Plant lignocellulosic biomass, i.e. secondary cell walls of plants, is a vital alternative source for bioenergy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMango ( L.) is a nutritionally important fruit of high nutritive value, delicious in taste with an attractive aroma. Due to their antioxidant and therapeutic potential, mango fruits are receiving special attention in biochemical and pharmacognosy-based studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUpon mechanical damage, plants produce wound responses to protect internal tissues from infections and desiccation. Suberin, a heteropolymer found on the inner face of primary cell walls, is deposited in specific tissues under normal development, enhanced under abiotic stress conditions and synthesized by any tissue upon mechanical damage. Wound-healing suberization of tree bark has been investigated at the anatomical level but very little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying this important stress response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article comments on: Bossinger G, Spokevicius AV. 2018. Sector analysis reveals patterns of cambium differentiation in poplar stems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant height is an important agronomic and horticultural trait that impacts plant productivity, durability and esthetic appeal. A number of the plant hormones such as gibberellic acid (GA), auxin and ethylene have been linked to control of plant architecture and size. Reduction in GA synthesis and auxin transport result in dwarfism while ethylene may have a permissive or repressive effect on tissue growth depending upon the age of plant tissues or the environmental conditions considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing activation tagging in Populus, we have identified five mutant lines showing changes in their adventitious rooting. Among the affected lines, three showed increased and two decreased adventitious rooting. We have positioned the tag in the mutant lines via recovering genomic sequences flanking the left-hand border of the activation tagging vector and validated the transcriptional activation of the proximal genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulation of secondary (woody) growth is of substantial economic and environmental interest but is poorly understood. We identified and subsequently characterized an activation-tagged poplar (Populus tremula × Populus alba) mutant with enhanced woody growth and changes in bark texture caused primarily by increased secondary phloem production. Molecular characterization of the mutation through positioning of the tag and retransformation experiments shows that the phenotype is conditioned by activation of an uncharacterized gene that encodes a novel member of the LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES DOMAIN (LBD) family of transcription factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrichomes are specialized epidermal cells that generally play a role in reducing transpiration and act as a deterrent to herbivory. In a screen of activation-tagged Populus tremula × Populus alba 717-1B4 trees, we identified a mutant line, fuzzy, with increased foliar trichome density. This mutant also had a 35% increase in growth rate and a 200% increase in the rate of photosynthesis as compared with wild-type poplar.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProper plant development is dependent on the coordination and tight control of a wide variety of different signals. In the study of the plant hormone ethylene, control of the immediate biosynthetic precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) is of interest as the level of ethylene can either help or hinder plant growth during times of stress. It is known that ACC can be reversibly removed from the biosynthesis pathway through conjugation into other compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe single-celled trichome of Arabidopsis thaliana is a widely used model system for studying cell development. While the pathways that control the later stages of trichome development are well characterized, the early signalling events that co-ordinate these pathways are less well understood. Hormones such as gibberellic acid, salicylic acid, cytokinins, and ethylene are known to affect trichome initiation and development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Functional genomics tools provide researchers with the ability to apply high-throughput techniques to determine the function and interaction of a diverse range of genes. Mutagenized plant populations are one such resource that facilitate gene characterisation. They allow complex physiological responses to be correlated with the expression of single genes in planta, through either reverse genetics where target genes are mutagenized to assay the affect, or through forward genetics where populations of mutant lines are screened to identify those whose phenotype diverges from wild type for a particular trait.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControl of the levels of the plant hormone ethylene is crucial in the regulation of many developmental processes and stress responses. Ethylene production can be controlled by altering endogenous levels of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), the immediate precursor to ethylene or by altering its conversion to ethylene. ACC is known to be irreversibly broken down by bacterial or fungal ACC deaminases (ACDs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo help develop an understanding of the genes that govern the developmental characteristics of the potato (Solanum tuberosum), as well as the genes associated with responses to specified pathogens and storage conditions, The Canadian Potato Genome Project (CPGP) carried out 5' end sequencing of regular, normalized and full-length cDNA libraries of the Shepody potato cultivar, generating over 66,600 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Libraries sequenced represented tuber developmental stages, pathogen-challenged tubers, as well as leaf, floral developmental stages, suspension cultured cells and roots. All libraries analysed to date have contributed unique sequences, with the normalized libraries high on the list.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEthylene is produced in wood-forming tissues, and when applied exogenously, it has been shown to cause profound effects on the pattern and rate of wood development. However, the molecular regulation of ethylene biosynthesis during wood formation is poorly understood. We have characterised an abundant 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) oxidase gene (PttACO1) in the wood-forming tissues of Populus tremula (L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe plant body requires the transport of various materials over large distances. Two cell types that bear a striking resemblance morphologically are the cells specialized for water transport and those responsible for the transport of oxygen: xylem and lysigenous aerenchyma, respectively. Each of these cell types undergoes programmed cell death and cellular autolysis, resulting in the production of a functional space within the plant body.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cambial K+ content of poplar increases during the growth period in a K+ supply dependent manner. Upon K+ starvation or application of tetraethylammoniumchloride (TEA+), a K+ channel blocker, the average vessel lumen and expansion zone area were significantly reduced. In search for the molecular basis of potassium-dependent xylogenesis in poplar, K+ transporters homologous to those of known function in Arabidopis phloem- and xylem-physiology were isolated from a poplar wood EST library.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur understanding of the molecular controls regulating the identity of the vascular cambium and the development of secondary xylem and phloem have not yet benefited much from the use of Arabidopsis as a genetic system. Under appropriate growth conditions Arabidopsis undergoes extensive secondary growth in the hypocotyl, with the development of both a vascular and a cork cambium. The secondary xylem of the hypocotyl develops in two phases, an early phase in which only vessel elements mature and a later stage in which both vessel elements and fibres are found.
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