The roles of the rice sucrose transporter, OsSUT1, have previously been examined in filling grain, germination, and early seedling growth. In the current work, the role that OsSUT1 plays in the transport of assimilate along the entire long-distance pathway, from the flag leaf blade to the base of the filling grain, was investigated. OsSUT1 promoter::GUS (beta-glucuronidase) reporter gene analys...

The BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) receptor kinase has recently been shown to possess tyrosine kinase activity, and preventing autophosphorylation of the tyrosine-831 regulatory site by site-directed mutagenesis enhances shoot growth. In this study, we characterized the increased leaf growth of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants expressing BRI1(Y831F)-Flag compared with BRI1-Flag (b...

The frequency of galls induced by Anisodiplosis waltheriae Maia, a recently described species, on Waltheria indica L. was studied. W indica is an invasive weed in regeneration areas of Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil. Plants were collected in May 2004 and above-ground biomass, main stem length, number of leaves, number of galls per leaf and leaf area of each individual were recorded. Nea...

Plant cis-elements play important roles in global regulation of gene expression. Based on microarray data from rice flag leaves during early senescence, we identified W-box and G-box cis-elements as positive regulators of senescence in the important rice variety Minghui 63. Both cis-elements were bound by leaf senescence-specific proteins in vitro and influenced senescence in vivo. Furthermore,...

AIM This study was designed to investigate the bioactive compounds in Costus afer Ker Gawl, an indigenous African medicinal plant whose leaf and stem extracts are used in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, especially rheumatism and arthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The bioactive compounds present in the n-butanol fractions of C. afer leaf and stem were identified using qualitative...

The hydraulic architecture of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Margot) was studied in terms of the partitioning of the hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) of leaves inserted at progressively more apical nodes both in growing plants (GP) and in plants at full anthesis (mature plants, MP). Leaf conductance to water vapour (gL), leaf water potential (PsiL), leaf water potential at zero turgor (Psi tl...

Five greenhouse-grown cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] cultivars were tested in a generalized random complete-block design to determine the effect of early leaf harvest on dry weight and protein concentration of plant parts at maturity. The most recent, fully expanded leaves on each branch from one group of plants were harvested at 5 and 7 weeks after planting. On the other groups of plants...

Medicinal plants are economically important major source for drug production. Achyranthes aspera Linn is one of the important medicinal plants having many theaurapetic uses as Odontalgic, Rheumatism, Bronchitis, skin disease and rabies. The aqueous, ethanol and methanol leaves and stem extracts of Achyranthes aspera Linn. were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. TLC o...