Infection of plant cells by potyviruses induces the formation of cytoplasmic inclusions ranging in size from 200 to 1000 nm. To determine if the ability to form these ordered, insoluble structures is intrinsic to the potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein, we have expressed the cytoplasmic inclusion protein from Potato virus Y in tobacco under the control of the chrysanthemum ribulose-1,5-bisp...

The use of tobacco dates back to the ancient civilizations of the Americas, where it played a central role in religious occasions. The peoples smoked tobacco in cigars and pipes and chewed it with lime, for its pleasurable euphoriant effects. In the 16 th century, Europeans spread the use of tobacco in North America, while the Spanish bring it into Europe. In the 1559, Jean Nicot, the French am...

Chimeric genes containing a pollen-specific promoter from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) or the CaMV35S promoter were transiently expressed following their introduction into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) pollen using high velocity microprojectiles. Transient expression of the microprojectile-introduced genes in leaves and pollen was similar to that observed for these genes in stably transformed...

Since antiquity, Piper betel Linn (betel vine; family Piperaceae) has been an important medicinal agent in the various traditional and folk systems of medicine in Southeast Asia countries. The leaves are the most valued plant part and in the past were routinely used as a chewing agent to prevent halitosis. The leaves are also supposed to harden the gum, conserve the teeth and to prevent indiges...

Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the AtSUC2 promoter were used to study the function of different vein classes in developing leaves. In sink leaves, unloading capacity occurred acropetally, with the class I (midrib) and class II veins becoming functional in phloem unloading before the maturation of the class III veinal network. In con...

Although cytokinins (CKs) affect a number of processes connected with chloroplasts, it has never been rigorously proven that chloroplasts contain CKs. We isolated intact chloroplasts from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv SR1) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Ritmo) leaves and determined their CKs by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectroscopy. Chloroplasts from both species contained a who...

The DREB (dehydration-responsive element binding)-type transcription factors are classified into six subgroups, named A-1 to A-6. The members of DREB A-1 and A-2 subgroups have been reported to be involved in response to various abiotic stresses. However, there were only a few genes belonging to A-3 to A-6 subgroups to be reported. In this study, we cloned a DREB A-4 subgroup gene from maize (Z...

Glutamate (Glu) metabolism and amino acid translocation were investigated in the young and old leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Xanthi) using [15N]ammonium and [2-15N]Glu tracers. Regardless of leaf age, [15N]ammonium assimilation occurred via glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.1.1.3) and Glu synthase (ferredoxin [Fd]-GOGAT; EC 1.4.7.1; NADH-GOGAT; EC 1.4.1.14), both in the light and dark...