Gibberellins (GAs) are plant hormones that regulate various developmental processes, including stem elongation, germination, dormancy, flowering, flower development, and leaf and fruit senescence. GAs are one of the longest-known classes of plant hormone. It is thought that the selective breeding of crop strains that were deficient in GA synthesis was one of the key drivers of the "green revolution" in the 1960s, a revolution that is credited to have saved over a billion lives worldwide.
Jasmonate (JA) and its derivatives are lipid-based plant hormones that regulate a wide range of processes in plants, ranging from growth and photosynthesis to reproductive development. In particular, JAs are critical for plant defense against herbivory and plant responses to poor environmental conditions and other kinds of abiotic and biotic challenges. Some JAs can also be released as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to permit communication between plants in anticipation of mutual dangers.
Thioredoxin is a class of small redox proteins known to be present in all organisms. It plays a role in many important biological processes, including redox signaling. In humans, thioredoxins are encoded by TXN and TXN2 genes. Loss-of-function mutation of either of the two human thioredoxin genes is lethal at the four-cell stage of the developing embryo. Although not entirely understood, thioredoxin is linked to medicine through their response to reactive oxygen species (ROS). In plants, thioredoxins regulate a spectrum of critical functions, ranging from photosynthesis to growth, flowering and the development and germination of seeds. Thioredoxins play a role in cell-to-cell communication.
Christopher John Leaver is an Emeritus Professorial Fellow of St John's College, Oxford who served as Sibthorpian Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford from 1990 to 2007.
Nitrate reductases are molybdoenzymes that reduce nitrate to nitrite. This reaction is critical for the production of protein in most crop plants, as nitrate is the predominant source of nitrogen in fertilized soils.
In enzymology, a glycerate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.29) is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
Glyoxylate reductase, first isolated from spinach leaves, is an enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of glyoxylate to glycolate, using the cofactor NADH or NADPH.
Myb genes are part of a large gene family of transcription factors found in animals and plants. In humans, it includes Myb proto-oncogene like 1 and Myb-related protein B in addition to MYB proper. Members of the extended SANT/Myb family also include the SANT domain and other similar all-helical homeobox-like domains.
Cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.2.1.44), systematically named cinnamaldehyde:NADP+ oxidoreductase (CoA-cinnamoylating) but commonly referred to by the acronym CCR, is an enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of a substituted cinnamoyl-CoA to its corresponding cinnamaldehyde, utilizing NADPH and H+ and releasing free CoA and NADP+ in the process. Common biologically relevant cinnamoyl-CoA substrates for CCR include p-coumaroyl-CoA and feruloyl-CoA, which are converted into p-coumaraldehyde and coniferaldehyde, respectively, though most CCRs show activity toward a variety of other substituted cinnamoyl-CoA's as well. Catalyzing the first committed step in monolignol biosynthesis, this enzyme plays a critical role in lignin formation, a process important in plants both for structural development and defense response.
Glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GRHPR gene.
Leucocyanidin is a colorless chemical compound that is a member of the class of natural products known as leucoanthocyanidins.
Phlobaphenes are reddish, alcohol-soluble and water-insoluble phenolic substances. They can be extracted from plants, or be the result from treatment of tannin extracts with mineral acids. The name phlobaphen come from the Greek roots φλoιὀς (phloios) meaning bark and βαφή (baphe) meaning dye.
M Anwar Hossain is a Bangladeshi scientist, writer, and politician. He is a professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of University of Dhaka and a member of the Standing Committee of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. He was the 14th vice chancellor of Jahangirnagar University and the former president of the Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA) and Bangladesh Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Hossain was a freedom fighter of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 during which he served as a staff officer of sector 11. Hossain has been detained and imprisoned twice by military rulers of Bangladesh and has been described by Senator Edward Kennedy as a 'prisoner of conscience'.
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.
Very-long-chain 3-oxoacyl-CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.330, very-long-chain 3-ketoacyl-CoA reductase, very-long-chain beta-ketoacyl-CoA reductase, KCR (gene), IFA38 (gene)) is an enzyme with systematic name (3R)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA:NADP+ oxidoreductase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Zhang Wenhao, also known as Wen-Hao Zhang, is a Chinese plant physiologist and nutritionist at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Pisatin (3-hydroxy-7-methoxy-4′,5′-methylenedioxy-chromanocoumarane) is the major phytoalexin made by the pea plant Pisum sativum. It was the first phytoalexin to be purified and chemically identified. The molecular formula is C17H14O6.
Ian Alexander Graham is a professor of Biochemical Genetics in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) at the University of York.
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.
