"Advances in Botanical Research" publishes in-depth and up-to-date reviews on a wide range of topics in plant sciences. The series features a wide range of reviews by recognized experts on all aspects of plant genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, physiology and ecology. Thisthematic volume features reviews on cutting-edge topics on BIOSYNTHESIS OF VITAMINS IN PLANTS.

Covers cutting-edge topics on BIOSYNTHESIS OF VITAMINS IN PLANTS Each chapter covers biological functions and requirements, distribution, Biosynthesis and location of the pathway, regulation, turnover and catabolism, Main differences with other autotrophic organisms, and engineering the pathway for nutritional enhancement."

This book highlights the advances in essential oil research, from the plant physiology perspective to large-scale production, including bioanalytical methods and industrial applications. The book is divided into 4 sections. The first one is focused on essential oil composition and why plants produce these compounds that have been used by humans since ancient times. Part 2 presents an update on the use of essential oils in various areas, including food and pharma industries as well as agriculture. In part 3 readers will find new trends in bioanalytical methods. Lastly, part 4 presents a number of approaches to increase essential oil production, such as in vitro and hairy root culture, metabolic engineering and biotechnology. Altogether, this volume offers a comprehensive look at what researchers have been doing over the last years to better understand these compounds and how to explore them for the benefit of the society.

Experience shows that biotic stresses occur with different levels of intensity in nearly all agricultural areas around the world. The occurrence of insects, weeds and diseases caused by fungi, bacteria or viruses may not be relevant in a specific year but they usually harm yield in most years. Global warming has shifted the paradigm of biotic stresses in most growing areas, especially in the tropical countries, sparking intense discussions in scientific forums. This book was written with the idea of collecting in a single publication the most recent advances and discoveries concerning breeding for biotic stresses, covering all major classes of biotic challenges to agriculture and food production. Accordingly, it presents the state-of-the-art in plant stresses caused by all microorganisms, weeds and insects and how to breed for them. Complementing Plant Breeding for Abiotic Stress Tolerance, this book was written for scientists and students interested in learning how to breed for biotic stress scenarios, allowing them to develop a greater understanding of the basic mechanisms of resistance to biotic stresses and develop resistant cultivars.

The book focuses on the principles and practices of tropical maize improvement with special emphasis on early and extra-early maize to feed the increasing population in Sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights the similarities and differences between results obtained in temperate regions of the world and WCA in terms of corroboration or refutation of genetic principles and theory of maize breeding. The book is expected to be of great interest to maize breeders, advanced undergraduates, graduate students, professors and research scientists in the national and international research institutes all over the world, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. It will also serve as a useful reference for agricultural extension and technology transfer systems, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), seed companies and community-based seed enterprises, policy makers, and all those who are interested in generating wealth from agriculture and alleviating hunger and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This volume illustrates the complex root system, including the various essential roles of roots as well as their interaction with diverse microorganisms localized in or near the root system.

Following initial chapters describing the anatomy and architecture as well as the growth and development of root systems, subsequent chapters focus on the various types of root symbiosis with bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere. A third section covers the physiological strategies of roots, such as nitrate assimilation, aquaporins, the role of roots in plant defense responses and in response to droughts and salinity changes. The book s final chapters discuss the prospects of applied engineering of roots, i.e., inventing new root structures or functions through genetic modification, but also with conventional breeding and manipulation of root symbionts. The budding field of root engineering is expected to promote a second green revolution."

The present edited book is an attempt to update the state of art of the knowledge on metabolism of ROS and antioxidants and their relationship in plant adaptation to abiotic stresses involving physiological, biochemical and molecular processes. The chapters are much focused on the current climate issues and how ROS metabolism can manipulate with antioxidant system to accelerate detoxification mechanism. It will enhance the mechanistic understanding on ROS and antioxidants system and will pave the path for agricultural scientists in developing tolerant crops to achieve sustainability under the changing environmental conditions. The increase in abiotic stress factors has become a major threat to sustainability of crop production. This situation has led to think ways which can help to come out with potential measures; for which it is necessary to understand the influence of abiotic stress factors on crops performance and the mechanisms by which these factors impact plants. It has now become evident that abiotic stress impacts negatively on plant growth and development at every stage of plant's life. Plants adapt to the changing environment with the adjustment at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels. The possible mechanisms involved in the negative effects of abiotic stress factors are excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). They alter physiological and molecular mechanisms leading to poor performance of plants. Plants however, are able to cope with these adverse effects by inducing antioxidant systems as the priority. Nevertheless, the dual role of ROS has now been ascertained which provides an evidence for regulation of plant metabolism positively on a concentration-dependent manner. Under conditions of high ROS production, the antioxidant system plays a major role in diminishing the effects of ROS. Thus, ROS production and antioxidant system are interwoven with abiotic stress conditions. The antioxidants have the capacity to hold the stability in metabolism in order to avoid disruption due to environmental disturbances.

