Publications by authors named "Prakash P Kumar"

RGL2:DOF6 protein complex enhances BAT1 expression, which promotes primary seed dormancy in Arabidopsis, likely by inhibiting brassinosteroid biosynthesis. Hence, BAT1 acts as a novel gibberellin and brassinosteroid signaling crosstalk intermediate. A transcription factor complex including RGA-LIKE2 (RGL2) and DNA-BINDING ONE ZINC FINGER6 (DOF6) helps enforce primary seed dormancy.

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A key mechanism employed by plants to adapt to salinity stress involves maintaining ion homeostasis via the actions of ion transporters. While the function of cation transporters in maintaining ion homeostasis in plants has been extensively studied, little is known about the roles of their anion counterparts in this process. Here, we describe a mechanism of salt adaptation in plants.

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The mechanism of conferring salt tolerance by AtTPS9 involves enhanced deposition of suberin lamellae in the Arabidopsis root endodermis, resulting in reduction of Na transported to the leaves. Members of the class I trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) enzymes are known to play an important role in plant growth and development in Arabidopsis. However, class II TPSs and their functions in salinity stress tolerance are not well studied.

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Article Synopsis
  • - An innovative all-organic transparent plant e-skin has been developed to noninvasively monitor plant physiology for precision agriculture, using micropatterned PEDOT:PSS on a PDMS substrate.
  • - This e-skin is designed to be optically and mechanically invisible to plants, ensuring it doesn't negatively impact their health, while functioning as both strain and temperature sensors on leaves.
  • - The technology enables real-time monitoring of leaf strain and temperature fluctuations, and includes a digital-twin interface that visualizes the plant's surface environment for enhanced phenotyping analysis.
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Salinity reduces the growth and productivity of crop plants worldwide. Mangroves have evolved efficient ion homeostasis mechanisms to survive under their natural saline growth habitat. Information obtained from them may be utilized for increasing the salt tolerance of crop plants.

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The brown planthopper (BPH) is the leading cause of insect damage to rice plants and BPH infestations have caused profound losses in rice production since the 1970's. There is an urgent need to discover new BPH resistance genes to ensure the successful production of rice. Here, a new BPH resistance source provided by SeedWorks International Pvt.

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Dairy proteins in the diet are beneficial for the growth of probiotics; however, what is unknown is the gut-mediated immune responses under protein energy malnutrition (PEM) and if dairy protein hydrolysates can be effective as dietary interventions. This study compares the composition of the gut microbiota of rats with moderate protein deficiency (M.PEM) and severe protein deficiency (S.

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Seeds exhibit primary dormancy to prevent germination under unfavourable conditions. Previous studies have shown that the gibberellin signalling intermediate RGA-LIKE2 (RGL2) forms a transcription factor complex with DNA-BINDING ONE ZINC FINGER6 (DOF6) in regulating seed dormancy in Arabidopsis. Using an RNA-sequencing approach, we identified MAJOR LATEX PROTEIN-LIKE PROTEIN329 (MLP329) as a downstream target of DOF6.

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Background: Milk-derived protein hydrolysates have generated a great deal of interest recently due to their numerous beneficial health effects. However, there are few comparative studies on protein hydrolysates from different dairy species, their production, characterization, and bioactivity. In the present study, skimmed milk from both major and minor dairy species was hydrolyzed with alcalase, and its protein profiles were studied using tricine polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and reverse phase-high protein liquid chromatography.

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An integrated research approach to ensure sustainable rice yield increase of a crop grown by 25% of the world's farmers in 10% of cropland is essential for global food security. Rice, being a global staple crop, feeds about 56% of the world population and sustains 40% of the world's poor. At ~ $200 billion, it also accounts for 13% of the annual crop value.

