Discoveries In Plant Biology

Scientific progress hinges on continual discovery and the extension of previous discoveries. The important series of volumes Discoveries in Plant Biology is specially compiled to provide a microcosmic atlas of the landmark discoveries that span the breadth of plant biology. Written by renowned plant biologists, the papers describe how classic discoveries were made and how they have served as the basis for subsequent breakthroughs. The 24 chapters in this third volume describe discoveries which contribute to the foundations of modern plant biology. The contributors, many of whom personally lit the way, bring readers back in time as if on a journey to retrace the paths and rethink the ideas they followed. These guided tours on how to decipher the natural laws will lead to an appreciation of the development of each field from simple concepts to an advanced multidisciplinary field of today. This volume will be of special interest to botanists, biochemists, plant physiologists and geneticists, and of general interest to those who are still fascinated by how discoveries are made. Contents:The Discovery of the Essential Elements (E Epstein)The Discovery of 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylic Acid as the Immediate Precursor of Ethylene (D O Adams)Discovery of Auxin (Y Masuda & S Kamisaka)Non-Reducing Saccharides: Floridosides and Sucrose (J-C Su)Chlorophyll Biosynthesis I: From Analysis of Mutants to Genetic Engineering of the Pathway (D von Wettstein)Chlorophyll Biosynthesis II: Adventures with Native and Recombinant Enzymes (D von Wettstein)Discovery of the Two Parallel Pathways for Isoprenoid Biosynthesis in Plants (H K Lichtenthaler)Structure and Biosynthesis of Cellulose. Part I: Structure (A D French)Structure and Biosynthesis of Cellulose. Part II: Biosynthesis (D P Delmer)The Discovery of Starch Biosynthesis (J Preiss & M N Sivak)Seed Storage Proteins from the 1700s to the Present (M Ogawa & T W Okita)The Discovery of 2S Albumins as Abundant Storage Proteins in Seeds (A H C Huang & R J Youle)The Discovery of Maternal Inheritance of Large Subunit of Rubisco (S-D Kung)Chloroplast Cytochromes: Discovery and Characterization (J C Gray)Discovery of Plasma Membrane Proton Pumping ATPase: Our Point of View (R T Leonard & T K Hodges)Plant Ubiquitin (R D Vierstra)Thirty Years of Fun with Antenna Pigment-Proteins and Photochemical Reaction Centers: A Tribute to the People Who Have Influenced My Career (J P Thornber)The Discovery of the Heat Shock Response in Plants (P-F L Chang & C-Y Lin)Discovery of Photoregulated Gene Expression (J C Watson)Organization and Regulation of Nitrogen Fixation Genes: 1974–1995 (S C Shen)The Ti-Plasmid and Plant Molecular Biology (J Schell & C Koncz)Active Ion Transport in Plants (A J Bloom & A R Taylor)Discovery of Chilling Injury (M E Saltveit)In Vitro Induced Haploids in Plant Genetics and Breeding (H Hu & X-R Guo) Readership: Botanists, biologists, biochemists, geneticists, plant physiologists and students. Keywords:Plant Biology;DiscoveriesReviews: “The different chapters not only provide excellent overviews into the development of essential discoveries in plant biology, they also help the reader to better understand the background, current status and future direction of the research in each of the areas covered.” Journal of Plant Physiology

"This excellent book should be present in all central libraries and in those of plant biology institutions. The book is recommended to advanced students and researchers".Journal of Plant Physiology, 1999

Faster progress in plant biology research could benefit agriculture, the environment, medicine, and our understanding of basic biological processes. This book clearly and directly describes the impediments to greater achievements in plant science and suggests solutions. It presents an innovative plan that would create a comprehensive federal system of management and financial support for plant biology research and training.

Scientific progress hinges on continual discovery and the extension of previous discoveries. The important series of volumes Discoveries in Plant Biology is specially compiled to provide a microcosmic atlas of the landmark discoveries that span the breadth of plant biology. Written by renowned plant biologists, the papers describe how classic discoveries were made and how they have served as the basis for subsequent breakthroughs. The 19 chapters in this second volume describe discoveries which contribute to the foundations of modern plant biology. The contributors, many of whom personally lit the way, bring readers back in time as if on a journey to retrace the paths and rethink the ideas they followed. These guided tours on how to decipher the natural laws will lead to an appreciation of the development of each field from simple concepts to an advanced multidisciplinary field of today. This volume will be of special interest to botanists, biochemists, plant physiologists and geneticists, and of general interest to those who are still fascinated by how discoveries are made. Contents:The Two Photosystems of Photosynthesis (J Amesz)Discovery of Chloroplast DNA, Genomes and Genes (L Bogorad)The Discovery of the Complete Sequence of Tobacco and Rice Chloroplast Genomes (M Sugiura)Discovery of Promoter Sequences of Chloroplast Genes (S-D Kung)The Discovery of Chloroplast DNA Replication Origin in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii (M Wu)The Discovery of Plant Mitochondrial Genomes (C Chase)The Discovery of Photophosphorylation (Y-K Shen & J-M Wei)Discovery of Phytochrome (W R Briggs)Plant Ferredoxin: A Multifunctional Electron Carrier Protein with an Unusual Genealogy (I Besse & B B Buchanan)Plant Lipid Biosynthesis — A History of Its Elucidation (P K Stumpf)The Discovery of Systemin (C A Ryan)Plant Peroxisomes: Discovery and Current Advances (A H C Huang)The Discovery of the Viroid (T O Diener)The Development of Plant Somatic Cell Genetics (P Carlson)The Discovery of Lignin (T Higuchi)The Discovery of Water Potential (J Dainty)The Discovery of Tissue Culture (Z-H Xu)Integrated Action in Plant Irritability (C-H Lou)The Discovery of the Breeding of Seedless Watermelon (C-H Yu & N N Liang) Readership: Students and researchers in botany, biochemistry, genetics and plant physiology. Keywords:Discoveries;Plant Biology;BotanyReviews: “… the book is a valuable source of information and reference and may also inspire young researchers on how to advance their own field of plant science. This discovery book, which is recommended to a wide readership from advanced students to the established scientists, should be present in all central libraries and all libraries of plant biology institutions.” Journal of Plant Physiology

