A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. The word derives from Ancient Greek ἅλας (halas) 'salt' and φυτόν (phyton) 'plant'. Halophytes have different anatomy, physiology and biochemistry than glycophytes. An example of a halophyte is the salt marsh grass Spartina alterniflora. Relatively few plant species are halophytes—perhaps only 2% of all plant species. Information about many of the earth's halophytes can be found in the ehaloph database.
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have special adaptations to take in extra oxygen and to remove salt, which allow them to tolerate conditions that would kill most plants. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several plant families. They occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics and even some temperate coastal areas, mainly between latitudes 30° N and 30° S, with the greatest mangrove area within 5° of the equator. Mangrove plant families first appeared during the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene epochs, and became widely distributed in part due to the movement of tectonic plates. The oldest known fossils of mangrove palm date to 75 million years ago.
BGI Group, formerly Beijing Genomics Institute, is a Chinese genomics company with headquarters in Yantian District, Shenzhen. The company was originally formed in 1999 as a genetics research center to participate in the Human Genome Project. It also sequences the genomes of other animals, plants and microorganisms.
Rhizobium is a genus of Gram-negative soil bacteria that fix nitrogen. Rhizobium species form an endosymbiotic nitrogen-fixing association with roots of (primarily) legumes and other flowering plants.
Abscisic acid is a plant hormone. ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.
Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. It has recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple. It was first described as Pyrus sieversii due to its similarities with pears in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a German naturalist who saw them growing in the Altai Mountains.
Cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-3 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ATF3 gene.
A xerophyte is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water. Examples are typically desert regions like the Sahara, and places in the Alps or the Arctic. Popular examples of xerophytes are cacti, pineapple and some Gymnosperm plants.
Dehydrin (DHN) is a multi-family of proteins present in plants that is produced in response to cold and drought stress. DHNs are hydrophilic, reliably thermostable, and disordered. They are stress proteins with a high number of charged amino acids that belong to the Group II Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) family. DHNs are primarily found in the cytoplasm and nucleus but more recently, they have been found in other organelles, like mitochondria and chloroplasts.
Suaeda aralocaspica is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae that is restricted to the deserts of Central Asia. It is a halophyte and uses C4 carbon fixation but lacks the characteristic leaf anatomy of other C4 plants (known as kranz anatomy). Carrying out complete C4 photosynthesis within individual cells, these plants instead are known as single‐cell C4 system or SCC4 plants. This makes them distinct from typical C4 plants, which require the collaboration of two types of photosynthetic cells. SCC4 plants have features that make them potentially valuable in engineering higher photosynthetic efficiencies in agriculturally important C3 carbon fixation species such as rice. To address this, the 467 Mb genome of S. aralocaspica has been sequenced to help understanding of the evolution of SCC4 photosynthesis and contribute to the engineering of C4 photosynthesis into other economically important crops.
In molecular biology mir-390 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
In molecular biology mir-396 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
In molecular biology mir-408 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
In molecular biology mir-398 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
Li Jiayang is a Chinese agronomist and geneticist. He is Vice Minister of Agriculture in China and President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). He is also Professor and Principal investigator at the Institute of Genetics and Development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Non-invasive micro-test technology (NMT) is a scientific research technology used for measuring physiological events of intact biological samples. NMT is used for research in many biological areas such as gene function, plant physiology, biomedical research, and environmental science.
Jian-Kang Zhu is a plant scientist, researcher and academic. He is a Senior Principal Investigator in the Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is also the Academic Director of CAS Center of Excellence in Plant Sciences.
Cannabis (/ˈkænəbɪs/) is commonly known as marijuana or hemp and has two known strains: Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica, both of which produce chemicals to deter herbivory. The chemical composition includes specialized terpenes and cannabinoids, mainly tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and cannabidiol (CBD). These substances play a role in defending the plant from pathogens including insects, fungi, viruses and bacteria. THC and CBD are stored mostly in the trichomes of the plant, and can cause psychological and physical impairment in the user, via the endocannabinoid system and unique receptors. THC increases dopamine levels in the brain, which attributes to the euphoric and relaxed feelings cannabis provides. As THC is a secondary metabolite, it poses no known effects towards plant development, growth, and reproduction. However, some studies show secondary metabolites such as cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes are used as defense mechanisms against biotic and abiotic environmental stressors.
Awais Khan is a Pakistani-American plant geneticist and an associate professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University.