This edited volume focuses on the characterization, reclamation, bioremediation, and phytoremediation of salt affected soils and waterlogged sodic soils. Innovative technologies in managing marginal salt affected lands merit immediate attention in the light of climate change and its impact on crop productivity and environment. The decision-making process related to reclamation and management of vast areas of salt affected soils encompasses consideration of economic viability, environmental sustainability, and social acceptability of different approaches. The chapters in this book highlight the significant environmental and social impacts of different ameliorative techniques used to manage salt affected soils. Readers will discover new knowledge on the distribution, reactions, changes in bio-chemical properties and microbial ecology of salt affected soils through case studies exploring Indian soils. The contributions presented by experts shed new light on techniques such as the restoration of degraded lands by growing halophyte plant species, diversification of crops and introduction of microbes for remediation of salt infested soils, and the use of fluorescent pseudomonads for enhancing crop yields.

r ed Algae in Genome Age book most people reading this book have childhood memories about being enthralled at the beach with those rare and mysterious living forms we knew as seaweeds. We were fascinated at that time by their range of red hues and textures, and most of all, their exotic beauty. t o a scientist, red algae represent much more than apparent features. t heir complex forms have attracted morphologists for centuries; their intricate life cycles have brought more than one surprise to plant biologists familiar only with ferns and fowering plants; their unusual tastes have been appreciated for mill- nia, and their valuable chemical constituents have been exploited for nearly as long, most recently by biotech companies; their diversity in marine, freshwater, and t- restrial environments has offered centuries of engaging entertainment for botanists eager to arrange them in orderly classifcation systems; still, the red algae continue to teach us how many more challenges need to be overcome in order to understand their biodiversity, biological functions, and evolutionary histories.

This volume focuses on various approaches to studying long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), including techniques for finding lncRNAs, localization, and observing their functions. The chapters in this book cover how to catalog lncRNAs in various plant species; determining subcellular localization; protein interactions; structures; and RNA modifications. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and innovative, Plant Long Non-Coding RNAs: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource that aids researchers in understanding the functions of lncRNAs in different plant species, and helps them explore currently uncharted facets of plant biology.

Precise regulation of gene expression in both time and space is vital to plant growth, development and adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. This is achieved by multiple mechanisms, with perhaps the most important control being exerted at the level of transcription. However, with the recent discovery of microRNAs another ubiquitous mode of gene regulation that occurs at the post-transcriptional level has been identified. MicroRNAs can silence gene expression by targeting complementary or partially complementary mRNAs for degradation or translational inhibition. Recent studies have revealed that microRNAs play fundamental roles in plant growth and development, as well as in adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses. This book highlights the roles of individual miRNAs that control and regulate diverse aspects of plant processes.

Plants live in a constantly changing environment from which they cannot physically escape. Plants therefore need signalling and response mechanisms to adapt to new local conditions. The ef?cacy of such mechanisms underlies the plant performance during stress and therefore also impacts greatly on agricultural productivity. M- ulation of ion channel activity not only provides a means for rapid signal generation 2+ but also allows adjustment of cellular physiology. For example, Ca permeable ion 2+ channels can transduce environmental stimuli into Ca -encoded messages which can modify the gene expression. Furthermore, ion channel activity is essential to control cellular ion homeostasis that impacts on plant responses to drought, salinity, pathogens, nutrient de?ciency, heavy metals, xenobiotics and other stresses. This volume focuses on the crucial roles of different types of ion channel in plant stress responses. Functions of ion channels are discussed in the context of mechanisms to relay external and endogenous signals during stress and as mechanisms to regulate cellular ion homeostasis and enzymatic activities in the context of biotic and abiotic stress. The chapters presented cover cation and anion channels located in various cellular compartments and tissues.

