The curvature of the helical trajectory formed by herbaceous stem-twiners has been hypothesized to be constant on uniformly sized cylindrical supports and remains constant on different supports varying in diameter. However, experimental studies on the constant curvature hypothesis have been very limited. Here, we tested the hypothesis in a series of experiments on five herbaceous stem-twiners (...

Aiming to contribute to the development of alternative control methods of the coffee leaf miner, Leucoptera coffeella (Guérin-Mèneville & Perrottet, 1842) (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae), a search for plants able to produce active substances against this insect was carried out, with species collected during different periods of time in the Alto Rio Grande region, (Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Coff...

Three new pentasaccharide resin glycosides, batatosides III-V (1-3), were isolated from the roots of Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). Saponification of the crude resin glycoside mixture yielded substituents and simonic acid B. The structures of the isolated compounds (1-3) were established through spectroscopic analyses, including high field NMR spectroscopy and HR-ESI-MS, and chemical correlati...

Seasonal control of flowering through responsiveness to daylength shows extreme variation. Different species flower in response to long days or short days (SDs), and this difference evolved several times. The molecular mechanisms conferring these responses have been compared in detail only in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) and suggest that a conserved pathway confers daylength res...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Pollen size varies greatly among flowering plant species and has been shown to influence the delivery of sperm cells to the eggs. Relatively little is known, however, about the functional significance of within-species genetic variation in pollen size. This study tests whether pollen size influences the relative siring success of a pollen donor during in vivo pollen competi...

When the upper part of the main shoot of the Japanese morning glory (Pharbitis nil or Ipomoea nil) is bent down, the axillary bud situated on the uppermost node of the bending region is released from apical dominance and elongates. Here, we demonstrate that this release of axillary buds from apical dominance is gravity regulated. We utilized two agravitropic mutants of morning glory defective i...

Circumnutation and winding in plants are universal growth movements that allow plants to survive despite their sessile nature. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms controlling these phenomena remain unclear. We previously found that a gravitropic mutant of Japanese morning glory (Pharbitis nil or Ipomoea nil), Shidare-asagao (weeping), is defective not only in circumnutation but also in t...

In January 2005, a cyclone hit southern Madagascar, including the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, disrupting the flowering/fruiting cycle of Tamarindus indica, leaving Lemur catta without its major food resource during reproductive periods. We studied two adjacent groups of L. catta during the late gestation period, and both groups ventured outside the reserve to feed. The Red group (RG) fed dai...