Front. Plant. Sci. Micronutrient malnutrition (or “hidden hunger”) is estimated to concern one fourth of the human population worldwide and its main victims are children and pregnant women. This review summarizes the biosynthetic pathways, the role in plant physiology and the recent efforts of the…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

By Lisa Smith and Nathan Butler Epigenetic modifications in plants repress transposable elements to maintain genome stability and facilitate adaptation to changing environmental conditions by regulating the expression of some genes. Furthermore, conditions such as disease stress can alter the epigenetic…

The year 2016 marked a half-century since the discovery of C4 photosynthesis, yet we still seek to elucidate many of the mechanisms underpinning the C4 cycle. Although C4 and C3 plants share molecular units involved in photosynthesis (Miyao, 2003; Kellogg, 2013), C4 plants have unique morphological traits…