The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system is a powerful tool for editing plant genomes. Efficient genome editing of grape (Vitis vinifera) suspension cells using the type II CRISPR/Cas9 system has been demonstrated; however, it has not been established whether this system can be applied to get biallelic mutations in the first generat...

Medicinal plants represent a significant reservoir of unexplored substances for early-stage drug discovery. Of interest, two flowering Mediterranean plants have been used for thousands of years for their beneficial effects on nervous disorders, including anxiety and mood. However, the therapeutic potential of these plants regarding their ability to target ion channels and neuronal excitability ...

Synonymous codons are widely selected for various biological mechanisms in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recent evidence suggests that microRNA (miRNA) function may affect synonymous codon choices near miRNA target sites. To better understand this, we perform genome-wide analysis on synonymous codon usage around miRNA target sites in four plant genomes. We observed a general trend of increas...

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are a powerful tool for genome editing in eukaryotic cells. ZFNs have been used for targeted mutagenesis in model and crop species. In animal and human cells, transient ZFN expression is often achieved by direct gene transfer into the target cells. Stable transformation, however, is the preferred method for gene expression in plant species, and ZFN-expressing transg...

Cold acclimation of plants involves extensive reprogramming of gene expression. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), three cold-inducible transcriptional activators designated CBF1 to -3/DREB1a to -c have been shown to play an important regulatory role in this acclimation process. Similarly to Arabidopsis, boreal zone trees can increase their freezing tolerance (FT) in response to low tempera...

Target of rapamycin (TOR), a master sensor for growth factors and nutrition availability in eukaryotic species, is a specific target protein of rapamycin. Rapamycin inhibits TOR kinase activity viaFK506 binding protein 12 kDa (FKBP12) in all examined heterotrophic eukaryotic organisms. In Arabidopsis, several independent studies have shown that AtFKBP12 is non-functional under aerobic condition...

Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) nanocapsules have been used as a carrier system for the herbicide atrazine, which is commonly applied to maize. We demonstrated previously that these atrazine containing polymeric nanocapsules were 10-fold more effective in the control of mustard plants (a target species), as compared to a commercial atrazine formulation. Since atrazine can have adverse effects ...

MYB-related transcription factors are known to regulate different branches of flavonoid metabolism in plants and are believed to play wider roles in the regulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism in general. Here, we demonstrate that overexpression of two MYB genes from Antirrhinum represses phenolic acid metabolism and lignin biosynthesis in transgenic tobacco plants. The inhibition of this bran...

Expression of the viral silencing suppressor P1/HC-Pro in plants causes severe developmental anomalies accompanied by defects in both short interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) pathways. P1/HC-Pro transgenic lines fail to accumulate the siRNAs that mediate RNA silencing and are impaired in both miRNA processing and function, accumulating abnormally high levels of miRNA/miRNA* processing...

In transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), expression of the Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) 2b silencing suppressor protein from the severe subgroup IA strain Fny disrupted microRNA (miRNA)-regulated development but orthologs from mild subgroup II strains (Q and LS) did not, explaining strain-specific differences in symptom severity. However, it is unknown which miRNAs affected by Fny2b cri...