Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Dey, P. M., and J. B. Harborne (eds), Methods in Plant Biochemistry. Vol. 1: Plant Phenolics.
Dey, P. M. (ed.), Carbohydrates. Methods in Plant Biochemistry, Vol. 2 (P. M. D ey and J. B. H arborne eds).     

Wickens, G.E. Economic botany: principles and practices

This book is a compendium of information on plants (and somemicro-organisms) that are, or could be, useful to humans. Someidea of its vast scope can be gained from the list of chapterheadings: Plant collecting, taxonomy and nomenclature; Environmentalconsiderations; Plant conservation; Ecophysiology and allieddisciplines; Plant breeding and propagation;     

Different leaf carbon,nitrogen, and phosphorus stoichiometry and carbon and nitrogen isotopes among peatland plants in northeastern China

Plant and Soil - Plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) levels and their stoichiometry and N uptake strategies are important aspects influencing vegetation composition and C dynamics in...     

High-sorgoleone producing sorghum genetic stocks suppress soil nitrification and N2O emissions better than low-sorgoleone producing genetic stocks

Plant and Soil - Rapid nitrification leads to loss of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in agricultural systems. Plant produced/derived biological nitrification inhibitors (BNIs) are an effective...     

Differential transcriptional activation of copia family of different plant retrotransposons

Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Plant genomes contain a sizeable fraction, ranging from 14 to 75% of retrotransposons (class I elements), predominantly comprising LTR (Long...     

Advances in Salt Tolerance of Some Major Fiber Crops Through Classical and Advanced Biotechnological Tools: A Review

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Plant biofibers are of great economic and commercial importance. Among various fiber producing crops, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), hemp (Cannabis sativa L.),...     

Field performance of bacterial inoculants to alleviate water stress effects in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Plant and Soil - Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) containing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase can play an important role in abiotic stress tolerance in plants, particularly...     

极端高温和持续中等高温对小菜蛾耐热性的影响

气候变化频率的增加和持续时间的延长,导致具有较短生活史的大部分农业害虫的某一个或某几个生命阶段都可经历热浪的胁迫。热浪对小型昆虫的生态学效应取决于不同生命阶段的耐热性,因而解析特定龄期下昆虫生命阶段的耐热性对理解气候变暖热浪频发的生态学影响具有重要意义。本研究以世界重要蔬菜害虫小菜蛾为研究对象,试验了小菜蛾4龄幼虫、成虫的基底耐热性和诱导耐热性,以及1龄幼虫和3龄幼虫置于不同高温[(31±1)、33±1)、35±1)℃]和暴露时间(3、6、9、12d)组合的持续中等高温耐热性。试验发现幼虫和成虫具有不同的基底和诱导耐热性,具有较弱基底耐热性的幼虫反而具有更强的诱导耐热性。不同生命阶段在持续数天的中等高温胁迫下具有不同的存活表现,早期生命阶段存活率较后期阶段的低,而且这种差异在较强高温下表现得尤为明显。昆虫不同阶段耐热性的差异,对种群的维持具有重要的生态学意义。大多数农业害虫田间种群具有混合年龄结构,热浪后耐热的发育阶段的存活,保证种群可以一直生存和繁衍下去。     

Pre-colonization of PGPR triggers rhizosphere microbiota succession associated with crop yield enhancement

Plant and Soil - Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) substantially improve plant growth and health, but their effects on the succession of rhizosphere microbiota throughout the growth...     

REVIEWS

A Textbook of Plant Virm Diseases . By K enneth M. S mith .
Economic Botany: A Textbook of Useful Plalzts and Plant Products . By A. F. H ill .
Practical Plant Breeding . By W. J. C. L awrence .
British Stem- and Leaf-Fungi ( Coeolomycetes ). Vol. II. Sphaeropsidales and Melanconiales . By W. B. G rove .
Plant Ecology . By H ilda D rabble .
The Properties and Functions of Membranes, Natural and Artificial .
Perspectives in Biochemistry . Edited by J oseph N eedham and D avid E. G reen .     

The Plant Ontology Consortium and plant ontologies

The goal of the Plant Ontology Consortium is to produce structured controlled vocabularies, arranged in ontologies, that can be applied to plant-based database information even as knowledge of the biology of the relevant plant taxa (e.g. development, anatomy, morphology, genomics, proteomics) is accumulating and changing. The collaborators of the Plant Ontology Consortium (POC) represent a number of core participant database groups. The Plant Ontology Consortium is expanding the paradigm of the Gene Ontology Consortium (http://www.geneontology.org). Various trait ontologies (agronomic traits, mutant phenotypes, phenotypes, traits, and QTL) and plant ontologies (plant development, anatomy [incl. morphology]) for several taxa (Arabidopsis, maize/corn/Zea mays and rice/Oryza) are under development. The products of the Plant Ontology Consortium will be open-source.     

