Our agricultural system and hence food security is threatened by combination of events, such as increasing population, the impacts of climate change and the need to a more sustainable development. Evolutionary adaptation may help some species to overcome environmental changes through new selection pressures driven by climate change. However, success of evolutionary adaptation is dependent on various factors, one of which is the extent of genetic variation available within species.

Polyamines (PAs), including putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), spermine (Spm), and thermospermine (T-Spm), play key roles in plant development, including fruit setting and ripening, morphogenesis, and abiotic/biotic stress. Their functions appear to be intimately related to their synthesis, which occurs via arginine/ornithine decarboxylase (ADC/ODC), Spd synthase (SPDS), Spm synthase (SPMS), and Acaulis5 (ACL5), respectively. Unfortunately, the expression and function of these PA synthesis-relate genes during specific developmental process or under stress have not been fully elucidated.

RNA silencing is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that regulates variety of cellular processes in plants. Argonaute protein (AGO), Dicer-like protein (DCL) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) are critical components of RNA silencing. These efficient and indispensable components of the RNAi pathway have not been identified and characterized in pepper.

Helicoverpa armigera, cotton bollworm, is one of the most disastrous pests worldwide, threatening various food and economic crops. Functional genomic tools may provide efficient approaches for its management. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (Cas9) system, dependent on a single guide RNA (sgRNA), has been used to induce indels for targeted mutagenesis in cotton bollworm.

Environmental stress can affect trait size and cause an increase in the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of bilateral morphological traits in many animals. For insect parasitoids, feeding of hosts on transgenic maize, expressing a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene is a potential environmental stressor. We compared the size of antennae, forewings, and tibia, as well as their FA values, in two parasitoids developed on two East African host species feeding on non-transgenic vs. transgenic maize.

Microrchidia (MORC) proteins comprise a family of proteins that have been identified in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. They are defined by two hallmark domains: a GHKL-type ATPase and an S5 fold. In plants, MORC proteins were first discovered in a genetic screen for Arabidopsis thaliana mutants compromised for resistance to a viral pathogen. Subsequent studies expanded their role in plant immunity and revealed their involvement in gene silencing and genome stabilization. Little is known about the role of MORC proteins of cereals, especially because knock-out (KO) mutants were not available and assessment of loss of function relied only on RNAi strategies, which were arguable, given that MORC proteins in itself are influencing gene silencing.

Plants have evolved a powerful innate immune system to defend against microbial pathogens. Despite extensive studies, how plant immunity ultimately inhibits bacterial pathogen growth is largely unknown, due to difficulties in profiling bacterial responses in planta. In this study, we established two methods for in planta bacterial transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing.

Microsatellite markers were developed for the endangered orchid Calanthe izu-insularis (Orchidaceae). This species is unique to the Izu Islands in Japan. Unfortunately, its population size has decreased because of excessive collection for horticultural purposes. In addition, although natural hybridization between C. izu-insularis and C. discolor var. discolor has been reported, morphological differences between C. izu-insularis and the hybridized individuals remain unclear.

Biological nitrogen fixation through the legume-rhizobia symbiosis is important for sustainable pastoral production. In New Zealand, the most widespread and valuable symbiosis occurs between white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii (Rlt). As variation in the population size (determined by most probable number assays; MPN) and effectiveness of N-fixation (symbiotic potential; SP) of Rlt in soils may affect white clover performance, the extent in variation in these properties was examined at three different spatial scales:

Organ size is an important agronomic trait that directly affects the biomass of rice (Oryza sativa L.), thus identification and characterization of genes involved in organ size control would contribute to basic biology, as well as provide target genes for genetic manipulation of rice yield potential. Although organism or organ size is of pivotal importance, the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying it remain far from understood.