Members of plant WRKY gene family are ancient transcription factors that function in plant growth and development and respond to biotic and abiotic stresses. In our present study, we have investigated WRKY family genes in Brachypodium distachyon, a new model plant of family Poaceae. We identified a total of 86 WRKY genes from B. distachyon and explored their chromosomal distribution and evoluti...

Brassinosteroids are a new group of plant hormones with significant growth-promoting activity. Brassinosteroids were first isolated and characterized from the pollen of rape plant, Brassica napus L. Subsequently, they have so far been reported from 44 plants and are regarded probably ubiquitous in the plant kingdom. Brassinosteroids are considered as hormones with pleiotropic effects, as they i...

A plant responds to an irritation by releasing irritants which may assist the organism endogenously in an intrinsic defence reaction. Only very small energy changes perceived by sensitive plants are sufficient to induce a series of physiological processes ultimately manifested as leaf movement. The chemonastic active compounds of sleeping and sensitive plants the Leaf MovementFactors Factors LM...

Patterning in plants requires defining boundary domains that separate and organize the development of the neighboring organs. Two papers now show how the interplay between brassinosteroid phytohormones and frontier genes contributes to boundary formation in plants.

The phytohormones gibberellic acid (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) are widely recognized as essential endogenous regulators that mostly play antagonistic roles in plant developmental processes and environmental responses. A variety of both internal and external cues oppositely regulate GA and ABA biosynthesis and catabolism, which directly and indirectly affect their signaling pathways and subsequ...

The moss Physcomitrella patens has become a powerful model system in modern plant biology. Highly standardized cell culture techniques, as well as the necessary tools for computational biology, functional genomics and proteomics have been established. Large EST collections are available and the complete moss genome will be released soon. A simple body plan and the small number of different cell...