The accumulation kinetics of 18 mRNAs were characterized during Arabidopsis silique development. These marker mRNAs could be grouped in distinct classes according to their coordinate temporal expression in the wild type and provided a basis for further characterization of the corresponding regulatory pathways. The abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive abi3-4 mutation modified the expression pattern o...

Brassinosteroids (BRs) hormones are important for plant growth, development and immune responses. They are sensed by the transmembrane receptor kinase Brassinosteroid-Insensitive 1 (BRI1) when they bind to its extracellular Leu-rich repeat (LRR) domain. We cloned and characterized the TaBRI1 from T. aestivum and raised overexpression transgenics in Arabidopsis to decipher its functional role. T...

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is an important fruit crop in which fruit size is strongly associated with commercial value; few genes associated with fruit size have, however, been identified in sweet cherry. Members of the CYP78A subfamily, a group of important cytochrome P450s, have been found to be involved in controlling seed size and development in Arabidopsis thaliana, rice, soybean, and ...

Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are essential plant nutrients and vital for human and animal nutrition. Biofortification of crops has previously been suggested to alleviate widespread human Ca and Mg deficiencies. In this study, new candidate genes influencing the leaf accumulation of Ca and Mg were identified in young Brassica napus plants using associative transcriptomics of ionomics datasets...

U2AF (U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein auxiliary factor) is an essential splicing factor with critical roles in recognition of the 3#-splice site. In animals, the U2AF small subunit (U2AF) can bind to the 3#-AG intron border and promote U2 small nuclear RNP binding to the branch-point sequences of introns through interaction with the U2AF large subunit. Two copies of U2AFencoding genes were i...

Forage brassica (Brassica napus cv. Greenland) is bred for vegetative growth and biomass production, while its seed yield remains to be improved for seed producers without affecting forage yield and quality. Cytokinins affect seed yield by influencing flower, silique and seed number, and seed size. To identify specific cytokinin gene family members as targets for breeding, as well as genes asso...

miR408 is highly conserved among different plant species and targets transcripts encoding copper-binding proteins. The function of miR408 in reproductive development remains largely unclear despite it being known to play important roles during vegetative development in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing MIR408 have altered morphology including significa...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNAs, which typically function by guiding cleavage of target mRNAs. They are known to play roles in a variety of plant processes including development, responses to environmental stresses and senescence. To identify senescence regulation of miRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana, eight small RNA libraries were constructed and sequenced at four different stages of...

Auxin Regulated Gene involved in Organ Size (ARGOS) is significantly and positively associated with organ size and is involved in abiotic stress responses in plants. However, no studies on wheat ARGOS genes have been reported to date. In the present study, three TaARGOS homoeologous genes were isolated and located on chromosomes 4A, 4B, and 4D of bread wheat, all of which are highly conserved i...

Plants may shed organs when they have been injured or served their purpose. The differential pattern of organ abscission in different species is most likely the result of evolutionary adaptation to a variety of life styles and environments. The final step of abscission-related cell separation in floral organs of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana, which only abscises sepals, petals, and stamens, is...