Betalains are a group of compounds that are major natural food colorants used by the food processing industry. These secondary compounds are found in only a few orders of plants with the Caryophyllales being the source of several domesticated crops. In particular, the family Chenopodiaceae in general and table beets...
Streams across the western United States are impaired from human alterations that have reduced freshwater habitat by simplifying channel complexity and disconnecting floodplains (Knox et al., 2022; Waples et al., 2008; Wohl, 2014). Climate change is likely to continue exacerbating these risks by warming summer surface stream temperatures (Crozier et...
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) comes in a huge assortment of fresh and dried varieties, including snap beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans. Together, these and other market classes provide a third of the daily dietary protein in some cultures, particularly in Africa, Asia, and developing nations in the Americas....
The persistent color (pc) trait in snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) belongs to a member of the cosmetic stay-green gene family. It is considered very desirable by snap bean breeders for its impacts on pod quality. Persistent color imparts a uniform dark-green color to pods and expresses in seeds as...
Black stain root disease (BSRD) is a vascular wilt disease of conifers caused by three varieties of the native, insect-vectored fungal pathogen, Leptographium wageneri (L. wageneri var. wageneri, L. wageneri var. ponderosum, and L. wageneri var. pseudotsugae). Although morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics differ among the three varieties of L....
Transformation is a major bottleneck for genetic engineering and gene editing in forest tree species. This includes most genotypes of Populus and Eucalyptus, which are some of the world’s most widely-cultivated genera of plantation forest trees. To provide new tools for transformation, I tested the transcription factor-protein chimera consisting of...
Managers of forest and plantation ecosystems are encountering growing problems involving plant pathogens and the expanding geographic ranges of these pathogens. Historically unexposed stands are exceptionally vulnerable when a non-native pathogen is introduced because these pathogens can cause devastating disease in a host population that lacks co-evolved resistance mechanisms. One...
European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is a diploid with 11 pairs of chromosomes (2n = 2x = 22), monoecious, dichogamous and wind-pollinated. Eastern filbert blight (EFB) caused by Anisogramma anomala is a serious disease of European hazelnut (Corylus avellana) in North America, and infection leads to cankers that girdle branches...