Targeted suppression of gibberellin biosynthetic genes ZmGA20ox3 and ZmGA20ox5 produces a short stature maize ideotype.

Maize is one of the world's most widely cultivated crops. As future demands for maize will continue to rise, fields will face ever more frequent and extreme weather patterns that directly affect crop productivity. Development of environmentally resilient crops with improved standability in the field, like wheat and rice, was enabled by shifting the architecture of plants to a short stature ideotype.

Central metabolic fluxes in the endosperm of developing maize seeds and their implications for metabolic engineering.

¹⁴C labeling experiments performed with kernel cultures showed that developing maize endosperm is more efficient than other non-photosynthetic tissues such as sunflower and maize embryos at converting maternally supplied substrates into biomass. To characterize the metabolic fluxes in endosperm, maize kernels were labeled to isotopic steady state using ¹³C-labeled glucose. The resultant labeling in free metabolites and biomass was analyzed by NMR and GC-MS.

Structural basis and specificity of acyl-homoserine lactone signal production in bacterial quorum sensing.

Synthesis and detection of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) enables many gram-negative bacteria to engage in quorum sensing, an intercellular signaling mechanism that activates differentiation to virulent and biofilm lifestyles. The AHL synthases catalyze acylation of S-adenosyl-L-methionine by acyl-acyl carrier protein and lactonization of the methionine moiety to give AHLs. The crystal structure of the AHL synthase, EsaI, determined at 1.