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Current Opinion in Plant Biology Jun 2022Plants share their natural environment with numerous microorganisms, commensal as well as harmful. Plant fitness and performance are thus dependent on an efficient... (Review)
Review
Plants share their natural environment with numerous microorganisms, commensal as well as harmful. Plant fitness and performance are thus dependent on an efficient communication with such microbiota. The primary means of communication are metabolites exuded from roots, primarily diverse secondary metabolites. The exuded metabolites trigger changes in composition and function of plant associated microbiome. In the last few years, many metabolites were uncovered that are part of this communication network and modulate specific functions of the root microbiota. Here, we describe the progress in identification of such metabolites and their functions and outline the most significant knowledge gaps for future research.
Topics: Microbiota; Plant Roots; Plants; Rhizosphere; Soil Microbiology
PubMed: 35525222
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102227 -
Food and Chemical Toxicology : An... Sep 2017Naturally sourced food ingredients have been the beneficiary of legal, regulatory and consumer preference as the result of a widely shared assumption of safety. However,... (Review)
Review
Naturally sourced food ingredients have been the beneficiary of legal, regulatory and consumer preference as the result of a widely shared assumption of safety. However, the natural substances consumed in modernity may have little to do with the historically consumed part of the plant or even the plant itself. Further, our initial impression of a safe plant derivative may well be false as the result of the use of different growth conditions or, changes in harvesting and processing conditions that may have brought about a higher level of toxic constituents. Despite the variability of plant constituents, manufacturers' standards are set according to the content of commercially desirable properties, rather than presence of potentially toxic constituents. Why then, after all the potential reservations regarding naturals, is there such an enmity toward synthetic chemicals (including single chemical fermentation products), which have been tested in a systematic manner for potential toxic effects and whose composition is well known as the result of consistent manufacturing techniques and analytical controls? The authors will describe the paradigms used for natural products safety review and compare them with the safety criteria required for an "artificial" food ingredient.
Topics: Biological Products; Consumer Behavior; Consumer Product Safety; Humans; Plants
PubMed: 28595956
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2017.06.006 -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Aug 2016The flower is the most important biological structure for ensuring angiosperms reproductive success. Not only does the flower contain critical reproductive organs, but... (Review)
Review
The flower is the most important biological structure for ensuring angiosperms reproductive success. Not only does the flower contain critical reproductive organs, but the wide variation in morphology, color, and scent has evolved to entice specialized pollinators, and arguably mankind in many cases, to ensure the successful propagation of its species. Recent proteomic approaches have identified protein candidates related to these flower traits, which has shed light on a number of previously unknown mechanisms underlying these traits. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in proteomic research in floral biology according to the order of flower structure, from corolla to male and female reproductive organs. It summarizes mainstream proteomic methods for plant research and recent improvements on two dimensional gel electrophoresis and gel-free workflows for both peptide level and protein level analysis. The recent advances in sequencing technologies provide a new paradigm for the ever-increasing genome and transcriptome information on many organisms. It is now possible to integrate genomic and transcriptomic data with proteomic results for large-scale protein characterization, so that a global understanding of the complex molecular networks in flower biology can be readily achieved. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Proteomics--a bridge between fundamental processes and crop production, edited by Dr. Hans-Peter Mock.
Topics: Flowers; Gene Expression Profiling; Plant Proteins; Plants; Proteomics; Quantitative Trait, Heritable
PubMed: 26945514
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbapap.2016.02.023 -
International Journal of Molecular... May 2018Of the many ways that plants interact with microbes, three aspects are highlighted in this issue: interactions where the plant benefits from the microbes, interactions...
Of the many ways that plants interact with microbes, three aspects are highlighted in this issue: interactions where the plant benefits from the microbes, interactions where the plant suffers, and interactions where the plant serves as habitat for microbial communities. In this editorial, the fourteen articles published in the Special Issue Plant⁻Microbe Interaction 2017 are summarized and discussed as part of the global picture of the current understanding of plant-microbe interactions.
Topics: Biodegradation, Environmental; Microbial Interactions; Microbiota; Plants; Rhodopsin; Streptomyces; Transcriptome
PubMed: 29734724
DOI: 10.3390/ijms19051374 -
Chemical Reviews Feb 2022Life in our planet is highly dependent on plants as they are the primary source of food, regulators of the atmosphere, and providers of a variety of materials. In this... (Review)
Review
Life in our planet is highly dependent on plants as they are the primary source of food, regulators of the atmosphere, and providers of a variety of materials. In this work, we review the progress on bioelectronic devices for plants and biohybrid systems based on plants, therefore discussing advancements that view plants either from a biological or a technological perspective, respectively. We give an overview on wearable and implantable bioelectronic devices for monitoring and modulating plant physiology that can be used as tools in basic plant science or find application in agriculture. Furthermore, we discuss plant-wearable devices for monitoring a plant's microenvironment that will enable optimization of growth conditions. The review then covers plant biohybrid systems where plants are an integral part of devices or are converted to devices upon functionalization with smart materials, including self-organized electronics, plant nanobionics, and energy applications. The review focuses on advancements based on organic electronic and carbon-based materials and discusses opportunities, challenges, as well as future steps.
Topics: Carbon; Electronics; Plants; Wearable Electronic Devices
PubMed: 34928592
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00525 -
Plant, Cell & Environment Oct 2019The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is a rapid regulatory mechanism for selective protein degradation in plants and plays crucial roles in growth and development.... (Review)
Review
The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is a rapid regulatory mechanism for selective protein degradation in plants and plays crucial roles in growth and development. There is increasing evidence that the UPS is also an integral part of plant adaptation to environmental stress, such as drought, salinity, cold, nutrient deprivation and pathogens. This review focuses on recent studies illustrating the important functions of the UPS components E2s, E3s and subunits of the proteasome and describes the regulation of proteasome activity during plant responses to environment stimuli. The future research hotspots and the potential for utilization of the UPS to improve plant tolerance to stress are discussed.
