The information that directs all cellular activity is contained within the chemical structure of the nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are polymers of smaller molecules called nucleotides. Nucleotides, in turn, are composed of three types of covalently linked molecules: a ribose sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogen-containing base. The two major nucleotides that are found […]
Lipids are diverse group of unrelated molecules which includes fats, oils, steroids and sterols, waxes, and other water-insoluble molecules. Lipids are characterized by their hydrophobic, or “water-fearing,” chemical behavior, which is what makes them insoluble in water. Unlike other molecules that ionize and are dissolved by water, lipid molecules are nonpolar. They are repelled by […]
It is perhaps this lack of natural boundaries for genetic exchange that seems so foreign to conventional scientific thought and that makes plant genetic engineering controversial. The thought of taking genes from animals, bacteria, viruses, or any other organism and putting them into plants, especially plants consumed for food, has raised a host of questions […]
Currently plant transformation with foreign genes may be accomplished by several proven methods, including bacteriamediated transfer, microparticle bombardment, electroporation, microinjection, sonication, and chemical treatment. By far, the most often utilized method of plant transformation involves the use of naturally occurring plant pathogenic bacteria from the genus Agro bacterium in nature, this bacterium infects plants and […]
The longestlived organisms are plants. For example, one bristlecone pine tree in eastern California is forty-nine hundred years old, and some creosote bushes, also in California, are estimated to be about twelve thousand years old. People have long recognized this variation in plant longevity, but the understanding of plant life spans improved greatly after research […]
Cytology is the study life at the cellular level, another name for this discipline is cell biology. Plant cells share many features with animal cells. Both forms of life are composed of eukaryotic cells, which have a distinct nucleus surrounded by a nuclear envelope which separates it from the cytoplasm. (By contrast, bacteria have nucleus-free […]
Courses in botany and plant science often address organisms that are not, in the strict sense, plants but that nevertheless are appropriately studied in the same context. Hence, although bacteria differ from plants primarily because of their cells, which are prokaryotic (lacking a nucleus and most cytoplasmic organelles), they are often studied in botany courses. […]
The major fiber crops are cotton, flax, and hemp, although less important plants, such as ramie, jute, and sisal, are grown in small amounts. With a total annual production of more than 13 million tons, cotton is by far the most important fiber crop in the world. Because humans heavily rely on cotton for clothing […]
Ramie is produced primarily in Asia and is used to make strong cloth, such as Chinese linen. Jute is grown primarily in India and Pakistan and is used to manufacture burlap for bags and sacks. Sisal is produced in East Africa and the West Indies and is used to make different types of cordage, such […]
Until recently, the use of traditional breeding techniques between two very closely related species was the only means of transferring heritable characteristics from one to the other. The advent of recombinant technologies in the manipulation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), however, made it possible to transfer genetic characteristics from any plant (or from any organism) to […]
Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is the fiber used to make linen. While some flax is still grown for the purpose of producing this fabric, much of the flax particularly that grown in the United States is used to produce the flax seed, from which linseed can be extracted. Linen made from flax is one of the […]
Novel products include those not traditionally associated with plants and are limited only by imagination and currently available techniques. These include the production of plastics, vaccines, antibodies, human blood proteins, and new pharmaceuticals. One project has involved the production of hepatitis B vaccine in transgenic tomatoes. This project, which underwent clinical trials in the late […]
The roots of plant biotechnology can be traced back to the time when humans started collecting seeds from their favorite wild plants and began cultivating them in tended fields. It appears that when the plants were harvested, the seeds of the most desirable plants were retained and replanted the next growing season. While these primitive […]
Hesperaloe | PLANTS WITH POTENTIAL
Hesperaloe (Hesperaloe funifera) is a plant in the agave family that produces long, thin fibers that may be processed into exceptionally light and strong paper. Long-term biomass production studies began on hesperaloe in 1988, and since then many agronomic and processing improvements have been made. The fibers of hesperaloe seem suitable for the production of […]