The study was undertaken to examine banana cv. Kanthali floral bud apex as an alternative source material for in vitro propagation because huge number of explants die due to microbial contamination in case of shoot tip explants. Contamination free cultures were established by treating the floral bud explants with 0.1% HgCl2 for 6 min. This study found that inflorescence tissues of experimental ...

Rapid increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes (DM2) in Papua New Guinea, coupled with compelling epidemiological evidence supporting a diabetogenic association with betel quid (BQ) chewing has lead us to investigate dietary strategies that might offer protection from developing DM2. We investigated the dietary habits of Kalo residents from coastal Central Province who are avid BQ chewers y...

This review is devoted to the Pisum sativum L. growth mutants. These mutants are presented by several groups of plants. The first group is characterized by short internodes (dwarf mutants le, na, lk, la, lh, ls) or by elongated internodes (slender mutant sln). The stem growth of mutants of both types (dwarf and slender) is controlled by hormones (GA and IAA) in the stem or in seeds. Mutants cha...

SVP-like MADS domain transcription factors have been shown to regulate flowering time and both inflorescence and flower development in annual plants, while having effects on growth cessation and terminal bud formation in perennial species. Previously, four SVP genes were described in woody perennial vine kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.), with possible distinct roles in bud dormancy and flowering. Kiw...

Orchidaceae are an excellent model to examine perianth development because of their sophisticated floral architecture. In this study, we identified 24 APETALA3 (AP3)-like and 13 PISTILLA (PI)-like genes from 11 species of orchids and characterized them into four AP3- and two PI-duplicated homologs. The first duplication event in AP3 homologs occurring in the early evolutionary history of the Or...

ECOPHYS is a complex computer model that simulates the growth of hybrid poplar and aspen trees. Its primary purposes are to identify major physiologically-based factors that influence tree growth and to predict how interactions among them and with the external environment will affect growth (Isebrands et al., 2000). ECOPHYS' capabilities and submodels of various tree ecosystem processes continu...

UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Variation in how seeds are dispersed in grasses is ecologically important, and selection for dispersal mechanisms has produced a great variety of dispersal structures (diaspores). Abscission ("shattering") is necessary in wild grasses, but its elimination by selection on nonshattering mutants was a key component of the domestication syndrome in cereal grasses...

Plants form new organs throughout their lives; this requires a balance between cell proliferation and differentiation, and between the generation and loss of organs. To do this, plants must maintain a population of stem cells within the meristems, and at the same time, closely control the identity and position of cells at the meristem boundaries as they differentiate to new leaf or flower primo...