Externally visible body and longitudinal bone growth is a result of proliferation of chondrocytes. In growth disorder, there is delay in the age associated increase in height. The present study evaluates the effect of extract from transgenic tomato fruit expressing AtMYB12 transcription factor on bone health including longitudinal growth. Constitutive expression of AtMYB12 in tomato led to a si...

Tomato fruit development is regulated both by the action of plant hormones and by tight genetic control. Recent studies suggest that abscisic acid (ABA) signalling may affect different aspects of fruit maturation. Previously, it was shown that SlAREB1, an ABA-regulated transcription factor involved in stress-induced responses, is expressed in seeds and in fruit tissues in tomato. Here, the role...

GRAS family transcription factors are involved in multiple biological processes in plants. Here, we report that GRAS2 plays a vital role in regulating fruit weight in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). We establish that the expression of GRAS2 was elevated in ovaries and maintained at a constant level in fertilized ovules. Reduction of GRAS2 expression in transgenic plants reduced fruit weight thro...

MADS-box genes have been shown to play a role in the formation of fruits, both in Arabidopsis and in tomato. In peach, two C-class MADS-box genes have been isolated. Both of them are expressed during flower and mesocarp development. Here a detailed analysis of a gene that belongs to the PLENA subfamily of MADS-box genes is shown. The expression of this PLENA-like gene (PpPLENA) increases during...

Abiotic stresses are major environmental factors that inhibit plant growth and development impacting crop productivity. GRAS transcription factors play critical and diverse roles in plant development and abiotic stress. In this study, SlGRAS40, a member of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) GRAS family, was functionally characterized. In wild-type (WT) tomato, SlGRAS40 was upregulated by abiotic...

Plants integrate responses to independent hormonal and environmental signals to survive adversity. In particular, the phytohormone gibberellin (GA) regulates a variety of developmental processes and stress responses. In this study, the Jumonji-C (JmjC) domain-containing gene JMJ524 was characterized in tomato. JMJ524 responded to circadian rhythms and was upregulated by GA treatment. Knockdown ...

Any individual virus can infect only a limited range of hosts, and most plant species are "nonhosts" to a given virus; i.e., all members of the species are insusceptible to the virus. In nonhost plants, the factors that control virus resistance are not genetically tractable, and how the host range of a virus is determined remains poorly understood. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a nonhost spe...

A key virulence strategy of bacterial pathogens is the delivery of multiple pathogen effector proteins into host cells during infection. The Hrp outer protein Q (HopQ1) effector from Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pto) strain DC3000 is conserved across multiple bacterial plant pathogens. Here, we investigated the virulence function and host targets of HopQ1 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Tr...

A key virulence strategy of bacterial pathogens is the delivery of multiple pathogen effector proteins into host cells during infection. The Hrp outer protein Q (HopQ1) effector from Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pto) strain DC3000 is conserved across multiple bacterial plant pathogens. Here, we investigated the virulence function and host targets of HopQ1 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Tr...

The plant hormone ethylene is involved in many developmental processes, including fruit ripening, abscission, senescence, and leaf epinasty. Tomato contains a family of ethylene receptors, designated LeETR1, LeETR2, NR, LeETR4, and LeETR5, with homology to the Arabidopsis ETR1 ethylene receptor. Transgenic plants with reduced LeETR4 gene expression display multiple symptoms of extreme ethylene ...