The plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivative, an amino acid conjugate of JA (jasmonoyl isoleucine, JA-Ile), are signaling compounds involved in the regulation of defense and development in plants. The number of articles studying on JA has dramatically increased since the 1990s. JA is recognized as a stress hormone that regulates the plant response to biotic stresses such as herbivore and pathogen attacks, as well as abiotic stresses such as wounding and ultraviolet radiation. Recent studies have remarkably progressed the understanding of the importance of JA in the life cycle of plants. JA is directly involved in many physiological processes, including stamen growth, senescence, and root growth. JA regulates production of various metabolites such as phytoalexins and terpenoids. Many regulatory proteins involved in JA signaling have been identified by screening for Arabidopsis mutants. However, much more remains to be learned about JA signaling in other plant species. This Special Issue, “Jasmonic Acid Pathway in Plants”, contains 5 review and 15 research articles published by field experts. These articles will help with understanding the crucial roles of JA in its response to the several environmental stresses and development in plants.

It is now well established that jasmonates, originally identified as the major component of jasmine scent, play a universal role in the plant kingdom and are involved in the regulation of diverse aspects of plant biology, including growth, development, metabolism, and interaction with the environment. In Jasmonate Signaling: Methods and Protocols, experts in the field aim to unite powerful emerging omics platforms with a number of key reductionist approaches to form a comprehensive collection of tools and protocols. The detailed chapters in this book embrace physiological, environmental, molecular, omics, and bioinformatics approaches that allow dissecting jasmonate actions in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana or in other plants. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters feature introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, along with tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Jasmonate Signaling: Methods and Protocols will empower interested researchers to dissect all steps of jasmonate signaling and the processes they modulate.

Plant Hormones: Biosynthesis and Mechanisms of Action is based on research funded by the Chinese government’s National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This book brings a fresh understanding of hormone biology, particularly molecular mechanisms driving plant hormone actions. With growing understanding of hormone biology comes new outlooks on how mankind values and utilizes the built-in potential of plants for improvement of crops in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. This book is a comprehensive description of all major plant hormones: how they are synthesized and catabolized; how they are perceived by plant cells; how they trigger signal transduction; how they regulate gene expression; how they regulate plant growth, development and defense responses; and how we measure plant hormones. This is an exciting time for researchers interested in plant hormones. Plants rely on a diverse set of small molecule hormones to regulate every aspect of their biological processes including development, growth, and adaptation. Since the discovery of the first plant hormone auxin, hormones have always been the frontiers of plant biology. Although the physiological functions of most plant hormones have been studied for decades, the last 15 to 20 years have seen a dramatic progress in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of hormone actions. The publication of the whole genome sequences of the model systems of Arabidopsis and rice, together with the advent of multidisciplinary approaches has opened the door to successful experimentation on plant hormone actions. Offers a comprehensive description of all major plant hormones including the recently discovered strigolactones and several peptide hormones Contains a chapter describing how plant hormones regulate stem cells Offers a fresh understanding of hormone biology, particularly molecular mechanisms driving plant hormone actions Discusses the built-in potential of plants for improvement of crops in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner

This book summarizes recent advances in understanding the functions of plant and algal lipids in photosynthesis, in development and signaling, and in industrial applications. As readers will discover, biochemistry, enzymology and analytical chemistry, as well as gene knock-out studies have all contributed to our rapidly increasing understanding of the functions of lipids. In the past few decades, distinct physical and biochemical properties of specific lipid classes were revealed in plant and algal lipids and the functional aspects of lipids in modulating critical biological processes have been uncovered. These chapters from international authors across relevant research fields highlight the underlying evolutionary context of lipid function in photosynthetic unicellular and multicellular organisms. The book goes on to encompass what lipids can do for industrial applications at a time of fascination with plants and algae in carbon fixation and as sources for production of food, energy and novel chemicals. The developmental context is a part of the fresh and engaging perspective that is presented in this work which graduate students and scientists will find both illuminating and useful.

Plants offer exciting opportunities to understand major biological questions, i.e. the regulation of development and morphogenesis. How are changes of the environment, developmental cues, and other signals perceived and transduced in physiological responses? What are the elements of plant signalling pathways and what is their organization? The panoply of molecular tools and techniques as well as the blossoming field of plant genetics are providing an exciting ground for major breakthroughs in unravelling the fundamental mechanisms of plant signalling. The present book establishes a state-of-the-art framework spanning the wide spectrum of perception, signal transduction events and transport processes, including cell proliferation and cell cycle regulation, embryogenesis, and flowering. Moreover, the volume emphasizes the role of the major plant signalling substances known to date (the phytohormones and more recently studied substances) and summarizes what we know on their molecular mechanisms of action. The book emphasizes how the use of molecular technology has made plant signalling processes accessible to experimental test.

Salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MJ) signaling is associated with phospholipids and the enzymes that metabolize them. However, despite the many studies conducted, the role of SA or MJ signalling via phospholipids in plant responses is not yet fully understood. The signaling pathways of SA and MJ have been evaluated in plant cell suspensions, and it was observed that these compounds regulate enzymatic activities to generate a rapid cellular response. This book discusses the immune responses induced by salicylic acid and jasmonic acids against plant parasites; the induction by SA of in vitro thermotolerance during thermotherapy; aalicylic acid, methyl jasmonate and phospholipid signaling in suspension cells; the self-association of salicylic acid derivatives in aqueous solutions studied by methods of absorption and fluorescence; and the role of exogenous salicylic acid applications for salt tolerance in tomato plants.

This book provides for the first time a single comprehensive source of information on the analytical chemistry of nicotine and related alkaloids. The editors have brought together scientists from academia and the tobacco industry to describe the state-of-the-art of the chemistry and analytical methods for measurement of nicotine. Both the scope and detail of the book are impressive. Chapters describe the history, pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine, the biosynthesis of nicotine and other alkaloids in the tobacco plant, the general chemistry of nicotine and the analytical methodologies that have been used to measure nicotine and related alkaloids in biological specimens, in tobacco and pharmaceutical products and in tobacco smoke. There is also a comprehensive review of the chemistry and toxicology of nicotine-derived nitrosamines, an important class of tobacco carcinogens.