“A learned romp through plant biology; solar energy and soil nutrients; the movement of vines; and ‘fellow gardeners’ . . . a wealth of stunning images.” —Nature At the tips of our trowels, a sun-driven world of microbes, insects, roots, and stems awaits—and it is a world no one knows better than James Nardi. A charming guide to all things green and growing, Nardi is as at home in prairies, forests, and wetlands as he is in the vegetable patch. And with Discoveries in the Garden, he shows us that these spaces aren’t as different as we might think, that nature flourishes in our backyards, schoolyards, and even indoors. To find it, we’ve only got to get down into the dirt. Leading us through the garden gate, Nardi reveals the extraordinary daily lives and life cycles of a quick-growing, widely available, and very accommodating group of study subjects: garden plants. Through close observations and simple experiments we all can replicate at home, we learn the hidden stories behind how these plants grow, flower, set seeds, and produce fruits, as well as the vital role dead and decomposing plants play in nourishing the soil. From pollinators to parasites, plant calisthenics to the wisdom of weeds, Nardi’s tale also introduces us to our fellow animal and microbial gardeners, the community of creatures both macro- and microscopic with whom we share our raised beds. Featuring a copse of original, informative illustrations that are as lush as the garden plants themselves, Discoveries in the Garden is an enlightening romp through the natural history, science, beauty, and wonder of these essential green places.

Biologically active small molecules have increasingly been applied in plant biology to dissect and understand biological systems. This is evident from the frequent use of potent and selective inhibitors of enzymes or other biological processes such as transcription, translation, or protein degradation. In contrast to animal systems, which are nurtured from drug research, the systematic development of novel bioactive small molecules as research tools for plant systems is a largely underexplored research area. This is surprising since bioactive small molecules bear great potential for generating new, powerful tools for dissecting diverse biological processes. In particular, when small molecules are integrated into genetic strategies (thereby defining “chemical genetics”), they may help to circumvent inherent problems of classical (forward) genetics. There are now clear examples of important, fundamental discoveries originating from plant chemical genetics that demonstrate the power, but not yet fully exploited potential, of this experimental approach. These include the unraveling of molecular mechanisms and critical steps in hormone signaling, activation of defense reactions and dynamic intracellular processes. The intention of this Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Physiology is to summarize the current status of research at the interface between chemistry and biology and to identify future research challenges. The research topic covers diverse aspects of plant chemical biology, including the identification of bioactive small molecules through screening processes from chemical libraries and natural sources, which rely on robust and quantitative high-throughput bioassays, the critical evaluation and characterization of the compound’s activity (selectivity) and, ultimately, the identification of its protein target(s) and mode-of-action, which is yet the biggest challenge of all. Such well-characterized, selective chemicals are attractive tools for basic research, allowing the functional dissection of plant signaling processes, or for applied purposes, if designed for protection of crop plants from disease. New methods and data mining tools for assessing the bioactivity profile of compounds, exploring the chemical space for structure–function relationships, and comprehensive chemical fingerprinting (metabolomics) are also important strategies in plant chemical biology. In addition, there is a continuing need for diverse target-specific bioprobes that help profiling enzymatic activities or selectively label protein complexes or cellular compartments. To achieve these goals and to add suitable probes and methods to the experimental toolbox, plant biologists need to closely cooperate with synthetic chemists. The development of such tailored chemicals that beyond application in basic research can modify traits of crop plants or target specific classes of weeds or pests by collaboration of applied and academic research groups may provide a bright future for plant chemical biology. The current Research Topic covers the breadth of the field by presenting original research articles, methods papers, reviews, perspectives and opinions.

"Plants are integral to human well being, and many species have been domesticated for more than 10,000 years. Evidence of plant scientific investigation and classification can be found in ancient texts from cultures around the world (Chinese, Indian, Greco-Roman, Muslim, etc.), whereas early modern botany can be traced to the late 15th and early 16th centuries in Europe. During the past several decades, plant biology has been revolutionized first by molecular biology and then by the genomic era. The model organism Arabidopsis thaliana has proved to be an invaluable tool for investigation into fundamental processes in plant biology, many of which share commonalities with animal biology. Plant-specific processes from reproduction to immunity and second messengers have also yielded to extensive investigation. With the genomes of more than 30 plant species now available and many more planned in the near future, the impact on our understanding of plant evolution and biology continues to grow. Our increased ability to engineer plant species to a variety of ends may provide novel solutions to ensure adequate and reliable food production and renewable energy even as climate change impacts our environment. The decision to focus the 2012 Symposium on plant science reflected the enormous research progress achieved in recent years and was intended to provide a broad synthesis of the current state of the field, setting the stage for future discoveries and application. This is the first Symposium in this historic series that focused exclusively on the botanical sciences. The Symposium spanned a broad range of areas of investigation including genetics, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, developmental biology, physiology, and population/evolution studies at levels ranging from the single cell to the entire organism and from single genes to genomes; plant-specific processes and pathways featured broadly throughout the meeting. Effort was made to balance fundamental biological discoveries with applications relevant to societal well being including improved crops, fuel, and habitat."--Page xv.