Lignocellulosic biomass can be a significant source of renewable clean energy with continued improvement in biomass yield and bioconversion strategies. In higher plants, the leaf blade is the central energy convertor where solar energy and CO2 are assimilated to make the building blocks for biomass production. Here we report that introducing the leaf blade development regulator STENOFOLIA (STF)...

The rice genome contains at least 28 EXPA (α-expansin) genes. We have obtained near full-length cDNAs from the previously uncharacterized genes. Analysis of these newly identified clones together with the 12 identified earlier showed that the EXPA genes contain up to two introns and encode proteins of 240 to 291 amino acid residues. The EXPA proteins contain three conserved motifs: eight cystei...

Genetic divergence among 19 eggplant genotypes was estimated using Mahalanobis’s D statistic. Altogether five clusters were formed. Cluster I contained the highest number of genotypes (7) and cluster IV and V contained the lowest (2). The pattern of distribution of genotypes from different geographical locations into five clusters was random, demonstrating that geographical isolation may not be...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Exogenous ethylene has recently gained commercial interest as a sprouting inhibitor of onion bulbs. The role of ethylene in dormancy and sprouting of onions, however, is not known. METHODS A cultivar (Allium cepa 'Copra') with a true period of dormancy was used. Dormant and sprouting states of onion bulbs were treated with supposedly saturating doses of ethylene or with th...

In partially flooded deep water rice (Oryza sativa L. cv Habiganj Aman II), continuous air layers trapped between the hydrophobic, corrugated surface of the leaf blades and the surrounding water constitute the major path of aeration. The conduction of gases through the internal air spaces of the leaf is negligible compared to the conduction of gases through the external air layers. The total vo...

leaf anatomy of 27 species of potentilla l. (rosaceae), representing 9 sections and four related genera, especially tylosperma botsch., schistophyllidium (juz. ex fed.) ikonn., drymocallis fourr. ex rydb., and sibbaldia l. from iran were studied using light microscopy. the most outstanding characters of blade and midrib were measured. the result revealed a number of taxonomically important char...

This study was conducted to enhance genetic variability in peppers (Capsicum annuum, cv B12) using ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS). Exposure to an EMS concentration of 0.6%, v/v for 12 h was used to mutagenize 2000 seeds for the first generation (M1). It was observed that the growth behaviors including plant height, flowering date, and number of seeds per first fruit were different in the M1 gene...

In higher plants, determinate leaf primordia arise in regular patterns on the flanks of the indeterminate shoot apical meristem (SAM). The acquisition of leaf form is then a gradual process, involving the specification and growth of distinct domains within the three leaf axes. The recessive corkscrew1 (cks1) mutation of maize (Zea mays) disrupts both leaf initiation patterns in the SAM and doma...

The sizes and shapes (physiognomy) of fossil leaves are widely applied as proxies for paleoclimatic and paleoecological variables. However, significant improvements to leaf-margin analysis, used for nearly a century to reconstruct mean annual temperature (MAT), have been elusive; also, relationships between physiognomy and many leaf ecological variables have not been quantified. Using the recen...

Heteroblastic plants produce markedly different leaf morphologies between juvenile and adult stages, while homoblastic plants exhibit little or gradual changes. We tested the hypothesis that the leaf morphology of the seedling stage of New Zealand heteroblastic species is advantageous in dealing with low light levels found in forest understorey. We used four independent contrasts of heteroblast...