Aphids are sap-feeding plant pests and harbor the endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola, which is essential for their fecundity and survival. During plant penetration and feeding, aphids secrete saliva that contains proteins predicted to alter plant defenses and metabolism. Plants recognize microbe-associated molecular patterns and induce pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). No aphid-associated molecul...

A recent study finds that the Arabidopsis DM1 and DM2d proteins physically interact and trigger autoimmunity in plants. The DM1-DM2d interaction pattern differs from that of known immune receptor pairs, portraying the versatility in NLR functioning.

To assess the effect of non chemical management of weed control on forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) a field study was conducted in Varamin, Iran during 2010 crop year in a three- replicated- split factorial experiment laid out in randomized complete block design with four weeding levels (W1= one time cultivation at 3-leaf stage using a duck foot cultivator, W2<...

Carbon assimilation by submerged plants is greatly reduced due to low light levels. It is hypothesized that submergence reduces carbohydrate contents and that plants recover from submergence in the same way as darkness-treated plants. To test this hypothesis, the responses of plants to submergence and darkness were studied and compared. Plants of a submergence-tolerant species, Alternanthera ph...

Plants are the beautiful results of a chain of complex pattern forming events. Pattern formation—the generation of regular differences in space—occurs at several levels of organization. For example, a particular group of cells at the shoot apex may receive a signal to form a leaf. The leaf will get a polarity, developing an upper and a lower side. Some cells of the leaf may develop into stomata...

Sensing and defeating microbial infections are essential to the survival of metazoan species and contingent upon the reliable detection of pathogens, which are characterized by rapid evolution and molecular heterogeneity. Multicellular species have developed two overall strategies to kill and remove parasites, to send them ‘‘floating on the Stygian river’’ (after the river Styx in Hades, the un...

In Arabidopsis thaliana, responses to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) are mediated by cell surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and include the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, callose deposition in the cell wall, and the generation of the signal molecule salicylic acid (SA). SA acts in a positive feedback loop with ACCELERATED CELL DEATH6 (ACD6), a membrane prote...

A new study of plants recolonising the land devasted when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 is providing important new insights into the interactions with herbivores that determine the pattern and outcome of ecological succession.

To assess the effect of non chemical management of weed control on forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) a field study was conducted in Varamin, Iran during 2010 crop year in a three- replicated- split factorial experiment laid out in randomized complete block design with four weeding levels (W1= one time cultivation at 3-leaf stage using a duck foot cultivator, W2<...

To assess the effect of non chemical management of weed control on forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) a field study was conducted in Varamin, Iran during 2010 crop year in a three- replicated- split factorial experiment laid out in randomized complete block design with four weeding levels (W1= one time cultivation at 3-leaf stage using a duck foot cultivator, W2<...