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Article Synopsis
  • Spring frosts, worsened by climate change, pose a significant risk to fruit production, prompting research into plant growth regulators (PGRs) like ethephon as a potential solution.
  • Ethephon effectively delays bloom timing in peach trees, with its positive effects on bud physiology, such as increased cold hardiness and extended chilling accumulation, being influenced by concentration and timing of application.
  • The study suggests that ethephon’s influence on bud dormancy involves hormonal changes, particularly through jasmonic acid (JA), rather than the previously thought abscisic acid (ABA), opening new avenues for future research on fruit production resilience.
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Salinity affects crop productivity worldwide and mangroves growing under high salinity exhibit adaptations such as enhanced root apoplastic barrier to survive under such conditions. We have identified two cytochrome P450 family genes, AoCYP94B3 and AoCYP86B1 from the mangrove tree Avicennia officinalis and characterized them using atcyp94b3 and atcyp86b1, which are mutants of their putative Arabidopsis orthologs and the corresponding complemented lines with A. officinalis genes.

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Methylglyoxal (MG), a by-product of various metabolic processes, including glycolysis, is a highly reactive cytotoxic metabolite. The level of MG in the cell is maintained at a non-toxic level via MG detoxification pathways such as the universal glyoxalase system, including glyoxalase I/II/III enzymes. Glyoxalase III (DJ-1) can breakdown MG to d-lactate in a single step without reducing glutathione (GSH).

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Potassium transporters play an essential role in maintaining cellular ion homeostasis, turgor pressure, and pH, which are critical for adaptation under salt stress. We identified a salt responsive KUP/HAK/KT transporter family gene, , which has high sequence similarity to its ortholog . These genes were functionally characterized in mutant yeast cells and plants.

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Salinity is an environmental stress that causes decline in crop yield. and other mangroves have adaptations such as ultrafiltration at the roots aided by apoplastic cell wall barriers to thrive in saline conditions. We studied a cytochrome P450 gene from , , and its putative ortholog in Arabidopsis (), , which are involved in apoplastic barrier formation.

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The date palm () is an extremophile plant that can adapt to various abiotic stresses including drought and salinity. Salinity tolerance is a complex trait controlled by numerous genes. Identification and functional characterization of salt-responsive genes from the date palm is fundamental to understand salinity tolerance at the molecular level in this plant species.

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A sodium hydrogen exchanger (NHX) gene from the date palm enhances tolerance to salinity in Arabidopsis plants. Plant sodium hydrogen exchangers/antiporters (NHXs) are pivotal regulators of intracellular Na/K and pH homeostasis, which is essential for salt stress adaptation. In this study, a novel orthologue of Na/H antiporter was isolated from date palm (PdNHX6) and functionally characterized in mutant yeast cells and Arabidopsis plants to assess the behavior of the transgenic organisms in response to salinity.

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LRRop-1, induced by DOF6 transcription factor, negatively regulates abiotic stress responses during Arabidopsis seed germination. The lrrop-1 mutant has reduced ABA signaling, which is part of the underlying stress-remediation mechanism. The large family of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins plays a role in plant immune responses.

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Dwarfism and semi-dwarfism are among the most valuable agronomic traits in crop breeding, which were adopted by the "Green Revolution". Previously, we reported a novel semi-dwarf rice mutant () derived from the insertion of a single copy of transposon into the gene . However, the systems metabolic effect of the mutation is not well understood, which is important for understanding the gene function and developing new semi-dwarf mutants.

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Expression of AoNHX1 from the mangrove Avicennia increases salt tolerance of rice and Arabidopsis, and specific bHLH transcription factors regulate AtNHX1 and AtNHX6 in Arabidopsis to mediate the salinity response. Improving crop plants to better tolerate soil salinity is a challenging task. Mangrove trees such as Avicennia officinalis have special adaptations to thrive in high salt conditions, which include subcellular compartmentalization of ions facilitated by specialized ion transporters.

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Class I TREHALOSE-PHOSPHATE-SYNTHASE (TPS) genes affect salinity tolerance and plant development. However, the function of class IITPS genes and their underlying mechanisms of action are unknown. We report the identification and functional analysis of a rice class IITPS gene (OsTPS8).

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Overall growth and development of a plant is regulated by complex interactions among various hormones, which is critical at different developmental stages. Some of the key aspects of plant growth include seed development, germination and plant survival under unfavorable conditions. Two of the key phytohormones regulating the associated physiological processes are gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA).

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