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RNA interference (RNAi) has been long known to move between cells and over long distance in plants, yet the signalling  molecule(s) have remained controversial. In a recent publication in Nature Plants, the Voinnet group has now solved this issue unambiguously and simultaneously discovered a process that lends mobile RNAi almost boundless flexibility and versatility in shaping gene expression across distances, well beyond those afforded by linear diffusion gradients.

Polyploids arise from genome duplication. They are important in agriculture and natural evolution, yet face challenges when they first form. A recent paper in PNAS from the Bomblies group sheds new light on naturally evolved genetic changes that likely helped a natural polyploid persist.