By Daniel Cosgrove The primary wall of a growing cell is a versatile, subtle, and dynamic structure, with unique properties and functions in the life of the plant (Burton et al., 2010). When a cell grows, its wall stretches irreversibly as the cell enlarges in volume. Cells can start and stop this…

By Matthew J. Paul, Asier Gonzalez-Uriarte, Cara A. Griffiths, and Keywan Hassani-Pak Significant increases in global food security require improving crop yields in favourable and poor conditions alike. However, it is challenging to increase both the crop yield potential and yield resilience simultaneously,…

By Johan Ceuster and Bram Van de Poel Abstract The volatile plant hormone ethylene plays a regulatory role in many developmental processes and in biotic and abiotic stress responses. One of the under-explored actions of ethylene is its regulation of photosynthesis and associated components such…

Three years ago, biotechnologists demonstrated in field trials that they could increase the productivity of maize by introducing a rice gene into the plant that regulated the accumulation of sucrose in kernels and led to more kernels per maize plant. They knew that the rice gene affected the performance…

Flowering is a developmental stage that is particularly sensitive to drought; restriction of water at this time can decrease seed set, final seed number, and harvested seed yield. Kernel abortion during drought at flowering can be alleviated by supplying Suc to reproductive tissue. Consequently, Suc…

gene RNA silencing is a cellular gene regulatory mechanism that is conserved across fungal, plant, and animal kingdoms. Through sequence-specific targeting, RNA silencing can degrade mRNA for posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) or modify related DNA for transcriptional gene silencing. RNA silencing…

Rice (Oryza sativa) paddies frequently become submerged during the rainy season in some parts of South and Southeast Asia, such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Submergence stress is harmful to plants. In addition to causing O2- and CO2-deficient conditions by restricting environmental…

Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, low temperature, and flooding usually lead to sugar accumulation. It has been reported that the accumulation of Glc, Suc, and Fru under high salinity plays an important role in carbon storage, osmotic regulation, and homeostasis, as well as scavenging of free…