Requirement of mineral elements differs with different organs and tissues; therefore, plants have developed systems for preferentially delivering mineral elements to tissues with high requirement. However, the molecular mechanisms for these systems are poorly understood. We took silicon (Si) as an example and revealed an efficient distribution system occurring in the node of rice, which is a hub for distribution.

 In plants, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (12-OPDA) and jasmonic acid are key 13-lipoxygenase-derived linolenate oxidation products termed jasmonates that regulate diverse processes in development and innate immunity. A less-studied metabolic pathway branch is generated by 9-lipoxygenase activity on linoleic acid, enabling the production of 10-oxo-11-phytoenoic acid (10-OPEA)

High-throughput next-generation sequence-based genotyping and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection opens the door for emerging genomics-based breeding strategies such as genome-wide association analysis and genomic selection. In polyploids, SNP detection is confounded by a highly similar homeologous sequence where a polymorphism between subgenomes must be differentiated from a SNP.

Phytohormones play critical roles in plant growth and development. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential phytohormones required for optimum physiological processes of plant and their deficiency causes distinctive dwarf phenotypes with markedly shorter siliques in Arabidospsis. Homeostasis of BRs in plants is maintained by DWF4 enzyme that mediates multiple 22α-hydroxylation steps in brassinosteroid biosynthesis. Arabidopsis plants over-expressing DWF4 protein show increase in inflorescence, number of branches and siliques; thereby increase number of seeds/plant.

During the last decades, agricultural land-uses in West Africa were marked by dramatic shifts in the coverage of individual crops. Nowadays, cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is one of the most export-oriented horticulture crops, notably in Guinea-Bissau. Relying heavily on agriculture to increase their income, developing countries have been following a strong trend of moving on from traditional farming systems toward commercial production.

Hybrids have an important role in many crops used for global food production. The increased production levels of biomass and grain are restricted to the first-generation hybrid. We report stabilization of hybrid vigor traits in pure breeding hybrid mimic lines. Comparison of the patterns of their gene activity with those of the F1 hybrids has identified metabolic pathways associated with the generation of the hybrid vigor phenotype.

As one of the most important growth-promoting hormones, auxin regulates many aspects of plant growth and development. Understanding auxin action has long been a challenging task because of the complexity of the hormone transport involved in auxin response. Despite tremendous progress made in Arabidopsis, auxin response and transport are poorly understood in crop plants, which impedes the application of hormone knowledge in agricultural improvement.

Use of molecular markers can be limited by the high cost and extensive time required for their development. Transfer of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers reduces the cost and time limitations and has allowed the use of these markers in a larger number of species. We tested 11 SSR markers previously developed for Anacardium occidentale on A. humile. The 11 loci were successfully amplified in A. humile .

Atmospheric methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and is responsible for about 20% of the global warming effect since pre-industrial times. Rice paddies are the largest anthropogenic methane source and produce 7–17% of atmospheric methane. Warm waterlogged soil and exuded nutrients from rice roots provide ideal conditions for methanogenesis in paddies with annual methane emissions of 25–100-million tonnes. This scenario will be exacerbated by an expansion in rice cultivation needed to meet the escalating demand for food in the coming decades.

Improved understanding of bacterial-fungal interactions in the rhizosphere should assist in the successful application of bacteria as biological control agents against fungal pathogens of plants, providing alternatives to chemicals in sustainable agriculture. Rhizoctonia solani is an important soil-associated fungal pathogen and its chemical treatment is not feasible or economic. The genomes of the plant-associated bacteria Serratia proteamaculans S4 and Serratia plymuthica AS13 have been sequenced