biotech
Brassinosteroids: Key to Controlling Plant Stature
Filed in archive Food and Agriculture by ruth on May 8, 2006
Brassinosteroids: Key to Controlling Plant Stature
Scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have deciphered the signalling pathway for brassinosteroids, a class of plant hormones that regulates growth and development.
"Without them, plants are tiny dwarves, with reduced vasculature and roots, and are infertile. They also regulate senescence or aging. Since brassinosteroids mainly regulate cell expansion, though, they are one of the most important hormones that regulate stature."

By regulating the amount of brassinosteroids expressed in plants, plant stature can be manipulated, with practical applications ranging from perpetually short grasses, and controlling the heights of crops such that yield is maximized. An article discussing the findings is published in the May 4 issue of Nature: Downstream nuclear events in brassinosteroid signalling.

[Photo: The level of brassinosteroids regulates both the size and senescence of tobacco. With low levels, tobacco is dwarfed (some as small as 10 inches tall; see plant in front) and the leaves do not senesce, while at normal levels of brassinosteroids, tobacco stands almost 6 feet tall and the leaves turn yellow as they age (plant in back). Courtesy of Michael Neff and Joanne Chory]

Permalink: Brassinosteroids: Key to Controlling Plant Stature
Tags: agriculture  hormone  biotech  plant  brassinosteroids  plant+stature  brassinosteroids+controlling  contro 
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/21593
img Addthis img Ask img Blinklist img del.icio.us img Digg img Fark img Facebook img Google img Lycos img Ma.gnolia Add this page to Mister Wong Mr Wong img Netscape img Netvousz img Newsvine img Reddit img StumbleUpon img Slashdot img Tailrank img Technorati img Wink img Yahoo

Vote for Brassinosteroids: Key to Controlling Plant Stature:

  • Currently 7.00/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 7.00 out of 4 vote(s) cast.
 
Subscribe
Share It
Popular posts from our other blogs:
RSSrss
See all blog subscribe options
Google google
What is RSS?
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
Newsletter

TwitterFollow us on Twitter!