Variation in the size, shape, and positioning of leaves as the major photosynthetic organs strongly impacts crop yield, and optimizing these aspects is a central aim of cereal breeding [1, 2]. Leaf growth in grasses is driven by cell proliferation and cell expansion in a basal growth zone [3]. Although several factors influencing final leaf size and shape have been identified from rice and maiz...

In tropical dry forests most plants are deciduous during the dry season and flush leaves with the onset of the rains. In Costa Rica, the only species displaying the opposite pattern is Bonellia nervosa. To determine if seasonal changes in light availability are associated with the leaf and reproductive phenology of this species, we monitored leaf production, survival, and life span, as well as ...

The barley leaf rust fungus forms appressoria over host leaf stomata and penetrates via the stomatal pore. High levels of avoidance to leaf rust fungi have been described in some wild accessions of Hordeum species where a prominent wax layer on the stomata inhibits triggering of fungal appressorium differentiation. Leaf rust avoidance has not yet been found in H. vulgare. Since cuticular leaf w...

In Fagus, full-mast seeding years are invariably followed by at least one non-mast year. Both flower and leaf primordia develop during the summer within the same winter buds. Flower bud initiation occurs when the N content of developing seeds is increasing rapidly. We hypothesized that competition for nitrogen (N) between developing seeds and buds limits flower primordium formation in mast year...

The objective of this work is to investigate the relationship between endo-β-mannanase and leaf abscission, and response to wounding in soybean (Glycine max). An endo-β-mannanase gene GmMAN1 was cloned from the abscission zone in petiole explants, and was heterologously expressed in E. coli. Polyclonal antibodies were raised against the fusion protein. The increases in activity, isoform numbers...

Acclimation to CO2 enrichment was studied in maize plants grown to maturity in either 350 or 700 microl l-1 CO2. Plants grown with CO2 enrichment were significantly taller than those grown at 350 microl l-1 CO2 but they had the same number of leaves. High CO2 concentration led to a marked decrease in whole leaf chlorophyll and protein. The ratio of stomata on the adaxial and abaxial leaf surfac...

Leaf-stem allometry is an important spectrum that linked to biomass allocation and life history strategy in plants, although the determinants and evolutionary significance of leaf-stem allometry remain poorly understood. Leaf and stem architectures - including stem area/mass, petiole area/mass, lamina area/mass, leaf number, specific leaf area (LA), and mass-based leafing intensity (LI) - were ...

this research was designed to identify garlic (allium sativum l.) bolting clones and determining the relationship between their morphological traits and bolting capacity by using statistical methods of analysis of variance, comparison of means, correlation coefficients, factor analysis, stepwise regression, path analysis and cluster analysis. traits including flowering ability, number, length a...

Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume is one of the most popular ornamental foliage plants. It encompasses more than 300 recognized cultivars valued by their wide range of leaf shapes and vivid foliage colors. Thus far, only limited information is available regarding the genetic basis of their leaf morphological variation. This study investigated the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of seven phenotyp...

Elevated CO2 concentrations (eCO2) trigger various plant responses. Despite intensive studies of these responses, the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. In this work, we investigated when and how leaf physiology and anatomy are affected by eCO2 in rice plants. We analyzed the most recently fully expanded leaves that developed successively after transfer of the plant to eCO2. To discriminate ...