Increased litter decomposition rates of exotic invasive species Hieracium pilosella (Asteraceae) in Southern Patagonia,Argentina

Plant Ecology - Plant invasions can affect key ecosystem processes regulating carbon and nutrient balances, i.e., litter decomposition. Exotic herb Hieracium pilosella (hawkweed, Asteraceae)...     

Response of Vicia faba to short-term uranium exposure: chelating and antioxidant system changes in roots

Journal of Plant Research - Uranium (U) phytotoxicity is an inherently difficult problem in the phytoremediation of U-contaminated environments. Plant chelating and antioxidant systems play an...     

REVIEWS

Fenland: Its Ancient Past and Uncertain Future. By S ir H arry G odwin
Current Topics in Plant Pathology. Edited by Z. K irály .
Water Deficits and Plant Growth. Volume 5. Water and Plant Disease. Edited by T. T. K ozlowski .
Heat Balance of the Plant Cover. By Y u L. R auner.
Ecophysiology of Tropical Crops. Edited by P. de T. A lvim and T. T. K ozlowski .
Essays in Plant Taxonomy. Edited by (the late) H. E. S treet .
Coniferen im westlkhen malayischen Archipel. By N. S tein .
Morphologie, Anatomie und Systematik der Höheren Pflanzen. Morphology, Anatomy and Systematic of Higher Plants. Edited by Y. S ell , F. W eberling and H. L orenzen .     

ROS-Mediated ABA Signaling

In plants, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are short-lived molecules produced through various cellular mechanisms in response to biotic and abiotic stimuli. ROS function as second messengers for hormone signaling, development, oxygen deprivation, programmed cell death, and plant–pathogen interactions. Recent research on ROS-mediated responses has produced stimulating findings such as the specific sources of ROS production, molecular elements that work in ROS-mediated signaling and homeostasis, and a ROS-regulated gene network (Neill et al., Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:388–395, 2002a; Apel and Hirt, Annu Rev Plant Biol 55:373–399, 2004; Mittler et al., Trends Plant Sci 9:490–498, 2004; Mori and Schroeder, Plant Physiol 135:702–708, 2004; Kwak et al., Plant Physiol 141:323–329, 2006; Torres et al., Plant Physiol 141:373–378, 2006; Miller et al., Physiol Plant 133:481–489, 2008). In this review, we highlight new discoveries in ROS-mediated abscisic acid (ABA) signaling. Drs. Daeshik Cho and June M. Kwak are the corresponding authors for this paper.     

Enhancement of rhizosphere citric acid and decrease of NO3−/NH4+ ratio by root interactions facilitate N fixation and transfer

Plant and Soil - Plant growth is often limited by low soil phosphorus (P) availability, soil nitrogen (N) availability may affect plants’ responses to P supply. We studied the growth and...     

Golgi-localized cyclophilin 21 proteins negatively regulate ABA signalling via the peptidyl prolyl isomerase activity during early seedling development

Plant Molecular Biology - Plant possesses particular Golgi-resident cyclophilin 21 proteins (CYP21s) and the catalytic isomerase activities have a negative effect on ABA signalling gene expression...     

Variation in root morphology,enhancement in anti-oxidative enzyme responses and improved arbutin and bergenin levels in Bergenia ciliata (Haw.) Sternb. raised in vitro via EMS and gamma irradiations

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - Plant cells develop defence mechanisms in response to mutagen stress which leads to modulation of certain metabolic and defensive pathways. Owing to...     

Recovery succession drives the convergence,and grazing versus fencing drives the divergence of plant and soil N/P stoichiometry in a semiarid steppe of Inner Mongolia

Plant and Soil - Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) and grazing drive community dynamics in grasslands. We examined how the intensity of grazing and PSF interact to affect plant growth and explored...     

Contrasting patterns of carbon sequestration between Gilbertiodendron dewevrei monodominant forests and Scorodophloeus zenkeri mixed forests in the Central Congo basin

Plant and Soil - Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been shown to reduce abiotic stress on plants, but these effects have not been quantitatively synthesized. We evaluated the degree...