Arabidopsis E3 ligase salt- and drought-induced RING-finger 1 (SDIR1) has been found to be involved in abscisic acid (ABA)-related stress signaling. SDIR1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants exhibit improved tolerance to drought. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and rice (Oryza sativa) are two important agronomic crop plants. To determine whether SDIR1 enhances drought resistance in crop plants, SDIR1...

An improved method for extraction of plant DNA is described. Quantitative species comparisons based on DNA-DNA hybridization are reported for several members of the family Leguminosae and for barley, wheat and rye. A maximum of about 10% homology in DNA polynucleotide sequences is found between monocotyledons and dicotyledons tested, whereas 20 to 90% homology is observed within a family. Speci...

Quantitative trait loci analysis of natural Arabidopsis thaliana accessions is increasingly exploited for gene isolation. However, to date this has mostly revealed deleterious mutations. Among them, a loss-of-function allele identified the root growth regulator BREVIS RADIX (BRX). Here we present evidence that BRX and the paralogous BRX-LIKE (BRXL) genes are under selective constraint in monoco...