Adaptation and spectral tuning in divergent marine proteorhodopsins from the eastern Mediterranean and the Sargasso Seas.

Proteorhodopsins (PRs) phototrophy was recently discovered in oceanic surface waters. PRs have been observed in different marine environments and in diverse taxa, including the ubiquitous marine alphaproteobacterial SAR11 group and the uncultured gammaproteobacterial SAR86 group. Previously, two SAR86 PR subgroups, discovered in the Pacific Ocean, were shown to absorb light with different maxima, lambda max 527 nm (green) and lambda max 490 nm (blue) and their distribution was explained by prevailing light conditions - green pigments at the surface and blue in deeper waters.

Growth suppression, altered stomatal responses, and augmented induction of heat shock proteins in cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase (Apx1)-deficient Arabidopsis plants.

The accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in plants is typically associated with biotic or abiotic stresses. However, H2O2 is continuously produced in cells during normal metabolism. Yet, little is known about how H2O2 accumulation will affect plant metabolism in the absence of pathogens or abiotic stress.

Molecular and biochemical mechanisms associated with dormancy and drought tolerance in the desert legume Retama raetam.

Dormancy is an important developmental program allowing plants to withstand extended periods of extreme environmental conditions, such as low temperature or drought. Seed dormancy, bud dormancy and desiccation tolerance have been extensively studied, but little is known about the mechanisms involved in the dormancy of drought-tolerant plants, key to the survival of many plant species in arid and semi-arid environments. Subtractive PCR cloning of cDNAs from Retama raetam, a C3 drought-tolerant legume, revealed that dormancy in this plant is accompanied by the accumulation of transcripts encoding a pathogenesis-related, PR-10-like protein; a low temperature-inducible dehydrin; and a WRKY transcription factor.