Massive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations were conducted across a distributed computing network to study the folding, unfolding, misfolding and conformational plasticity of the high-efficiency frameshifting double mutant of the 26 nt potato leaf roll virus RNA pseudoknot. Our robust sampling, which included over 40 starting structures spanning the spectrum from the extended unfolded state...

Some potato species require a short-day (SD) photoperiod for tuberization, a process that is negatively affected by gibberellins (GAs). Here we report the isolation of StGA3ox2, a gene encoding a GA 3-oxidase, whose expression is increased in the aerial parts and is repressed in the stolons after transfer of photoperiod-dependent potato plants to SD conditions. Over-expression of StGA3ox2 under...

Activation of the innate immune system before the invasion of pathogens is a promising way to improve the resistance of plant against infection while reducing the use of agricultural chemicals. Although several elicitors were used to induce the resistance of potato plant to microbial pathogen infection, the role of curdlan oligosaccharide (CurdO) has not been established. In the current study, ...

Abstract To find out how maize and potato can grow and develop in an intercropping system rather than each grown alone in a sole cropping system the following factorial experiment was performend in the frame-work of a randomized complete block three replications in the experimental farm of the faculty of agriculture, Zanjan University in year 2004. Different potato to maize ratios of (1:0), i...

Insertional mutagenesis using transfer DNA or transposable elements, which is an important tool in functional genomics and is well established in several crops, has not been developed in potato (Solanum tuberosum). Here, we report the application of the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Tnt1 retrotransposon as an insertional mutagen in potato. The Tnt1 retrotransposon was introduced into a highly hom...

Sweepoviruses have been identified globally and cause substantial yield losses and cultivar decline in sweet potato. This study aimed to investigate the interaction between sweepovirus and plant host by analyzing the function of the viral protein C4 of Sweet potato leaf curl virus-Jiangsu (SPLCV-JS), a sweepovirus cloned from diseased sweet potato plants in East China. Ectopic expression of the...

The observations of a long-term experiment on the use of saline water were used to compare the crop tolerance to salinity. Salinity affected significantly yield, evapotranspiration, pre-dawn leaf water potential and stomatal conductance. The higher the salinity, the lower the yield, evapotranspiration, pre-dawn leaf water potential and stomatal resistance. The crop classification, based on soil...

Leaves of 18- to 24-d-old tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants exposed to gaseous methyl jasmonate (MJ) for 24 h at 30[deg]C in continuous light contained high levels of soluble protein that inhibited papain. Chromatographic analysis demonstrated that the active protein had a molecular mass of 80 to 90 kD. Induction of papain inhibitor was directly related to the concentration of air-borne M...