Mimicry is a classic example of adaptation through natural selection. The traditional focus of mimicry research has been on defence in animals, but there is now also a highly-developed and rapidly-growing body of research on floral mimicry in plants. This has coincided with a revolution in genomic tools, making it possible to explore which genetic and developmental processes underlie the sometimes astonishing changes that give rise to floral mimicry. Being literally rooted to one spot, plants have to cajole animals into acting as couriers for their pollen. Floral mimicry encompasses a set of evolutionary strategies whereby plants imitate the food sources, oviposition sites, or mating partners of animals in order to exploit them as pollinators. This first definitive book on floral mimicry discusses the functions of visual, olfactory, and tactile signals, integrating them into a broader theory of organismal mimicry that will help guide future research in the field. It addresses the fundamental question of whether the evolutionary and ecological principles that were developed for protective mimicry in animals can also be applied to floral mimicry in plants. The book also deals with the functions of floral rewardlessness, a condition which often serves as a precursor to the evolution of mimicry in plant lineages. The authors pay particular attention to the increasing body of research on chemical cues: their molecular basis, their role in cognitive misclassification of flowers by pollinators, and their implications for plant speciation. Comprehensive in scope and conceptual in focus, Floral Mimicry is primarily aimed at senior undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers in plant science and evolutionary biology.

The entire range of the developmental processes in plants is regulated by a shift in the hormonal concentration, tissue sensitivity and their interaction with the factors operating around them. Out of the recognized hormones, attention has largely been focused on five - Auxins, Gibberellins, Cytokinin, Abscisic acid and Ethylene. However, the information about the most recent group of phytohormone (Brassinosteroids) has been incorporated in this book. This volume includes a selection of newly written, integrated, illustrated reviews describing our knowledge of Brassinosteroids and aims to describe them at the present time. Various chapters incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects and may serve as baseline information for future researches through which significant developments are possible. This book will be useful to the students, teachers and researchers, both in universities and research institutes, especially in relation to biological and agricultural sciences.

Optical screening of excessive and potentially harmful solar radiation is an important photoprotective mechanism, though it has received much less attention in comparison with other systems preventing photooxidative damage to photoautotrophic organisms. This photoprotection in the form of screening appears to be especially important for juvenile and senescing plants as well as under environmental stresses-i.e. in situations where the efficiency of enzymatic ROS elimination, DNA repair and other classical' photoprotective systems could be impaired. This book represents an attempt to develop an integral view of optical screening-based photoprotection in microalgae and higher plants. Towards this end, the key groups of pigments involved in the screening of ultraviolet and visible components of solar radiation in microalgae and higher plants, and the patterns of their accumulation and distribution within plant cells and tissues, are described. Special attention is paid to the manifestations of screening pigment accumulation in the optical spectra of plants. It is also demonstrated that understanding these effects and their relationships to screening pigments' makeup and spectroscopy in plants provides valuable insights into the state of plants' long-term photoacclimation, as well as ample opportunities for the non-destructive quantification of screening pigments and the assessment of the efficiency of photoprotection providing by these pigments in situ.

It was around 1970, I had just completed a 5-year breeding project aiming at fxing fower colour in gerbera progenies: white, yellow, pink, and red; colour homogeneity was sound, but size and shape still required some improvement. The problem was defnitely resolved by Murashige and Skoog, USA who published a reliable protocol for gerbera micropro- gation. In short, my gerbera seed lines were immediately rendered obsolete by this e- cient cloning system, able to produce millions of plants of a matchless and previously unknown homogeneity, the uniformity of fower shape and colour being the basic requi- ments for the market. The success of micropropagation resulted in a tremendous growth in gerbera fower production worldwide, and this species conquered a leading place in the foriculture industry. This personal experience stresses the impact of micropropagation on the genetic improvement research strategies in ornamentals. Micropropagation has become "in- sive", especially in ornamental plant material issues. Today, hundreds of protocols exist; however, only a modest percentage of them are exploited economically. Thus, only micropropagation of plants with a high market price range, like orchids for instance, has proved cost-effective and achieved great success. Micropropagation is a labour-intensive system: hand-power is estimated to rep- sent 60-70% of total costs. This explains the outsourcing of the major labs in developing countries where labour is cheaper. Nevertheless, certain industrial protocols remain a proprietary technology of leading labs, mostly western, with the exception of Japan and Taiwan.

