A Rapid Method for the Determination of Fucoxanthin in Diatom.

Fucoxanthin is a natural pigment found in microalgae, especially diatoms and . Recently, it has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-obesityactivity in humans. is a diatom with high economic potential due to its high content of fucoxanthin and eicosapentaenoic acid.

A pollen-specific RALF from tomato that regulates pollen tube elongation.

Rapid Alkalinization Factors (RALFs) are plant peptides that rapidly increase the pH of plant suspension cell culture medium and inhibit root growth. A pollen-specific tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) RALF (SlPRALF) has been identified. The SlPRALF gene encodes a preproprotein that appears to be processed and released from the pollen tube as an active peptide.

The maize O2 and PBF proteins act additively to promote transcription from storage protein gene promoters in rice endosperm cells.

A transient expression assay system was employed to investigate the possible use of the maize Opaque 2 (O2) and prolamin box binding factor (PBF) proteins as transcriptional activators of rice and wheat storage protein gene promoters. When assayed in developing rice endosperm cells, either O2 or PBF alone could increase transcription from the promoter of the rice glutelin gene, Gt1. However, mutant forms of O2 and PBF that are defective in DNA binding could not.

Whole-genome comparison of leucine-rich repeat extensins in Arabidopsis and rice. A conserved family of cell wall proteins form a vegetative and a reproductive clade.

We have searched the Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa) genomes for homologs of LRX1, an Arabidopsis gene encoding a novel type of cell wall protein containing a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and an extensin domain. Eleven and eight LRX (LRR/EXTENSIN) genes have been identified in these two plant species, respectively. The LRX gene family encodes proteins characterized by a short N-terminal domain, a domain with 10 LRRs, a cysteine-rich motif, and a variable C-terminal extensin-like domain.