The reproductive capacities and development of the seed beetle Acanthoscelides macrophthalmus (Schaeffer) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), found in Togo, were determined under natural conditions in a Guinean zone for its use as a substitute host for the mass rearing of the parasitoid Dinarmus basalts Rond (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), a biological agent for the control of beetles that are pests of cowpe...

Abstract Background Tropical montane cloud forests are one of the most important hotspots on Earth and show presence relict-endemic endangered species, representing about 14% total tropical forest worldwide. Synchronous seed production or masting in tree species is a widespread reproductive strategy deciduous evergreen broad-leaved associations to decrease costs reproduction ensure offspring. M...

NRT2.7 is a seed-specific high-affinity nitrate transporter controlling nitrate content in Arabidopsis mature seeds. The objective of this work was to analyse further the consequences of the nrt2.7 mutation for the seed metabolism. This work describes a new phenotype for the nrt2.7-2 mutant allele in the Wassilewskija accession, which exhibited a distinctive pale-brown seed coat that is usually...

Sucrose synthase (SuSy) is a highly regulated cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of sucrose and a nucleoside diphosphate into the corresponding nucleoside diphosphate glucose and fructose. In cereal endosperms, it is widely assumed that the stepwise reactions of SuSy, UDPglucose pyrophosphorylase and ADPglucose (ADPG) pyrophosphorylase (AGP) take place in the cytosol to convert sucr...

Sulfate is required for the synthesis of sulfur-containing amino acids and numerous other compounds essential for the plant life cycle. The delivery of sulfate to seeds and its translocation between seed tissues is likely to require specific transporters. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the group 3 plasmalemma-predicted sulfate transporters (SULTR3) comprise five genes, all expressed in ...

The pericarp consist in the transformed wall of the ovary that covers the seed and acts as a protection for the embryo and endosperm. It takes the place of the seed coats or integuments in the ordinary seeds, which in maize are reduced to unnoticeable remnants in the mature kernel. A thin, suberized nucellar membrane derived from the outer epidermal wall of the nucellus persists as a continuous...

Two serious nuclear accidents during the last quarter century (Chernobyl, 1986 and Fukushima, 2011) contaminated large agricultural areas with radioactivity. The database "Seeds in Chernobyl" (http://www.chernobylproteomics.sav.sk) contains the information about the abundances of hundreds of proteins from on-going investigation of mature and developing seed harvested from plants grown in radioa...

The aim of this study was to examine the impact seed priming on quality parameters (germination energy, germination, seedling length and vigor index) sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) sudangrass sudanense Pers.). experiment performed at Institute Field Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia. research conducted seeds variety NS Džin Srem. Distilled water aqueous extracts young willow branches (Sali...

Demand for butterfly milkweed ( Asclepias tuberosa L.) has increased in recent years. However, seed production practices are not well-defined. We partnered with a wildflower producer to investigate the effects of weed barrier cloth, plot shading, mature follicle harvest timing, and dry–cold stratification on germination. Weed cloth had no impact production. shading decreased number seeds produc...

The visual marker GUS has been utilized in this study to understand the Arabidopsis thaliana vacuum infiltration transformation process by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. High transformation frequencies of up to 394 transgenic seeds per infiltrated plant were achieved. The results showed that the majority of the transgenic seeds from single infiltrated plants were from independent transformation eve...