Endogenous tassel-specific small RNAs-mediated RNA interference enables a novel glyphosate-inducible male sterility system for commercial production of hybrid seed in Zea mays L.

Hybrid crops produce higher yields than their inbred parents due to heterosis. For high purity of hybrid seeds, it is critical to eliminate self-pollination. Manual or mechanical removal of male parts (such as detasseling in maize) is labor-intensive, fuel and time-consuming, and can cause physical damage to female plants, resulting in significant seed yield reductions.

Mechanisms of the copper-dependent turnover of the copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase.

The copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS) is an intracellular metallochaperone required for incorporation of copper into the essential antioxidant enzyme copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1). Nutritional studies have revealed that the abundance of CCS is inversely proportional to the dietary and tissue copper content. To determine the mechanisms of copper-dependent regulation of CCS, copper incorporation into SOD1 and SOD1 enzymatic activity as well as CCS abundance and half-life were determined after metabolic labeling of CCS-/- fibroblasts transfected with wild-type or mutant CCS.