Plant Molecular Biology Research
Research Guide

The floral dip method, developed by Clough and Bent (1998), uses Agrobacterium vacuum infiltration to transform Arabidopsis thaliana without tissue culture or regeneration. It involves dipping flower buds into an Agrobacterium suspension, yielding transformed seeds. This approach has 21,916 citations and remains a standard protocol.

MicroRNAs regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, as detailed in Bartel (2004) with 34,475 citations. Related works like Lewis et al. (2005) show conserved seed pairing identifies thousands of targets, often flanked by adenosines. Lim et al. (2005) demonstrated some microRNAs downregulate large numbers of target mRNAs via microarray analysis.

Munns and Tester (2008) describe two phases: a rapid osmotic phase inhibiting young leaf growth and a slower ionic phase causing toxicity. Tolerance involves cellular, organ, and whole-plant responses. The review has 12,892 citations and guides stress breeding.

PlantCARE, introduced by Lescot (2002), is a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements, including enhancers and repressors represented by positional matrices and consensus sequences. It links to EMBL, TRANSFAC, and MEDLINE for promoter analysis. The database has 7,867 citations.

Koussevitzky et al. (2007) showed signals from chloroplasts, involving GUN1, converge to regulate nuclear gene expression essential for photoautotrophy. Three retrograde signals coordinate chloroplast function with nuclear genes. The paper has 5,668 citations.

Dubos et al. (2010) reviewed MYB transcription factors in Arabidopsis, highlighting their functions in development and stress responses. The work has 4,911 citations in Trends in Plant Science.