Entries by Elisa Dell'Aglio

The Manipulation of Gene Expression and the Biosynthesis of Vitamin C, E and Folate in Light-and Dark-Germination of Sweet Corn Seeds (OA)

Sci. Rep. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the vitamin content of cereal sprouts is higher than the one of cereal kernels. For example, it was recently shown that niacin, riboflavin and ascorbic acid accumulate during sweet corn sprouting. Liu and colleagues went further by measuring the vitamin content at several sprouting […]

Nicotinamide Mononucleotide and Related Metabolites Induce Disease Resistance Against Fungal Phytopathogens in Arabidopsis and Barley (OA)

Sci. Rep. Plant defense activators are organic molecules that do not possess antimicrobial activity but have been shown to enhance plant disease resistance mechanisms. A comparison of some Fusarium-resistant and -susceptible barely cultivars suggested that NMN may act as a plant defense activator. RNAseq data revealed salicylic acid induction and cell death repression in NMN-pretreated Arabidopsis […]

Genomic Insights into the Evolution of the Nicotine Biosynthesis Pathway in Tobacco (OA)

Plant Physiol. Nicotine is a NAD-related secondary alkaloid found in high concentration in the leaves of the tetraploid tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum). The recent sequencing of the N. tabacum genome allowed a comprehensive analysis of genes involved in NAD and nicotine biosynthesis. The analysis revealed the presence of a nicotine regulon, constituted of genes involved […]

Impact of Conventional and Integrated Management Systems on the Water-Soluble Vitamin Content in Potatoes, Field Beans, and Cereals ($)

J. Agric. Food Chem. Agriculture in the EU is shifting towards a more sustainable use of resources and preservation of the biodiversity. This process requires a careful assessment of the balance between economic and environmental demands. To achieve this goal, the James Hutton Institute set up a long-term experimental platform. Freitag et al. present a comparison […]

Review: Medicine Is not Health Care, Food Is Health Care: Plant Metabolic Engineering, Diet and Human Health (OA)

New Phytol. One of the consequences of the green revolution has been the increasing dependence on few staple crops, which provide calories but often lack the right amount of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. The consequences are collectively called “hidden hunger” and concern not only poor countries but also some populations of rich countries. This […]

What We’re Reading: April 13th edition

Guest Editor: Dr. Elisa Dell’Aglio Elisa holds a PhD in Plant Biochemistry from the University of Grenoble – CEA (France) and just finished a first Post-Doc at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She has been a Plantae Fellow since September 2017. Her work is aimed at understanding how cofactors, such as NADP and Vitamin B6, […]

Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers ($) (Nature)

Improving crop productivity of rural areas while addressing pollution problems is a challenge that not only depends on scientific studies and technology but also requires an effective dialog with the smallholder farming communities. This month, Nature published the results of a ten-year Chinese agricultural program that involved 1,152 scientists and graduate students, thousands of agricultural […]

Unleashing meiotic crossovers in hybrid plants ($) (PNAS)

To generate new plant varieties with desirable traits, plant geneticists cross existing varieties that contain the characters they want to combine. The genetic variability is obtained thanks to events called crossovers, in which segments of homologous chromosomes are swapped during meiosis. The frequency of crossovers, however, depends on the species and is often a limiting […]

Chlamydomonas photoreceptor gene editing by zinc-finger nucleases and CRISPR/Cas9

New genome editing technology, such as zinc-finger nucleases and CRISPR/Cas9, are revolutionizing reverse genetics studies because they allow fast and precise genetic modifications in many species. However, they require efficient transformation and selection methods. This is notably a problem for algae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Greiner et al. describe a procedure that creates antibiotic-resistant clones […]