We have cloned and sequenced cDNAs for the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of glycolysis, gapC, from a bryophyte, a gymnosperm, and three angiosperms. Phylogenetic analyses are presented for these data in the context of other gapC sequences and in parallel with published nucleotide sequences for the chloroplast encoded gene for the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase...

Strigolactones are newly discovered plant hormones that perform various functions, from signaling in symbiotic interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to controlling outgrowth of axillary buds. We examined the phylogenetic relationships of two carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase genes (CCD7 and CCD8) that are involved in consecutive upstream steps of the proposed strigolactone biosynth...

In plants, 14-3-3 proteins are key regulators of primary metabolism and membrane transport. Although the current dogma states that 14-3-3 isoforms are not very specific with regard to target proteins, recent data suggest that the specificity may be high. Therefore, identification and characterization of all 14-3-3 (GF14) isoforms in the model plant Arabidopsis are important. Using the informati...

Hormones in plants differ from most of those in animals by having pleiotropic effects; that is, they are involved in the control of a wide range of developmental processes. At the same time the effect of a hormone on any developmental process depends on the species. For example, ethylene inhibits growth in dicotyledons and most monocotyledons but is promotory in deepwater rice and other hydroph...

Genetically modified maize tolerant to broad-spectrum herbicides may greatly alter weed flora composition, abundance and therefore affect organisms of higher trophic levels, including herbivore and detritivore arthropods and their natural enemies. This three-year study measured the effects on arthropods of an intensive use of broad-spectrum herbicides in comparison with one application of conve...

In recent studies evidence was obtained that chioropiasts of higher plants possess an autonotnic system of isoprenoid synthesis. The prenyl moiety of the chloroplast isoprenoid compounds [i,e, carotenoids, chlorophylls, plastoquinones, tocopherols and phylloquinone (vitamin K,)] originates frotn geranyigeranyi-PP, The present review deals with some aspects of the fonnatioo of the plastidic pren...

Studies of chromosome disposition at metaphase using serial thin-sectioning and three-dimensional reconstruction techniques have produced accurate estimates of the total volume of chromosomes per cell in 15 plant and two animal species. Comparing this character with the 4C DNA amount showed no indiction of systemic differences in DNA density between either organisms with widely different (great...

Using a powerful computer-assisted analysis strategy, a large-scale search of small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes in the recently released draft sequence of the rice genome was carried out. This analysis identified 120 different box C/D snoRNA genes with a total of 346 gene variants, which were predicted to guide 135 2'-O-ribose methylation sites in rice rRNAs. Though not exhaustive, this analys...

Plants make coenzyme A (CoA) in the cytoplasm but use it for reactions in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and peroxisomes, implying that these organelles have CoA transporters. A plant peroxisomal CoA transporter is already known, but plant mitochondrial or chloroplastic CoA transporters are not. Mitochondrial CoA transporters belonging to the mitochondrial carrier family, however, have been identi...

The circumstances of the evolution of hypsodonty (= high-crowned teeth) are a bone of contention. Hypsodonty is usually linked to diet abrasiveness, either from siliceous phytoliths (monocotyledons) or from grit (dusty environments). However, any empirical quantitative approach testing the relation of ingested silica and hypsodonty is lacking. In this study, faecal silica content was quantified...