In any ecosystem, plant and microbe interaction is inevitable. They not only co-exist but also support each other's survival and also provide for sustenance in stressful environment. Agro-ecosystems of many regions around the globe are affected by multi-stress. Major limiting factors affecting the agricultural productivity worldwide are environmental stresses. Apart from decreasing yield they introduce devastating impact on plant growth as well. Plants battle with various kind of stresses with the help of symbiotic association with the microbes in the rhizosphere. Naturally existing plant-microbe interaction facilitates survival of plants under these stressful conditions. Rhizosphere consists of many groups of microbes, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) is one such group of microbes which assist plants in coping with multiple stresses and in plant growth as well. These microbes help in stress physiology of the plants and can be extremely useful in solving agricultural as well food security problems. The proposed book is split into two parts, with an aim to provide comprehensive description and highlight a holistic approach. It elucidates various mechanisms in rhizosphere of nutrient management, stress tolerance and enhanced crop productivity. The book discusses rhizospheric flora and its importance in enhancement of plant growth, nutrient content, yield of various crops and vegetables as well as soil fertility and health. Both volumes of the book addresses fundamentals, applications as well as research trends and new prospects of agricultural sustainability. Volume 2: Nutrient Management and Crop Improvement, contains chapters which cover a broad overview of plant growth promoting activities of microbes. This proposed book also highlights the contribution of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc-solubilizing microbes from rhizospheric soil to develop efficient indigenous microbial consortia to enhance the food and nutritional security. With the given content and layout the proposed book will be an all-inclusive collection of information, which will be useful for students, academicians, researchers working in the field of rhizospheric mechanisms, agricultural microbiology, soil microbiology, biotechnology, agronomy and sustainable agriculture and also for policy makers in the area of food security and sustainable agriculture. It will be of special interest to both academics and professionals working in the fields of microbiology, soil microbiology, biotechnology and agronomy, as well as the plant protection sciences. Timely, this edited and research book provides an essential and comprehensive source of material from basic to advance findings on microbes and their role in agricultural and soil sustainability.

Chloroplasts are vital for life as we know it. At the leaf cell level, it is common knowledge that a chloroplast interacts with its surroundings - but this knowledge is often limited to the benefits of oxygenic photosynthesis and that chloroplasts provide reduced carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. This book presents the intricate interplay between chloroplasts and their immediate and more distant environments. The topic is explored in chapters covering aspects of evolution, the chloroplast/cytoplasm barrier, transport, division, motility and bidirectional signalling. Taken together, the contributed chapters provide an exciting insight into the complexity of how chloroplast functions are related to cellular and plant-level functions. The recent rapid advances in the presented research areas, largely made possible by the development of molecular techniques and genetic screens of an increasing number of plant model systems, make this interaction a topical issue.

Oxygen (O ) appeared in significant amounts in the Earth's atmosphere over 2. 2 2 billion years ago, largely due to the evolution of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria (Halliwell 2006). The O molecule is a free radical, as it has two impaired electrons 2 that have the same spin quantum number. This spin restriction makes O prefer to 2 accept its electrons one at a time, leading to the generation of the so-called reactive oxygen species (ROS). The chemical nature of these species dictates that they can create damage in cells. This has contributed to the creation of the "oxidative stress" concept; in this view, ROS are unavoidable toxic products of O metabolism and 2 aerobic organisms have evolved antioxidant defences to protect against this tox- ity (Halliwell 1981; Fridovich 1998). Indeed, even in present-day plants, which are full of antioxidants, much of the protein synthetic activity of chloroplasts is used to replace oxidatively damaged D1 and other proteins (Halliwell 2006). Yet, the use of the "oxidative stress" term implies that ROS exert their effects through indiscriminate widespread inactivation of cellular functions. In this context, ROS must not be able to react with lipids, proteins or nucleic acids in order to avoid any damage to vital cellular components. However, genetic evidence has suggested that, in planta, purely physicoche- cal damage may be more limited than previously thought (Foyer and Noctor 2005).

This book covers many facets of plant selenium (Se) accumulation: molecular genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and ecological and evolutionary aspects. Broader impacts and applications of plant Se accumulation also receive attention. Plant Se accumulation is very relevant for environmental and human health. Selenium is both essential at low levels and toxic at high levels, and both Se deficiency and toxicity are problems worldwide. Selenium can positively affect crop productivity and nutritional value. Plants may also be used to clean up excess environmental Se. Selenium in plants has profound ecological impact, and likely contributes to Se movement in ecosystems and global Se cycling.

Volume 2 covers nitrogen fertilizer efficiency, acid tolerance of the legume symbiosis, fruit tree nutrition, rhizosphere pH change, iron deficiency in crop production, the effects of nutrient deficiences on seed production, the elemental composition of plants, and the role of potassium. The articles in this volume join together both the fundamental and the applied parts of this discipline. The editors' aim to make the reviews comprehensible to scientists in relevant disciplines, rather than purely to the specialist. The format of each volume is a small number of full-length reviews of important topics, plus an editorial which briefly mentions other rapidly developing topics that may therefore be reviewed in future volumes.

In spite of international agreements at the political level not much has changed since the late 1980s in terms of reducing the speed of destruction of original tropical environments.

