(Press-News.org) BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, February 15, 2011 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers have developed techniques to manipulate root development functionality that can help plants better adapt to hostile growing environments.
In a recent paper published in the prestigious journal The Plant Cell, BGU researchers were able show that by manipulating a specific gene they could impact lateral root growth. Lateral root (LR) development is a highly regulated process that determines a plant's growth and ability to adapt to life in different environmental conditions.
The researchers identified ABI4, a master-gene that controls LR development, then mutated the gene and constructed transgenic plants in which this gene is over-expressed. They demonstrated that the ABI4 gene functions at a central junction that determines the accumulation of signals from three different plant hormones. The balance and manipulation of these signals, achieved via ABI4, regulates root structure development.
According to the research conducted by BGU student Doron Shkolnik-Inbar and Prof. Dudy Bar-Zvi in BGU's Department of Life Sciences, "the revolutionary research will allow control and manipulation of the level of root branching, enabling plants to adapt to arid soils or high salinity."
INFORMATION:
ABI4 Mediates Abscisic Acid and Cytokinin Inhibition of Lateral Root Formation by Reducing Polar Auxin Transport in Arabidopsis[C],[W]
The Plant Cell 22:3560-3573 American Society of Plant Biologists.
Doron Shkolnik-Inbar and Dudy Bar-Zvi1 Department of Life Sciences and Doris and Bertie Black Center for Bioenergetics in Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev. AABGU is headquartered in Manhattan and has nine regional offices throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.aabgu.org.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Physical Society (APS) agrees with President Obama's emphasis on science in his proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget. His priorities keep the nation on a path of scientific advancement, technological innovation and economic growth.
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Contact: Jonathan Covault, M.D., Ph.D.
jocovault@uchc.edu
860-679-7560
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
A. Leslie Morrow, Ph.D.
morrow@med.unc.edu
919-966-7682
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
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Contact: Richard J. Rose, Ph.D.
rose@indiana.edu
812-855-8770
Indiana University
Matt McGue, Ph.D.
mmcgue@tfs.psych.umn.edu
612-625-8305
University of Minnesota
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Why problem drinking during adolescence is never a 'phase'
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Contact: Katherine P. Theall, Ph.D.
ktheall@tulane.edu
504-988-4535
Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
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Contact: Ian Demsky
idemsky@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
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