Our study advances the understanding of how plants make cellulose, a critical constituent of the plant cell wall and the most abundant organic polymer in the terrestrial biosphere. Cellulose is synthesized at the plasma membrane by cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes. Here we highlight the importance of regulated CESA endocytosis in cellulose biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Furthermore, we show that the TWD40-2 protein, a putative member of the TPLATE complex,

Regulation of protein activity by redox state changes of a disulfide bond between two intrinsic cysteine residues requires both reductive and oxidative signals, yet very little is known of the oxidative pathway. Deciphering the oxidative pathway is further complicated by an increased level of reactive oxygen species when plants are stressed.

This study was conducted to analyze the starch and pasting properties of fourteen glutinous rice varieties with different maturity, and we compared the textural characteristic difference in relation to stickiness of glutinous rice cake. The whiteness values of grain appearance showed significantly differences in the order of early < medium < mid-late maturing glutinous rice varieties. Early maturing glutinous rice varieties exhibited a little high tendency for crude protein content than that of other varieties

Grassland ecosystems are ubiquitous across temperate and tropical regions, totalling 37 % of the terrestrial land cover of the planet, and thus represent a global resource for understanding local adaptations to environment. However, genomic resources for grass species (outside cereals) are relatively poor. The advent of next-generation DNA sequencing and high-density SNP genotyping platforms enables the development of dense marker assays for population genetics analyses and genome-wide association studies.

Meiosis is essential for eukaryotic sexual reproduction, and meiotic recombination redistributes genetic variations among progeny. Homologous recombination is also important for DNA repair and genome stability. Current recombination models include DNA synthesis, particularly leading-strand synthesis, but its role has not been tested experimentally.

Bats are thought to provide valuable services to agriculture by suppressing crop pests, but their ecological role in agricultural systems remains unclear. We implemented a unique field experiment to assess the ecological and economic effect of bats in corn agriculture and found that bats initiated strong and surprising ecological interactions in corn fields.

The regulation of protein abundance of receptors and transporters at the plasma membrane is important for proper signaling in many biological pathways. The removal of plasma membrane proteins can occur via the endocytic protein degradation pathway, in which posttranslational modification by ubiquitin plays a key role.

The United States Department of Agriculture, Soybean Germplasm Collection includes 18,480 domesticated soybean and 1168 wild soybean accessions introduced from 84 countries or developed in the United States. This collection was genotyped with the SoySNP50K BeadChip containing greater than 50K single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Redundant accessions were identified in the collection, and distinct genetic backgrounds of soybean from different geographic origins were observed that could be a unique resource for soybean genetic improvement.

Among tomato and its wild relatives inversions are often observed, which result in suppression of recombination. Such inversions hamper the transfer of important traits from a related species to the crop by introgression breeding. Suppression of recombination was reported for the TYLCV resistance gene, Ty-2, which has been introgressed in cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) from the wild relative S. habrochaites accession B6013. Ty-2 was mapped to a 300-kb region on the long arm of chromosome 11.

The precise timing of flowering is fundamental to successful reproduction, and has dramatic significance for crop yields. Although prolonged low temperatures are not required for flowering induction in soybean, vernalization pathway genes have been retained during the evolution of this species. Little information is currently available in regarding these genes in soybean.