Plant Science

Recurring damage to the aerial organs of plants necessitates their prompt repair, particularly their vasculature. While vascular regeneration assays for aerial plant parts such as the stem and inflorescence stalk are well established, those for leaf vasculature remain unexplored. Recently, we established a new vascular regeneration assay in

Epichloë species form agriculturally important symbioses with many cool season grasses. To study these symbioses, such as the interaction of Epichloë festucae with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), host plants can be infected by artificial inoculation of etiolated seedlings. This inoculation is performed by placing mycelium into an

Post-translational modification of proteins by ubiquitin is an essential cellular signaling mechanism in all eukaryotes. Ubiquitin is removed from target proteins by a wide range of deubiquitinase (DUB) enzymes with different activities and substrate specificities. Understanding how DUBs function in vitro is a vital first step to uncovering their

The majority of cellular proteins are degraded by the 26S proteasome in eukaryotes. However, intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which contain large portions of unstructured regions and are inherently unstable, are degraded via the ubiquitin-independent 20S proteasome. Emerging evidence indicates that plant IDP homeostasis may also be

We have demonstrated that a specific population of ginger-derived nanoparticles (GDNP-2) could effectively target the colon, reduce colitis, and alleviate colitis-associated colon cancer. Naturally occurring GDNP-2 contains complex bioactive components, including lipids, proteins, miRNAs, and ginger secondary metabolites (gingerols and shogaols).

CRISPR/Cas9 is an established and flexible tool for genome editing. However, most methods used to generate expression clones for the CRISPR/Cas9 are time-consuming. Hence, we have developed a one-step protocol to introduce sgRNA expression cassette(s) directly into binary vectors (Liu et al., 2020). In this approach, we have optimized the

Root-associated bacteria are able to influence plant fitness and vigor. A key step in understanding the belowground plant-bacteria interactions is to quantify root colonization by the bacteria of interest. Probably, genetic engineering with fluorescence markers is the most powerful way to monitor bacterial strains in plant. However, this could

Calcium signaling is an emerging mechanism by which bacteria respond to environmental cues. To measure the intracellular free-calcium concentration in bacterial cells, [Ca2+]i, a simple spectrofluorometric method based on the chemical probe Fura 2-acetoxy methyl ester (Fura 2-AM) is here presented using Pseudomonad bacterial cells. This is an

RNA secondary structures are highly dynamic and subject to prompt changes in response to the environment. Temperature in particular has a strong impact on RNA structural conformation, and temperature-sensitive RNA hairpin structures have been exploited by multiple organisms to modify the rate of translation in response to temperature changes.

Targeted metabolomics is a useful approach to evaluate crop breeding studies. Antioxidant and flavor-related traits are of increasing interest and are considered quality traits in tomato breeding. The present study presents chromatographic methods to study antioxidants (carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E, phenolic compounds, and glutathione) and