Thermoinhibition, or failure of seeds to germinate at warm temperatures, is common in lettuce (Lactuca sativa) cultivars. Using a recombinant inbred line population developed from a lettuce cultivar (Salinas) and thermotolerant Lactuca serriola accession UC96US23 (UC), we previously mapped a quantitative trait locus associated with thermoinhibition of germination to a genomic region containing ...

Genetic modification of secondary metabolic pathways to produce desirable natural products is an attractive approach in plant biotechnology. In our study, we attempted to produce a typical soybean isoflavone genistein, a well-known health-promoting metabolite, in non-legume plants via genetic engineering. Both overexpression and antisense suppression strategies were used to manipulate the expre...

Lettuce infectious yellows virus (LIYV), the type member of the genus Crinivirus in the family Closteroviridae, is specifically transmitted by the sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) in a semipersistent manner. LIYV infections result in a low virus titer in plants and protoplasts, impeding reverse genetic efforts to analyze LIYV gene/protein functions. We found that synergistic interactions ...

Edible vaccines are sub-unit vaccines where the selected genes are introduced into the plants and the transgenic plant is then induced to manufacture the encoded protein. Edible vaccines are mucosal targeted vaccines where stimulation of both systematic and mucosal immune network takes place. Foods under study include potatoes, bananas, lettuce, rice, wheat, soybean, corn and legumes. Edible va...

Lettuce is consumed raw in salads and is susceptible to microbial contamination through environment, agricultural practices, and its morphology, thus, a potential vehicle for food-borne illness. This study investigated the effect of adoption of food safety and hygienic practices by lettuce farmers on the microbial safety of field sourced lettuce in Lagos State, Nigeria. Ten structured questionn...

The role of lytic bacteriophages in preventing cross contamination of produce has not been evaluated. A cocktail of three lytic phages specific for E. coli O157:H7 (EcoShield™) or a control (phosphate buffered saline, PBS) was applied to lettuce by either; (1) immersion of lettuce in 500 ml of EcoShield™ 8.3 log PFU/ml or 9.8 log PFU/ml for up to 2 min before inoculation with E. coli O157:H7; (...

It is proposed that post-harvest longevity and appearance of salad crops is closely linked to pre-harvest leaf morphology (cell and leaf size) and biophysical structure (leaf strength). Transgenic lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa cv. Valeria) were produced in which the production of the cell wall-modifying enzyme xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH) was down-regulated by antisense inhi...

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of ReJeX-iT@ AG-145, Mesurola, activated charcoal, lime, and fipronil to reduce homed lark damage to lettuce seeds and seedlings. In Experiment 1, homed larks consumed significantly more feed mixture (50:50 grains and lettuce seed) than untreated clay-coated lettuce seed in a three-day choice-test. In Experiment 2, where clay-coated lettuce seed was treat...