BIO 112L  Botany Lab

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e-mail: plin@mail.barry.edu

                  Arabidopsis thaliana

                 Virtual Cell

                 Exploring Size and Scale

                 Mendel's Pea

                 Mitosis

                 Meiosis

                Lab Bench: Mitosis and Meiosis

                 Cell Structure and Function

                 Photosynthesis

                 Plant Structure and Growth

        Model System for Plant Science

            Thermotolerance in Plant

        Flowering Signals

        Plant-Microbe Interactions

        Green Revolution

        Rice Research

                   Plant Genome

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Links and Assignments

Botany Links

© 1997-2000 Botanical Society of America

The Botanical Society of America exists to promote research and teaching in all fields of plant biology, to facilitate cooperation among plant biologists and other scientists worldwide, and to disseminate knowledge of plants, algae and fungi to all groups of society for ultimate application to solving practical problems of humanity. The BSA's effectiveness in world science today depends on the combined support of all plant biological disciplines.

http://www.botany.org/

1)   Thermotolerance in Plant
        Some Like It Hot

Thomas D. Sharkey
Science Jan 21 2000: 435-437. [Summary] [Full Text]

 

 

Trienoic Fatty Acids and Plant Tolerance of High Temperature

Yuuki Murakami, Michito Tsuyama, Yoshichika Kobayashi, Hiroaki Kodama, and Koh Iba
Science (Jan 21 2000) 287: 476-479. [Abstract] [Full Text]

 

Murakami et al. showed that their transgenic plants grew much better than controls at higher temperatures. Differences in growth rate were noted at 36ºC, and transgenic plants survived for 2 hours at 47ºC, a treatment that killed their wild-type counterparts. This demonstrates that thermotolerance is related to membrane properties, and that the growth and survival of plants can be determined by the thermotolerance capabilities of photosynthesis. With increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the effect of high temperature on plants is an important area of study. The Murakami et al. report may provide valuable information about the best approach to engineering plants that can carry out photosynthesis in the face of heat stress.

 

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2)     St John's Wort--a double edged sword

http://www.thelancet.com/newlancet/sub/issues/vol355no9203/

Safety of St John's wort

Lancet 2000; 355:575-580 (12 February 2000)

     (hypericum perforatum)

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3)     Herb-Drug Interactions 

Adriane Fugh-Berman

Lancet 2000; 355: 134-38.

http://www.thelancet.com/newlancet/reg/issues/vol355no9198/review134.html

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Volume 282, Number 5389 Issue of 23 Oct 1998, p 663
©2000 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A Model System for Plant Science

Arabidopsis thaliana
Genome Maps 9

A Model System for Plant Science

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Database Copyright © 1997,1998,1999 The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University

http://www.arabidopsis.org/

           Click on the picture to get a full-size image,
courtesy of Chris Somerville

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) provides genomic and literature data about Arabidopsis thaliana. This project started on October 1, 1999 (See Announcement). During the period where the database and web interface are under construction, TAIR is hosting a replicate of static Web pages, map displays, and sequence analysis programs from the Arabidopsis thaliana Database Project (AtDB), and links to AtDB's database, kindly provided by Dr. J. Michael Cherry. TAIR will provide its new displays, programs, and interfaces for the new database in a timely manner

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Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

http://www.sciencemag.org/

News Focus

Volume 287, Number 5452 Issue of 21 Jan 2000, pp. 412 - 414
©2000 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

GENETICS:
Reaping the Plant Gene Harvest

Trisha Gura
Science (Jan 21 2000) 287: 412-414. [Summary] [Full Text]

As the databases fill up with a wealth of new plant gene sequences, researchers are turning to several innovative techniques to decipher the genes' functions

Plant scientists are on the verge of reaping a bounteous harvest--not of golden grains of wheat or corn, but of raw data. Just last month, for example, researchers reported the first complete sequences of two chromosomes from Arabidopsis thaliana, a tiny mustard widely used as a model plant, and they expect to decipher the rest of its genome by the end of this year.

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Science (Jan 21 2000) 287: 435-437.

