Alif Meem Nurani
On the cover: Pectins form a gel in the plant extracellular matrix that strengthens the cell wall and is critical for cell-cell adhesion. Arabidopsis seed coat mucilage is rich in pectin and has been used as a model to identify genes involved in pectin biosynthesis, including the E3 ubiquitin ligase FLYING SAUCER1 (FLY1). Kunieda et al. (pp. 308–317) have now characterized the FLY1 homolog, FLY2. They show that FLY1 and FLY2 function redundantly to regulate the degree of pectin methylesterification in seed mucilage.