Li-Juan Zhou, Lang-Tao Xiao, and Hong-Wei Xue National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032 Shanghai, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China Hunan Provinci...

Dormancy is one aspect of tuber physiological age that begins with potato tuber initiation. During dormancy, biochemical and physiological processes do occur but they do not trigger immediate morphological changes, yet these processes are relevant for the number of sprouts produced after breaking of the dormancy and for the growth vigour of the seed tuber. This review article reports that dorma...

Plants facing the seasonal variations always need a growth restraining mechanism when temperatures turn down. C-repeat binding factor (CBF) genes work essentially in the cold perception. Despite lots of researches on CBFs, the multiple crosstalk is still interesting on their interaction with hormones and dormancy-associated MADS (DAM) genes in the growth and dormancy control. Therefore, this st...

Seed dormancy determines the timing of germination, thereby contributing to successful seedling establishment and plant fitness. The induction and release of dormancy are controlled by various regulators like plant hormones and dormancy proteins. The relative strengths of these regulators are influenced by environmental factors during seed maturation and storage. In the last few years additiona...

Unlike the plant hormone auxin, the mechanism and function of cytokinin transport is poorly characterised. Two new studies now demonstrate that cytokinins transported from shoot to roots via the phloem are critical for creating mutually exclusive auxin and cytokinin signalling domains that control root vascular patterning.

Herbaceous vegetation comprises the main habitat type in cool-seasons grasslands and can be managed by various methods. We compared changes in plant communities and bird and mammal use of grasslands that were not managed, managed by mechanical methods (mowing), or managed by chemical methods (plant growth regulator). This 1-year study was conducted from May through October 2003 in Erie County, ...

In micropropagation of lily, preferably bulblets should be produced: Because bulblets are compact and robust, they are much easier to handle and to plant in soil than shoots. In this review, the various factors that determine bulblet growth in vitro are discussed. Gibberellins, jasmonates (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) are the major identified plant growth regulators (PGRs) for storage organ form...

Plants are sessile organisms that are permanently restricted to their site of germination. To compensate for their lack of mobility, plants evolved unique mechanisms enabling them to rapidly react to ever changing environmental conditions and flexibly adapt their postembryonic developmental program. A prominent demonstration of this developmental plasticity is their ability to bend organs in or...

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are a common and widely used practice in cotton production for controlling plant growth, increasing yield, and improving management efficiency. Most of the PGRs used have an effect on plant growth, both vegetative and reproductive, and dry matter partitioning. However, there have been no reports of effects of PGRs on radiation use efficiency (RUE). It is logical t...