Perspectives

PLANT BIOLOGY:   

Thermotolerance in Plant
Some Like It Hot

Thomas D. Sharkey
Science Jan 21 2000: 435-437. [Summary] [Full Text]

The thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts is composed of 50% protein and 50% lipid (principally galactolipid).

Fat, a temperature-sensitive issue

The substantial effects found by Murakami and colleagues (See Primary Source Article below) after they reduced the level of membrane lipid unsaturation may reflect the specific double bonds they eliminated. They silenced the FAD7 gene, which encodes a chloroplast-localized w-3 desaturase. This enzyme converts 16:2 fatty acids (16 carbons long with two double bonds) to 16:3 molecules, or 18:2 fatty acids to 18:3 molecules, by desaturating the third to last carbon-carbon bond (see the figure).

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Primary Source Article

Engineering Plant Tolerance of High Temperature

  Figure 2.

Visible damage to tobacco and Arabidopsis plants exposed to high temperatures

Trienoic Fatty Acids and Plant Tolerance of High Temperature

Yuuki Murakami, Michito Tsuyama, Yoshichika Kobayashi, Hiroaki Kodama, and Koh Iba
Science (Jan 21 2000) 287: 476-479. [Abstract] [Full Text]

 

Murakami et al. showed that their transgenic plants grew much better than controls at higher temperatures. Differences in growth rate were noted at 36ºC, and transgenic plants survived for 2 hours at 47ºC, a treatment that killed their wild-type counterparts. This demonstrates that thermotolerance is related to membrane properties, and that the growth and survival of plants can be determined by the thermotolerance capabilities of photosynthesis. With increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the effect of high temperature on plants is an important area of study. The Murakami et al. report may provide valuable information about the best approach to engineering plants that can carry out photosynthesis in the face of heat stress.

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Volume 286, Number 5446 Issue of 3 Dec 1999, pp. 1960 - 1965
©1999 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Delivering Flowers

Science 1999; 286: 1813n. [Summary]

The timing with which plants switch from producing only vegetative tissue to producing flowers as well is regulated by a complex interplay of time, day length, and light. Kardailsky et al. 1962 and Kobayashi et al. 1960 have characterized the Arabidopsis gene FT (FLOWERING LOCUS T) and show that, seemingly in parallel with LFY (LEAFY), it regulates floral transition. Although FT is similar in sequence to the TFL (TERMINAL FLOWER) gene, their functions are divergent. Thus, the complex genetic network that regulates the onset of flowering is brought into view.

Flowering Signals

Fig. 3. Phenotype of transgenic plants.

 

A Pair of Related Genes with Antagonistic Roles in Mediating Flowering Signals

Yasushi Kobayashi, Hidetaka Kaya, Koji Goto, Masaki Iwabuchi, and Takashi Araki
Science (Dec 3 1999) 286: 1960-1962. [Abstract] [Full Text]

In higher plants, flowering--the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth phase--is controlled via several interacting pathways influenced by both endogenous factors and environmental conditions. In Arabidopsis, a photoperiod-dependent pathway promotes flowering in response to an inductive long-day (LD) photoperiod, whereas an autonomous pathway functions independently of the photoperiod and other environmental conditions (1). Recent studies suggest that the FT gene may be regulated via both photoperiod-dependent and autonomous pathways and may act redundantly with LFY in promoting flowering (2).

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Fig. 2. Phenotypes of mutant and transgenic plants.

Activation Tagging of the Floral Inducer FT

Igor Kardailsky, Vipula K. Shukla, Ji Hoon Ahn, Nicole Dagenais, Sioux K. Christensen, Jasmine T. Nguyen, Joanne Chory, Maria J. Harrison, and Detlef Weigel
Science (Dec 3 1999) 286: 1962-1965. [Abstract] [Full Text]

The transition from the vegetative to the flowering phase of Arabidopsis is controlled by several genetic pathways that monitor the developmental state of the plant as well as environmental conditions (1). Despite the cloning of several Arabidopsis genes participating in these pathways, substantial gaps remain in our knowledge of how the signals controlling flowering are transduced and integrated.

