Publications by authors named "Paul N Hills"

Future climatic scenarios forecast increasingly frequent droughts that will pose substantial consequences on tree mortality. In light of this, drought-tolerant eucalypts have been propagated; however, the severity of these conditions will invoke adaptive responses, impacting the commercially valuable wood properties. To determine what mechanisms govern the wood anatomical adaptive response, highly controlled drought experiments were conducted in Eucalyptus grandis W.

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Article Synopsis
  • Quantitative wood anatomy is a specialized area within dendrochronology that needs effective image analysis tools, and QuPath's bioimage analysis software is introduced as a solution for automating xylem cellular property quantification.
  • The research optimized algorithms in QuPath for accurately detecting different xylem cell types in two plant species, Eucalyptus grandis and Pinus radiata, assessing its effectiveness against manual methods.
  • The automated detection approach using QuPath has been found to be reliable with minimal error for most cell types, but additional improvements are necessary for accurately analyzing parenchyma, making it a promising method for further research in various plant species.
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Transcriptomic analysis indicates that the bacterial signalling molecule lumichrome enhances plant growth through a combination of enhanced cell division and cell enlargement, and possibly enhances photosynthesis. Lumichrome (7,8 dimethylalloxazine), a novel multitrophic signal molecule produced by Sinorhizobium meliloti bacteria, has previously been shown to elicit growth promotion in different plant species (Phillips et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:12275-12280, https://doi.

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Symbiosis involves responses that maintain the plant host and symbiotic partner's genetic program; yet these cues are far from elucidated. Here we describe the effects of lumichrome, a flavin identified from Rhizobium spp., applied to lotus (Lotus japonicus) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

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Endogenous embryo factors, which act mainly in the radicle, prevent germination in Tagetes minuta at high temperatures. These factors act to prevent cell elongation, which is critical for radicle protrusion under optimal conditions. Once the radicle has emerged both cell elongation and cell division are required for post-germination growth.

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Thermoinhibition in Tagetes minuta achenes is tightly and rapidly regulated with regard to its imposition and release, with both processes occurring within 2-3h. Germination at high temperatures is almost exclusively regulated by the embryo, while the pericarp appears to play only a minor role. Thermoinhibition in T.

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