I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or

Principles of Neural Science

What determines the number and size of the seeds produced by a plant? How often should it reproduce them? How often should a plant produce them? Why and how are seeds dispersed, and what are the implications for the diversity and composition of vegetation? These are just some of the questions tackled in this wide-ranging review of the role of seeds in the ecology of plants. The authors bring together information on the ecological aspects of seed biology, starting with a consideration of reproductive strategies in seed plants and progressing through the life cycle, covering seed maturation, dispersal, storage in the soil, dormancy, germination, seedling establishment, and regeneration in the field. The text encompasses a wide range of concepts of general relevance to plant ecology, reflecting the central role that the study of seed ecology has played in elucidating many fundamental aspects of plant community function.

The ecology of seeds

Reactive oxygen species are believed to perform multiple roles during plant defense responses to microbial attack, acting in the initial defense and possibly as cellular signaling molecules. In animals, nitric oxide (NO) is an important redox-active signaling molecule. Here we show that infection of resistant, but not susceptible, tobacco with tobacco mosaic virus resulted in enhanced NO synthase (NOS) activity. Furthermore, administration of NO donors or recombinant mammalian NOS to tobacco plants or tobacco suspension cells triggered expression of the defense-related genes encoding pathogenesis-related 1 protein and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL). These genes were also induced by cyclic GMP (cGMP) and cyclic ADP-ribose, two molecules that can serve as second messengers for NO signaling in mammals. Consistent with cGMP acting as a second messenger in tobacco, NO treatment induced dramatic and transient increases in endogenous cGMP levels. Furthermore, NO-induced activation of PAL was blocked by 6-anilino-5,8-quinolinedione and 1H-(1,2,4)-oxadiazole[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one, two inhibitors of guanylate cyclase. Although 6-anilino-5,8-quinolinedione fully blocked PAL activation, inhibition by 1H-(1,2,4)-oxadiazole[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one was not entirely complete, suggesting the existence of cGMP-independent, as well as cGMP-dependent, NO signaling. We conclude that several critical players of animal NO signaling are also operative in plants.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/95/17/10328.full.pdf

Defense gene induction in tobacco by nitric oxide, cyclic GMP, and cyclic ADP-ribose

It is now clear that hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and nitric oxide (NO) function as signalling molecules in plants. A wide range of abiotic and biotic stresses results in H(2)O(2) generation, from a variety of sources. H(2)O(2) is removed from cells via a number of antioxidant mechanisms, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic. Both biotic and abiotic stresses can induce NO synthesis, but the biosynthetic origins of NO in plants have not yet been resolved. Cellular responses to H(2)O(2) and NO are complex, with considerable cross-talk between responses to several stimuli. In this review the potential roles of H(2)O(2) and NO during various stresses and the signalling pathways they activate are discussed. Key signalling components that might provide targets for enhancing crop production are also identified.

Hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide as signalling molecules in plants

Agricultural production continues to be constrained by a number of biotic and abiotic factors that can reduce crop yield quantity and quality. Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient that affects most of the biochemical and physiological processes that influence plant growth and metabolism. It also contributes to the survival of plants exposed to various biotic and abiotic stresses. The following review focuses on the emerging role of K in defending against a number of biotic and abiotic stresses, including diseases, pests, drought, salinity, cold and frost and waterlogging. The availability of K and its effects on plant growth, anatomy, morphology and plant metabolism are discussed. The physiological and molecular mechanisms of K function in plant stress resistance are reviewed. This article also evaluates the potential for improving plant stress resistance by modifying K fertilizer inputs and highlights the future needs for research about the role of K in agriculture.

/pdf/the-critical-role-of-potassium-in-plant-stress-response-1ci5z3bxnq.pdf

The critical role of potassium in plant stress response.

1. The overall implications of biological stress.- 2. Oxidative stress.- 3. Salt stress.- 4. Chilling stress.- 5. Freezing stress.- 6. Desiccation.- 7. Water and drought stress.- 8. Heat stress.- 9. Anaerobic stress - flooding and ice-encasement.- 10. Environmental pollution stress.- Epilogue.

Stress and stress coping in cultivated plants

Evidence for the function of the free radical gas — nitric oxide (NO•) — as an endogenous maturation and senescence regulating factor in higher plants

The Characterization and Contrasting Effects of the Nitric Oxide Free Radical in Vegetative Stress and Senescence of Pisum sativum Linn. Foliage

Plant senescence processes and free radicals

relationship exists and that, concomitantly, NO may be employed as a post-harvest senescence retarding agent Employing non-invasive photoacoustic spectrometry, (Leshem and Wills, 1998; Leshem et al., 1998). This emissions of nitric oxide (NO) and ethylene in post- criticism particularly pertains to endogenous plant NO harvest strawberries and avocados were monitored. emissions which, in the above reports, were partially A clear-cut stoichiometric relationship was found based on data obtained from an invasive technique between the two gases: unripe fruit manifesting high whereby an NO-sensitive microprobe was inserted into NO and low ethylene levels—the converse in ripe fruit. the fruit tissue and therefore that the wounding caused, Findings are discussed in the light of putative control albeit minor, NO emissions which ordinarily would not of ethylene-promoted fruit senescence by endogen- occur. The present research addresses this contention by ous NO. using the recently renewed non-invasive and rapid PAS technique as described in the Materials and methods.

/pdf/non-invasive-photoacoustic-spectroscopic-determination-of-4yv306a3wp.pdf

Non‐invasive photoacoustic spectroscopic determination of relative endogenous nitric oxide and ethylene content stoichiometry during the ripening of strawberries Fragaria anannasa (Duch.) and avocados Persea americana (Mill.)

Ya’acov Y. Leshem

Papers

Stress and stress coping in cultivated plants

Evidence for the function of the free radical gas — nitric oxide (NO•) — as an endogenous maturation and senescence regulating factor in higher plants

The Characterization and Contrasting Effects of the Nitric Oxide Free Radical in Vegetative Stress and Senescence of Pisum sativum Linn. Foliage

Plant senescence processes and free radicals

Non‐invasive photoacoustic spectroscopic determination of relative endogenous nitric oxide and ethylene content stoichiometry during the ripening of strawberries Fragaria anannasa (Duch.) and avocados Persea americana (Mill.)