Casein as protein and hydrolysate: Biostimulant or nitrogen source for Nicotiana tabacum plants grown in vitro?

In contrast to inorganic nitrogen (N) assimilation, the role of organic N forms, such as proteins and peptides, as sources of N and their impact on plant metabolism remains unclear. Simultaneously, organic biostimulants are used as priming agents to improve plant defense response. Here, we analysed the metabolic response of tobacco plants grown in vitro with casein hydrolysate or protein.

Biochar in manure can suppress water stress of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and increase sucrose content in tubers.

Increased soil drought events threaten the yields of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and other staples of arable production in central Europe. In this study we evaluated soil moisture and nutrients as impacted by a two and five % (wt) addition of biochar, manure and their blend to a loamy-sand Regosol.

European ferns as rich sources of antioxidants in the human diet.

Wild edible plants have become an attractive variation of the human diet, especially in East Asia, North America, and Oceania. However, their potential in nutrition is only rarely considered in Europe. This study aims to reveal the nutritional and antioxidant potential of mature fern leaves from 13 families grown in Europe.

Nutritional and Antioxidant Potential of Fiddleheads from European Ferns.

Ferns are part of the diet and traditional medicine in East Asia, North America, and Oceania, however, their importance has been forgotten in Europe. Here, the nutritional and antioxidant potential of young fern fronds (fiddleheads) of eight families were studied. Most of the tested fern species excelled in high antioxidant capacity when compared to the reference leafy vegetables spinach and rocket.

Plant Origin, but Not Phylogeny, Drive Species Ecophysiological Response to Projected Climate.

Knowledge of the relationship between environmental conditions and species traits is an important prerequisite for understanding determinants of community composition and predicting species response to novel climatic conditions. Despite increasing number of studies on this topic, our knowledge on importance of genetic differentiation, plasticity and their interactions along larger sets of species is still limited especially for traits related to plant ecophysiology. We studied variation in traits related to growth, leaf chemistry, contents of photosynthetic pigments and activity of antioxidative enzymes, stomata morphology and photosynthetic activity across eight species growing along altitudinal gradients in Himalayas cultivated in three different temperature regimes and explored effects of among species phylogenetic relationships on the results.

The effect of nanoparticles on the photosynthetic pigments in cadmium-zinc interactions.

Heavy metal contamination, one of the greatest global problems, not only endangers humans and animals but also negatively affects plants. New trends, the production and industrial applications of metals in nanoforms, lead to release of large amounts of nanoparticles into the environment. However, the influence of nanoparticles on living organisms is not well understood.

Effects of polyploidization on the contents of photosynthetic pigments are largely population-specific.

The contents of photosynthetic pigments are an important indicator of many processes taking place in the plant body. Still, however, our knowledge of the effects of polyploidization, a major driver of speciation in vascular plants, on the contents of photosynthetic pigments is very sparse. We compared the contents of photosynthetic pigments among natural diploids, natural tetraploids, and synthetic tetraploids.

The disadvantages of being a hybrid during drought: A combined analysis of plant morphology, physiology and leaf proteome in maize.

A comparative analysis of various parameters that characterize plant morphology, growth, water status, photosynthesis, cell damage, and antioxidative and osmoprotective systems together with an iTRAQ analysis of the leaf proteome was performed in two inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.) differing in drought susceptibility and their reciprocal F1 hybrids. The aim of this study was to dissect the parent-hybrid relationships to better understand the mechanisms of the heterotic effect and its potential association with the stress response.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 isopentenyltransferases mediate salt stress response in tomato.

Background: Cytokinins (CKs) are involved in response to various environmental cues, including salinity. It has been previously reported that enhancing CK contents improved salt stress tolerance in tomato. However, the underlying mechanisms of CK metabolism and signaling under salt stress conditions remain to be deciphered.

Growth and stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Glycine max, Solanum tuberosum and Brassica napus cultivated under polychromatic LEDs.

Background: The use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) brings several key advantages over existing illumination technologies for indoor plant cultivation. Among these are that LEDs have predicted lifetimes from 50-100.000 hours without significant drops in efficiency and energy consumption is much lower compared to traditional fluorescent tubes.

Enhanced drought and heat stress tolerance of tobacco plants with ectopically enhanced cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase gene expression.

Responses to drought, heat, and combined stress were compared in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants ectopically expressing the cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase CKX1 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana L. under the control of either the predominantly root-expressed WRKY6 promoter or the constitutive 35S promoter, and in the wild type.

Comparison of hormonal responses to heat, drought and combined stress in tobacco plants with elevated proline content.

In order to test the possibility of improving tolerance to heat and drought (alone and in combination) by elevation of the osmoprotectant proline (Pro) content, stress responses were compared in tobacco plants constitutively over-expressing a gene for the Pro biosynthetic enzyme Δ(2)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CSF129A; EC 2.7.2.

Antioxidant protection during ageing and senescence in chloroplasts of tobacco with modulated life span.

We studied changes in antioxidant protection during ageing and senescence in chloroplasts of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L., cv. Wisconsin) with introduced SAG(12) promoter fused with ipt gene for cytokinin synthesis (transgenic plants with increased levels of cytokinins, SAG) or without it (control).