Plant Biotechnology 

About: Plant Biotechnology is an academic journal published by Japanese Society for Plant Biotechnology. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Gene & Arabidopsis. It has an ISSN identifier of 1342-4580. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 1934 publications have been published receiving 22738 citations.

Polyamines and their ability to provide environmental stress tolerance to plants

Abstract: The present review highlights some recent advances regarding the function of polyamines in the environmental stress tolerance of plants. When exposed to adverse environmental stresses, such as salt, drought, low temperature, and ozone, the complex dynamic kinetics of polyamine biosynthesis was observed. Polyamines titers altered in different manners dependent upon several factors, such as plant species, tolerance or sensitivity to stress, and duration of stress. The exogenous addition of polyamines to stress-treated cells or tissues could lead to injury alleviation and growth promotion in most cases, although the effects varied between polyamines and among plant species. Key genes responsible for polyamine biosynthesis have been cloned from a variety of plant species, whose expressions following stress have been investigated on a molecular basis. Overexpression of the genes caused the modification of polyamine biosynthesis in the transformants coupled with enhancement of stress tolerance. All of these results seem to indicate that polyamines are an important component in a plant's response to stress and that they play a significant role in counteracting stress.

Economic importance of licorice

Abstract: Licorice is the root and stolon of the Glycyrrhiza plant, which belongs to the family Leguminosae. The licorice plant is an important medicinal herb, and the constituent—glycyrrhizin—is widely used as a natural sweetener and also as a pharmaceutical agent because of its anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties. Licorice is also an indispensable ingredient of traditional Japanese Kampo medicines. Furthermore, licorice extracts are used as cosmetics, food additives, tobacco flavors, and confectionery foods. In this article, we review the importance of licorice and its related products.

Ti-Plasmid Vectors Useful for Functional Analysis of Rice Genes

Abstract: We developed new binary vectors, pPZP2H-lac and pPZP2Ha3, for the transformation of rice plants These binary vectors contain multiple cloning sites and the hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene as a plant-selectable marker After Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, transgenic plants containing a T-DNA could be tightly selected by hygromycin B The vectors are powerful tools for the functional analysis of genes

Alleviation by calcium of cadmium-induced root growth inhibition in Arabidopsis seedlings

Abstract: Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic element for living organisms. Its toxicity and the thereof by calcium (Ca) in 2-week-old Arabidopsis seedlings were studied. The seedlings were treated with Cd at concentrations of 50–500 µM for 24 h. Retardation of root growth was evident through increased cell death at the root elongation zone. Supplementing with 30 mM Ca restored root elongation in the presence of up to 200 µM Cd, resulting in up to a 1/3 decrease in Cd content in the seedlings compared to Arabidopsis treated with Cd alone. Ca was able to alleviate Cd toxicity, presumably through competition for metal ion influx. These results provide us with information regarding plant ion uptake systems and metal ion toxicities.