The discovery of phosphate (Pi) transporter genes has provided a basis for the molecular study of the complex pattern of Pi transport in plants. Over the past two years, a significant amount of information has been generated on the molecular regulation of phosphate transport in plants. Recent developments in plant genomics will soon allow the complete dissection of the signal transduction pathw...

This perspective paper focuses on the most recent results suggesting a potential role for UDP-Glucose as a signaling molecule in plants. In animals, UDP-Glucose is well-established as an extracellular signaling molecule that is sensed by G-protein coupled receptors, activating several downstream defense mechanisms. Recent studies have shown that abnormal growth occurred in both vegetative and r...

Hypotheses about the origin of vegetation pattern formation in semi-arid areas around the world almost all include a common feature of semi-arid areas: the presence of a positive feedback between plant density and water infiltration. We investigate whether this positive feedback and the spatial redistribution of runoff water are sufficient to explain vegetation pattern formation. For this purpo...

Like animals, plants sense bacterial pathogens through surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat proteins (NB-LRR) and trigger defense responses. Many plant-pathogenic bacteria secrete a large repertoire of effector proteins into host cells to modulate host responses, enabling successful infection and multiplication in plants...

In the U.S.A., 70 percent of the manufactured cement and 43 percent of aggregates is used in Ready-Mixed Concrete (RMC) plants. So a material inventory control system is needed to form a consumption pattern for this material to optimize warehousing cost and ordering in RMC plants. Such a material inventory control system of batching plants could be applied as an approach for optimal estimation ...

The responses of young plants of diploid and tetraploid Matricaria chamomilla cultivars to abiotic stress were studied. The course of quantitative changes of main leaf secondary metabolites was evaluated within an interval from 6 h before to 54 h after spraying the leaf rosettes with aqueous CuCl2 solution. The content of herniarin in the treated plants rose approximately 3 times, simultaneousl...

The ability of plants to serve as a production system for bacterial lipoprotein vaccines has been investigated. First, the effect of high-level expression of the Borrelia burgdorferi outer membrane protein A (OspA), a prototype vaccine against Lyme disease, has been examined by a proteomics approach. Analysis by 2D-PAGE of wild type tobacco plants and transplastomic plants accumulating recombin...

Within their natural habitat, plants are subjected to a combination of abiotic conditions that include stresses such as drought and heat. Drought and heat stress have been extensively studied; however, little is known about how their combination impacts plants. The response of Arabidopsis plants to a combination of drought and heat stress was found to be distinct from that of plants subjected t...