Plant cells possess a number of membrane bound organelles that play important roles in compartmentalizing a large number of biochemical pathways and physiological functions that have potentially harmful intermediates or by-products. The plasma membrane is particularly important as it holds the entire cellular structure whole and is at the interface between the cell and its environment. Conseque...

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is an important cash crop, but high temperature during its growing season is one of the major factors that limit its productivity. This problem compels plant breeders to breed for heat tolerance, which can help to overcome this challenge. It is very important to make a comprehensive screening of heat-tolerant genotypes so that only the best are chosen. Here we report...

Uranyl acetate, a suppressor of victorin-induced electrolyte leakage in oat leaves when applied together with, or before, victorin, also suppressed victorin-induced changes in ultra-structure. Uranyl crystallized in cell walls and near the plasmalemma of vascular cells, but was excluded from the protoplasm. Fewer crystals occurred near the plasmalemma when leaves were allowed to take up uranyl ...

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) genes were confirmed to confer resistance to drought and water deficiency. An LEA gene from Tamarixandrossowii (named TaLEA) was transformed into Xiaohei poplar (Populussimonii × P. nigra) via Agrobacterium. Twenty-five independent transgenic lines were obtained that were resistant to kanamycin, and 11 transgenic lines were randomly selected for further analysi...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment before cutting on respiration rate, ethylene production, electrolyte leakage, firmness, and color in fresh-cut apple fruit. Fresh-cut apple without 1-MCP treatment had a shelf life of 10 days at 2 degrees C and became browning and decay after pro-long storage. However, fresh-cut apple remained f...

Efficacy of decontamination treatments in reducing microbial populations on cilantro and in improving its storage quality was investigated. Fresh-cut cilantro samples were washed with one of the five treatments: tap water, acidic electrolyzed water (AEW), aqueous ozone, chlorinated water, and aqueous ozone followed by AEW (sequential wash). Treated cilantro was packaged in polyethylene bags pre...

Peel browning disorder has an enormous impact on the exterior quality of 'Huangguan' pear whereas the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Although different methods have been applied for inhibiting the peel browning of 'Huangguan' pear, there are numerous issues associated with these approaches, such as time cost, efficacy, safety and stability. In this study, to develop a rapid, efficient a...

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to play an important role in the plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis mutants with lower or higher levels of endogenous NO. The exogenous application of NO donors or scavengers has also suggested an important role for NO in plant defense against environmental stress. In this study, rice plants under drought and high salinity conditions sh...

Natural variation in gene expression (expression traits or e-traits) is increasingly used for the discovery of genes controlling traits. An important question is whether a particular e-trait is correlated with a phenotypic trait. Here, we examined the correlations between phenotypic traits and e-traits among 10 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. We studied defense against Pseudomonas syringae pv ...

Strawberry is considered as a salinity sensitive species and is adversely affected in response to the salt stress in terms of growth and yield. Pot experiments were conducted to determine the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) application on physiology, growth, chlorophyll and mineral content of strawberry grown under salt stress and greenhouse conditions. Strawberry plants were treated wi...