The responses of wheat Triticum aestivum, rice Oryza sativa, earthworms Eisenia foetida, and prawns Penaeus japonicus to combined acetochlor-Cu, Cd-Zn were studied in hydroponic and soil-culturing systems using the methods of ecotoxicology. In particular, systematically quantitative analyses were documented by field experiments. Results showed that ecotoxicological effects under the combined po...

Molecular cloning of major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for the reduction of rice grain shattering, a hallmark of cereal domestication, provided opportunities for in-depth investigation of domestication processes. Here, we studied nucleotide variation at the shattering loci, sh4 and qSH1, for cultivated rice, Oryza sativa ssp. indica and Oryza sativa ssp. japonica, and the wild pr...

* Despite the paramount importance of nuclear gene data in plant phylogenetics, the search for candidate loci is believed to be challenging and time-consuming. Here we report that the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) gene family, containing hundreds of members in plant genomes, holds tremendous potential as nuclear gene markers. * We compiled a list of 127 PPR loci that are all intronless and hav...

Salinity significantly limits leaf photosynthesis but the factors causing the limitation in salt-stressed leaves remain unclear. In the present work, photosynthetic and biochemical traits were investigated in four rice genotypes under two NaCl concentration (0 and 150 mM) to assess the stomatal, mesophyll and biochemical contributions to reduced photosynthetic rate (A) in salt-stressed leaves. ...

An experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Gazipur during T.Aman season of 2007 with a view to evaluating seven maintainer and 30 restorer lines for yield and yield contributing characters for selecting promising maintainer and restorer lines for developing rice hybrids in our local environment. Significant variations were noticed among the parental lines for all ...

High-affinity hydrogen (H2 )-oxidizing bacteria possessing group 5 [NiFe]-hydrogenase genes are important contributors to atmospheric H2 uptake in soil environments. Although previous studies reported the occurrence of a significant H2 uptake activity in vegetation, there has been no report on the identification and diversity of the responsible microorganisms. Here, we show the existence of pla...

The growth of rice (Oryza sativa L., cv. M202) seedling radicles, initially 10 +/- 1 mm long, was linear for the 96 h it took them to grow to 150 mm at 25 degrees C. Exposure to 5 degrees C for 24 h reduced the rate of growth by about 50%, and longer exposures caused a progressive reduction in growth. Initial radicle length significantly affected chilling sensitivity: with 2 days at 5 degrees C...

An investigation was made of the variations in growth and grain yield in response to increased exposure to UV-B radiation of Japanese lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) in a cool rice-growing region. Two cultivars, UV-resistant cv. ‘Sasanishiki’ and UV-sensitive cv. ‘Norin 1’, were examined in a lowland field at Kashimadai (37◦28′E, 141◦06′E) in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, for four cropping seasons f...

MicroRNAs form an essential class of post-transcriptional gene regulator of eukaryotic species, and play critical parts in development and disease and stress responses. MicroRNAs may originate from various genomic loci, have structural characteristics, and appear in canonical or modified forms, making them subtle to detect and analyze. We present miRvial, a robust computational method and compa...

We developed a new method of using seedling trays to evaluate root angle distribution in rice (Oryza sativa. L), and found a wide genetic variation among cultivars. The seedling tray method can be used to evaluate in detail the growth angles of rice crown roots at the seedling stage by allocating nine scores (10° to 90°). Unlike basket methods, it can handle large plant populations over a short...