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Plant-Microbe Interactions

Fig. 1. A rice plant (left) and Arabidopsis thaliana (right), a model plant for host-pathogen interactions

Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Signaling in Plant-Microbe Interactions

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   PLANT BIOLOGY

Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Perspectives
PLANT BIOLOGY:
Enhanced: The Green Revolution Strikes Gold

Mary Lou Guerinot
Science 2000; 287: 241-243. [Summary] [Full text]

For millennia, breeders have concentrated on modifying the traits of plants to influence their growth performance in the field [HN1]. The late 20th-century version of this effort is the production of transgenic plants. Crops such as Roundup Ready soybeans developed by Monsanto and corn expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin reduce costs to the farmer by minimizing the application of herbicides and insecticides [HN2] . Other genetically engineered traits increase the cash value of a crop providing us, for example, with canola plants that produce oils high in unsaturated fatty acids. However, the crops that would make the biggest difference for the largest number of people in the world are those that would serve as better sources of essential nutrients. Because extreme poverty continues to limit access of much of the world's population to food, it is important that affordable food be as nutritious as possible. The report on page 303 of this issue by Ye et al. [HN3] (1), who engineered rice grains to produce provitamin A (b-carotene), exemplifies the best that agricultural biotechnology has to offer a world whose population is predicted to reach 7 billion by 2013

The Rockefeller Foundation issued a press release on 3 August 1999 about the rice research of I. Potrykus's group as presented at the International Botanical Congress.

Science Volume 277, Number 5329 Issue of 22 Aug 1997
©1997 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

High-yielding varieties of wheat, rice, and maize helped double world grain production. A repeat performance is now needed, and that will require a new commitment to agricultural research

Special News Report
BOTANY:
Reseeding the Green Revolution

Charles Mann
Science 1997; 277: 1038-1043. [Summary] [Full text]

Special News Report
BOTANY:
Saving Sorghum by Foiling the Wicked Witchweed

Charles Mann
Science 1997; 277: 1040. [Summary] [Full text]

Special News Report
BOTANY:
Cashing in on Seed Banks' Novel Genes

Charles Mann
Science 1997; 277: 1042. [Summary] [Full text]

Articles
Seed Banks and Molecular Maps: Unlocking Genetic Potential from the Wild

Steven D. Tanksley and Susan R. McCouch
Science 1997; 277: 1063-1066. [Abstract] [Full text]

Reports
Hypermethylated SUPERMAN Epigenetic Alleles in Arabidopsis

Steven E. Jacobsen and Elliot M. Meyerowitz
Science 1997; 277: 1100-1103. [Abstract] [Full text]

Reports
Epidermal Cell Differentiation in Arabidopsis Determined by a Myb Homolog, CPC

Takuji Wada, Tatsuhiko Tachibana, Yoshiro Shimura, and Kiyotaka Okada
Science 1997; 277: 1113-1116. [Abstract] [Full text]

This Week in Science
Managing methylation

Science 1997; 277: 1013h. [Summary]

This Week in Science
The good seeds

Science 1997; 277: 1013i. [Summary]

This Week in Science
Bald plants

Science 1997; 277: 1013q. [Summary]

Reports
Mitochondrial and Chloroplast Phage-Type RNA Polymerases in Arabidopsis

Boris Hedtke, Thomas Börner, and Andreas Weihe
Science 1997; 277: 809-811. [Abstract] [Full text]

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Rice Research

Vitamin A deficiency exacerbates many health problems and in extreme cases is a common cause of blindness in certain areas of the world. Provision of adequate supplies of vitamin A through commonly available staples could alleviate considerable suffering. Ye et al. (p. 303; see the Perspective by Guerinot) have now bioengineered rice to synthesize the precursors to vitamin A. It is hoped that these yellow-tinged rice grains may serve to bring adequate amounts of vitamin A to those with diets highly dependent on rice.

