4-Hydroxyphenylacetate decarboxylase (4Hpad) is the prototype of a new class of Fe-S cluster-dependent glycyl radical enzymes (Fe-S GREs) acting on aromatic compounds. The two-enzyme component system comprises a decarboxylase ...

Successional agroforestry systems (SAFS) mimic the structure of natural forests while providing economical outputs. This study clarifies how carbon cycling and carbon sequestration change during successional development ...

Short-chain fatty acids such as acetic, propionic, butyric or lactic acids are typical primary fermentation products in the anaerobic feeding chain. Fifteen years ago, a novel fermentation type was discovered in the ...

Phytoplasma-associated diseases are reported for more than 1,000 plant species worldwide. Only a few genome sequences are available in contrast to the economical importance of these bacterial pathogens. A new strategy was ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi confer heavy metal tolerance to plants, but this characteristic differs between different AM fungal strains. We tested the hypotheses if acclimatization of an AM fungus to Zn stress is ...

The last decades of research brought substantial insights into tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway in photosynthetic organisms. Almost all genes have been identified and roles of seemingly all essential proteins, leading to ...

Several recent publications reported different subcellular localization of the sucrose transporters belonging to the SUT4 subfamily. The physiological function of the SUT4 sucrose transporters requires clarification, because ...

Due to its ease to donate or accept electrons, iron (Fe) plays a crucial role in respiration and metabolism, including tetrapyrrole synthesis, in virtually all organisms. In plants, Fe is a component of the photosystems ...

Plants possess two types of phosphofructokinase proteins for phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate, the ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase (PFK) and the pyrophosphate-(PPi) dependent pyrophosphate-fructose-6-phosphate-p ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi establish probably one of the oldest mutualistic relationships with the roots of most plants on earth. The wide distribution of these fungi in almost all soil ecotypes and the broad range ...