Rice Biofortification With Zinc and Selenium: A Transcriptomic Approach to Understand Mineral Accumulation in Flag Leaves.

Human malnutrition due to micronutrient deficiencies, particularly with regards to Zinc (Zn) and Selenium (Se), affects millions of people around the world, and the enrichment of staple foods through biofortification has been successfully used to fight hidden hunger. Rice ( L.) is one of the staple foods most consumed in countries with high levels of malnutrition.

Efficient H2 production via Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Molecular hydrogen (H(2)) obtained from biological sources provides an alternative to bulk chemical processes that is moving towards large-scale, economical generation of clean fuel for automotive engines. This opinion article examines recent improvements in H(2) production by wild and mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - the green microalga currently considered the best eukaryotic H(2) producer. Here, we review various aspects of genetic and metabolic engineering of C.

Substitution of tyrosine residues at the aromatic cluster around the betaA-betaB loop of rubisco small subunit affects the structural stability of the enzyme and the in vivo degradation under stress conditions.

Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) plays a central metabolic role in photosynthetic eukaryotes, and its catabolism is a crucial process for the nutrient economy of higher plants. The rubisco holoenzyme is assembled from eight chloroplast-encoded large subunits and eight nuclear-encoded small subunits. We have identified a cluster of conserved tyrosines at the interface between subunits (comprising Y67, Y68, and Y72 from the betaA-betaB loop of the small subunit and Y226 from the large subunit) that may contribute to holoenzyme stability.

Monitoring the stability of Rubisco in micropropagated grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) by two-dimensional electrophoresis.

Plants cultured in vitro suffer from several physiological and biochemical impairments due to the artificial conditions of growth, namely the composition of the heterotrophic media. Upon transfer to ex vitro, the higher irradiances, compared to in vitro, can lead to oxidative stress symptoms, which can be counteracted by CO2 concentrations above atmospheric levels. Here we analyse the stability of Rubisco in in vitro grapevine plantlets, and after transfer to ex vitro under four acclimatization treatments: low irradiance (LL, 150 micromol m(-2)s(-1)) and high irradiance (HL, 300 micromol m(-2)s(-1)) in association with CO2 concentrations of 350 (LCO2) and 700 (HCO2) microL L(-1).

Deletion of nine carboxy-terminal residues of the Rubisco small subunit decreases thermal stability but does not eliminate function.

A recent X-ray crystal structure of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacks 13 carboxy-terminal residues of the small subunit. To determine the importance of this divergent region, a non-sense mutation was created that removes nine residues. This engineered gene was transformed into a Chlamydomonas strain that lacks the small-subunit gene family.