Endo-beta-mannanase cDNAs were cloned and characterized from ripening tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv Trust) fruit, which produces an active enzyme, and from the tomato cv Walter, which produces an inactive enzyme. There is a two-nucleotide deletion in the gene from tomato cv Walter, which results in a frame shift and the deletion of four amino acids at the C terminus of the full-lengt...

Intact wild-type tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Moneymaker) seeds do not complete germination to the same percentage or at the same speed as intact ABA-deficient sitiens (sit") mutant seeds when seeds of both genotypes are imbibed on polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions of -0 .3 to —1.5 MPa osmotic potential. However, if the thicker testas of wild-type seeds are removed (stripped) from the ...

One of the most important virulence factors is a heterogeneous polymer of N-acetylated extracellular polysaccharide I (EPS I) [8]. EPS I-deficient mutants are nearly avirulent and do not colonize plant xylem vessels as efficient as wild type [4,9]. It has been suggested that EPS I directly causes wilting by physically blocking the vascular system and thereby alters water movement [8]. It has al...

Carotenoids are isoprenoid compounds that are essential for plants to protect the photosynthetic apparatus against excess light. They also function as health-promoting natural pigments that provide colors to ripe fruit, promoting seed dispersal by animals. Work in Arabidopsis thaliana unveiled that transcription factors of the phytochrome-interacting factor (PIF) family regulate carotenoid gene...

A major component of the evaluation of biological control agents is the study and comparison of their biology, including the reproductive mode. In hymenopteran parasitoids, reproductive modes include thelytoky and arrhenotoky. Since a thelytokous population produces only females, it is assumed that they may be better suited for biological control than an arrhenotokous population. Here we compar...

Isolated oceanic islands are characterized by patterns of biological diversity different from that on nearby continental mainlands. Isolation can provide the opportunity for evolutionary divergence, but also set the stage for hybridization between related taxa arriving from different sources. Ferns disperse by haploid spores, which are produced in large numbers and can travel long distances in ...

Plasma membrane and tonoplast vesicles were isolated from roots of both the glycophytic cultivated tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill, cv. Heinz 1350) and its halophytic wild relative, Lycopersicon cheesmanii (Hook, C.H. Mull, ecotype 1401) grown under control and saline conditions. MgATP-dependent proton transport was measured by determining the rate of quench of quinacrine fluorescence.. R...

T h e infectivity of second-stage larvae of Meloidogyne spp. is a function of soil temperature, aeration, moisture, texture, and density, as well as a funct ion of the distance the second-stage larvae have to travel pr ior to root penetra t ion (3, 4). Because eggs may require up to 2 weeks to hatch under greenhouse conditions, infection periods with larvae are normal ly shorter than those with...