Contrary to animals, little is known in plants about enzymes able produce fatty acid epoxides. In our attempt find and characterize a new epoxygenase Arabidopsis thaliana, data mining brought attention on CYP77B1. Modification of the N-terminus was necessary get enzymatic activity after heterologous expression yeast. The common plant C18:2 converted into diol 12,13-dihydroxy-octadec-cis-9-enoic...

apricot belongs to the rosaceae family and is considered as an economically important fruit among others. irregular bearing is a shortcoming in apricot production which is partly due to its limited ecological adaptation. the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of temperature prior to flowering stage on some characteristics as related to flowering organs. in two consecutive years, s...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Sexual reproduction in angiosperms involves a network of signalling and interactions between pollen and pistil. To promote out-breeding, an additional layer of interactions, involving self-incompatibility (SI), is used to prevent self-fertilization. SI is generally controlled by the S-locus, and comprises allelic pollen and pistil S-determinants. This provides the basis of r...

Daphne laureola (Thymelaeaceae) is a gynodioecious, winter-flowering shrub inhabiting the understory of shady mountain forests. The small, inconspicuous yellowish-green flowers are pollinated by ectothermic insects whose activity is mainly confined to infrequent spells of sunny weather. We tested the hypotheses that (1) the solar irradiance environment of individual D. laureola plants and dista...

Sexual conflict and its evolutionary consequences are understudied in plants, but the theory of sexual conflict may help explain how selection generates and maintains variability. Here, we investigated selection on pollen and pistil traits when pollen arrives sequentially to partially receptive pistils in relation to pollen competition and a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity in ...

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an important and universal process regulating precise death of unwanted cells in eukaryotes. In plants, the existence of PCD has been firmly established for about a decade, and many components shown to be involved in apoptosis/PCD in mammalian systems are found in plant cells undergoing PCD. Here, we review work from our lab demonstrating the involvement of PCD in...

Pollen proteases were discovered over 100 years ago, whereas the enzymes from female tissues have been used since the Roman era in simple biotechnological processes. In the last decade a great progress has been made in studies on plant proteases, including those from the generative organs. This paper reviews reports published in the last decade, concerning purification, properties and localizat...

The majority of flowering plants produce perfect flowers that contain both the male and female reproductive organs in close proximity; consequently, they would have a strong tendency to self-fertilize if there were no mechanisms to prevent them from doing so. Because inbreeding can result in reduced fitness in the progeny, hermaphroditic plants have adopted a variety of reproductive strategies,...

Dianthus chinensis is a perennial herbaceous plant with great ornamental, botanical, ecological, and medicinal value. The pistil of D. chinensis is composed of two fused carpels with free central placenta and two separate styles. The placenta is a columnar structure extending about two-thirds the length of the maturing fruit, which is typical of the Caryophyllaceous. Traditionally, free central...

Recognition and rejection of heterospecific male gametes occurs in a broad range of taxa, although the complexity of mechanisms underlying these components of postmating cryptic female choice is poorly understood. In plants, the arena for postmating interactions is the female reproductive tract (pistil), within which heterospecific pollen tube growth can be arrested via active molecular recogni...