Topics: Cold Temperature; Droughts; Environment; Plant Development; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plants; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; Salt Stress; Stress, Physiological; Ubiquitin; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; Ultraviolet Rays
PubMed: 31364170
DOI: 10.1111/pce.13633 -
Biological Research Jan 2018Aquaporins (AQP) are channel proteins belonging to the Major Intrinsic Protein (MIP) superfamily that play an important role in plant water relations. The main role of... (Review)
Review
Aquaporins (AQP) are channel proteins belonging to the Major Intrinsic Protein (MIP) superfamily that play an important role in plant water relations. The main role of aquaporins in plants is transport of water and other small neutral molecules across cellular biological membranes. AQPs have remarkable features to provide an efficient and often, specific water flow and enable them to transport water into and out of the cells along the water potential gradient. Plant AQPs are classified into five main subfamilies including the plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), nodulin 26 like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs) and X intrinsic proteins (XIPs). AQPs are localized in the cell membranes and are found in all living cells. However, most of the AQPs that have been described in plants are localized to the tonoplast and plasma membranes. Regulation of AQP activity and gene expression, are also considered as a part of the adaptation mechanisms to stress conditions and rely on complex processes and signaling pathways as well as complex transcriptional, translational and posttranscriptional factors. Gating of AQPs through different mechanisms, such as phosphorylation, tetramerization, pH, cations, reactive oxygen species, phytohormones and other chemical agents, may play a key role in plant responses to environmental stresses by maintaining the uptake and movement of water in the plant body.
Topics: Aquaporins; Biological Transport; Gene Expression; Plants; Stress, Physiological
PubMed: 29338771
DOI: 10.1186/s40659-018-0152-0 -
Plant Biology (Stuttgart, Germany) Jan 2022A plant's associated biota plays an integral role in its metabolism, nutrient uptake, stress tolerance, pathogen resistance and other physiological processes. Although a... (Review)
Review
A plant's associated biota plays an integral role in its metabolism, nutrient uptake, stress tolerance, pathogen resistance and other physiological processes. Although a virome is an integral part of the phytobiome, a major contradiction exists between the holobiont approach and the practical need to eradicate pathogens from agricultural crops. In this review, we discuss grapevine virus control, but the issue is also relevant for numerous other crops, including potato, cassava, citrus, cacao and other species. Grapevine diseases, especially viral infections, cause main crop losses. Methods have been developed to eliminate viruses and other microorganisms from plant material, but elimination of viruses from plant material does not guarantee protection from future reinfection. Elimination of viral particles in plant material could create genetic drift, leading in turn to an increase in the occurrence of pathogenic strains of viruses. A possible solution may be a combination of virus elimination and plant propagation in tissue culture with in vitro vaccination. In this context, possible strategies to control viral infections include application of plant resistance inducers, cross protection and vaccination using siRNA, dsRNA and viral replicons during plant 'cleaning' and in vitro propagation. The experience and knowledge accumulated in human immunization can help plant scientists to develop and employ new methods of protection, leading to more sustainable and healthier crop production.
Topics: Biotechnology; Crops, Agricultural; Plant Diseases; Plant Viruses; Vaccination
PubMed: 34569131
DOI: 10.1111/plb.13338 -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Sep 2016Eukaryotic membranes contain small amounts of lipids with regulatory roles. An important class of such regulatory lipids are phosphoinositides (PIs). Within membranes,... (Review)
Review
Eukaryotic membranes contain small amounts of lipids with regulatory roles. An important class of such regulatory lipids are phosphoinositides (PIs). Within membranes, PIs serve as recruitment signals, as regulators of membrane protein function or as precursors for second messenger production, thereby influencing a multitude of cellular processes with key importance for plant function and development. Plant PIs occur locally and transiently within membrane microdomains, and their abundance is strictly controlled. To understand the functions of the plant PI-network it is important to understand not only downstream PI-effects, but also to identify and characterize factors contributing to dynamic PI formation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Lipid Biology edited by Kent D. Chapman and Ivo Feussner.
Topics: Lipids; Membrane Proteins; Phosphatidylinositols; Plants; Second Messenger Systems; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 26924252
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.02.013 -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta. Gene... Jan 2017Combinatorial gene regulation provides a mechanism by which relatively small numbers of transcription factors can control the expression of a much larger number of genes... (Review)
Review
Combinatorial gene regulation provides a mechanism by which relatively small numbers of transcription factors can control the expression of a much larger number of genes with finely tuned temporal and spatial patterns. This is achieved by transcription factors assembling into complexes in a combinatorial fashion, exponentially increasing the number of genes that they can target. Such an arrangement also increases the specificity and affinity for the cis-regulatory sequences required for accurate target gene expression. Superimposed on this transcription factor combinatorial arrangement is the increasing realization that histone modification marks expand the regulatory information, which is interpreted by histone readers and writers that are part of the regulatory apparatus. Here, we review the progress in these areas from the perspective of plant combinatorial gene regulation, providing examples of different regulatory solutions and comparing them to other metazoans. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Gene Regulatory Mechanisms and Networks, edited by Dr. Erich Grotewold and Dr. Nathan Springer.
Topics: Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genes, Plant; Histones; Plants; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 27427484
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2016.07.005