Integrating transcriptomic network reconstruction and eQTL analyses reveals mechanistic connections between genomic architecture and Brassica rapa development.

Plant developmental dynamics can be heritable, genetically correlated with fitness and yield, and undergo selection. Therefore, characterizing the mechanistic connections between the genetic architecture governing plant development and the resulting ontogenetic dynamics of plants in field settings is critically important for agricultural production and evolutionary ecology. We use hierarchical Bayesian Function-Valued Trait (FVT) models to estimate Brassica rapa growth curves throughout ontogeny, across two treatments, and in two growing seasons.

The Next Generation of Training for Arabidopsis Researchers: Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology.

Training for experimental plant biologists needs to combine bioinformatics, quantitative approaches, computational biology, and training in the art of collaboration, best achieved through fully integrated curriculum development.

Morphological Plant Modeling: Unleashing Geometric and Topological Potential within the Plant Sciences.

The geometries and topologies of leaves, flowers, roots, shoots, and their arrangements have fascinated plant biologists and mathematicians alike. As such, plant morphology is inherently mathematical in that it describes plant form and architecture with geometrical and topological techniques. Gaining an understanding of how to modify plant morphology, through molecular biology and breeding, aided by a mathematical perspective, is critical to improving agriculture, and the monitoring of ecosystems is vital to modeling a future with fewer natural resources.

Using RNA-Seq for Genomic Scaffold Placement, Correcting Assemblies, and Genetic Map Creation in a Common Mapping Population.

is a model species for agronomic, ecological, evolutionary, and translational studies. Here, we describe high-density SNP discovery and genetic map construction for a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from field collected RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data. This high-density genotype data enables the detection and correction of putative genome misassemblies and accurate assignment of scaffold sequences to their likely genomic locations.

Genetic architecture, biochemical underpinnings and ecological impact of floral UV patterning.

Floral attraction traits can significantly affect pollinator visitation patterns, but adaptive evolution of these traits may be constrained by correlations with other traits. In some cases, molecular pathways contributing to floral attraction are well characterized, offering the opportunity to explore loci potentially underlying variation among individuals. Here, we quantify the range of variation in floral UV patterning (i.

Developmental stage specificity of transcriptional, biochemical and CO2 efflux responses of leaf dark respiration to growth of Arabidopsis thaliana at elevated [CO2].

Plant respiration responses to elevated growth [CO(2)] are key uncertainties in predicting future crop and ecosystem function. In particular, the effects of elevated growth [CO(2)] on respiration over leaf development are poorly understood. This study tested the prediction that, due to greater whole plant photoassimilate availability and growth, elevated [CO(2)] induces transcriptional reprogramming and a stimulation of nighttime respiration in leaf primordia, expanding leaves and mature leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Transcriptional reprogramming and stimulation of leaf respiration by elevated CO2 concentration is diminished, but not eliminated, under limiting nitrogen supply.

Plant respiration responses to elevated CO2 concentration ( [CO2 ] ) have been studied for three decades without consensus about the mechanism of response. Positive effects of elevated [CO2 ] on leaf respiration have been attributed to greater substrate supply resulting from stimulated photosynthesis. Negative effects of elevated [CO2 ] on leaf respiration have been attributed to reduced demand for energy for protein turnover assumed to result from lower leaf N content.

Methamphetamine causes anorexia in Drosophila melanogaster, exhausting metabolic reserves and contributing to mortality.

Methamphetamine (MA) appears to produce neurotoxic effects, in part, through disruptions of energy metabolism. A recent study of the whole-body proteome of Drosophila melanogaster showed many changes in energy metabolism-related proteins, leading us to hypothesize that MA toxicity may cause whole-body disruptions of energy metabolism. To test this, we monitored the response of energy reserves and other metabolites to MA-exposure with and without the addition of dietary glucose.

Greater antioxidant and respiratory metabolism in field-grown soybean exposed to elevated O3 under both ambient and elevated CO2.

Antioxidant metabolism is responsive to environmental conditions, and is proposed to be a key component of ozone (O(3)) tolerance in plants. Tropospheric O(3) concentration ([O(3)]) has doubled since the Industrial Revolution and will increase further if precursor emissions rise as expected over this century. Additionally, atmospheric CO(2) concentration ([CO(2)]) is increasing at an unprecedented rate and will surpass 550 ppm by 2050.

Impairment of C(4) photosynthesis by drought is exacerbated by limiting nitrogen and ameliorated by elevated [CO(2)] in maize.

Predictions of future ecosystem function and food supply from staple C(4) crops, such as maize, depend on elucidation of the mechanisms by which environmental change and growing conditions interact to determine future plant performance. To test the interactive effects of elevated [CO(2)], drought, and nitrogen (N) supply on net photosynthetic CO(2) uptake (A) in the world's most important C(4) crop, maize (Zea mays) was grown at ambient [CO(2)] (∼385 ppm) and elevated [CO(2)] (550 ppm) with either high N supply (168 kg N ha(-1) fertilizer) or limiting N (no fertilizer) at a site in the US Corn Belt. A mid-season drought was not sufficiently severe to reduce yields, but caused significant physiological stress, with reductions in stomatal conductance (up to 57%), A (up to 44%), and the in vivo capacity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (up to 58%).