Effects of four host plants, tobacco, Chinese cabbage, cowpea and sweet potato, on larval and pupal development and survival, and longevity and fecundity of adults of Spodoptera litura (F) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), were studied under laboratory conditions (26 degrees C, 60-80% RH), as was the utilization of the four host plants and adaptation on tobacco. All of the biological parameters include...

Advancing Diploid Potato through Selfing Most diploid potato plants are self-incompatible and will not set fruit on selfing, making the development of inbred lines difficult or impossible. Peterson et al. found self-fertile plants segregating within an F1 potato population then used a whole genome scan to observe the approach to homozygosity after three generations of selfing. Many unfruitful a...

Roots of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum cv Bintje) growing on low Fe nutrient solution developed the characteristic Fe efficiency reactions, such as high ferric reductase activity, proton extrusion and increased root hair formation. Roots from a tuber with sprout removed, when grown on Fe-free nutrient solution, also expressed these reactions; transfer to iron-containing medium resulted in th...

Plant genetic engineering has, until now, relied on the incorporation of foreign DNA into plant genomes. Public concern about the extent to which transgenic crops differ from their traditionally bred counterparts has resulted in molecular strategies and gene choices that limit, but not eliminate, the introduction of foreign DNA. Here, we demonstrate that a plant-derived (P-) DNA fragment can be...

Two experiments were conducted to measure the glycoalkaloid concentrations of potato tubers in response to Colorado potato beetle and manual defoliation. For plants defoliated by Colorado potato beetles, there was a significantly greater production of glycoalkaloids than in control plants and manually defoliated plants for both skin and inner tissue of tubers in experiment 1. In experiment 1, t...

References 1 Greiner, S. et al. (1999) Ectopic expression of a tobacco invertase inhibitor homolog prevents cold-induced sweetening of potato tubers. Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 708–711 2 Hemberg, T. (1985) Potato rest. In Potato Physiology (Li, P.H., ed.), pp. 353–388, Academic Press 3 Suttle, J.C. (1995) Postharvest changes in endogenous ABA levels and ABA metabolism in relation to dormancy in potat...

In the presence of potato plants cv. Golden Wonder, Globodera pallida exhibited delayed in-soil hatch compared to that of G. rostochiensis, with significantly fewer G. pallida second-stage juvenile nematodes hatching in the first two weeks, though the difference disappeared after four weeks. Inoculation of potato plants with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi eliminated this delay in G. pallida hatch...

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and related Ipomoea species are frequently infected by monopartite begomoviruses (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae), known as sweepoviruses. Unlike other geminiviruses, the genomes of sweepoviruses have been recalcitrant to rendering infectious clones to date. Thus, Koch's postulates have not been fullfilled for any of the viruses in this group. Three novel...

BACKGROUND Somatic cell selection in plants allows the recovery of spontaneous mutants from cell cultures. When coupled with the regeneration of plants it allows an effective approach for the recovery of novel traits in plants. This study undertook somatic cell selection in the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivar 'Iwa' using the sulfonylurea herbicide, chlorsulfuron, as a positive selection ...

'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' (Lso) is a phloem-limited bacterium that severely affects important Solanaceae and Apiaceae crops, including potato, tomato, pepper, tobacco, carrot and celery. This bacterium is transmitted to solanaceous species by potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli, and to Apiaceae by carrot psyllids, including Trioza apicalis and Bactericera trigonica. Five haploty...