, floral organ specification, and fruit and seed morphologies in the perennial biofuel plant Jatropha curcas, and found a novel function of J. curcas miR172 (JcmiR172) in the regulation of stem components by manipulating the expression of cellulose and lignin biosynthesis genes.