However, since the publication of the first edition ten years ago, international research efforts in physiological ecology of plants in the tropics has increased enormously in quantity and quality. In some fields advances were more substantial than in others. New approaches came up in remote sensing and at the other end of the scope in some areas molecular biology was particularly developed regarding ecological performance of tropical plants, e.g. in understanding the adaptation of resurrection plants to the extreme habitat of inselbergs.

The wealth of new information made it necessary to break large chapters down into smaller ones. Tropical forests which occupy about half of the entire volume of the book were now arranged in 5 chapters covering structure and function under the influence of environmental cues and including epiphytes and mangroves as part of the tropical forest complex. Savannas were now treated in two chapters. Coastal salinas have been combined with a new section on the Brazilian restingas in a chapter on coastal sand plains.

The interactions between the plant, soil and microbes are complex in nature. Events may be antagonistic, mutualistic or synergistic, depending upon the types of microorganisms and their association with the plant and soil in question. Multi-trophic tactics can therefore be employed to nourish plants in various habitats and growth conditions. Understanding the mechanisms of these interactions is thus highly desired in order to utilize the knowledge in an ecofriendly and sustainable way. This holistic approach to crop improvement may not only resolve the upcoming food security issues, but also make the environment greener by reducing the chemical inputs. Plant, soil and microbe, Volume 1: Implications in Crop Science, along with the forthcoming Volume 2: Mechanisms and Molecular Interactions, provide detailed accounts of the exquisite and delicate balance between the three critical components of agronomy. Specifically, these two titles focus on the basis of nutrient exchange between the microorganisms and the host plants, the mechanism of disease protection and the recent molecular details emerged from studying this multi-tropic interaction. Together they aim to provide a solid foundation for the students, teachers, and researchers interested in soil microbiology, plant pathology, ecology and agronomy.

This book provides a knowledge-based view to the dynamic capabilities in an organization. The author integrates two existing views on gaining competitive advantage: the Knowledge View which suggests that the capability of organizations to learn faster than competitors is the only source of competitiveness; and the Dynamic Capability View which speculates that a fi rm's competitive advantage rests on it's ability to adapt to changes in the business environment. Using the IT sector in India as a case study, this book provides and tests a new framework-Knowledge-Based Dynamic Capabilities-in the prediction of competitive advantage in organizations.

"Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 1" describes the most important details and advances related to the alleviation of soil stresses by soil microbes. Comprised of seven chapters, the book reviews the mechanisms by which plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) alleviate plant growth under stress; the role of mycorrhizal fungi on the alleviation of drought stress in host plants; how PGPR may alleviate salinity stress on the growth of host plants; and the role of PGPR on the growth of the host plant under the stress of sub optimal root zone temperature.

Written by experts in their respective fields, "Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 1 "is a comprehensive and valuable resource for researchers and students interested in the field of microbiology and soil stresses.

Recherches Chimiques sur la Vegetation was a seminal work in the development of the understanding of photosythesis and plant chemistry. The original publication, which was the first concise summation of the basics of plant nutrition, was a landmark in plant science. It was twice translated into German during the nineteenth century, but no English translation has been published. This translation will interest those in the plant, chemical, agricultural, and soil sciences, and the history of science, who find English more accessible than French or German and who wish to learn more about the early research on photosynthesis and plant science. A further note about the translation: This project is more than just a translation because it includes an extensive introduction as well as notes that provide explanations for archaic terminology and other background material. In the twentieth century, eminent photosynthesis researcher Eugene Rabinowitch described Recherches Chimiques sur la Vegetation as the first modern book on plant nutrition. Historian of chemistry Henry Leicester called the book a classic, noting that the first important generalization about biochemistry in the nineteenth century came from it. Plant physiologist P. E. Pilet stated that the book laid the foundations of a new science, phytochemistry. Soil scientist E. Walter Russell attributed to de Saussure the quantitative experimental method, which more than anything else made modern agricultural chemistry possible. Chemist Leonard K. Nash stated that de Saussure brought the studies of plant nutrition begun by Priestley, Ingen-Housz, and Senebier close to completion, finishing the basic experimental work and providing a convincing theoretical interpretation of the field, and also opened up new vistas of experiment and thought. In the two centuries since Recherches Chimiques sur la Vegetation was published, luminaries in various branches of science, including plant biology, chemistry, and soil science, have consistently praised it highly. In the nineteenth century, noted botanist Alphonse de Candolle and equally noted plant physiologist Julius von Sachs expressed great admiration for it. Although de Saussure's ideas were forgotten for a time, famed chemist Justus von Liebig, who invented artificial fertilizer, rediscovered them in the 1840s and brought them to the attention of the agricultural community, stressing their importance for increasing crop yields.