This is intriguing. Janet McGarry Plants Use Circadian Rhythms to Prepare for Battle With Insects ScienceDaily (Feb. 13, 2012) — In a study of the molecular underpinnings of plants' pest resistance, Rice University biologists have shown that plants both anticipate daytime raids by hungry insects and make sophisticated preparations to fend them off. "When you walk past plants, they don't look like they're doing anything," said Janet Braam, an investigator on the new study, which appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It's intriguing to see all of this activity down at the genetic level. It's like watching a besieged fortress go on full alert." Braam, professor and chair of Rice's Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, said scientists have long known that plants have an internal clock that allows them to measure time regardless of light conditions. For example, some plants that track the sun with their leaves during the day are known to "reset" their leaves at night and move them back toward the east in anticipation of sunrise. In recent years, scientists have begun to apply powerful genetic tools to the study of plant circadian rhythms. Researchers have found that as many as one-third of the genes in Arabidopsis thaliana -- a widely studied species in plant biology -- are activated by the circadian cycle. Rice biochemist Michael Covington found that some of these circadian-regulated genes were also connected to wounding responses. "We wondered whether some of these circadian-regulated genes might allow plants to anticipate attacks from insects, in much the same way that they anticipate the sunrise," said Covington, now at the University of California, Davis. Danielle Goodspeed, a graduate student in biochemistry and cell biology, designed a clever experiment to answer the question. She used 12-hour light cycles to entrain the circadian clocks of both Arabidopsis plants and cabbage loopers, a type of caterpillar that eats Arabidopsis. Half of the plants were placed with caterpillars on a regular day-night cycle, and the other half were placed with "out-of-phase" caterpillars whose internal clocks were set to daytime mode during the hours that the plants were in nighttime mode. "We found that the plants whose clocks were in phase with the insects were relatively resistant, whereas the plants whose clocks were out of phase were decimated by the insects feeding on them," Goodspeed said. Wassim Chehab, a Rice faculty fellow in biochemistry and cell biology, helped Goodspeed design a follow-up experiment to understand how plants used their internal clocks to resist insect attacks. Chehab and Goodspeed examined the accumulation of the hormone jasmonate, which plants use to regulate the production of metabolites that interfere with insect digestion. They found that Arabidopsis uses its circadian clock to increase jasmonate production during the day, when insects like cabbage loopers feed the most. They also found that the plants used their internal clocks to regulate the production of other chemical defenses, including those that protect against bacterial infections. "Jasmonate defenses are employed by virtually all plants, including tomatoes, rice and corn," Chehab said. "Understanding how plants regulate these hormones could be important for understanding why some pests are more damaging than others, and it could help suggest new strategies for insect resistance." In a message dated 2/14/2012 9:14:20 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, pbs-request@lists.ibiblio.org writes: Send pbs mailing list submissions to pbs@lists.ibiblio.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to pbs-request@lists.ibiblio.org You can reach the person managing the list at pbs-owner@lists.ibiblio.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of pbs digest..." List-Post:<mailto:pbs@lists.ibiblio.org List-Archive:<http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php Today's Topics: 1. Need identification (Joseph Kraatz) 2. Re: Need identification (Alberto Castillo) 3. OT/ PBS contributor's tragic loss (Youngs) 4. Re: OT/ PBS contributor's tragic loss (The Silent Seed) 5. Need identification (AW) 6. Winter Projects (Richard) 7. Lily Stratification (Richard) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:16:25 -0800 From: Joseph Kraatz <plantnut@cox.net> Subject: [pbs] Need identification To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Message-ID: <5C712669-FC8E-420A-ACF8-1A89736609A5@cox.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii A friend gave me a handful of Oxalis bulbs of which she didn't know the species. They are now blooming but need help in identifying the species. Thanks, Joe, Oceanside, CA. http://flickr.com/photos/oceanside2012/… ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:30:38 +0000 From: Alberto Castillo <ezeizabotgard@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [pbs] Need identification To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <BAY156-W5155DCDDD53C5236B3CA72AE7F0@phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" You have obtusa and brasiliensis there so far. ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:02:56 -0000 From: "Youngs" <youngs.aberdeen@btinternet.com> Subject: [pbs] OT/ PBS contributor's tragic loss To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <44AE7AADF91D45FC9A7E1059CF95836E@userfba71dce46> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" PBS members must be greatly saddened to hear, as we have been in the UK, of the death of Michelle Avent, wife of PBS stalwart Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery Inc. A touching tribute to his wife and partner by Tony is paid here : http://plantdelights.com/February/products/… Our thoughts are with Tony at this sad time. M & I -------------- next part -------------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com/ Version: 8.5.455 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/4206 - Release Date: 02/12/12 19:34:00 ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:13:07 -0500 (EST) From: The Silent Seed <santoury@aol.com> Subject: Re: [pbs] OT/ PBS contributor's tragic loss To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Message-ID: &<8CEB8BC2DF0A74C-1F74-15463@webmail-d036.sysops.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I just learned of this this evening - very sad indeed. My heart goes out to Tony and his family. Jude ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:42:09 -0800 From: "AW" <awilson@avonia.com> Subject: [pbs] Need identification To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <E59842C712E54E7ABED05B5F2C70317B@Desktop> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Joe, I think you have two forms of O. obtusa. That species is blooming all over in these parts right now. Check the Wiki page on this species to see the number of color variants there are. You have a nice combination there. Andrew San Diego ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:05:58 -0800 From: Richard <richrd@nas.com> Subject: [pbs] Winter Projects To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <B479A048-FDAA-458B-9656-BEF5AA5FB7E3@nas.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Nursery scale stratification This is what we are working on now at our nursery, preparing mostly tree and shrub seeds for a 90 day cold stratification and planting in May. There are many ways to accomplish this task this is just my own twist on the job. Earlier we used open top plastic bags but this gives us better aeration and ease of inspection. Here is a series of pictures that illustrates our process. rinsing presoaked seed http://flic.kr/p/btpKEK/ setting up tray, paper lined, peat bottom http://flic.kr/p/btpJaP/ fungicide dip (optional) http://flic.kr/p/btpLnK/ spreading seed inside sandwiched layer http://flic.kr/p/btpNSF/ placing seed inside sandwich http://flic.kr/p/btpM76/ covering seed layer with peat http://flic.kr/p/btpJWH/ stacking trays inside cooler. Note warm incubator on right http://flic.kr/p/btpMMp/ recording all data in a filemaker relational database http://flic.kr/p/btpMYe/ In this screen shot from left is our field map, propagation and seed inventory databases Working with Lily seed is new for me and I have a question in my following post for lily savy stratifiers. Rich Haard Bellingham Washington ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:08:02 -0800 From: Richard <richrd@nas.com> Subject: [pbs] Lily Stratification To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <9FA5584B-B614-4A58-BE6C-6355780D3D7C@nas.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Question for lily stratifiers All three are fresh collections of L. columbianum and L. washingtonianum. These are 'immediate cool hypogeal' species and were warm stratified 30 days at 50 deg f then the last 2 weeks at 40 deg F. All have begun putting out a radical some reaching considerable length with signs of leaf shoot on a few. They're growing now in mesh bags buried in moist peat. Otherwise their condition is very nice, no mold. Earlier this fall in October I field planted the same collections and this is a test to try stratification and tray planting. These radicals seem rather fragile. Is it time to move them to flats and continue chilling for another 60 days before placing outside? http://flic.kr/p/btoASZ/ http://flic.kr/p/btoBoZ/ http://flic.kr/p/btoBTR/ http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Rich Haard Bellingham, Washington ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php End of pbs Digest, Vol 109, Issue 26 ************************************ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/