Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for Morus spp. and assessment of their transferability to other closely related species.

Background: Adoption of genomics based breeding has emerged as a promising approach for achieving comprehensive crop improvement. Such an approach is more relevant in the case of perennial species like mulberry. However, unavailability of genomic resources of co-dominant marker systems has been the major constraint for adopting molecular breeding to achieve genetic enhancement of Mulberry.

Relationship between 18O enrichment in leaf biomass and stomatal conductance.

Models that explain the oxygen isotope enrichment in leaf water (and biomass) treat the relationship between the kinetic fractionation that occurs during evapotranspiration and the stomatal conductance in an empirical way. Consequently, the isotopic enrichment is always predicted to decrease with increasing stomatal conductance, regardless of the experimental evidence to the contrary. We explain why and suggest an alternative method to reconcile theory and experiment.