Science 2000; 287: 189b. [Summary]

Xudong Ye et.el.   Science 2000; 287: 303-305

Fig. 2. Phenotypes of transgenic rice seeds. Bar, 1 cm. (A) Panel 1, untransformed control; panels 2 through 4, pB19hpc single transformants lines h11a (panel 2), h15b (panel 3), h6 (panel 4). (B) pZPsC/pZLcyH co-transformants lines z5 (panel 1), z11b (panel 2), z4a (panel 3), z18 (panel 4). [View Larger Version of this Image (66K GIF file)]

Reports
Engineering the Provitamin A (-Carotene) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Carotenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm

Xudong Ye, Salim Al-Babili, Andreas Klöti, Jing Zhang, Paola Lucca, Peter Beyer, and Ingo Potrykus
Science 2000; 287: 303-305. [Abstract] [Full text]

This Week in Science
Rice Gets an A

Science 2000; 287: 189b. [Summary]

Reports
Regulation of Abscisic Acid-Induced Stomatal Closure and Anion Channels by Guard Cell AAPK Kinase

Jiaxu Li, Xi-Qing Wang, Mark B. Watson, and Sarah M. Assmann
Science 2000; 287: 300-303. [Abstract] [Full text]

This Week in Science
Guard Cell Response

Science 2000; 287: 189o. [Summary]

 

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More Botany Articles in Science

Volume 282, Number 5389 Issue of 23 Oct 1998, p 663
©2000 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Click Below for more Botany Articles

      T-DNA insertional mutagenesis

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Dwarf plant with shortened internodes (Science, 10 Mar 1989).

Karyotype of the five pachytene chromosomes

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Copyright 1999 TIGR

The TIGR Arabidopsis thaliana Database

http://www.tigr.org/tigr_home/tdb/at/at.html

  Genome Prospecting
Science Oct 15 1999: 443. [Full Text]        

15 October 1999
"Genome"
Vol. 286 (#5439)

Table of Contents
Author Index
Subject Index

Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

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23 October 1998
"Genome Issue: A Genome Sampler"
Vol. 282 (#5389) [Full Text]

Table of Contents
Author Index
Subject Index

Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

COVER The cover illustrates both the diversity and commonality in living organisms that genome analysis is revealing. The special section (beginning on p. 651) and several related items in this issue highlight progress and look at the future in understanding and using genomic information from a variety of organisms. This year's chart describes advances in the analysis of the genome of the flowering plant Arabidopis thaliana. [Illustration: Katherine Sutliff]

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       National Science Foundation

Plant Genome Research  

The Plant Genome Research Program was initiated in FY 1998. It is part of a national plant genome research initiative established by the

 Office of Science and Technology Policy. The long-term goal of this program is to understand the structure, organization and function 

of plant genomes important to agriculture, the environment, energy and health.

On November 23 & 24, 1998 a group of plant biologists met to discuss "New Directions in Plant Biological Research" at an NSF-sponsored workshop 

held at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Plant Biology, Stanford University.

 The resulting report " Realizing the Potential of Plant Genomics: From Model Systems To The Understanding Of Diversity" summarizes the perspectives 

that emerged from these discussions and presents the views/vision of a diverse group of plant scientists

Full Text of above Report:  pdf format

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Virtual Cell    http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/~m-lexa/cell/cell.html

PLANT CELL

Shown to the left is a single plant cell. In real life it would be very difficult to isolate it like this. But then, this is a virtual cell. As you look around this cell things should look real, however they are models that are only an approximation of the real things. And since we do not want to deceive you, but teach you, we included real electron micrographs. Look at them and keep in touch with reality. Have a safe journey and beware of flying chloroplasts!

Project description and credits

Virtual Cell is being developed by Matej Lexa using POVRAY to generate 3-D images and PERL to write the script for navigation, with support from University of Illinois, namely SCALE and Prof. Richard Crang. The author has also produced a multimedia textbook for teaching photosynthesis and a searchable database of first names. He also has his own homepage.

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The Biology Place: http://www.biology.com

User ID- STU/lin

Password- *********

Interactive Learning Activities:

Model of a hydrogen atom.
(© Tom Terry)

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Experimenting with Mendel's Peas
An Introduction to Genetics
by Iain Miller and Kraig Schario
University of Cincinnati
© 1998, Peregrine Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved