As on today, almost whole world is dependent on fossil fuels as a source of energy. With increase in world’s population there are growing concerns about diminishing fossil fuel resources, global warming and environmental pollution; hence there is a need for search of renewable resources to bridge the gap between the supply and demand of energy and chemicals. In this respect for production of bi...

Seed oil, one of the major seed storage compounds in plants, is of great economic importance for human consumption, as an industrial raw material and as a source of biofuels. Thus, improving the seed oil yield in crops is an important objective. The GLABRA2 (GL2) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana encodes a transcription factor that is required for the proper differentiation of several epidermal cell...

The genus Perilla, known as an oil crop or a Chinese medicine, vegetable crop, is widely cultivated in East Asia. It occurs in two distinct varieties, var. frutescens and var. crispa, and their genetic relationship is still obscure. To understand the genetic diversity and relationships of the cultivated and weedy types of Perilla crops in Korea, Japan and China, we evaluated the genetic variati...

Demographic modelling is often used with population genomic data to infer the relationships and ages among populations. However, relatively few analyses are able to validate these inferences with independent data. Here, we leverage written records that describe distinct Brassica rapa crops to corroborate demographic models of domestication. Brassica rapa crops are renowned for their outstanding...

Legume crops such as chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut, mostly grown in marginal environments, are the major source of nutrition and protein to the human population in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These crops, however, have a low productivity, mainly due to their exposure to several biotic and abiotic stresses in the marginal environments. Until 2005, these crops had limited genomics resources ...

Modern biorefineries target the production of chemicals and fuels from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks such as energy crops and biodegradeable wastes. Biofuels produced from such processes are considered “second-generation-biofuels” and are considered to be more sustainable than first-generation-biofuels from food and oil crops. This paper considers the contribution that biorefineries can ma...

Water deficit imposed by either drought or salinity brings about severe growth retardation and yield loss of crops. Since Brassica crops are important contributors to total oilseed production, it is urgently needed to develop tolerant cultivars to ensure yields under such adverse conditions. There are various physiochemical mechanisms for dealing with drought and salinity in plants at different...

the world's smallest. The giant rat is about the size of a cat and has been classified as belonging to the Mallomys genus of rodents. The region has the largest area of tropical forest without roads or trails. Its isolation is helped by its steep mountain slopes and difficult terrain. The Foja mountains rise to 2,200 metres and, although humans live at the base of the mountains, abundant game a...